Comments on: Hell hath no fury like a Staten Islander scorned

By: MM

MM — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:09:00 +0000

We would be able to make suggestions if the MTA would open their books. There is tons of waste at MTA…starting with excess middle mgmt salaries. Let’s look at their books and be able to make educated suggestions…odds are …MTA says no.

By: diane d

diane d — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:36:59 +0000

I thought when the bridge was first built a toll was to be in place until the bridge was paid for? Isnt the bridge paid for already? we should not have to pay these tolls to subdidize other transit cost in other boroughs.

By: Al

Al — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 12:47:22 +0000

Thank God I moved to Pennsylvania in 05. The amount of money that I save by living up here is great. The MTA should be criminally investigated by the federal
govt for stealling billions of dollars from hardworking people all these years.
Staten Island people should not have to pay a dime to cross the VZ bridge but they
are being punished for living on an island and the local politicians don’t have the guts to do anything about it.

By: eric the beehivehairdresser

eric the beehivehairdresser — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:33:28 +0000

While the MTA isn’t spending “hundreds of billions of dollars” on the tiles, over the past seven years, they spent a lot of cash on them. We’ve all seen them shut half sides of stations at a time to tear down perfectly good tiles up and down Broadway, only to polish up the buried tiles, and then add in art tiles in the middle of them.

The original addition, then removal of the addition, and subsequent addition of art into the subway cost us tens of millions – just so the perception of things is better? Very wasteful…and that was just one line…

By: John Fraser

John Fraser — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:12:07 +0000

Let’s face it. I would pay $7 each way if they would open up an uninterrupted bus lane all the way from the West Shore Expressway to Manhattan. The current system of multiple noncontinuous bus lanes just doesn’t work. It’s like a pipe with a few kinks or choke points in it. The water will only flow as fast as its narrowest point.

By: Marc Shepherd

Marc Shepherd — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:16:54 +0000

Theoretically, it’s avoidable if the state dramatically increases its subsidy. This is unlikely, because upstate legislators (who get little or no benefit from MTA expenditures) would block it. As it is, the current proposal assumes a higher level of government subsidy than the MTA had been getting under the Pataki administration.

By: PhilWil

PhilWil — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:58:03 +0000

For all the arguing and stuff, is there any real way to avoid this? I haven’t heard much except for the school kids fairs and some real estate surplus that you really can’t count on too much until you get the taxes come next year

By: Marc Shepherd

Marc Shepherd — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:32:15 +0000

The MTA is not spending “hundreds of billions of dollars” on decorative tiles. I mean, the whole station rehab budget is not that much, and tiles are only a small part of each rehab.

The fact is, if you look at other subway systems that have been managed better than ours, generally the stations are beautiful. Platform tiles are no substitute for safe, clean trains that run frequently and on time. But attractive stations are one factor among man, that contribute to positive public perceptions of the subway.

By: eric the beehivehairdresser

eric the beehivehairdresser — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:30:07 +0000

I won’t be able to make it to the Saturday’s workshop, but my idea would be for the MTA to stop buying what I can only assume to be hundreds of billions of dollars in various tiles for the subway stations – please continue to buy replacement tiles though.

Take Times Square, the platform floors had been plain concrete my entire life, and that worked great. Now the entire station flooring is covered in one foot square tiles, at a cost of who knows, and it seems like a waste of their current and future budgets.

That, and put on the ballots some form of general obligation bond to pay for things like the second avenue subway, and better transit to, from, and through places like Staten Island.

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:38:09 +0000

No doubt about that one, Marc. I’m not morally opposed to this fare hike. In fact, for just those reasons and for the ones I listed in the last paragraph, I’m tentatively in support of the hike, but if someone has a better idea, I’m willing to listen.