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?)
- What
is the nature of the post-COVID WFH ridership market?
- Who
are the current riders?
- How
do they differ from the pre-COVID market?
- What
market segments came back?
- What
market segments have left commuter rail?
- What
new market segments have emerged?
- What
service strategies are being tested to enhance commuter rail ridership in
the new Post-COVID era?
- 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?
- 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 103rd
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
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