Archive for January, 2008
Jan
14
Roberts wants to fix that whole public address problem
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Oh, those pesky Rider Report Cards. The City Council thinks they were just a grand publicity stunt, but the MTA seems set on responding to the issues raised by the hordes of disgruntled riders.
After adding service on just two of the 22 lines in response to rider complains, the MTA is skipping the next two complaints — more room on board at rush hour and fewer delays — and moving on to the fourth complaint because they can actually solve this problem. In a stunning move, the MTA is planning on addressing the shortcomings in their public address system. They’re going to start by outfitting the remaining 86 stations currently lacking PA systems with the appropriate technology. Pete Donohue has more:
Every subway station should have a public-address system in about two years, NYC Transit President Howard Roberts declared [last week]. “I would like to be able to go into the Rail Control Center, pick up a microphone and speak to everybody that’s on every platform in the system,” Roberts said at a City Council Transportation Committee meeting.
Roberts, who became president last year, said he was surprised to learn that 86 of the 468 hubs lack public-address systems. He said he is seeking to secure funding in the MTA’s next capital plan, now being drafted, to rig up the hubs.
That’s not a mistake; nearly twenty percent of all New York City subway stops are without a public address system. The City Council members were not thrilled to hear this on Thursday, and many expressed concerns that the MTA is not adequately prepared for an emergency if they don’t have a way to communicate throughout the system. Of course, this criticism ignores the fact that the stations lacking PA systems are aboveground, but the point is still a valid one.
Now, it’s all well and good for the MTA to equip these 86 stations, but what about the PA systems in the other 382 stations? Right now, the PA systems in the subway run the gamut from the crisply audible to the unintelligible gibberish. If Roberts is serious about responding to concerns over the PA system, he would do well to look at how to get comprehendible public address systems installed in the subway.
Since most of the stations suffering from the gibberish syndrome are underground and in more populous and popular areas, it’s probably more important to address these problems than it is to outfit a few stations in the far reaches of the city’s outer boroughs with public address sytems that won’t be all that vital to subway operations.
Jan
11
Weekend brings service changes, no pants
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Everywhere, a group of New Yorkers gather on the subway in early January to drop their drawers. They board the train discretely, fully clothed. Once the train pulls away, all bets – and all pants – are off.
Sponsored by Improv Everywhere, it’s No Pants 2K8. At 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, the group is meeting at Foley Square near the Brooklyn Bridge stop on the East Side IRT. The organizers want everyone to bring a backpack for storage purposes and a MetroCard. (I recommend an Unlimited Ride card if you’re a frequent traveler.)
Here’s how it’s going to work:
Sit in the car as you normally would. Read a magazine or whatever you would normally do. Your team leader will have already divided you into smaller groups, assigning your group a specific stop where you will depants. Sit near your group.
As soon as the doors shut at the stop before yours, stand up and take your pants off and put them in your backpack…If anyone asks you why you’ve removed your pants, tell them that they were “getting uncomfortable…”
Exit the train at your assigned stop and stand on the platform, pantless…You will wait on the platform for the next 6 train to arrive. Stay in the exact same place on the platform so you enter the next train in the same car as you exited the last train.
When you enter , act as you normally would. You do not know any of the other pantless riders. If questioned, tell folks that you “forgot to wear pants” and yes you are “a little cold”. Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their pants. Be nice and friendly and normal.
The group plans to travel to 125th St. and then back down to Union Square. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. They also discourage gawkers; if you want to watch, you have to participate unless you’re discrete about watching.
This is the seventh such mission, and it’s not illegal. Since the arrests in 2006, the cops have left well enough alone even if they show up in a public safety capacity. Just wear underwear.
If you’re out of town, worry not. You can participate in No Pants 2K8 in Toronto, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Salt Lake City, Baltimore and Adelaide, Austrlia. So you’re pretty much covered.
Meanwhile, what will all of those pants-less and pants-wearing riders have to deal with this weekend? Well, lots and lots of service advisories, of course. Click through for the details.
Jan
11
Congestion pricing support if money goes to mass transit
Posted by: | CommentsSixty percent of New Yorkers will support congestion pricing if the money goes toward mass transit, the most recent Q Poll found. Sounds good to me. [Daily News]
Jan
11
DC Metro on time less often than NYCT
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When it comes to subways, the concept of “on time” is a rather amorphous one. Most New Yorkers would consider the subway to be on a time if a train were pulling into a station and getting ready to open its doors right as we were making our way down (or up) the staircase to the platform. In reality — pesky thing that — the folks who run subways have a stricter definition of “on time” that even involves some schedules, and according to recent reports, New York is faring pretty well with that “on time” thing.
The recent report to which I am referring is one that comes from Washington, D.C. The Metro, according to WTOP News, is suffering from a performance gap. More trains are arriving off schedule. Adam Tuss has more:
On the rails, Metro has set a goal of 95 percent when it comes to on-time peak service during the morning and afternoon rush periods. The actual on-time performance statistics during November, the latest month Metro crunched its numbers, show 85 percent of trains were on-time for a.m. service, a full 10 percentage points off. Even lower at 83 percent was p.m. service.
By itself, that’s not a very impressive figure. When we start to compare it to New York, it looks even worse. According to the most recent NYCT performance indicators, the numbers for 2007 were down compared to 2006, but trains were still running on time — that is, within five minutes of their scheduled times — 93 percent of the time for the first eight months of 2007.
So there, Washington! Take that.
Now, I’m sure some of you are wondering why I’m making such a big deal about this. Just this week I finished Zachary Schrag’s The Great Society Subway, an excellent history of the D.C. Metro. In it, Schrag highlights on more than one occasion the fact that the Metro’s planners didn’t want the system to be like New York’s; rather, they wanted to be better than New York’s.
I’ll give the book a proper review next week, but after reading how D.C. officials, who lord over what I consider to be a very nice-looking subway that offers mediocre service, consider their system far superior to New York’s, it’s comforting to get concrete information that Washington’s system isn’t as good as New York. For all our complaints about service, the MTA is better at being “on time,” whatever that means.
Jan
10
Capital Construction chief calls it quits
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Mysore Nagaraja, the head of MTA Capital Construction, has called it quits after two years, and the Daily News speculates that rising capital costs and frequent delays may be a motivating factor in his departure.
Pete Donohue has more:
The MTA official in charge of mega-construction projects, including the LIRR extension to Grand Central Terminal, is leaving – amid concerns about rising costs and delays.
Mysore Nagaraja, 65, president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Capital Construction Co., is departing at the end of the month to be a private-sector consultant, ending more than two decades with the authority. His knowledge is unsurpassed when it comes to the MTA’s most ambitious construction and system expansion plans, MTA board member Barry Feinstein said. “Losing Mysore is a significant loss.”
I have no intimate knowledge of the situation, and the MTA has yet to issue a release about Nagaraja’s departure. But it’s certainly true that capital projects across the board seem to take longer than expected to complete. Rising costs are as much related to the shaky economy than they are to the man in charge, but if Nagaraja or some institutional issues are causing project delays, a change at the top can sometimes kick start a sagging department.
Jan
10
City Council to hold Rider Report Card hearing
Posted by: | CommentsBecause John Liu is still one of the city’s elected representatives, the City Council is gearing up for another run at the MTA. This time, they are going to hold a hearing on the lack of response from the Rider Report Card program. Only 7 percent of the 700,000 were turned to the MTA, and City Council Transportation Committee Chair John Liu feels that the report cards were simply a “wasteful gimmick.” Funny; that’s exactly what I think of Liu. [New York Sun]
Jan
10
Outdoor wifi ads may show useful information too
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With their new technology, the MTA could now get train arrivals times wrong outside of the station too. (Robert Stolarik for The New York Times)
A few months ago, the MTA and CBS signed a deal that will help bring free wireless to midtown. By installing wireless access points and advertising screens above various subway stations in Midtown, the MTA and CBS Outdoor are hoping to run a successful pilot program.
While the MTA benefits from this program fiscally since CBS is paying them for the right to use MTA-owned property, the Transportation Authority will benefit as well. As amNew York’s Marlene Naanes reports today, the MTA may be able to use the advertising signs to show important subway information as well.
Video screens perched atop 80 subway entrances could keep commuters out of harm’s way soon if wireless technology is able to transform them into more than advertising displays…
The technology — installed by the MTA’s advertising contract holder CBS Outdoor — would allow the agency to override the video ads and transmit messages to straphangers during emergencies. “So if there is an issue with the trains downstairs, we can tell our customers not to go down there,” said Roco Krsulic, the MTA’s director of real estate.
The MTA and CBS hope to roll out the pilot program later this month. Considering that they announced this program two months ago, this must be record time for an MTA roll-out.
Anyway, I love this idea. One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard both in New York and Washington, DC, focues around the lack of information available outside of stations. In DC, the Metro has long been equipped with signs displaying the time until the next train, but oftentimes, those signs are a legitimate five-minute escalator ride away from the street. Nothing is more discouraging than finding out, after a long ride down, that you’ve just missed a train or have another 15 minutes to go. With information outside of stations, potential passengers can figure out if indeed the subway is the best way to go.
Now, right now, with the way the MTA is talking, it doesn’t sound as though they are tempted to merge the two programs. In other words, it’s doubtful that train arrival times would be posted outside. The MTA after all wants to encourage subway use, and I don’t know too many who are going to head down into the trains if they know the next train is still 15 minutes away. As long as the hope exists for a train to come sooner, people will continue to use the subways.
But in terms of emergency preparedness, this has potential great news written all over it. If the MTA can figure out how to bypass the seemingly non-existent in-station communications system through which station agents are often the last to know about problems, we’re all better off for it. Imagine finding out that trains are out due to a flood before swiping through the turnstiles instead of after waiting on a crowded platform without cell service for 35 minutes. Amazing!
Jan
09
What’s happening with the BRT plans?
Posted by: | CommentsBrooklyn Junction notes that the MTA’s plans for Bus Rapid Transit lanes may be changing. Originally planned for the Nostrand Ave. corridor in Brooklyn, BRT may be off the table for now. According to the blog, at a recent community meeting, the Department of Transportation said that the project is on hold for Nostrand Ave., and earlier this week, the Tri-State Rapid Transportation campaign noted the same thing. I have no new information, but I will try to get to the bottom of it. New York badly needs their BRT service; I hope it’s moving forward. [Brooklyn Junction]
Jan
09
There’s a reason why the trains are more crowded
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to recent statistics, MTA ridership levels were at an all-time high in 2007. More on this story later. [Daily News]
Jan
09
Spitzer wants to rename Triborough for RFK
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When Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, he was at the time a Senator from the great state of New York. Yet, since we associate the Kennedy’s with Washington, DC, and Massachusetts, no one really remembers RFK’s ties to New York. Now, Gov. Eliot Spitzer wants to correct that oversight.
In today’s State of the State address, Spitzer will announce his plans to rename New York City’s Triborough Bridge in honor Robert F. Kennedy. The new name for New York’s iconic bridge will the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge. That’s a mouthful.
The New York Times’ Sewell Chan has the response from the Kennedy family at Cityroom:
“I think we’re very excited about it, and very pleased,” Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and the eldest of Senator Kennedy’s 11 children, said in a phone interview this morning. “I do know this has been a dream for quite awhile. We’re very, very happy that Governor Spitzer has decided to take it on.”
Mrs. Townsend, who was 17 when her father died, recalled traveling over the Triborough Bridge with him from La Guardia Airport as a child. “I remember going over it so many times with my father, when he was a senator, coming into Manhattan, going out,” she said. “It’s really touching. It would be really fabulous to recall that he was the senator from New York, if ever so briefly, and that there would be a way to remember him in that city. It would be wonderful tribute to all that my father did.”
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that someone has tried to rename the bridge in honor of RFK. According to The Sun, in 1975, Gov. Hugh Carey wanted to name the bridge after RFK but was blocked by none other than bridge builder Robert Moses himself. Gov. George Pataki also thought about the idea.
In response to this announcement, well, I’ve never seen such vitriol from the Cityroom commenters. While a lot of people were critical of the idea, basically, it came down to two complaints: New York tradition and RFK’s tenuous relationship to the state. The Triborough, they argue, is a self-explanatory name and evokes images of New York’s spirit during the Depression. Plus, RFK ran for Senate in New York so he could better position himself to run for president. (Hmmm. Doesn’t that sound familiar?)
My initial thoughts here turned to Robert Moses. The Triborough Bridge is a symbol of Good Robert Moses. This was Moses when he got stuff done that people wanted him to get done. This was well before the seemingly racist Moses who had no regard for New York City neighborhoods or its people.
If anything, the bridge should be named for Robert Moses himself. Of course, we can’t name the bridge Good Robert Moses Memorial Bridge, and associating Moses’ name with anything in this city is still problematic even today, nearly 30 years after Moses’ death.
My next thought is to live the bridge as it is. The Triborough Bridge is a simple name for a rather majestic set of roadways and bridges that pass through and connect three boroughs and a few islands. But it’s a New York icon. If this name change goes through, in ten or twenty years, New Yorkers will still call it the Triborough Bridge. Don’t believe? Just ask someone to point out the Joe DiMaggio Highway, so named in 1999.
In the end, this name will serve as a fitting tribute for a man who was a real leader in civil rights in America and a man whose career and live were cut tragically short. But I do have to wonder if the bridge is the best of things to name after RFK. The Triborough already has a name, and New Yorkers are not quick to forget it.
