Good news for the railfans out there: Ridership on Vermont’s two Amtrak lines is beating expectations and shows train travel here has come back strong since the start of the pandemic, officials told the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday morning.
Overall, about 150,000 people rode the Vermonter and Ethan Allen Express in the 2022 fiscal year — a fivefold increase over the previous fiscal year, when the routes were largely suspended, according to data shared Wednesday. Recent ridership on both lines has also been close to, or above, what it was before the pandemic, state and Amtrak officials said.
On the Ethan Allen Express — which runs between Burlington and New York City — fiscal year 2022 ridership was almost double what it was in 2019, Toni Clithero, Amtrak grants program manager for the state Agency of Transportation, said Wednesday. She attributed that increase to new stops that opened on the line last July in the Queen City, Vergennes and Middlebury.
In the 2023 fiscal year so far, the route’s ridership has been close to or above what it was in 2019, including a peak of about 12,000 riders in November 2022.
Clithero said the Ethan Allen Express has traditionally seen about half as many riders as the Vermonter, but that seems to no longer be the case. “This is The Little Engine That Could,” she told the senators. “This train is just performing gangbusters.”
Committee chair Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Grand Isle, was happy to hear the numbers. “We’re big fans of Amtrak,” he said, adding that, “I’ve talked to many people who’ve said the experience is fantastic, the service is good.”
Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington agreed, though he noted that some of his constituents have told him that the coffee served on the trains “is bad.” Sen. Jane Kitchell, D-Caledonia, suggested that Amtrak start sourcing its brews from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.
She’s not the only one interested in influencing the gastronomic offerings on trains. Legislators have introduced H.101, a lengthy bill seeking to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector, which includes a subsection that would require the Agency of Transportation to “take over” the food service on Amtrak trains operating in the state and make sure the snack cars serve Vermont food and (critically) Vermont beer.
The snack cars should also “practice disposable waste reduction and recycling strategies,” according to the bill.
As nice as that sounds, it’s unlikely that the state has the authority to make Amtrak sell certain products, the officials said on Wednesday. Rep. Mollie Burke, D-Brattleboro, one of the bill’s lead sponsors, acknowledged as much in an interview: “A lot of times, you sort of put aspirational things in bills that you’d like to see someday, even though maybe they wouldn’t work out right now.”
But I’m happy to report that there is some hope.
Clithero recalled in an interview Wednesday that, prior to the pandemic, the Vermonter and the Ethan Allen Express served both Long Trail Ale and Cabot cheese. And she noted that an Amtrak food and beverage working group is studying ways to improve onboard dining. That group is due to report back to Congress with its findings by late May — and she expects the state will have some input in the study process.
A humble suggestion to Amtrak, if you’re reading this: how about a maple creemee stand on every train?
— Shaun Robinson
IN THE KNOW
A proposal to do away with clergy exemptions for reporting child abuse and neglect got a first look Wednesday from a Vermont Senate committee.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee took no action on the bill, S.16, after listening to several witnesses speak about it. The senators said they wanted to hear from more witnesses, including constitutional scholars.
Vermont law says members of the clergy are obligated to report abuse and neglect, but the law adds exemptions for what they learn while hearing a confession or acting as a spiritual adviser.
— Alan J. Keays
Spurred by a group of Springfield residents who live close to Interstate 91, state Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor, is advocating for legislation that would establish civil penalties in Vermont for illegal modifications to a vehicle’s exhaust system.
The bill, S.64, proposes levying fines for operating any vehicle with an exhaust system modified to either produce more noise than it would with its original muffler or produce more exhaust fumes. The suggested fines start at $100 for a first offense, then rise to $200 for a second offense and $350 for all subsequent violations.
Though the legislation was discussed briefly this week in the state Senate Transportation Committee, members indicated that they were disinclined to immediately address it.
— Shaun Robinson
ON THE MOVE
A wide-ranging housing bill that seeks to pave the way for more construction by overhauling state and local building regulations is moving forward.
The Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee on Wednesday unanimously advanced omnibus legislation that would make substantial revisions to Act 250, Vermont’s landmark land-use law, and require municipalities to allow for denser housing in certain areas.
State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D/P-Chittenden Southeast, the committee’s chair, said the bill is attempting to touch “every piece of the housing supply and housing creation continuum.”
“Everything needs to be re-examined, scaled back, if we’re going to get housing development where we want it,” she said. “So if there’s no one thing we’re blaming in the system.”
— Lola Duffort
A bill intended to reduce suicides cleared the House Health Care Committee on Wednesday and is now headed to the Judiciary Committee, where it may be viewed through a different lens: gun control.
The health care committee approved the bill, H.230, by a vote of 7-3, with all Democrats supporting an amended version and all Republicans opposing it.
“I’m from a rural area. They take their gun ownership very strongly up there,” said Allen “Penny” Demar, R-Enosburg Falls, explaining his “no” vote in committee on Wednesday. “I’m going to go with the people back home. I think a lot of honest citizens are going to get harmed out of this.”
The bill would require locked firearm storage in homes that children frequent and a 72-hour waiting period after a firearm purchase. It also would give “a family or household member” the ability to file a petition with the court to remove firearms from someone deemed to be an “extreme risk” to them and others.
— Kristen Fountain
ON THE FIFTH FLOOR
Twenty Democratic governors from across the country have signed on to form a so-called Reproductive Freedom Alliance, pledging to protect and enhance access to reproductive health care “in the face of an unprecedented assault by states hostile to abortion rights,” States Newsroom reported Tuesday.
Vermont’s own Republican Gov. Phil Scott first heard of the coalition when he was down in Washington, D.C., earlier this month for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting. According to spokesperson Jason Maulucci’s retelling, it was there that staffers for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who spearheaded the effort, approached Scott’s staff with the concept. At the time, Maulucci said Scott “requested more details and information about what the coalition intends to accomplish.”
Has he gotten those details yet? “Not yet!” Maulucci said Wednesday.
“As you know, the Governor is a strong supporter of reproductive rights and we have strong protections in place in Vermont,” Maulucci wrote in an email.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT WE’RE READING
Randolph Clocksmith Skip Sjobeck turns back the hands of time on antique clocks (Seven Days)
March ballots full of bonds, charter changes in Vermont’s biggest cities and towns (VTDigger)
Former Winooski, Manchester police officers decertified by criminal justice council (VTDigger)
UVM study swabs white-tailed deer for Covid to better understand virus (Vermont Public)
Ski Resorts’ Snowmaking Quandary (Sierra)
