Archive for March, 2007
Mar
30
You can’t take the A train if you want to leave Brooklyn
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If you’re on the A or C line in Brooklyn, everything is messed up this weekend. The MTA has to replace a 71-year-old piece of railbed, and that means major service disruptions.
First, there is no C service at all, and the A trains are running local. Except Jay St.-Borough Hall and Utica Ave where shuttle buses will operate. Take the L, says the MTA. For more on that, check out the MTA’s site.
Meanwhile, the rest of your subway service advisories are much the same as they have been. No 7 service; weird West and East Side service on the IRT; yadda, yadda, yadda.
But to get you through your weekend subway blues, Second Ave. Sagas presents yet another trip down memory lane. In this classic clip from 1970s TV staple The Electric Company, Morgan Freeman – yes, The Morgan Freeman – bemoans that “nobody loves the subway.” It’s brilliant.
Mar
30
Sander nominates Howard Roberts to head NYCT
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For the last 11 months, New York City Transit has been under the leadership of interim president Millard “Butch” Seay. Since Lawrence “I have no nickname” Reuter stepped down last April, no permanent replacement had been named. But now reports say that MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander is ready to name a new NYCT head.
This new president will be one-time NYCT VP and former Deputy GM of the SEPTA Howard H. Roberts. According to a report in the New York Post, Sander will soon make this an official appointment, and the MTA board will have to approve the selection.
Howard H. Roberts, 67, who was a vice president for New York City Transit buses in the 1980s when Sander worked in the division, is likely to become the next president of NYC Transit, sources said…
Roberts has since worked at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority in Philadelphia, where he is credited with helping to improve safety and security of the system, and most recently as a transportation consultant. He also is a former Citibank vice president.
Transportation advocates contacted by the Post believe that Roberts will be a fine choice. I’ll have more on the once and future MTA employee as the appointment becomes official.
Mar
29
Kalikow not quite ready to leave MTA post
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Remember away back in November when MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow announced he would step down? It sure does seem like a long time.
Four months ago, Kalikow was ready to step down “by the second quarter of 2007,” according to the reports. The new Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer clearly wanted someone in the MTA chairmanship with whom he could work well, and Kalikow was amenable to leaving as long he could secure funds for the Second Ave. subway and the LIRR-East Side rail link.
Now, with the Second Ave. subway groundbreaking set for April 12, Kalikow is in no hurry to leave. Metro New York has more:
Speculation has returned over when Kalikow will step down. He had previously said that might come as soon as the second quarter of this year. But yesterday Kalikow was in no hurry to leave. “Not yet,” he said. “I have not spoken to the governor about it. It’s on my mind.”
Of course, no one likes to leave his position or power, but it’s probably in the best interests of the MTA if the governor and the chairman of the state’s transportation authority got along well.
Meanwhile, within the same article, word comes that the tunnel at 99th St. in “pristine condition,” according to Elliot Lee Sander, MTA CEO. I for one am glad to hear that a decades-old tunnel left abandoned since funds ran out on the project last time is still in great shape. Skepticism, anyone?
Mar
29
MTA entering the real estate biz for Second Ave. residents
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Hopefully, you won’t end up in that when the MTA can’t find you anything on Craigslist.
So last summer, when I moved back home to NYC after a few months away, I had to go through the joys of finding affordable housing in a city in which the vacancy rate is less than 1 percent. Now, less than 1 percent of a few million is still a significant number, and it’s not impossible to find somewhere to live. Just try finding a rent controlled apartment.
Ok, ok. Funny joke. Rent-controlled apartment. Ha ha ha. Stop laughing now because that’s just what the MTA has to do for those unfortunate souls living in the path of the Second Ave. subway. What makes this difficult task — finding affordable and comparable housing on the Upper East Side — even harder are the 60 rent-controlled apartments set to be demolished to make way for the new subway line. NY1′s transit reporter Bobby Cuza has more:
That’s right, the MTA is going apartment-hunting, trying to score cheap housing on the Upper East Side, the idea being to hold the apartments, then eventually hand over the keys to residents being displaced by the Second Avenue Subway.
“We are obligated to relocate most of these tenants – in fact all of the tenants,” said MTA Director of Real Estate Roco Krsulic. “We have to find them replacement housing. The rules are rather specific, that we have to find them comparable housing, and preferably in the same community board.”
Well, as a veteran of this process, I must suggest that the MTA start looking here on Craigslist but beware those finders fees. Another good place is The Times’ Real Estate listings, and this time, look out for photos and places that seem too good to be true. It’s a trap.
All joking aside, Krsulic’s department faces a daunting task. Metro’s coverage of this news was decidedly pessimistic. “Given the paucity of affordable housing in Manhattan, and especially on the Upper East Side, the Real Estate Department and our relocation consultants will be seeking potential replacement dwellings,” Krsulic said. “The possibility is we may not be able to find any.”
And that spells doom for a smooth start to this long and arduous subway construction plan.
Mar
28
April 12 set as Day 0 for the Second Ave. subway
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By and large, most New Yorkers won’t believe the Second Ave. subway is here until they set foot on a platform and board a train that heads up or down the avenue. But the City is doing its best to make it happen sooner rather than never, and April 12 is the first physical set in the plan to bring the Line that Almost Never Was to the city.
The official groundbreaking ceremony for the Second Ave. subway is set for Thursday, April 12, according to NY1.
It has been in the works for decades and now there is finally a date attached to construction of the Second Avenue subway.
The MTA said Wednesday that a groundbreaking will take place April 12th in a tunnel under 99th Street.
While residents are still concerned about the impact the construction will have on the neighborhood, the MTA claims disruptions will be kept to a minimum. Soon, we’ll know who’s right.
April 12 will be an exciting day for the city. Construction will start on the first new subway line in decades, and the East Side will get some badly needed subway relief. I can’t wait.
Mar
28
Hail me some subway improvements instead
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It’s easier to hail a Lego taxi in the outer boroughs than a Yellow cab. (Courtesy of Lego Certified Professional Sean Kenney)
The Internets were a-twitter yesterday with news of the City Council proposal to try out ten yellow taxi stands in the Outer Boroughs. For “about $5 million over three years, not to mention capital and other expenses,” the denizens of Queens, Brookly, the Bronx and Staten Island would have the pleasure of knowing that a yellow cab would be waiting for them somewhere.
Now, as anyone who’s ever tried to hail – or simply take – a cab from Manhattan into the not-so-far reaches of the city’s other four boroughs knows, cab drivers are beyond hesitant to venture away from the island that makes up New York County. And as Matthew W. Daus, Taxi and Limousine Commission chairman, noted during the debate, only a meager eight percent of taxi trips do not involve Manhattan or the airports.
But why bother sink money into taxi stands that aren’t necessary? Daus, a Bay Ridge resident, noted that car services and the so-called gypsy cabs that operate outside the realm of the law seem to suit the needs of non-Manhattan residents better anyway. The four borough presidents took exception to this statement, noting that gypsy cabs are illegal and unreliable and that car services tend to bilk unknowing passengers out of their hard-earned money. In the end, though, Daus and the City Council shot down the bill, and even Mayor Bloomberg urged folks to use the “black cars” instead of waiting for a medallioned taxi.
So things look bleak for the outer borough crowd. But that’s where Second Ave. Sagas comes in. The city was all set to spend at least $5 million for these taxi stands, but the Council nixed that idea. Let’s turn around and invest that $5 million into subway service for the outer boroughs.
The city could add some more cars to a few of the neglected trains lines. They could beef up G service or extend the V through Brooklyn. They could invest in some more track work to maintain the system or invest in some badly-needed station rehabilitation projects.
According to the MTA’s Capital Program budget numbers, $5 million could rehab a station or double the track replacement budget. While not a massive contribution, every little bit helps the MTA in an effort to provide subway service to everyone in New York.
“You have a better chance of seeing God than seeing a yellow cab,” Councilman Vincent M. Ignizio, from Staten Island, said during the debates. Well, maybe God wants us to take the subway instead.
Mar
27
NYPD negotiating the fine line of subway ‘crime’
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You don’t want to go there. (Courtesy of flickr user Joshua S)
Did you know that it is illegal to move in between subway cars unless instructed to do so? Did you know that the police will ticket you for this offense? Well, if you were a reader of mine on March 5, you knew that.
But based on the number of search hits I get for people looking for information on subway summons, odds are you didn’t know that.
Well, it’s true; the police can – and do – ticket straphangers who are moving between cars, and they are, Chuck Bennett reports, issuing more summonses this year than before.
Transit cops are busting more subway predators on the prowl, leading to a 27 percent jump in the number of arrests this year.
That’s because NYPD brass have ordered subway cops to crack down on quality of life offenses like walking between cars, smoking and jumping turnstiles. That sweep is leading police to more serious criminals, turning up weapons and people with outstanding warrants.
According to NYPD figures, cops have given out 1953 summonses this year; each carry a fine of $75. That’s a quick way to collect $146,475.
The MTA and the NYPD outlawed moving between cars in December of 2005, and last year, cops issued 3600 summonses. Through the first three months of 2007, subway riders are on pace to receive nearly 6000 tickets this year for what the MTA calls “outside riding.”
So check your surroundings before moving in between cars. You never know who’s on the other side (or in plain clothes) waiting to slap you with a $75 ticket.
Mar
27
Service Alert: Building collapse disrupting IRT trains
Posted by: | Comments Bad news for folks commuting today on the IRT: A building collapsed at 116th St. and Lexington, disrupting subway and MetroNorth service in all directions. The MTA’s service alert page has the info, but for your convenience, here we go.
Due to a building collapse at 115th Street:
There is no service on the 6 train between the 3rd Avenue-138th Street Station in the Bronx and the 86th Street Station in Manhattan. Also, there is no service on the 4 train between the 86th Street Station in Manhattan and the 149th Street Station in the Bronx. In addition, there is no service on the 5 train between the Bowling Green Station in Manhattan and the 149th Street Station in the Bronx. These service diversions are in effect in both directions.
Shuttle bus service has been provided on the 6 line between the 149th Street-3rd Avenue Station and the 138th Street-3rd Avenue Station.
Please expect delays in service on the 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 trains. If possible, customers should utilize the lettered lines.
Good luck getting around this afternoon. It’s going to be slow riding.
Update at 5:17 p.m.: The MTA reports service on the East Side IRT has been restored. Trains are running slower than normal so be patient.
Hat tip to amNY Subway Tracker.
Mar
27
Say cheese!
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Apparently, all those people seeing something and saying something just isn’t paying off for the MTA in their never-ending fight against the terrorists, and that non-stop barking dog at Penn Station isn’t too discerning. So now the MTA is going to watch you as you commute, read the paper and pick your nose to and from work each day on the subway.
The MTA, you see, has plans to install digital security cameras in subways in an effort to watch your every move protect our city’s transit infrastructure from the Bad Guys. Already in use on the WMATA’s Metro cars in Washington, D.C., these cameras, according to Michael Lombardi, senior vice president for New York City Transit, can aid in criminal investigations and the aftermath of terrorist attacks. The Times has more:
Lombardi…said the authority had asked Kawasaki and Alstom, the two companies that are producing the latest model of subway car, known as the R160, to propose ways to add security cameras to the cars. The request was made within the last two months.
He said the authority would review the designs and ultimately seek to test them in a small number of cars, to see if the cameras would withstand the bumps, jolts, dust and stop-and-go conditions of the subway system. Mr. Lombardi said there was no timeline for the program, adding that any decision on the cameras would hinge in part on the cost.
I would hope a digital camera attached to the ceiling of a subway and experiencing the same bumps and jolts as everyone else would be effective, but leave it up to the MTA to mess up security cameras. If Washington, D.C., hardly the model of expertise when it comes to rapid transit, can install and monitor security cameras, I have a sneaking suspicion that New York with its extensive network of closed-circuit cameras can find a way to make something work in the subway.
“The goal is to examine where the technology is and whether it’s feasible to do it,” said Paul J. Fleuranges, a spokesman for New York City Transit. “We’ve done that for buses, we’ve done that for stations. Now we have to do that for subway cars.” Hint: It’s feasible, Paul. It’s feasible.
With 660 new cars for various subway lines on order and another 1040 on tap, NYCT would like to see the camera prototypes sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, NYCT plans to add cameras to 450 city buses, and they’ve already nixed the idea — because of the expenses and technology involved — of sending live images to a central rely station for 24-hour surveillance.
I’m not too thrilled with the idea of someone spying on our every move on the subway, and I bet SUBWAYblogger won’t be too enamored of the idea either. You certainly won’t be able to nab that nifty ad after hours anymore without feeling a set of eyes on you. But, whether you know it or not, the city is constantly watching you. There are, in fact, 13 security cameras between the front of my office building and the middle elevator bank plus at least another eight on West 16th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues. So what’s another set of eyes catching us at our most vulnerable as we ride the subways each day?
Image of WMATA security cameras in the D.C. subway from Outtacontext.
Mar
26
Chicago facing one ‘L’ of a problem
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A glimpse down the ‘L’ tracks in Chicago. (Courtesy of flickr user sftrajan)
Once upon a time, the New York City subways were a mess. Decades of Robert Moses’ iron-fisted rule of the NYC metropolitan area’s transportation policies had left the subways near bankrupt and in a state of disrepair. Old train cars derailed frequently and otherwise crawled around the city. Service problems numbered in the thousands per year, and no one wanted to ride what was once the bets subway system in the world.
In those days, grime and dirt marred the subways. The cars were covered from floor to ceiling, inside and out, with graffiti, and crime underground transcended a problem. It was an epidemic. Looking at popular NYC culture from the time, movies such as The Taking of Pelham One Two Three show New Yorkers resigned to their fates. Submachine guns on the subway? It’s just another day’s commute.
These were dark days for New York City. Emerging from bankruptcy itself largely brought about by Robert Moses’ reckless spending and the need to maintain his automobile-centric infrastructure, the city was known as a seedy den of sin and social disorder. Times Square meant peep shows and prostitutes, not Disney and The Lion King. in 1984, at arguably the low point in the City’s recent history, one man – Bernard Goetz – took personal vigilantism to a whole new level when he shot four young men he believed to be threatening him.
Whether or not Goetz’s incident was the clear turning point or Rudy Giuliani’s crime prevention measures were the real cause of the New York City turnaround doesn’t matter. Twenty-five years ago, the subways had no money, few riders and a grim future. No politician wanted to invest in them; no one in his or her right mind would want to ride on them. How times have changed for a subway system that will soon see its first new line in decades and may witness record ridership numbers by the end of the decade.
But while we enjoy a subway renaissance, our neighbors 800 miles to the west aren’t so lucky. While social conditions in urban cities in the U.S. has improved since the 1980s and riding the subway isn’t nearly as dangerous as it once was, not all subway systems are maintained with the same devotion and dollars that our expansive highway system enjoys, and now, Chicagoans are starting to pay the price. The ‘L,’ Chicago’s 100-year-old rapid transit system, is breaking down. The money isn’t there to modernize the trains, and a boom times in Chicago are stressing the system to what some are calling its breaking point. The Times has more.
