Archive for March, 2007

You can’t take the A train if you want to leave Brooklyn

Friday, March 30th, 2007

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 [...]

Sander nominates Howard Roberts to head NYCT

Friday, March 30th, 2007

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 [...]

Kalikow not quite ready to leave MTA post

Thursday, March 29th, 2007

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 [...]

MTA entering the real estate biz for Second Ave. residents

Thursday, March 29th, 2007

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, [...]

April 12 set as Day 0 for the Second Ave. subway

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

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 [...]

Hail me some subway improvements instead

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

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 [...]

NYPD negotiating the fine line of subway ‘crime’

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

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 [...]

Service Alert: Building collapse disrupting IRT trains

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

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 [...]

Say cheese!

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

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 [...]

Chicago facing one ‘L’ of a problem

Monday, March 26th, 2007

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 [...]