Archive for December, 2010
Dec
31
For New Years Eve, service additions and changes
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Good bye, 2010! So long, year of the service cuts and fare hikes! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
As the year draws to a close, the MTA has all sorts of service advisories in place for New Years Eve and only a few for the weekend. First, subway and bus service today — Friday, December 31 — will operate on a Saturday schedule. Thus, a variety of routes including the 5 to Nereid Ave., 6 and 7 express service, rush hour A service to Rockaway Park, the B line, the E to 179th St., the M in Manhattan and Queens, the Q to Astoria and the Z will not be running.
For Times Square-bound revelers, don’t rely on the 42nd St./Times Square station. It will be closed to passengers attempting to exit the system. Additionally, the 1 and N/R trains will be bypassing 50th and 49th Sts. respectively as early as 7 p.m. tonight. Transit has urged customers to use the 57th St. station (N/Q/R) or Columbus Circle (A/C/D/1) instead. After the ball drops, trains through Times Square will run every 8-12 minutes until 3 a.m., and the 42nd St. shuttle will run all night.
With that said, let’s go to the weekend service advisories. As always, these come to me via New York City Transit and are subject to change without notice. Check the signs at your local station and listen to on-board announcements. Have a safe and happy New Year.
From 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, January 2, uptown 2 trains skip Bronx Park East, Pelham Parkway, Allerton Avenue and Burke Avenue due to track panel installation. Customers traveling to these stations may take the 2 to Gun Hill Road and transfer to the downtown 2.
From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, January 2 and Monday, January 3, Brooklyn-bound 2 and 4 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to roadbed reconstruction. Customers traveling to these stations may take the Brooklyn-bound 2 or 4 train to Franklin Avenue and transfer to a Manhattan-bound 2 or 4.
From 12:01 a.m. Sunday, January 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, January 3, D trains run on the R line between DeKalb Avenue and 36th Street, Brooklyn due to switch renewal north of Pacific Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Sunday, January 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, January 3, 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 Kings Highway to north of Bay Parkway. There are no Manhattan-bound N trains at 86th Street, Avenue U, Kings Highway, Bay Parkway, 20th Avenue, 18th Avenue, Ft. Hamilton Parkway and 8th Avenue stations. Customers traveling to these stations may take the N to 62nd or 36th Streets and transfer to a Coney Island-bound N.
From 12:01 a.m. Sunday, January 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, January 3, Coney Island-bound N trains run on the R line from DeKalb Avenue to 59th Street, Brooklyn and Manhattan-bound N trains run on the R line from 36th Street, Brooklyn to DeKalb Avenue due to switch renewal north of Pacific Street.
Dec
31
The Second Ave. Sagas Top Ten of 2010
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With but a day left in 2010, this year cannot end soon enough for the MTA. Its own headlines were dominated by massive service cuts and a steep fare hike, and while 2011 brings more unknown, we have to hope it won’t be worse for public transportation in New York.
As I do every year, I’d like to run down the list of the ten most popular posts here on Second Ave. Sagas. Thanks to everyone who read, shared and commenting on my work this year. I certainly appreciate it all.
1. A subway art project in the abandoned Underbelly
The most popular post of the year was, of course, about the underground street art project that took the city by storm in late October. Few have seen the Underbelly Project’s output, but the street art installation, which began in 2009, will be featured in a documentary and perhaps a book as well. The story is quite the tale of urban adventure.
2. MTA Board approves 2011 fare hike
A fare hike for 2011, which went into effect yesterday, was inevitable. The MTA had gotten permission from Albany in 2009 to raise fares every two years, but when when it become official, New York commuter sighed. For the third time in three years, the MTA had to raise fares, and we would all pay more for less this time around.
3. Debating subway map form and function
Massimo Vignelli, John Tauranac, Eddie Jabbour and Paul Shaw gathered at the Museum of the City of New York earlier this month to discuss their varied approaches to the subway map. As the MTA’s map is an ever-changing, quasi-geographic, quasi schematic representation of the system, everyone has an idea of how it should appear, and few people are ever satisfied with the current cluttered iteration of The Map.
4. The history of a subway shell at South 4th Street
A day after the Underbelly Project story broke, I went figurative underground to highlight just where this street art installation was. After some simple recon and analysis, the online community deduced that the Underbelly Project had gone up in the unfinished shell of a station at South 4th Street in Brooklyn. This post explored the original proposals for the subway expansion plans that would have brought service through that ghost station.
5. New raised storm grates earn architectural praise
Nearly three years after a summer storm and resulting flood knocked out nearly all subway service across the city, the MTA’s new storm grates garnered recognition from the architectural community. New York residents though resent the intrusion into their precious sidewalk space. You can’t please all of the people all the time.
6. With service changes, MTA refreshes its map
When the MTA cut service in June, it also introduced a new version of the map. With stronger route lines, a fatter Manhattan and parks that were shaded a dull khaki green, the new map did away with some of the bus boxes and tried to simplify the presentation of information. The cover is nicer than the map inside.
7. Fire suspends all Metro-North service to GCT
A fire on the Harlem River bridge knocked out Metro-North service for a few hours on a Monday in late September. As breaking news went, this was a fairly tame story with some very impressive plumes of smoke.
8. Service changes could lead to Chrystie St. Cut use
As word of impending service cuts reached the public, the MTA announced plans to reactivate the Chrystie St. Cut. Unused since the K train made its last ride in the 1980s, the Cut allows trains coming off of the Williamsburg Bridge to travel north up Sixth Ave. instead of south along Nassau st. Many believe this was a service change the MTA should have made years ago to meet demand from a growing Brooklyn neighborhood.
9. The shape of Tunnel Boring Machines to come
This was some good old fashioned subway construction porn. A few weeks before launching the tunnel boring machine beneath Second Ave., the MTA introduced it to the world.
10. A launch box and art for a subway in progress
Shortly before I had a chance to tour the Second Ave. Subway launch box, the MTA’s own photograph published photos of the construction site. I explored the work in progress and highlighted the planning for future Second Ave. Subway stations. As 2011 dawns, we have to wait just six more years until the new subway opens
Dec
30
Subway expansion across the Pacific
Posted by: | CommentsIn 2016 (or 2017 or 2018), the MTA is going to unveil a new subway line. The Second Ave. Subway‘s Phase 1 will run from 57th St. and Broadway to 96th St. and 2nd Ave. It will cost nearly $5 billion. One day in the future, a full-length subway route will run from 125th St. to Hanover Square, and it will be seen as a great accomplishment in the history of a city that hasn’t expanded its system since the mid-1930s.
Today, in Beijing, the Chinese are celebrating the opening of five new subway lines that cover over 67 miles. It cost just over $9 billion to build this brand new system, and Chinese authorities believe it will help ease congestion and bring economic development to poor areas of the vast country’s capital. The Chinese aren’t done either. They plan to build out the Beijing subway, currently just over 200 miles, to 348 miles by 2015 and to as much as 600 miles by 2020.
So as we sit here waiting for a two-mile subway extension to open in six years if we’re lucky, I have to wonder: Where did it all go wrong? How will we compete in a global economy if our competitors are doubling and tripling their subway lines while we can’t get 12,000 new feet built at a reasonable price and in a reasonable amount of time?
Dec
30
Scenes from the Snow: What went wrong
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MTA crews worked earlier this week to dig out snowed-in subway tracks. (Photo courtesy of MTA)
As Thursday dawned, subway service throughout New York City had finally returned to normal. Snow drifts that had built up in the outdoor trenches of the Sea Beach and Brighton Lines in Brooklyn were cleared; station platforms were shoveled; and entrances finally salted. Bus service remains detoured as surface streets are still chock full of snow, but getting around town can proceed apace.
Yet, the fallout from this week’s snow-inspired disaster is continuing and will do so for the foreseeable future. Both The Daily News and The Times investigated the city’s and the MTA’s responses to the blizzard, and these reports jibe with what I’ve heard from other sources. Essentially, because of a worse-than-expected storm and a push to keep overtime costs low, the MTA was not prepared for the snow. The results were disastrous for the city and its transit network.
The story begins early last week when, as The Times notes, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm outlook on Tuesday. As it’s December, few reacted with urgency, and by Friday, snow predictions were holding at six inches. Late on Christmas afternoon, the weather service issued a winter storm warning, and the city was slow to react. “As of about 5 p.m. on Christmas Day, the forecast called for about a foot of accumulation, which is not uncommon and which is not a basis for a snow emergency declaration,” Seth Solomonow, a DOT spokesman, said. I can see how this story unfolded simply by looking out the window at the sidewalks and streets below.
At the MTA, the agency was similarly slow to react. The Times reports:
On Friday morning, top managers at New York City Transit gathered for a ritual that occurs every weekday from November through April: to make a decision, based on weather forecasts, about whether to put in place precautionary measures in the case of a winter storm.
The managers can choose from one of four plans, prescribed each year in a telephone-book-size manual that lays out, in 300 pages of excruciating detail, the exact process for keeping the nation’s largest public transportation system functioning in the event of inclement weather. Plan 1, the lowest level of preparation, takes effect when the temperature drops below 30 degrees; Plan 4, the full-press emergency response, is activated when at least five inches of snow is expected.
By that morning, the Weather Service had been warning of a significant winter storm starting on Sunday afternoon. But at 11 a.m., the managers issued a proclamation of Plan 1. Officials, who had been tracking the storm since Wednesday, believed that the city would be spared the brunt of the storm.
The decision would have far-reaching consequences: because of a quirk in the transit agency’s system, the plan chosen on Friday stays in effect all weekend. And the agency would not officially make the switch to Plan 4 until 11 a.m. on Sunday, when snow was already building up on the streets.
Because the agency had opted for the modest response, several important aspects of rescue operations and disaster preparedness — diesel trains and other heavy machinery, like trains that blow snow off tracks or spray antifreeze on the third rail — were not automatically deployed.
On Sunday afternoon, the agency tried to institute its Plan 4 protocols, but by then, it was too late. Buses had been dispatched and were finding roads impassable. Due to very strong winds and high snow drifts, at-grade subway routes were felled by snow. Passengers were trapped on subway trains miles away from their destinations and with winds gusting past 40 miles per hour outside. “I’m appalled,” one Transit manager said to The Daily News. “I’ve never seen us fall apart this way.”
In the aftermath of the 2007 rain storm that left the system flooded and the MTA’s website offline for much of the day, the authority instituted new communications protocols and rebuilt its air grates along flood-prone areas. Until Sunday, it hadn’t suffered a major weather-related outage in over 41 months.
This week, though, the snow shut down the city’s transportation lifeblood. As it became impossible to drive on the city’s surface streets, the subways shut down as well. It was the perfect storm with an imperfect response ahead of time, and the MTA, working hard to keep overtime as low as possible, wasn’t ready to take an expensive plunge at the end of the year to keep subways running better than they did.
Walder has promised to investigate why. “In the coming weeks, we will reflect and look to make improvements for the future,” he wrote to his staff. Heads will probably roll, and policies will change. They have to; after all, the response to this storm couldn’t be any worse, and odds are good that it won’t be the last big snow of the winter.
Dec
30
Mourning the day the fares go up
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The Wall Street Journal's chart shows how our MetroCard fares are going up today. (Via)
By the time you read this post, a 30-day MetroCard, just $63 ten years ago, will now set you back a Benjamin and four Georges. The MTA’s pay-per-ride discount will dip to just seven percent on purchases over $10, and the one- and 14-day unlimited ride cards are going the way of the dodo. The MTA says the average fare hike is in line with promises it made to Albany to raise fares by 7.5 percent and generate nearly $400 million in added revenue, but that’s little consolation for everyone who has to, for the third time in three years, pay more and more just to maintain services constantly under attack.
When I started this site back in 2006, the MTA fares were downright cheap compared to their prices today. A swipe of a pay-per-ride card cost just $2, and the bonus was 20 percent on purchases over $10. Today, that bonus has been reduced to just seven percent, and it’s only a matter of time before the MTA eliminates it entirely. A seven-day card cost $24, and a 30-day card set you back just $76. Today, those cards will cost $29 and $104 respectively, and they are the only remaining unlimited ride offerings available. Even worse, today’s fare hike is the third in three years.
As Andrew Grossman of the Wall Street Journal noted in his brief run-down of the fare hikes, the authority has “tried to limit the increase for their lowest-income customers.” Thus, as those of us who buy the 30-day cards “tend to be wealthier commuters with stable jobs,” we’ll be saddled with a 16.9 percent hike while the seven-day card increase is under 10 percent.
But this fare hike is about more than just the numbers. We will indeed be paying more for our cards, and we’ve now scaled the triple-digit point. But the MTA’s new fare-related policies could be just as important as the higher rates. In a press release yesterday, the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road Commuter Councils highlighted the hidden aspects of the fare hikes. These two organizations are “strenuously opposed” to the MTA’s new measures and for good reason.
Essentially, the MTA is making it harder not to plan ahead. One-way and round trip commuter rail tickets will be good only for 14 days from the date of purchase instead of six months. Ten-trip tickets will be good for only six months instead of one year. Meanwhile, these tickets will be refundable for only 30 days after purchase and now come with a $10 refund transaction fee. As the Commuter Councils note, “in many cases,” the refund with the transaction fee now “equals or exceeds the cost of a ticket.” On-board ticket sales will now come with a fee of at least $5.75. Public transit should be easy, simple and affordable. With more and more policies and higher fares in place, it’s becoming a burden.
Ultimately, the fare hike represents something of a devil’s choice for the MTA. Without it, the authority would be facing a massive $400 million deficit, and it can’t cut services by that much while still providing adequate public transportation. But as the MTA’s budget documents make exceedingly clear, the authority is not out of the financial woods yet. It projects razor thin surpluses for 2011, and odds are good that state tax revenues will come in below expectations again. In out years, the MTA expects to alternate between deficits and surpluses, but good times are not on the horizon.
For now, the fares go up. The break-even point on the unlimited cards — now set to 50 rides — creeps higher, and the pay-per-ride discount drops lower. Both moves are part of the MTA’s attempt to raise the average fare, which is still lower today in inflation-adjusted dollars than it was in 1996. That’s hardly going to make anyone feel better about the higher prices though.
As the city’s economy is slow to rebound, people — the middle class — will have to find $15 a month more for public transit. Without a better solution, without East River Bridge tolls, congestion pricing or more state subsidies, the MTA can only raise fares to generate revenue. Hopefully, in four more years, we won’t be paying $132 for a 30-day monthly, but at the current rate and without more state assistance, the MTA will continue to put more and more of its revenue burden on the shoulders of its riders. We’ll pay tomorrow. We always do.
For all the details on the MTA’s newest rates, check out the authority’s fare hike page. For more on the new break-even point for 30-day cards, check out this November SAS post.
Dec
29
How the Unlimited MetroCard revolutionized transit
Posted by: | CommentsAs I’m in Philadelphia for a few days this week, I’m not going to be around to cover all of the breaking subway news and snow service watch. I did, however, want to make sure that some fresh content finds its way to the site, and I’ll be running a few of my archived pieces. As the fares go up tomorrow and unlimited cards remain, thankfully, unlimited, let’s look back at how the unlimited MetroCard changed transit for the better in New York City.
When Tuesday dawned another cold, windy and rainy day, I pondered how New Yorkers ride the subway in those ugly conditions. On rainy days, the trains are damp and more crowded than usual. People who would otherwise walk or bike to their myriad destinations head underground for a ride free from rain.
Meanwhile, throughout the city, people running errands opt to duck underground as well. Instead of walking from, say, 50th St. to 40th St., the one-stop ride along the Sixth Ave. IND often calls out, and while 15 years ago, that ride would have cost $1.25, today, the Unlimited MetroCard urges you to take that one- or two-stop ride. Straphangers, in fact, get better deals on their weekly or monthly cards if they ride more frequently, and the MTA earns less per ride. In a way, it is a perverse incentive.
Today, the Unlimited MetroCard is a way of life. In January, over 50 percent of all non-student trips came from one of the four unlimited ride offerings. Yet, 12 years ago, few were aware of the looming debut of these cards that have changed the way we ride.
Gov. George Pataki first announced unlimited ride cards in early December 1997. Original plans called for a $63 30-day card, a $17 seven-day card and a $4 one-day fun pass. In a twist of history, the MTA could afford to offer these discount cards because of a surplus of tax revenue in 1997. The agency was expected to lose over $230 million on the per-ride discounts, and as riders today pay an inflation-adjusted fare that is 36 cents lower than the average fare was in 1996, this loss is still haunting the MTA today.
While the 30-day cards then — and still do today — require someone to ride at least 47 times to be a better deal than the pay-per-ride discounts, the new passes were designed to encourage use. Original MTA estimates projected 100 million more riders per year, an increase of six percent. ”The goal here,” Pataki said said to The Times, ”was very simply to empower the rider. Empower the person who takes the subway and the person who takes the bus by giving them the broadest possible range of options as to how they want to choose to use the mass transit system.”
When the unlimited cards debuted on July 4, 1998, they were an immediate hit. Even though plans for the one-day card were delayed, lines at the token booths snaked through stations, and New Yorkers were eager to take advantage of the potential savings. ”Maybe it would stop me from taking so many cabs,” one rider said at the time. ”It has to do with commitment. Once I’ve made that $17 investment up front, I see it as a free situation, rather than a $5 cab ride minus the dollar-and-a-half public transportation.”
The only down side riders could find was the original 18-minute use restriction. The unlimited ride cards could be used once system-wide every 18 minutes, and many straphangers taking short trips found themselves waiting for time to expire. Eventually, Transit agreed to reduce the limitations to their current form. Today, riders can swipe in at the same station only once every 18 minutes but can enter the system at other points before the time limit is up.
Immediately, the savings were apparent. As The Daily News noted, messenger services and frequent train riders were going to realize savings of hundreds of dollars annually. First day sales were very brisk and have continued to be for the past 12 years.
Today, the unlimited ride cards are still a great deal. As a student and frequent subway rider, my pay-per-ride cost off of the $89 monthly card is only just around $1.10 per ride. I can hop on and hop off the trains and buses as I please, and I don’t have to think twice about taking a trip we used to view as unnecessary 15 or 20 years ago. The Unlimited MetroCards changed the way we ride and interact with the system, and that was true transit innovation for New York City.
Dec
29
On the day before the fare hike…
Posted by: | CommentsAs the MTA struggles to restore subway service in the wake of a paralyzing blizzard, the authority must also cope with the reality of a fare hike. Tomorrow — Thursday, December 30, 2010 — brings with it new fares. The 30-day card will cost $104 and the seven-day card $29. The 14- and one-day cards will go the way of the dodo, and the pay-per-ride discount will drop to seven percent on purchases above $10. Talk about bad timing.
Today, then, is the last day to stock up on pre-hike cards. For pay-per-ride cards, the sky is the limit. Put as much as you can on as many pay-per-ride cards as you’d like to enjoy cheaper rates. But unlimited riders must be ware the sunset dates. The MTA is allowing a very short grace period on cards bought before the hike that remain unactivated. Essentially, you have to begin using your old cards by January 10 to get full value.
Take a glance at this chart:
| Days on Card | Sunset Date |
|---|---|
| 1 | January 10 |
| 7 | January 16 |
| 14 | January 23 |
| 30 | February 8 |
Essentially, those who buy a card today but start using it after January 10 will not be able to use their cards until the end. Instead, straphangers will have to mail their cards back to the MTA for a refund. My advice is to start using those cards before January 10 to save the headaches of a refund process.
For the authority, the timing of the fare hike could not be worse. The snow storm has left riders stranded and disgruntled, and the MTA has to repair its public image while upping the fares at the same time. I guess the higher fares are better than crippling service cuts, which are, in essence, the alternative, but that $104 price tag certainly looks steep today.
Dec
29
MTA: Subway service is ‘near normal’
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MTA workers dig down to the track, ballast & the third rail at Cortelyou Road yesterday. (Photo via New York City Transit)
According to a note on the MTA’s website, subway service this morning has been “restored to near normal levels on most lines.” The authority is still not running the Franklin Ave. shuttle, but B and Q service along the Brighton line has returned “with residual delays.” There is still no N service from Whitehall St. to Coney Island. Bus service across the city remains limited, and Transit is urging its passengers to allow extra time for travel.
Dec
29
Scenes from the Snow: The fallout of digging out
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Considering the snow, it's tough to say if the 14th St. station is above ground or below. (Photo by flickr user Jeffrey Keefer)
Snow stopped falling in the New York area nearly two days ago, and yet, the city’s transit network remains at less than full service. Buses are stranded; elevated subway routes are shuttered. Even as the commuter rail lines return to full service, New York City Transit is still trying to figure out what went wrong. After all, isn’t this the agency that’s supposed to be improving, non-stop?
For Wednesday, straphangers will find a system slowly returning to normal. The MTA continues to promise that crews are “continuing round-the-clock work to restore service throughout the system.” As of late Tuesday, the state of subway service was as follows:
Service has been restored with residual delays on the 5 to Dyre Avenue, the A to Far Rockaway, and the C, D, F, and G lines. Service remains suspended on the B and Q lines, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and the Rockaway Park Shuttle. The L line is restored, operating in two sections: 8th Ave to Broadway Junction and Broadway-Junction to Rockaway Parkway. There is no N train service between the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station and the Whitehall Street Station. New York City Transit expects to restore further service segments in time for the morning rush hour.
Despite assurances of an easier Wednesday morning commute, the Outer Boroughs are rife with dissent. For now, their anger is directed at city agencies and leaders. Take, for instance, this post on Sheepshead Bites. The Brooklyn-based blog notes that Mayor Bloomberg’s Manhattan street is perfectly plowed while streets in Sheepshead Bay are awash in snow. Buses cannot pass; cars are stranded; the subways aren’t running. This is city government at a stand-still.
Meanwhile, MTA officials are promising to figure out just what went wrong. Around Brooklyn, 250 buses remained stuck in the snow, and many of those were not equipped with snow chains. “We typically have not had difficulties with stuck buses with the types of buses we have today. The hybrid buses we use are typically able to get through the snow but for whatever reason this snow they didn’t get through. I’m not a snow expert to tell you why,” Jay Walder said. “We do need to look back. I’m not minimizing the fact that we have had a large number of stuck buses and we do need to look back.”
Based upon my conversations with those who have knowledge of the situation, it appears as though the MTA severely underestimated the extent of the snow. While Boston’s MBTA ran ghost trains to keep tracks warm and free from the snow, the MTA had to contend with stronger-than-expected winds and deep snow drifts. The authority did not call in snow emergency squads until roads in the city were nearly impassable, and the authority was simply not ready to respond to a blizzard of this magnitude. Forty-eight hours later, we’re still paying the price.
Soon — probably today — subway schedules will return to something approximating normal and buses will begin to run. The authority will look to improve its emergency response protocols, and we’ll remember the Blizzard of 2010 as we do the rainstorm of August 2007. The authority must seek to improve out of the aftermath of the last two days. It cannot do much worse.
Dec
28
Dreams of taking the N to LaGuardia
Posted by: | CommentsAs I’m in Philadelphia for a few days this week, I’m not going to be around to cover all of the breaking subway news and snow service watch. I did, however, want to make sure that some fresh content finds its way to the site, and I’ll be running a few of my archived pieces. I first ran this look at a proposed subway line to LaGuardia back in January. After this week’s blizzard, the airport has reopened, but subway service to LaGuardia remains but a dream.
The Fiorello H. LaGuardia Airport in Queens is one of the nation’s most infuriating urban airports. It is so close to midtown and Manhattan’s Central Business District that a commuter in a hurry could make the trip in 30 minutes. Yet, it’s so far away because congestion frequently creates trips to Queens that last an hour and 30 minutes. The only public transit option to the airport is a packed and slow bus that, on a good day, goes from 125th St. and Lexington to the airport in a half an hour.
Over the last few decades, city officials have become quite intimate with the problems plaguing LaGuardia, and many have tried to fix it. The N train, whose northern terminus is less than three miles away from the LaGuardia terminals, is so tantalizing close to the airport and yet so far away.
Last week, in his “Why Train” segment, NBC 4′s Andrew Siff posted just this question. “What about the train to LGA?” asks Siff. In a one-minute piece, he mentioned how, 12 years ago, city and MTA officials were heavily invested in a plan to extend the N to LaGuardia, but in the face of other pressing transit needs and widespread community opposition, the agency eventually shelved this much needed link to LaGuardia.
So what then were the plans that engendered widespread community outrage and still cause politicians to chime in now and then, nearly a decade after the MTA discarded the idea? Let’s hop in the Wayback Machine and explore some Giuliani-Era transit developments.
The plans to extend the N to LaGuardia first came to light in 1998 as city officials recognized the need to build better access to the airports. As part of a $1.2 billion package with funding coming from the MTA, the Port Authority and the city, Giuiliani put forth a plan to build an airtrain to JFK and extend the subway to LaGuardia. The JFK line — built over preexisting rights-of-way — survived. The LaGuardia plans, obviously, did not.
The first and biggest problem the city faced in Queens came about because of the proposed routes. The preferred route would have extended the N along 31st St. north onto Con Edison’s property at the edge of Astoria and then east along 19th Ave. to the Marine Air Terminal. The MTA also considered an eastward extension along Ditmars Boulevard, a plan to reroute LaGuardia-bound N trains from Queensboro Plaza through the Sunnyside rail yard and along the eastern edge of St. Michael’s Cemetary to what Newsday called “elevated tracks parallel to the Grand Central Parkway.” A barely-acknowledged fourth route would have seen trains head east via Astoria Boulevard.
On the surface, these plans seem no worse than building the Second Ave. Subway through densely populated neighborhoods on the East Side. In Queens, however, the MTA would have had to build a spur line off a pre-existing elevated structure, and all of the plans called for the train to LaGuardia to run above ground through significant portions of Astoria. So while airport access ranked tops amongst Queens residents transit expansion wishlist, no one wanted to see Astoria further scarred by elevated structures.
The Daily News termed the opposition response NAMBYism — Not Above My Backyard — and nearly every single Queens politician opposed the idea. Some preferred the Sunnyside alternative, but at the time, NYCDOT said plans to widen the Grand Central Parkway would interfere with the train proposal. Others called upon an extension from Long Island City to skirt the borough from 21st St. along the East River to the airport. Still others preferred a longer Willets Point extension of the LIRR to the airport.
Peter Vallone exemplified the opposition. “Extending the elevated track will cause unnecessary hardship to residents and businesses in the area,” the City Council member said in 1999. “The MTA wants to go their way, not our way.”
In the end, despite opposition, political support for the plan from City Hall continued well into the 21st Century. With the backing of Mayor Guiliani and Queens Borough President Clare Shulman, the MTA’s 2000-2004 Five-Year Capital Plan included $645 million for the LaGuardia subway link, and even though a $17 million planning study was the project’s only expense, in late 2002, Mayor Bloomberg threw his weight behind the LaGuardia extension as a key post-9/11 revitalization plan.
Finally, in mid-2003, the Queens communities won the battle as the MTA announced plans to shelve the airport extension. With money tight after 9/11 and Lower Manhattan on the radar, then-MTA Chair Peter Kalikow said that the agency’s attention had turned to the JFK Raillink from Lower Manhattan, another plan that never materialized, and that the agency was prioritizing the 7 Line Extension, the East Side Access Plan and the Second Ave. Subway over the LaGuardia N train extension. “LaGuardia is a good project, but you have to prioritize,” Elliot Sander, then at NYU, said. “In terms of political support from City Hall, Albany and Washington, it’s moved back in the queue.”
And so in the end, we sit here in 2010 with the same travel options to LaGuardia as we have always enjoyed (or suffered through). The M60 remains the best public transportation option, and the MTA is in no position to take another crack at sending the subway to the airport. Oh, what could have been.
