WHEN MICHAEL DUKAKIS was governor, passenger trains ran to Cape Cod. So it should come as no surprise that one of the Bay State’s biggest mass transit boosters took the first Cape Flyer run out of Boston’s South Station on Memorial Day weekend. Dukakis and his wife Kitty travelled to Buzzard’s Bay to visit Kitty’s sister, who lives in Pocasset. He pronounced the old-but-new-again service “terrific.” “Believe me, it beats waiting to get over the bridge in a five-mile back-up,” Dukakis says.
Amtrak’s seasonal Cape Codder service ended in 1996, but rail on the Cape never really died. Freight trains haul trash and tourists enjoy dinner and sightseeing trips. But Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority Administrator Thomas Cahir thought the rail line could be put to better use transporting visitors to help unclog summer weekend traffic, especially the notorious backups at the Sagamore and Bourne bridges.
Like anything involving transportation in Massachusetts, there was the just small matter of who would pay for it. But Cahir, a former deputy secretary of transportation and state representative from Pocasset, had an answer for that, too.
The regional transit authority used $1.1 million of federal capital funds to pay for needed upgrades to the rail route through southeastern Massachusetts and on the Cape. The authority also has to cover the Cape Flyer’s $162,000 in Memorial Day to Labor Day operating expenses, which include expenditures for MBTA commuter trains, labor, and fuel costs.
By early May, the Cape regional transit authority had covered about half of the summer’s operating costs, earning about $51,000 from advertising revenue and advance ticket sales and another $37,000 from the first three weekends of operation. A ticket from Boston to Hyannis is $35 round trip and $20 one-way.
Cahir estimates that if the line sells 540 one-way tickets over each of the 15 summer weekends, the service will break even on its operating costs. There were 780 one-way passenger trips Memorial Day weekend, 665 one-way trips the following June weekend, 352 trips the second June weekend, and 697 the third. Cahir is encouraged by the June numbers, and he expects dramatic increases in July and August.
The business plan is “extremely realistic,” says Wendy Northcross, the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive officer. “The costs are being covered.”
The once-a-day trip from Boston to Hyannis takes about two-and-a-half hours. (Depending on the point of origin in metro Boston, travel by car can range from 90 minutes to two hours—if there are no backup at the bridges.)
Dukakis says that the train travels at a “good pace,” but slows down after crossing the Cape Cod Canal, where the freight rail track standards prevail. “That needs some work,” he says. Upgrades are in the works, according to Cahir. Those improvements could shave 30 minutes off the trip.
A free regional transit authority trolley meets the train and provides shuttle service to major attractions and beaches in the Hyannis area. The Steamship Authority, which operates ferry service to the Islands, offers shuttle service from the Buzzard’s Bay and Hyannis stations to the ferry departure points for Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
To reach other Mid-Cape towns, passengers have to rely on family and friends, local taxis, or a pickup from a hotel or bed and breakfast. If passengers want to go to Harwich, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro or Provincetown, they could transfer to the private bus carrier Plymouth & Brockton or a regional transit authority bus, which can add anywhere from 15 minutes to 90 minutes of additional travel time.
Ken Smith, executive vice president of Red Jacket Resorts in South Yarmouth, may consider running a shuttle, if there is demand. However, Smith says he doesn’t expect the service to have a “huge impact” on his business, which appeals to families with young children. With all the gear a family vacation sometimes requires, most Cape-bound parents will still want to drive, he says.
“The area that will benefit is downtown Hyannis,” says Smith.
Officials say the Cape Flyer is drawing a mix of travelers from young people to retirees and Cape residents who want to spend the weekend in the big city. The train service also appeals to international tourists. The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce has promoted the service heavily in the United Kingdom and Germany, the two countries that send the most visitors to Cape Cod, “They prefer rail in Europe,” Northcross says. “They don’t necessarily want to drive, but they do want to get here easily.”
September and October have become important months for Cape tourism, and many businesses would like to see the train extended through the Columbus Day weekend. No decision had been reached by press time. “With a pilot there is always a concern that it won’t continue,” says Peter Martino, co-owner of the Heritage House Hotel near the downtown Hyannis train station. “But it seems to make so much sense for both ends of the lines.”
Cahir says there is no plan to expand the service to year-round commuter rail because the Cape is primarily a seasonal tourist destination. He says the tracks also run close to homes, and most Cape communities don’t want a regular schedule of trains speeding through street-level crossings at 70 miles per hour. Plus, there’s the matter of money: upgrading freight rail-grade tracks on the Cape to run commuter trains would be prohibitively expensive. Still, the tracks north of the canal in Buzzards Bay could support commuter rail, and Cahir doesn’t rule out that possibility. “We’ll see what happens,” he says.
