Testy Commuters : Riders Say Metrolink Cars Are Noisy and Cramped

It’s petition-circulating time on the 5:40 p.m. train to San Juan Capistrano, and that is not good news for the Southern California Regional Rail Authority.

Little more than a week before the five-county commuter rail agency is scheduled to open its Metrolink system for business, the authority is being confronted by complaints from passengers unhappy with its modern, double-decked passenger coaches.

Several of the distinctive periwinkle-and-white cars have been in service for more than a month on the Orange County Transportation Authority’s once-a-day round-trip commuter train.

The reviews, so far, have been mixed at best.

Passengers often compliment the cars’ appearance. And they like the tables scattered among some of the second-floor seats, which give riders space to set up laptop computers or spread out some papers. People also favor the large restrooms, which are designed--like the rest of the coaches--to be wheelchair-accessible.

But many riders complain that the new cars are noisy, the seats are cramped and there are not enough places to park briefcases, coats and other belongings. Some also say they miss the convenience of cafe cars, where they could buy coffee and snacks when they commuted on Amtrak’s intercity San Diegan trains.

The Orange County-sponsored train, which uses cars borrowed from the Metrolink system, supplements Amtrak service between San Juan Capistrano and Los Angeles. As a commuter service, the Orange County trains lack the dining facilities available on the Amtrak trains, which are designed for longer trips.

Metrolink officials have heard most of these complaints and said they are trying to address them. Dana Reed, one of Orange County’s representatives on the rail authority board, has asked that future Metrolink cars be redesigned with roomier seating and other improvements.

But when real estate appraiser Steven T. Hermanson takes a seat on the 5:40 train, “the headrest hits me here,” he said recently, pointing to his shoulder blades and hunching over. “So I’m pitched forward like this for 50 minutes.”

Hermanson, who stands about 6-foot-3 and is solidly built, lives in Mission Viejo and rides every morning from Irvine to Union Station in Los Angeles. He said he is devoted to train commuting because it gives him time to socialize or work. But he said there are times he is tempted to join friends who have switched to car pools.

Hermanson said it is difficult to open the doors between coaches. He wishes that the trains ran more often so he could arrive at his office closer to the start of business. And he would like Metrolink to dim the lights in their cars.

“When you get on at 6 a.m. and these lights hit you,” he said, wincing at the thought. “You could dissect frogs under these lights. You could perform surgery in here.”

On his own, Hermanson recently circulated a questionnaire among his fellow passengers, asking them how they liked the cars. He said he intends to use the results to petition Metrolink officials for changes.

Most of those who filled in the forms on a recent leg to San Juan Capistrano echoed his complaints, on paper and in person.

One man, while going over Hermanson’s one-page, multiple-choice form, said: “These seats are uncomfortable for big people.”

“For little people, too,” responded a woman across the aisle.

“It’s not enough to make me stop riding,” said Ed McCah, a five-day-a-week commuter from San Juan Capistrano to Los Angeles. “I’d much rather have an uncomfortable train that runs on time than a comfortable train that doesn’t. Amtrak seemed to be late a lot. Metrolink, at least, runs on time.

“But there are enormous problems (with the cars),” he added.

McCah said he tries not to sit next to or across from anyone because the face-to-face seats are narrow and lack legroom. He tries hardest to stay out of window seats, which he describes as the most cramped.

“I avoid them like the plague,” he said. “I can’t move my arms at all.”

Richard Stanger, Southern California Regional Rail Authority executive director, said he has talked to the cars’ manufacturer, the UTDC division of Bombardier Inc., about redesigning models built for Metrolink expansion.

There is not enough time, Stanger added, to modify the cars that have been built and will be on hand for Metrolink’s Oct. 26 opening day. Stanger said he hopes that new riders will like the cars and that Orange County commuters will learn to like them over time.

“If you’re used to an Amtrak train, as the people in Orange County are, these will take some getting used to,” he said. Similar coaches--with seats that are less padded--have won praise from commuters in Toronto and Miami, he said.

But if the regulars on the 5:40 train to San Juan Capistrano are a reliable barometer, Southern California riders will be a hard sell.

“In Toronto, they have mostly medium-length commutes,” said Hermanson, adding that he had researched the topic.

“Their longest commute is 50 minutes; our average commute is that long. . . . Sometimes,” he said, “I get home more tense than when I left the office.”