Metro-North has reached 30 years on the rails as of today, notes Theresa Juva-Brown at the Journal News, and the service is vastly improved over what they were offering Westchester riders back in ’83.
“The service was horrible,” recalled Metro-North president Howard Permut, an Ossining resident who has held various titles with Metro-North since its inception. “On-time performance was like 80 percent. The amount of service was 50 to 60 percent of what we have today. It was awful. (The train) was hot in the summer and cold in the winter.”
The price has gone up along with the degree of service. A White Plains commuter paid 88 bucks for a monthly in ’83, reports Juva-Brown, which is $229 now–and $249 as of this March.
The paper was kind enough to quote a certain gimlet-eyed railroad blogger…and even spell “Trainjotting” correctly.
$88 in 1983 dollars is $203.41 today when you adjust for inflation. So it’s gone up a bit. On the other hand, subway fare has gone down a bit throughout history when you adjust for inflation, and the fact there there were once no free transfers or unlimited-ride subway cards!
Come ride the NH line. We still have cold cars in the winter and hot ones in the summer. Apparently not all that much has changed!