In 30 years as a commuter, James Redeker never had to use the bathroom at the train station. So he doesn’t see why Connecticut commuters need to, either.
Redeker reflected on his commuting years during a visit to New Haven Tuesday when asked about this story by Luther Turmelle in Tuesday’s New Haven Register. The story reported that most of the new commuter rail stations Connecticut is building along the expanded New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Amtrak line will not include bathrooms.
In three decades commuting from a New Jersey commuter rail station, Redeker said, he not once needed to visit the facilities before boarding the train. Commuters tend to arrive right before boarding trains at the kind of stations Connecticut’s building in towns, he said. Terminals like New Haven’s Union Station, where people tend to hang out longer, do need bathrooms, he said.
The trains themselves have modern bathrooms in every other car, he said. He argued that adding bathrooms to each commuter stop along the way would cost too much to build and maintain.
Click on the video to watch him describe his position.