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- Thinking about expanding the naming rights offerings 2:25pm Jul 6
- Paying more and getting more 9:14am Jul 6
- Funding transit through market-rate parking spots 9:49pm Jul 5
As we debate ways to fund mass transit to keep fares low and service expansions on the table, Cap’n Transit focuses on another aspect of MTA fares. The Cap’n mused over the weekend on how much more would riders pay for a faster and more comfortable ride...
The MTA’s decision, announced two weeks ago at the agency’s last board meeting, to sell the naming rights at the Atlantic Ave./Pacific St. subway station to the Barclays Center has sparked some interesting debate...
When the MTA, with much fanfare, raised the fares this past week, many riders complained that they were paying more for the same level of service. New Yorkers, it seems, do not realize that without the fare hikes, they would suffer through crippling service cuts...
This is a rather confusing, confounding and interesting article in today’s Daily News. In it, Pete Donohue reports on and seemingly criticizes a few MTA divisions for health care spending. Take a look: Nice perk if you can get it...
In August 2007, a torrential rain storm knocked out nearly the entire New York subway system for hours. With the underground floods came a bunch of alarming developments...
Every few months, Lenore Skenazy’s tale of allowing her nine-year-old son to ride the subways alone rears it head. In fact, few stories about New York City parenting generate as much discussion as this one did. A few weeks after the story first broke, I defended Skenazy...
Yesterday afternoon, I reported on a building evacuation along Second Ave. near the Second Ave. Subway work zone. Due to a leaning structure, residents and businesses were ordered out of their homes and shops late Monday evening...
As part of my series of posts questioning the current state of subway advocacy and news coverage, earlier this week, I, with an assist from Chris O’Leary at the fledgling site On Transport, questioned the effectiveness of the Straphangers Campaign in organizing against the most recent fare hikes...
Whenever the MTA raises subway fares, the city’s newspapers — or at least those that decide to write about — cover it with a faux-populism outrages as expressed through the riders the reporters choose to interview...
As we all know because we pay attention to these things, the MTA raised their fares yesterday at 12:01 a.m. Throughout the system, stations featured SubTalk posters with the new fare structure, but what about people sitting at home? How could they find out the latest fare information...
Six days ago, I helped break the story of the MTA’s first naming rights contract. To recap: As part of the Atlantic Yards deal with Bruce Ratner, the MTA will receive $4 million over 20 years to add Barclays Center to the Atlantic Ave./Pacific St. subway stop...
Just a quick Sunday reminder that the new fares have gone into effect. A subway ride now costs $2.25, and the Unlimited Ride options all saw increases of a few dollars this morning. You can click on the image above for a bigger version of the MTA’s fare hike poster...
While most of our attention was on the Atlantic Yards plans, WNYC spent some time checking in with the MTA’s current 7 line expansion project. Matthew Schuerman interviewed Joe Trainor, the MTA’s chief engineer on the project, and it sounds as though the crews are making good progress...
I’ll get to the nitty-gritty of the MTA’s sweetheart deal for the Atlantic Yards rights later today. If you want to read about this embarrassment of riches for Bruce Ratner and the MTA’s dereliction of duty ahead of time, check out Mike Grynbaum’s coverage on City Room...
Riders will create a garbage can wherever they can. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak) When I interviewed New York City Transit President Howard Roberts in the fall, he spoke at length about his desire for cleaner stations...
The various committees that make up the MTA Board are set for a day of meetings today, and I’ll be covering the events as my day job allows...
Later this morning, the various committees that make up the MTA Board will meet for their monthly sessions. Ahead of next Sunday’s fare hikes, the news probably won’t be rosy for the financially-troubled transit agency...
One of the key issues in last month’s debate over the MTA rescue plan centered around source of revenue for a widely-used mass transit system. Should the state and city be subsidizing transit or should the MTA, through farebox revenue, be largely self-sufficient...
The Train of Many Colors rides its way east past the Citibank building in Long Island City. (Photo by Ron Yee/New York Transit Museum) The Transit Museum is breaking out their old cars this weekend, and they have asked me to help promote the trip...
Not known for efficiencies in contracting, the MTA came under fire in September when the Daily News reported of a no-win fuel contract...
The daily weekday ridership for Metro-North is around 270,000. For the Long Island Rail Road, that figure clocks in at about 290,000. Meanwhile, in New York City last year, average daily subway ridership hit 5.2 million...
Poor Staten Island. It is, by far, the most transit-neglected borough in the city...
My gym inhabits an old bank at the corner of 5th Ave. and Union St. in Park Slope. The building has a pair of mezzanines on either end, and the treadmills are lined up facing out the windows on the second floor overlooking the avenue...
Over the last few months, I’ve written about the joint effort between New York City’s Department of Transportation and the MTA to expand the city’s nascent bus rapid transit program...
This Friday, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 will open at theaters around New York. The action remake of the 1974 cult classic tale of a subway hijacking features John Travolta and Denzel Washington in the lead roles, and press coverage is starting to take off...
Update (1:30 p.m.): In a move reminiscent of the diamond 6 service, NYC Transit is planning a pilot program that would see the 4 train run express in the Bronx. According to amNew York’s Heather Haddon, Transit hopes that by running some Manhattan-bound 4 trains as express from the 7-8 a.m...
In writing yesterday on the MTA contractor charged with fraud, I noted that the transit agency’s pilot program to outfit stations with cell service seemed to be on terminal hold...
Just a short follow-up to Thursday’s news of an MTA contractor under indictment for fraud. According to the Daily News, M.A. Angeliades, the company accused of by Manhattan D.A. Robert Morganthau of bilking the MTA out of $600,000, is heading up the Bleecker St. renovation project...
While this mini article in today’s Post doesn’t say much, the few sentences it contains do not portend a good year for the MTA in 2010...
When I first read the news about the M.A. Angeliades indictment, I wasn’t too shocked. Fraud and dishonesty among New York City contractors! Why I never! Then, I got to thinking: This is an MTA contractor being accused of fraud in dealing with workers hired for MTA projects...
Over the weekend, the Queensboro Bridge turned 100, and the city celebrated with a processional of old cars across the span and some East River fireworks. As part of the celebration, Gridlock Sam made light of the fact that cars had to pay three cents to cross the bridge in 1909...
Over the last two and a half years, I haven’t said much on the Atlantic Yards deal. No Land Grab and Atlantic Yards Report have that beat more than covered. A development this week though warrants some discussion. First, a recap...
Pedestrians take advantage of a car-free Broadway in Times Square on Sunday. (Photo by flickr user bmaryman) Recently, Janette Sadik-Khan and her revolutionary livable streets plans have been garnering a lot of headlines...
Elliot Sander is the unfortunate victim of circumstance, and we the subway-riding public are worse off for it. Up until around around 10 days ago, Elliot Sander was the CEO and Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority...
At some point in the not-too-distant future — maybe next month, maybe in the fall — Gov. David Paterson will formally announce his selection for the newly combined top spot at the MTA...
Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard a lot about the MTA’s planned station agent cuts. Despite an Albany rescue plan, the authority has stayed true to its original decision to cut what transit officials view as the unnecessary station agent plan...
Now and then, I like to see what’s happening in transit systems outside of New York City. Often, I’ll turn to Washington, D.C., for a glimpse at what an efficient — and much smaller — transit system looks like. The lessons from D.C...
Since the Ravitch Report landed on the desk of Gov. David Paterson in December, “internal belt-tightening” has turned into an MTA buzzword. Throughout the build-up to the Doomsday budget and all throughout the transit fight in Albany, the MTA has proclaimed itself ready for cuts...
New Yorkers love to complain about the MTA, and no matter how little people know about the situation, they always think they know better than those in charge. In the past, I’ve taken on seemingly ignorant commenters on The Times’ City Room blog...
When I’m waiting for a train, I’ll often take a look at the rubber bumper along the edge of the subway platform. Generally, I don’t like what I see. The bumpers are in various states of erosion, and sometimes the boards are visibly loose or just not there...
A Shuttle train sits at Grand Central, decked out in Google Maps advertising. (Photo by flickr user Paolo Mastrangelo) Around the country, advertising revenues are dropping precipitously...
When the Senate finally voted to approve an MTA rescue package, it was clear that the beleaguered transit agency had lost at least one battle...
Today marks Elliot Sander’s final day as CEO and Executive Director of the MTA. He had a short and tumultuous run, but it was among the best in MTA history...
Every Friday, when NYC Transit sends out the weekend service advisories, the press release always discusses the agency’s $10 billion capital improvement plan. Yesterday, Infrastructurist ran a piece on China’s transit investment plan. Outside of New York, the U.S...
Buried at the bottom of Heather Haddon’s article on the fate of the Fulton St. Transit Center was an interesting note about the MTA’s search for revenue...
Updated 5:36 p.m.: Tomorrow marks current MTA CEO and Executive Director Elliot Sander’s last day on the job, and MTA Chair Dale Hemmerdinger has named Helena Williams, current president of the Long Island Rail Road, as the interim replacement...
I love subway maps and maps about subways. I have an extensive collection of historical New York City subway maps at home and a few from other systems around the globe as well. Recently, though, something else piqued my attention...
The MTA and Siemens have had a rocky relationship. The technology company won the contract to install train arrival boards along the L line and to equip the line with computer-based train control...
Last week, I examined the calls to return streetcar service to Brooklyn. Riffing off a post at The Transport Politic, we discussed the good and bad of streetcar service in a borough once famous for its trolleys...
Will this be the final look for the Fulton St. Transit Center? Stay tuned. The Fulton St. complex is a mess right now. The Cortlandt St...
As a little kid riding the New York City buses in the late 1980s, nothing would bring me more joy that the “Stop Requested” bell cord...
A construction fence marks the start of the lengthy Culver Viaduct rehab. (Photo for Second Ave. Sagas by Twitter user JeffreyNYC.) The Culver Viaduct work and the extension of the G train deeper into Brooklyn are two stories near and dear to my heart...
As New Yorkers and the MTA adjust to life in the post-rescue plan era of transit planning, it is worth revisiting and old — and contentious —proposal to fund transit...
As the U.S. economy continued to struggle and shed jobs this spring, the MTA ridership numbers and the agency’s projected revenue suffered in turn. According to today’s Post, New York City lost 86,400 jobs in March, and MTA subway ridership levels were at 2.5 million fewer trips than expected...
Oh, those pesky station agents. Last week, in voting down the Doomsday fare hike, the MTA Board noted that station agent cuts remain on the table. As it always does, the topic engendered much discussion about the impact — real vs. perceived — that these agents have on subway safety...
David Yassky, center, and Mayor Bloomberg, left, announcing a residential parking plan in 2008...
Hot on the heels of Friday’s rather controversial post about the funding and benefits issues facing the MTA, today we have a pair of stories about the dicey fate of MTA employees...
For the last few months, we’ve been covering the MTA’s budgetary woes nearly non-stop. The city’s transportation authority is facing a massive budget crunch, and advocates would prefer to see the hole plugged through contributions from drivers...
When the MTA Board passed a new fare structure earlier this week, the leaders of the transit agency stressed the fact that the so-called cuts to the public — fewer trains, less frequent service — would be voted down soon as well...
Since late January when the MTA started hosting public hearings on the Doomsday budget proposals, the future of the transit authority seemed uncertain. Albany had not yet committed to a rescue package, and the MTA Board had to go ahead with what they viewed as necessary cuts...
Over the last few days, we’ve heard rumors about various people who may or may not be nominated to head the MTA. Yesterday, Gov. David Paterson broke his silence on the issue and put forth a stunning defense of Marc Shaw, the one man the Senate seems intent on denying the position...
West of the Hudson River lies an area of New York State far removed from New York City. Rockland and Orange Counties have far more in common with Northern Jersey and Pennsylvania than they do with the other, closer regions in the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District...
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Earlier this morning, the MTA Board approved a series of measures designed to rollback their Doomsday plan. Service to the public will not be cut, and while the station agents may be slashed, the fare hikes have been rolled back as well...
Tomorrow morning, the MTA Board will meet one more time with Dale Hemmerdinger as its chair to determine the new fare structure and to vote down the service cuts. In light of Albany’s finally passing the rescue bill, the authority will still raise fares but by a lesser amount...
Timothy M. Dolan, New York City’s newest Archbishop, checked out the sandhogs digging out the 7 line extension on Friday and gave his blessings over the new subway tunnel. “Bless this tunnel, those who are constructing it, and those who will use it,” he said...
In 1974, Joseph Sargent made a movie out of a John Godey book about a trainjacking in New York City. The movie — The Taking of Pelham One Two Three — is so quintessentially an element of 1970s New York City that a remake, while inevitable, is simply unnecessary...
The final two pieces of the Democratic puzzle have fallen into place. After closed-door meetings in Albany on Monday, the final two Democratic holdouts in the State Senate — Craig M. Johnson and Brian X...
Gov. David Paterson knows he doesn’t have a ground-breaking plan to fund the MTA on tap. In fact, he is willing to admit that his plan is simply a stop-gap measure designed to halt a fare hike and avoid crushing service cuts, and he said as much this weekend...
Earlier this week, I reported on an amNew York report concerning the renovations at 96th St. on the West Side IRT. Accoridng to that report, the MTA cut $26 million from the project, and as a result, the station would supposedly be less handicapped accessible. Not so, said New York City Transit...
As the MTA’s economic comes to a head this week with Senate and Assembly votes due on a funding plan, the agency is searching for money every way it can. One of those options — eschewing pay raises for its workers — may just start some labor unrest at at time when the MTA can least afford it...
Where do old subway cars go when they do? The ocean off the coast of Delaware, of course. On Friday, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control added 44 more old subway cars to its extensive artificial reef off of the Delmarva coast...
As Albany dallies, so grows the deficit. In a presentation to the MTA Board’s Finance Committee this afternoon, agency CFO Gary Dellaverson said that the MTA deficit has grown by $621 million this year...
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