Train Ticket Office's Sudden Closing Concerns Selectmen

The sudden closing of the train ticket office at the Fairfield Railroad Station on Wednesday took the town's Board of Selectmen by surprise, and First Selectman Ken Flatto said he plans to look into why it happened.

"Apparently, the state eliminated the ticket office at Fairfield Center," Flatto said at Wednesday afternoon's Board of Selectmen meeting. "The Parking Authority wasn't notified, we weren't notified."

Flatto said the state Department of Transportation may have closed the ticket office due to budget problems and it was "kind of appalling" that no one notified town officials that it was going to happen. "I was just so taken aback because I had heard nothing from the DOT," he said.

Train commuters can still buy tickets from machines set up on platforms at the downtown train station, but Flatto said the ticket office's closing concerned him because no one was available to answer questions from train commuters and having someone in the ticket office also provided a measure of safety at the busy train station.

"People always ask questions, especially during the rush hour. People that come need information," Flatto said.

Flatto also was worried that the ticket office's closing might be the first step toward closing the Fairfield Railroad Station. "That would be horrible," he said.

The town and DOT are planning to open a third railroad station in town on lower Black Rock Turnpike, and construction on that train station is scheduled to be completed in late fall of 2011.

Selectmen Sherri Steeneck and James Walsh asked Flatto to investigate why the office was closed and ask the DOT to reconsider its decision.

James Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Metro-North Rail Commuter Council, which serves to advocate on behalf of train commuters, said he wasn't concerned that the ticket office at the Fairfield Railroad Station had been closed.

"Fairfield is the latest in any number of stations on the New Haven line that have lost their ticket window," Cameron said, adding that ticket windows at train stations in Westport and New Canaan likely would be closed this week.

"I don't think it's a big deal since the ticket vending machines went in. The vast majority are sold by machines," Cameron said.

Cameron said the job of ticket agents in train stations had become redundant because of the machines and that ticket agents don't provide security or have specialized information about whether trains are running late or what time trains are due in. "It just doesn't make sense to have someone in there...We don't need ticket agents anymore," he said. "Of all the closings in the past few years, I might have received two or three complaints."

Two things the machines can't do is sell reduced-price tickets to students or accept Transit Check, Cameron said. He said Greens Farms Academy in Westport, which is near the Greens Farms Railroad Station, had worked out an arrangement with Metro-North whereby students would receive tickets and then their parents would be billed.

Cameron said he recalled a statistic from one of the train stations that put the number of train tickets purchased through machines at 83 percent. He said eliminating ticket agents at train stations to reduce the state budget made sense.

Fairfield's downtown train station building, which is on the New York City-bound side, was closed about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, but a special police officer at the station said she believed the station is still open during rush hour for commuters to have access to shelter and restrooms.