Archive for June, 2008

NYC Transit increases fare-jumping fines

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

It’s official. Beginning around July 7, 2008, fines for evading the fares in the buses and subways will go from $60 to $100. It is the first such increase in over two decades, and NYC Transit notes that “virtually all other forms of civil fines in the region have increased since the 1980’s, quite substantially [...]

MTA Board votes to end free perk program

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

After weeks of bad publicity and legal threats from New York’s Attorney General, the MTA Board voted this morning to end the free perk program. No longer will current and former board members enjoy free E-ZPasses and MetroCards for life. Instead, only current board members will receive the passes, and they are too be used [...]

Rising costs shelve third Second Ave. Subway track at 72nd

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

The two-track station at 72nd St. will be significantly narrower than the originally-planned three-track stop. (Source: MTA Capital Construction)
When I started Second Ave. Sagas in November of 2006, I had planned to focus on the Second Ave. Subway and its progress. But the day-to-day construction of a new subway line doesn’t make for compelling blogging [...]

2nd Ave. businesses suffering from construction

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

With construction fences lining the avenue, it’s easy to see why Second Ave. businesses are suffering. (Photo courtesy of The Launch Box. Click to enlarge.)
Amidst all the bad news surrounding MTA budgets and E-ZPass scandals last week, the Second Ave. Business Association is trying to draw attention to another subway-inspired plight.
The construction of [...]

MTA Board to approve fare-jumping fine increase

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Following up on an item from May, the New York Post reports that the MTA Board will approve an increase in fare-evasion fines from $60 to $100 this week. The MTA says it collected $7.2 million in such fines last year. Under the new pricing schemes, that would result in an additional $4.8 million in [...]

Capital construction cuts coming into view

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

The rehabilitation plan for the Smith-9th Sts. subway stop is just one of more “deferred” projects. (Photo by flickr user Victoria Belanger)
Ah, to yearn for the innocent days of November when it seemed like the MTA would actually be rehabbing the stations along the Culver Viaduct while they did the necessary engineering work on the [...]

Free ride, take it easy

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

So just how much driving do the folks in charge of our public transportation network do in a year? Well, according to numbers crunched by reporters, the MTA officials receiving free E-ZPasses tallied up bills worth over $30,000 in 12 months. According to William Neuman of The Times, 45 board members used their E-ZPasses 7513 [...]

Behind-the-scenes services facing the budget axe

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

The subways certainly aren’t known for their cleanliness. (Photo by flickr user Lanamaniac)
The MTA knows that it needs to increase subway service while facing a budget deficit. While bus expansion plans have kept pace with population growth, subway service hasn’t followed suit. Now, after one fare hike and with the threat of another looming, the [...]

Entering the weekend on a note of MTA Board nepotism

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Before we get to the service advisories, let’s laugh one more time this week at the MTA Board. While David Mack has been utterly shamed into dropping his opposition to the free MTA Board perks, Chair Dale Hemmerdinger received a little bit of bad press today.
I’ll let Metro’s Patrick Arden explain the story:
The MTA played [...]

Subway news and views from around the Internet

Friday, June 20th, 2008

We’ve had a busy week what with the MTA’s Board shenanigans and the forthcoming service enhancement plans. I’ve missed a few good blog posts in the interim. So let’s do it up, bullet-point style.

Ephemeral New York, quickly rising on my list of new favorite blogs, remembers the subway token, five years after its demise.
Pardon Me [...]