Archive for August, 2007
Aug
14
MTA employees often the last to know everything
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This MTA employee is hard at work preparing to aid would-be straphangers navigate the system.
It’s clearly Beat Up On The MTA Week around here so far. We learned yesterday that technology is not the MTA’s strong point and that NYCT express bus drivers were inexplicably not given the order to alter their routes during last week’s system-wide failure. Today, let’s tackle those ever-so-unhelpful MTA workers.
First a story from my sister. She heads to work from the 96th St. stop on the West Side IRT to the 125th St. stop. This wonderful adventure happened last week:
A passenger got injured … at 125th Street, so there were two indecipherable announcements on my train about skipping a stop, which I heard both times as 135th but was apparently 125th. At 135th, I asked the woman in the booth if downtown trains were skipping 125th also. She didn’t know. My co-intern had to get out at 110th because her train simply wasn’t going to continue yet … She asked the person in the booth what bus goes up Lenox Avenue. The person didn’t know. I thought the lack of knowledge of these two MTA employees was ridiculous and unjustifiable — how can they have people working for them who can’t answer these basic and obvious questions?
Victoria, you ask questions that have plagued New Yorkers since the dawn of time. What good indeed are those red-vested employees that roam the stations now that token sellers are defunct? What good are MTA workers who are supposedly in place to help riders negotiate their ways through the subway system if they don’t know which buses are available for transfer just 20 feet above their heads?
Meanwhile, my sister — and 7.2 million other straphangers — isn’t the only person in New York noticing this problem. WNYC, New York’s excellent public radio station, ran a short audio snippet featuring two MTA employees bemoaning their lack of knowledge. The clip, which you can hear at the link, features Beth Fertig’s talking to these workers.
“We’re the last to know,” a female employee says. “Sometimes we hear information from the scanners and sometimes that information is not right. And the audio system: sometimes that is not right.”
Fertig later asks if the MTA employees are equipped with cell phones or Blackberries in case of an emergency. The female says their only emergency training is in case of a terrorist attack. The employees are instructed to put on their masks. And that’s it.
When asked about computers, the male employee could only laugh. “Where do you see a computer?” he asks Fertig pointing to a station booth.
So there you have it. The first responders to a subway emergency have no access to any accurate information and no way of coordinating with central command. Houston, we have a communications problem.
Aug
13
Express buses don’t stop there. Ever.
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The MTA should have put their old bus fleets back in service last week.
Yet another story on the MTA’s utter inability to coordinate communications during an emergency came my way this afternoon. This time, the Daily News reports on Express Bus drivers who didn’t stop at local stops during last Wednesday’s flood because no one at MTA headquarters told them to.
What you hear now is the sound of millions of people smacking their foreheads at once. Pete Donohue has the gory details:
Hundreds of empty MTA express buses didn’t stop to pick up subway riders stranded by Wednesday’s torrential rains because no one told bus drivers to alter their routes.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s NYC Transit division has about 600 express coaches, and the MTA Bus Company, another division, has several hundred more. Combined, they could have moved thousands who were stranded by crippled subways and unable to board jam-packed local buses. But the MTA, which was caught offguard by the storm’s severity, didn’t issue an emergency directive for express bus drivers to make additional stops, even though the deluge crippled the entire underground system, union and transit officials said yesterday.
Here we have yet another salvo in the call for the MTA to adopt a better communications system. For his part, MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander thinks he could have asked express bus drivers to change their routes. “I believe that I have the authority under an emergency situation to ask all employees to do different things than they normally would do,” Sander said. “It’s in their contract.”
Coming not a moment too soon to the MTA: Common sense. I hope.
Aug
13
MTA enters the 21st century kicking and screaming
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Bus shelters in London know when the next bus is coming. New Yorkers have to result to the tried and true peer-down-the-street method. (Image courtesy of the Department of Transportation)
Public transportation-minded New Yorkers have long bemoaned the state of the MTA’s technology. The Website, as I noted on Friday, has never been too reliable, and other systems around the globe have figured out how to tell riders how far away the next train or bus is. And don’t even get me started on the MTA’s mobile alert system or lack thereof.
But with Wednesday’s crippling flood, everyone else is starting to take notice. On Friday, The New York Times ran an article about the poor state of communications technology in the subways and how riders were left stranded with little information as events unfolded last week.
Citing rapid-response alerts in the Washington Metro, mobile alerts from New Jersey Transit and a mobile trip planning site in San Francisco, Ken Belson and Sewell Chan spoke less glowingly of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority:
In New York — home to the country’s largest transit system, with an $8 billion annual budget — information is doled out in a more elementary fashion. During Wednesday’s crippling storm, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Web site was overwhelmed by people seeking the latest information and directions, legions of commuters had to rely on station agents scrawling updates on white boards. Only a handful of riders already on train platforms had access to digital screens with up-to-date information…
Compared with commuters in many of the world’s leading cities, subway riders in New York live in something of an information vacuum once they enter the system’s 468 stations…But the storm this week, highlighting yet again deficiencies in how the authority gets information out, seemed to push riders past the limits of their patience. Those flaws are one focus of a 30-day review that Gov. Eliot Spitzer has ordered into what went wrong after the intense early-morning rains of Wednesday.
In the age of cheap bandwidth and pervasive cell phone use, the MTA, the article details, still relies upon telephone calls to every single station agent in the system. These agents are then supposed to be able to recall all of the service information in case passengers need help. Little wonder, then, that system breakdowns are so complete and total when they occur.
But now, the city and state leaders want this ludditism to become a relic of the past. City Councilman John Liu and U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner have renewed their calls for a wired subway system. A cell phone-compatible subway system would allow for text message and voice mail alerts during emergencies.
But outside of a wireless system, the MTA should be able to equip every station and bus stop with the same information readily available elsewhere. It’s not hard to tie the signal system in to a computer that displays the next train’s arrival time. It’s not that hard to equip buses with GPS monitors that show passengers waiting at busy stations when the next bus is due to arrive. It happens in London and Washington, in Madrid and Rome. It’s time to make this happen in New York.
Everyday, at West 4th St., I pass one of the MTA’s digital displays that is, without fail, an hour and 15 minutes slow. If the MTA can’t even get their digital displays to show the time correctly, if they can’t even secure accurate bus route maps at every bus stop, it’s almost naïve of us to think they can handle a full technological upgrade of the subway system. But as the system ages, we need better technology, not more excuses.
Aug
10
A weekend of delays after a week of problems
Posted by: | CommentsIn a shocking move, the MTA has announced a generally stop order on all capital construction projects this weekend. After a nightmare on Wednesday in which every subway line shut down in the aftermath of a terrible storm, MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander has decided that every train should run as normally scheduled this weekend. There will, in other words, be no service delays.
Wait, wait, wait. Who are we kidding? This is the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Of course, there will be service delays. And since it’s easier to list them here instead of linking, let’s get this party started. For all of the alerts in the less-convenient press release form, click here. Otherwise, keep reading. Enjoy your weekend.
Because of capital construction work on the NYC Transit subway system, the following changes will be in place over the weekend. This work is part of NYC Transit’s ongoing $10 billion Capital Rebuilding Program aimed at upgrading and maintaining our tracks, stations and signal systems in order to continue to provide our customers with safe and reliable service.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, there are no 1 trains between 14th Street and South Ferry. Customers may take the 2 or 3 between 14th Street and Chambers Street. Shuttle buses replace 1 service between Chambers Street and South Ferry. This is due to work on the Cortlandt Street underpinning.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, 2 and 3 trains run local between 96th Street and Chambers Street due to the Cortlandt Street underpinning.
From 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., Sunday, August 12, 3 train service is replaced by M7, M102 and shuttle buses due to switch renewal south of 148th Street-Lenox Avenue.
From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, Manhattan-bound 4 trains skip Mosholu Parkway due to station rehab.
From 4 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 10 p.m. Sunday, August 12, there area no 5 trains between 149th Street and East 180th Streets due to track panel installation north of Jackson Avenue. Customers should take the 2 instead.
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 4:30 a.m. Monday, August 13, these changes are in effect
- There are no C trains running; F trains replace the C between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts and Euclid Ave. due to signal work south of jay Street-Borough Hall Station
- A trains run local between 168th Street and Canal Street due to signal work south of jay Street-Borough Hall Station
- Free shuttle buses replace A trains between 168th Street and 207th Street due to tunnel rehab work between 168th Street and 207th Street stations
From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 9 p.m. Sunday, August 12, Far Rockaway-bound A trains skip 88th Street and Rockaway Blvd. due to track panel installation south of the 80th Street station.
From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 9 p.m. Sunday, August 12, free shuttle buses replace A trains between Lefferts Blvd. and 80th Street (Queens) due to track panel installation south of the 80th Street station.
From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 9 p.m. Sunday, August 12, there are no E trains between West 4th Street and World Trade Center due to Chambers Street signal modernization. Customers may take the A to Chambers St. or Broadway-Nassau stations.
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 4:30 a.m. Monday, August 13, Manhattan-bound E trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Queens Plaza due to track chip out south of Queens Plaza station (overnight only).
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 4:30 a.m. Monday, August 13, F trains run between Euclid Avenue and 179th Street. G trains replace the F between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. and Stillwell Avenue. Customers may transfer between the F and G trains at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. station. This is due to signal work south of Jay Street-Borough Hall station.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13 (and until further notice), there is no G train service between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Court Square due to signal work south of Jay Street-Borough Hall station. Customers should take the E or R.
From 12:01a.m. Saturday, August 11 for 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, free shuttle buses replace L trains between Rockaway Parkway and Broadway Junction due to track panel installation south of Broadway Junction.
From 12:01a.m. Saturday, August 11 for 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, free shuttle buses replace M trains between Metropolitan Av. and Myrtle Ave-Broadway due to station rehab.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, Manhattan-bound N trains run on the D line from Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street (Brooklyn) due to track panel installation north of 86th Street station.
From 5 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, Coney Island-bound N trains run on the local R track from 57th Street-7th Avenue in Manhattan to 59th Street-4th Avenue in Brooklyn due to switch work north of the DeKalb Avenue station.
From 11 p.m. Friday, August 10 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, there are no Q trains between 57th Street and 42nd Street due to a track chip-out south of Queens Plaza station. Customers may take the N or R instead.
From 5 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, August 11 and Sunday, August 12, R trains skip 5th Avenue, Lexington Avenue, and Queens Plaza in both directions due to track chip-out south of Queens Plaza station. Customers should take the E instead.
The Cortlandt Street Station is closed until further notice while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey continues to build on the WTC site.
Aug
10
A little water floods the MTA’s Website too
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During the morning panic as yesterday’s subway deluge set in, the tracks weren’t the only part of the MTA flooded. Its Website was overwhelmed with visitors — 44 million of them in a few hours, according to some sources — and the system just couldn’t handle the pressure.
With this outage, bloggers and reporters across New York are noting something I noticed in July when their site went down during the East Side power outage. Similarly, Todd has long railed against the oft-down MTA Website on his own site and in the comments section of mine.
Now, with another big rain storm on the horizon, the MTA is readying its system both online and off. This afternoon, MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander spoke about the emergency plans in place for Friday.
“We will be strategically placing pumps throughout the system at potentially flood-prone locations, strategically placing management and customer personnel at key stations throughout the system to help our customers navigate in case of service disruptions,” he said. “We’ll be adding additional support personnel — such as signal ventilation and drainage maintainers — so that we can immediately address any situations that may arise.”
This all sounds great for those tracks such as the ones underneath Queens Boulevard that are prone to flooding, but what of the glorious Internets? In a post noting how hard it is to navigate the MTA’s Website (something I’ve long since chalked up to the ills of bureaucracy), Chan found some folks at the MTA willing to talk about the site:
On Wednesday, the authority’s Web site recorded 44 million hits…according to Wael Hibri, the authority’s chief information officer. But an untold number of riders were unable to reach the site because the authority was using an old firewall. Mr. Hibri said the authority had scheduled an upgrade of the firewall; the upgrade is to occur this weekend.
Mr. Hibri said the authority had more than enough server capacity to handle the demand. It was the old firewall, he said, that hindered many people from entering the site.
The M.T.A.’s Web site is one of the busiest in the country, [an MTA Executive Director Christopher P.] Boylan said…During the height of the transit chaos on Wednesday morning, Mr. Hibri said, the site got 3.8 million hits. By comparison, the authority got about 2 million hits an hour during a brief power failure in parts of Manhattan and the Bronx on June 27.
So while Sander has men in the tracks ready to pump out the subway, Hibri is relying on the old wing-and-a-prayer method. After all, the same firewall in place on Wednesday won’t be upgraded until this weekend at the earliest.
Friday is bound to be another taxing day for the MTA’s site. As soon as the first drops fall, people at their desks across the city will flock to MTA.info expecting the worst for the subway systems after Wednesday’s debacle. It sounds like that old firewall might once again stifle traffic.
We’ll find out later if millions of New Yorkers trying to will their way to an easy start to their weekends once again overwhelms the MTA. Good luck to them.
Meanwhile, if the MTA’s firewall blocks you out, I’ll have all of the service alerts, and I’ll be updating them as often as possible. So check back early and often when the rains fall. Or just chead on over to Chris’ site. He has all the MTA alerts you’ll ever need.
Aug
09
The great student MetroCard swindle
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City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., tried to help out the straphangers, but the weather would have none of that. Literally lost in yesterday’s flood was his report proclaiming the impending MTA fare hike could be avoided if Albany and the city fulfill their fiscal obligations to the MTA.
While a pesky flood captured the city, Thompson’s report deserves another look. An analysis of the six ways in in which, combined, the MTA could draw in enough revenue to fend off a fare hike for now, Thompson’s work serves as public support for the subway rider, and buried in his report is a gem.
Recommendation five concerns the ever-popular Student MetroCards. A favorite of students around the city who abuse this program for all its worth, this program is supposed to be covered by allocations from the City and State, but, unsurprisingly, the City and State are shirking their responsibilities. Thompson notes that an adjustment of the school fare reimbursement to “fully reflect the cost of all authorized student bus and subway trips” would provide the MTA with $71.5 million more.
In other words, the City and State are not paying what they should be for the city’s students to ride the subways for free. He goes more in depth into the economics:
The City should increase its reimbursement to NYCT for fares for schoolchildren. Such increases would make up for unilateral decreases in school fare reimbursements during the mid-1990s. Currently the City and the State each contribute $45 million per year to subsidize school fares.
NYCT recently provided the Office of the Comptroller with data regarding student MetroCard use during the 2005-2006 school year. During that school year, students took 133.4 million subway and bus rides at a cost to the transit system of $161.5 million, based on average non-student bus and subway fares. After subtracting the combined City and State fixed school fare reimbursement of $90 million, NYCT provided $71.5 million of unreimbursed service last year.
The emphasis there is mine, and yes, you read that correctly. The City and State seem to expect the MTA to simply foot the bill for student riders at a loss of $71.5 million to a cash-strapped Authority. That’s outrageous.
Many politicians in and around New York City like to give lip service to the fare hike. We’ll do what it takes to avoid it, they say. Well, here’s your chance. End this ridiculous practice and reimburse the MTA for rides it gives to students. The MTA is under no obligation to provide this service, especially considering how many students abuse the privilege of these MetroCards. If the city and state refuse to reimburse the Authority for the service, the program should end. It’s as simple as that.
Aug
08
Three inches of rains blamed for subway mess
Posted by: | CommentsAs New York City Transit struggles to overcome a subway deluge that virtually shut down the subways for hours this morning, New York politicians have entered everyone’s favorite part of disaster relief: the finger-pointing.
Before the trains are back up and running, before the tracks have dried, the names are flying with Eliot Spitzer, Elliot Sander, the City Comptroller and even the National Weather Center getting in on the act.
Earlier this afternoon, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander held the ever-popular press conferences about the event. amNY’s Rolando Pujol was on hand to report. Spitzer dropped the bombshell that this system-wide failure happened after a torrential storm that dropped three inches of rain in an hour. Three inches! Imagine if New York City ended up on the wrong end of a hurricane-like storm. It would be crippling.
Spitzer noted that the delays and problems constituted “a highly unusual event,” but I beg to differ. Just two weeks ago, I wrote a little-noted post on the inadequacies of the MTA’s subway drainage system. Prophecies of doom came to bear sooner than any of us expected.
Lee Sander decided to ignore the state of the MTA and instead blamed the weatherman. “The timing and intensity of this storm took us by surprise because it was not predicted by the National Weather Service,” he said. But really, Lee, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the rains drain.
Meanwhile, City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., used this flood to draw attention to his call for proper and adequate state funding of the MTA and NYCT. In another release from his office, Thompson called on the state to protect its infrastructure.
“I urge the MTA to take this matter seriously and consider all of the New Yorkers who were inconvenienced today,” Thompson said. “These are the same New Yorkers who are expected to dig deeper into their pockets to pay higher fares over the next few years. Time and again, the riding public has been inconvenienced because the State has not appropriately invested in New York City Transit’s infrastructure. Today’s system-wide disruption indicates that there still is much more work ahead.”
So while the Governor has ordered a commission to investigate the system-wide failure today, the finger-pointing has started before the subway system is back up and running. Meanwhile, service alerts are as follows:
Aug
08
MTA, NYCT service drowned by a little water
Posted by: | Comments Update 2:34 p.m. Things are returning to normal. The MTA has another set of promising updates out:
trains are suspended in both directions between the South Ferry Station and the Chambers Street Station.
and trains rains have resumed service but with residual delays.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 86th Street Station and the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station.
trains are running shuttle train service in both directions between the East 180th Street Station and the Dyre Avenue Station, and suspended in both directions between 86th Street and Bowling Green.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 59th Street/Lexington Avenue Station and the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station.
trains are running. (We have a winner! Back to normal first.)
trains are running local.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Brighton Beach Station and the 145th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Euclid Avenue Station and the 168th Street Station.
train service has resumed with residual delays.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 21st Street-Queensbridge Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Queens Plaza Station and the Jamaica-179th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Long Island City-Court Square Station and the 4th Avenue-9th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 2nd Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.
Franklin Avenue Shuttle trains are suspended in both directions between the Prospect Park Station and the Franklin Avenue Station.
42nd Street Shuttle service has resumed with residual delays.
trains are running with residual delays.
trains are running with residual delays.
trains are running with residual delays.
trains are running with residual delays.
trains are operating via the line between Stillwell Terminal and Dekalb Avenue and continuing on to 57th Street/7th Avenue.
shuttle trains operating between Kings Highway and Stillwell Terminal Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 57th Street-7th Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard Station and the Whitehall Street Station.
================
Update 1:50 p.m.: Still delays. Things are moving station-to-station. This update from the MTA is minor. Also, Digg me at left now. On to the service alerts:
trains are suspended in both directions between the South Ferry Station and the Chambers Street Station.
trains are suspended in in both directions between the Penn Station-34th Street Station and the Atlantic Avenue Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the New Lots Avenue Station and the Harlem-148th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 86th Street Station and the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station.
trains are running shuttle train service in both directions between the East 180th Street Station and the Dyre Avenue Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 86th Street Station and the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station.
trains are running with delays.
trains are running local.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Brighton Beach Station and the Bedford Park Boulevard Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Euclid Avenue Station and the 168th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 145th Street Station and the Norwood-205th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 23rd Street-Ely Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Queens Plaza Station and the Jamaica-179th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Long Island City-Court Square Station and the 4th Avenue-9th Street Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 2nd Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.
Franklin Avenue Shuttle trains are suspended in both directions between the Prospect Park Station and the Franklin Avenue Station.
42nd Street Shuttle trains are suspended in both directions between the Times Square-42nd Street Station and the Grand Central-42nd Street Station.
trains are running with residual delays.
trains are running with residual delays.
trains are running with residual delays.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Broad Street Station and the Bay Parkway Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Kings Highway Station and the 57th Street-7th Avenue Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the 57th Street-7th Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.
trains are suspended in both directions between the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard Station and the Whitehall Street Station.
Aug
08
NYC Comptroller: With help from state, MTA could avoid fare hike
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Two weeks after the MTA announced a 2008 fare hike, the New York City Comptroller has issued a report concluding that the MTA could avoid a fare hike if the City and State were a little bit more willing to subsidize mass transit.
The comptroller’s report is condemnation of the ways in which the State of New York has inappropriately re-appropriated money earmarked for downstate mass transit. They’ve hijacked supposedly dedicated streams of funding and are using them to fund upstate transportation networks used by a relatively miniscule amount of the state population. At the same time, the City of New York isn’t doing enough to meet its financial obligations to the MTA.
According to Comptroller William C. Thomspon’s report, the City and State should enact six sensible measures that would right these economic wrongs. These measures would guarantee the MTA enough money to avoid fare hikes for now and enough financial solvency going forward to minimize the impact of a potential future hike. Let’s take a look at his proposals:
Aug
07
Stewart Airport rail link just a waste
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Did you know that New York City has a fourth airport that, once upon a time, was designated the next major Metropolitan-area airport? Well, so much for that plan.
Nestled in Orange County, just west of Newburgh, lies Stewart International Airport. It’s 80 miles outside of New York City, and if you can get there, it is the home of the some of the cheapest flights around the area. It never did achieve Gov. Rockefeller’s goals of becoming the fourth major airport in the region (behind LaGuardia, JFK and Newark), but that hasn’t stopped various state entities from trying to boost its profile.
The latest effort comes in the form of everyone’s favorite airport buzz phrase: a rail link. According to a report in Monday’s edition of The Sun, the MTA is studying the possibility of a rail link between Penn Station and the airport. The link, which would consist of a three-mile spur off of Metro-North’s Port Jervis line, would probably bring about a renewed interested in this transportation hub nestled just outside the world of New York City.
Annie Karni of The Sun has more:
Transit officials say a three-mile spur off the Port Jervis line on Metro-North Railroad, which could cost more than $600 million to construct, could be an efficient way to attract passengers and airlines to the underutilized upstate airport, where the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is expected to take control of operations in October.
The airport now is accessible only by country roads, and driving to the airport from Manhattan takes about an hour and a half without traffic. The former military base, located about 60 miles north of Manhattan, accommodated 300,000 passengers last year; transit officials estimate that its infrastructure could be expanded to process up to 10 million passengers annually.
The article is filled with various opinions on the rail link. Some officials say the area needs this fourth airport to be more accessible because the other three are, as any traveler can attest, overcrowded. But others, such as Jeffrey Zupan of the Regional Plan Association, think the rail link is not a financial viable idea unless it can siphon off upstate travelers who commute down to the city’s three other airports. “It’s going to be a real loser from an operating cost point of view. ” Zupan said to Karni. “It will have to run long distances and relatively frequent service, or people aren’t going to use it.”
Meanwhile, this idea seems somewhat ridiculous. It right now takes an hour and a half on Metro-North/NJ Transit to reach the Salisbury Mills stop from Penn Station. Considering that it would take another train ride to get to the airport and airlines are asking people to get there 90 minutes earlier, travelers would have to begin their journeys up to four hours before their scheduled departure time. That is quite inconvenient.
To me, this project seems like a no-brainer waste-of-money. But if the MTA is going to build something, they should fund it in a way similar to that used at JFK. The Authority could either have the airline passengers pick up the bill through a plane ticket fee and have the fares be such that costs are covered. With more pressing capital construction projects on the docket — Second Ave. subway, LIRR East Side Access plan, 7 line extension, Fulton St. hub — and a need for a JFK rail link, a line up to Stewart just seems superfluous and overly expensive at a time when the MTA really needs to prioritize.
