CALL FOR PAPERS | Annual Meeting January 7-11, 2024

Commuter Rail and the Work From Home Challenge

Between 1989 and 2019, ridership on commuter railroads in the United States grew by roughly 67% from 300 million to 500 million annual boardings.  The number of US commuter railroads grew from nine in 1988 to 23 in 2019.  Click here for more detail.  The markets for commuter rail service grew with skyrocketing office employment in central business districts.  New jobs increased peak passenger demand for downtown travel which clogged highways and spiked parking charges.   Commuter rail usually turned out to be faster than driving and cheaper than parking.  Every new downtown office tower increased demand for commuter railroad travel as suburbanites filled new well-paid jobs at their desks in the city.  

This all changed in mid-March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic closed factories, schools and offices for the protection of the population.  Travel, transit use and commuter rail ridership plummeted.  Click here for more detail.  

Office workers and their employers exploited the latest commercially-available tools for telecommunication to establish a new mode of "Working-From-Home".  WFH turned out to be a big success that will likely endure long after the painful memories of the pandemic eventually fade.  

As the imperative for social distancing has waned, the world is traveling again.  We're going to ball games, flying to distant cities and dining in restaurants.   But less than half of us have returned to our old offices.  The transformative impact of WFH will likely have a permanent impact on commuting behavior that will be most pronounced in the commuter rail industry.  

Decades were spent building up a national commuter railroad movement that linked suburbs to downtowns as a way of bypassing crowded highways and avoiding expensive parking.  It gave downtowns access to white collar workers that were unwilling or unable to live near their offices.  But that's all changed, perhaps permanently.   Those office workers that were the core of the commuter rail market can now work from home and don't seem likely to return.  WFH is just too easy and effective. 

Now, 3+ years after the start of pandemic, the ridership recovery numbers of the Legacy systems are around 70% to 50% compared to April 2019. The New Starts railroads land somewhere between 70% to as low as 40% compared to April 2019. Click here for more detail.  It’s very important that TRB contribute to the industry’s understanding of how the market for commuter rail services has changed and what factors seem most promising for potential ridership and financial recovery.   The Commuter Rail Subcommittee identified four paper topics related to the new travel market. 

1.  What service parameters are most influential in rebuilding ridership in the “Work From Home” era?  (Service frequency, hours of service, fares, other?) 

a.       What is the impact of service frequency and time span of service on ridership recovery? (The work force/commuter market has significantly changed.)

b.       What is the impact of the fare structure on the ridership? (Different markets such as senior riders and students – what portion of the recovery market do they represent?) 

2. What is the nature of the post-COVID WFH ridership market?
1. Who are the current riders?
2. How do they differ from the pre-COVID market?
3. What market segments came back?
4. What market segments have left commuter rail? 
5. What new market segments have emerged? 

3. What service strategies are being tested to enhance commuter rail ridership in the new Post-COVID era?
1. Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and others are understood to be exploring significant changes in their service offerings to improve ridership and respond to heightened sensitivity to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

                                                               i.      What changes are being explored?  

                                                             ii.      How have riders and railroads responded to this challenge? 

4. Faster, Cheaper and Greener Service 

Early indications suggest that to maximize ridership in the WFH-era commuter railroads will need to compete for new riders.  The rail service will need to be:

·       Faster and more frequent service during more hours of the day to “win-back” patrons that are now driving.   

·       Less expensive to operate to economically offer more service with reduced train loadings

·       Cleaner from a Green House Gas perspective, to respond to climate change goals 

Professional papers that shed light on

·       How service velocity can be improved with shorter dwell times, faster acceleration and higher track speed?

·       How can operating costs per train mile and train hour be reduced with changes in staffing, rolling stock or infrastructure?

·       How can GHG be reduced with new approaches to traction power?

·       How can existing stations be more economically modified to promote level boarding that can

o   reduce dwell times,

o   improve safety,

o   speed service delivery,

o   lower crewing costs

o   providing mobility benefits for mobility challenged travelers?

are welcome and encouraged.

Draft Papers must be submitted by August 1, 2023

Selected papers will be presented at the 103^rd Annual Meeting in Washington.  January 7-11 2024

Click here for detailed information for authors

 

Questions? Please contact

David O. Nelson | Chair, AP065(4) | Senior Consultant | Jacobs Engineering Group |

david.nelson@jacobs.com | Phone: (978) 360-0449