(rshsdepot) Tuckahoe & Pelham, NY

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From today's Journal News.

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newslettter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Metro-North to close two station ticket offices next month
By CAREN HALBFINGER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: March 30, 2005)

Cindy Ramkissoon was just one in a loyal throng of commuters yesterday who 
were devastated to learn that Tom Tinen will no longer be selling their 
Metro-North Railroad tickets and greeting them with his bright-and-early 
banter after April 8.
Although he's been with the railroad for 37 years, Tinen, the Tuckahoe 
station agent, isn't retiring. After raising fares and the cost of parking 
earlier this month, Metro-North has decided to delete the personal touch 
from its Tuckahoe and Pelham stations to save some money. No one will lose a 
job. But by reducing its ticket agent hires by two, the railroad expects to 
save $142,000 a year from a $944 million annual operating budget.

"That's terrible,'' said Ramkissoon, 30, an insurance broker in Tuckahoe who 
lives in the Bronx and bought her monthly ticket for April yesterday. "I'll 
have to go to Crestwood to get my ticket, because it has a New York City bus 
pass on it, and I can't get it from the machines."

"This just adds to the inconvenience," said George Dennison, 79, of 
Eastchester. As he headed for his 6:59 a.m. train, Dennison said he had 
already called the railroad to register his displeasure with its decision. 
"I like to buy my ticket from him personally."

The two stations were chosen for ticket-booth closings because both are 
scheduled to be net-leased, railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.

That means the buildings will be taken over by tenants who will be 
responsible for upkeep and renovations. Besides which, in January, Tinen 
sold about 980 tickets a month, while more than 7,000 tickets were sold 
through machines at the station. In Pelham, the agent sold 3,700 tickets 
that month, while machines spat out 11,500.

Tinen hasn't decided which station he'd like to work at next. But the way he 
comes out to the station house to greet customers, handing one his just-read 
paper every day and having tickets ready for others before they ask, it's 
clear the Yonkers resident has developed close ties to this community.

Tinen said tickets sales dropped off about 10 months ago when the railroad 
closed the overpass for rehabilitation, making it less convenient to reach 
him. The overpass reopened earlier this month, though work continues behind 
plastic sheeting.

"I'll miss the people,'' Tinen said. "Most of them, I only see once a month. 
I'll miss the little town of Tuckahoe.''

Over at the Pelham station, Angela North was also sorry to start her day by 
learning that Walter Bitter, a 27-year railroad employee who has been the 
station agent for a decade, would be leaving.

"That's no good,'' North, an insurance underwriter, said with a frown at 
about 6:15 a.m. as she wrote a check for $326 to pay for two monthly tickets 
for her husband and son. "I can't believe that. He knows me, so he will take 
a check. At Grand Central, they won't take it. I always buy my tickets from 
him.''

Brian Dunphy, 30, a lawyer from Pelham, also was dismayed. He said that 
besides selling tickets, Bitter was able to decipher the station's garbled 
announcements and explain train delays.

"That's really terrible,'' he said. "You need people sometimes. I use 
transit checks, and he'll take them from me. I've always done it this way. 
It's a lot easier.''

A tenant has not yet been found for the Tuckahoe station house, Anders said. 
Once somebody occupies the building, she said the station house should be 
open longer than its current hours of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In Pelham, the station building is to be divided between Steam, a coffee and 
breakfast concession, and a Houlihan-Lawrence real estate office. Denise 
Amorelli, an owner of Steam, said she, too, was disappointed at the loss of 
a ticket agent.

"It's one less convenience for the riders. In terms of the business, it was 
kind of a shock," she said. "My partner specifically asked if the ticket 
booth would stay open, and we were told it would. We were a little 
disappointed. But our coffee is so good that they will come anyway.'' 
Amorelli said Steam, which opened last Wednesday, planned to remain open 
during renovations.

Commuters at other low-traffic stations might start to worry that their 
station agents will be next. The railroad has ticket offices at seven Hudson 
Line, 12 Harlem Line and eight New Haven Line stations in Westchester and 
Putnam.

It has 10 Harlem Line and 10 Hudson Line stations without ticket agents in 
both counties.

While Anders said the railroad has no plans to close more ticket offices, 
the best way for customers to prevent that may be to buy tickets from their 
station agent. To register your opinion about the closings with the 
railroad, call customer service at 212-672-1290.

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

------------------------------