Solutions to the Horrible Southern Conn. Commute

As the holiday season end and the blissful travel southbound returns back to the quagmire that it continues to be until the summer months, here are some ideas as to how we can work around the standard flow of traffic from Stratford.  After a little bit of research , there is the infrastructure to make effective travel occur.

Ferry
Ferries already have the infrastructure to travel across Long Island Sound to Long Island as well as to Block Island. Ferry service from Bridgeport could run much like the Staten Island ferry to several points in lower CT and to Manhattan. A ferry to Pacific Avenue in Stamford could open up the ability for Stratford and Stamford to further thrive by making Stratford more attractive and allowing more people to take roles in Stamford that they would previously been prohibited from.

This seems to have the most potential given a story posted last year by Cassandra Upton of NBC Connecticut here. A company called SeaStreak postponed plans for a Martha's Vineyard to Norwalk,CT ferry but still had plans to pursue it. While Norwalk to Downtown NYC doesn't help reduce the major cluster of traffic for us, it could potentially get some of the volume on the current trains down a bit.

Looking at the costs for commuters using the Port Jefferson Ferry,  $220/month or $55/week seems to be in line with the cost of a NYC based train ticket with the convenience of not having to take the subway down town. A ferry running from  New Haven to Bridgeport to Stamford to Mid Town and then downtown NYC would seem to hit all of the major areas where traffic is at its peak. 

Hovercraft
Used widely thoughout Europe and Asia, hovercraft could make the journey from Stratford to downtown New York City viable in under an hour. With the ability to travel into shallow waters and onto land, hover craft also open up the ability to travel to areas that would require dredging for traditional ferries. This has been the case with adding ferries to another congested place, the San Francisco Bay Area.  According to the Contra Costa Times in November of 2011 found  here  ,  several surrounding cities to San Francisco are looking to partner up and support a hovercraft service. Due to shallow lands and the high cost of dredging , the cities of Antioch, Hercules, and Martinez are looking at the solution as a shorter term fix tot heir congestion problems. 

Hovercraft due present the distinction of being louder than say a bus as well, and  rightly so given the ability to carry upwards of 180 people. With this in mind the support may dwindle due to not in my back yyard or NIMBY thinking. To avert the NIMBY mind set, the sounds of hovercraft have drastically decreased since they were originally built. In a study done in the 1960s around the British hovercraft and sound problem found here , several solutions were suggeted including travelling farther out to sea when operating. Given the size of Long Island Sound, the craft could travel 1/4 mile or 1/2 mile off shore to reduce the impact of shore's residents and not be any louder than the high performance motor boat that run all weekend.

Helicopter taxi
As Stratford is the home of the helicopter...what better way to get around then by a CH-53 to work? Depends on how far away that I was working but seeing a helicopter touch down at Sikorsky or at GE HQ while I was stuck on the Merritt Parkway, I did know that I wanted to be in one. I have to think the fuel consumption and the $10K cost per flight hour unfortunately rule this out for short distances but a helo to Boston to NYC seems like a potentially viable for longer distance route.

Work from Home
Why have a commute when you can have no commute from home and work there? Well, because your coworkers or your employees may need you to be in the office and to be present. I don't want to rule out the benefits of working from home.

Other Options

Van Pool

EasyStreet

Megabus

Bolt bus

Slugging

Correction: The cost of a monthly and weekly ferry ticket was corrected - it was originally a bit too high.