REASONS WHY METRO NORTH IS NOT OPENING THE HARTSDALE TRAIN STATION WAITING AREA TO COMMUTERS
On line petition was signed by over 500 people asking Metro North to open up the vacant waiting station room to commuters.
Earlier this year I started an online petition calling on Metro North to open up the Hartsdale train station to commuters. It's a beautiful building. It will get cold soon during early AM rush hours and many commuters would like to be able to relax in a comfortable heated station with washroom facilities while waiting for the train.
I started an online petition: https://www.change.org/p/open-the-hartsdale-train-station-waiting-room and received the following response from Andrew Buder, Director of Government and Community Relations for Metro North. I'm disappointed with the response but hope that Metro North will be successful in finding a new tenant soon for the vacant space.
Dear Supervisor Feiner,
The MTA is receipt of a couple of communications and questions from you with respect to the Hartsdale Station and the old station building in particular. We have previously discussed this matter on the phone but I wanted to provide a little more information.
Metro-North has moved away from the use of the street level old station buildings since high level platforms were installed and since we have transitioned away from ticket sellers at stations to ticket vending machines. Operationally, our customers are better served by facilities at track level or in bridge stations at this time and there is an enormous cost involved in keeping ground level stations opened and maintained in addition to the facilities that are better suited to serve current operational needs. At this time, MNR does not operate any restrooms on the Harlem line in the legacy ground level station buildings. While considering our operations when making decisions on what we will run, we also understand the value that the old ground level facilities offer to communities. This is why we look for tenants that are able to operate them and provide a public benefit. Our leases require that tenants makes the rest room facilities and waiting areas available from the start of the morning commute until the end of the evening commute.
In Hartsdale in particular, our customers are served by four enclosed waiting areas on the southbound side as well as one enclosed waiting are on the northbound side as well as the bridge at the station. As you are aware, the bridge will soon have two new elevators serving it along with customer comfort improvements that are expected to be available for use in the coming days. We look forward to you joining us in the coming days when this project is complete for a ribbon cutting.
Additionally, we have been aggressively marketing the space that we have available in Hartsdale and have engaged Darren S. Gordon of Houlihan Lawrence as a co-broker to ensure that we get the best possible responses to our currently open RFP for the space (a copy of which is attached). We are optimistic that we will be getting a number of strong proposals for the use of the ground level Hartsdale Station Building when RFP closes on December 15th. We are looking forward to a strong partner to use the space for the next decade if not longer.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Andy (Andrew) Buder (he/him)
Director, Government and Community Relations – Metro-North Railroad