After one month of rides, some passengers on the Berkshire Flyer are hoping to see more options for arrivals and departures in Pittsfield.
We were far from alone in predicting that a good chunk of Berkshire Flyer riders would find the weekend train trip’s itinerary to be more rigid than ideal. It’s therefore not surprising to hear travelers on the newly revived New York City-to-Pittsfield rail trip lodge that common complaint when they were interviewed by The Eagle as this summer’s Flyer pilot hit the one-month mark.
What wasn’t so easy to predict when the Flyer first spread its wings last month, though, was whether rider enthusiasm could be substantively maintained after the fanfare of the pilot’s sold-out first run faded. Of the roughly 60 passengers who on Sunday boarded a train in Pittsfield bound for Penn Station via Albany-Rensselaer, those who spoke to The Eagle all struck a similar tone in wishing there were more flexibility than boarding a train in NYC Friday afternoon, arriving in Pittsfield Friday night and then boarding a train back to the Big Apple after a little more than one full day in the Berkshires.
Still, the bright side is that at least the ridership was there to register those complaints — and pretty much all of them loved the opportunity to get away to the Berkshires, even if they preferred a more reasonable window for doing so. The scores of people awaiting Sunday’s train suggests some sense of sustained enthusiasm for the Flyer despite the pilot’s obvious limitations. We can at least say that the Flyer pilot, this far out, has not proven to be a failure.
To be clear, that’s not so much faint praise as it is cautious optimism — emphasis on the cautious. When we lauded the Flyer pilot’s inaugural run — and all those officials, advocates and stakeholders whose sweat equity made it possible — we also acknowledged the very real barriers to sustainably augmenting mass public transit in an underserved region. Those who want to see the Flyer and other expanded rail services to the region succeed — as we certainly do — must see with clear eyes that it’s an uphill track.
That the Flyer pilot is still supporting a healthy share of riders marks a bit of progress on a journey with a lot more stops to go before reaching the desired destination of sustainability. It’s also a learning opportunity. As a representative for the Flyer pilot told The Eagle, there’s unfortunately no way to expand the train’s schedule this summer. For the pilot’s second phase next summer, however, these testimonials only further underscore just how much of a priority expanding the arrival and departure options must be. That additional convenience would almost certainly boost ridership and let those riders spend more time — and money — in the Berkshires.
As far as complaints go, hearing travelers saying they wish they could get a bit more of the Berkshires from the Flyer isn’t an entirely bad one. The target ridership demographic for this pilot sees what we already know — that the Berkshires has a world-class cultural sector, lush landscapes and a welcoming atmosphere that is poised for attracting visitors, investment and growth.
Hopefully that sentiment stirred by the Berkshire Flyer refracts beyond it so that other projects to upgrade the greater region’s transportation game — especially the critical east-west rail endeavor — see that if you build it out, they will come and enjoy the Berkshires.