Archive for September, 2011
Sep
19
The return of the son of the return of congestion pricing
Posted by: | CommentsFor many transportation advocates in the New York City area, congestion pricing is that idea that just won’t go away. When the city launched a failed bid for such a pricing scheme three years ago, a slim majority of New Yorkers supported such a plan — and even more did so when revenues were guaranteed to be invested in public transit — but the plan died a political death. Since then, it has hovered on the periphery of politics, not quite receding but never coming back.
Today, the Daily News checks in on the status of the congestion pricing fight and finds that things are in a holding pattern. The same small group of people who haven’t yet gained the backing of big-name, powerful New York State politicos are still out there fighting the good fight, and although they think the tide might turn, it clearly hasn’t yet.
Still, the numbers being thrown around are significant. MOVE NY, a group headed by Alex Matthiessen, a member of the 2008 Commission on Sustainability and the MTA created in 2008 by Elliot Sander and long-time supporter of Charles Koumanoff’s balanced transportation analyzer, says the right congestion pricing plan could realize $1 billion in annual revenues. Furthermore, the plan has something for transit riders too: With congestion pricing revenues, the MTA could lessen and delay planned fare hikes. Kenneth Lovett has more:
Under the “MOVE NY draft sustainable mobility plan,” drivers entering New York City’s central business district, from 60th St. down to the Battery, would pay a toll at 22 entry points. The tolls would vary based on the time of day. Peak hours – between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. – would be in the same range as the Port Authority’s bridge and tunnel tolls, and the cost would be lower overnight and on weekends.
Yellow cabs would not be subject to the tolls, but they would be slapped with a $1-per-trip increase to generate $180 million a year, with $20 million going toward the hacks’ health care. Livery cabs would get a 50% discount, and commercial vehicles would not pay more than once a day. The plan would also chop tolls by 15% for the Whitestone, Throgs Neck, Cross Bay and Verrazano bridges, and defer by a year a 2013 MTA fare and toll hike…
“Everyone we’ve spoken to across the region agrees that we need to find new funding for our transportation system and appreciates the effort we’ve made to test different ideas and solicit feedback,” said Alex Matthiessen, an environmental consultant and MOVE NY campaign director.
I haven’t had a chance to review the draft of the sustainable mobility plan, but all of these tweaks and changes to the basic pricing plan seem like the give and take of politics. The plan still needs a champion in New York City and one in Albany who is willing to put themselves out there and can round up the support needed to move this through the legislature. I still think a trade-off could be achieved by reducing the payroll tax in exchange for congestion pricing, but so far, no anti-payroll tax politicians have been willing to take that stance.
There is one final cause of concern as well. The last word in Lovett’s article belongs to an anonymous source from Albany. “I think there is zero appetite,” a lawmaker said. “They can dress this up all they want, but people just don’t trust the MTA.” A quick read through the Daily News comments reveals that mistrust. New Yorkers and lawmakers alike simply don’t trust the MTA.
Now, the MTA and Albany have been through this game before. The MTA threatens service cuts and fare hikes while Albany claims the MTA is mismanaged and can’t spend its money properly. Usually Albany is willing to step in, but for the past few times, the MTA has called their bluff. We’ve had steep fare hikes and serious service cuts. Still, state lawmakers claim they don’t trust the MTA, and these statements to the press feed public mistrust as well. It’s a cycle that is going to end either with change in Albany or serious cuts in public transit service. It’s time to bridge that gap, and it’s getting closer to a time when a congestion pricing plan deserves to be a part of a serious public conversation.
Sep
17
Weekend work impacting travel everywhere
Posted by: | CommentsApologies for the delay in publishing these changes this weekend. I was out of town last night without an Internet connection. For those of you who don’t yet like the MTA’s new Weekender offering, there’s always Subway Weekender with the more traditional map. As always, these come to via NYC Transit and are subject to change without notice.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, Flatbush-bound 2 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to conduit installation (for new fiber optic cable) between Nostrand Avenue and Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18, New Lots-bound 3 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to conduit installation (for new fiber optic cable) between Nostrand Avenue and Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road.
(Overnight)
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18, and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, New Lots-bound 4 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza, Eastern Parkway, Nostrand Avenue and Kingston Avenue due to conduit installation (for new fiber optic cable) between Nostrand Avenue and Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road.
From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18, Flushing-bound 7 trains skip 33rd, 40th, 46th 52nd and 69th Streets due to the installation of cable trays and brackets.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, shuttle trains and buses replace A train service between Howard Beach and Far Rockaway due to the rebuilding of existing piers and bearings on the South Channel Bridge and the replacement of drain pipes at the South Channel Bridge and Hammel’s Wye. Rockaway Park shuttle trains operate between Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park. Free shuttle buses operate between:
- Howard Beach and Far Rockaway (non-stop)
- Howard Beach and Rockaway Park, making one stop at Broad Channel
From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, September 17, there is no A or C train service at Fulton Street in either direction due to work at the Fulton Street Transit Center.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18, there are no C trains between Manhattan and Brooklyn due to the Culver Viaduct Rehabilitation. C trains are rerouted on the F line between West 4th Street and 2nd Avenue (last stop). Customers for Spring, Canal and Chambers Streets should take the A or E. Customers for Brooklyn, take the A or F. Note: F trains operate on the C line between Jay Street-MetroTech and Euclid Avenue.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, Manhattan-bound D trains run on the N line from Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street (Brooklyn) due to structural repair and station rehabilitation from 71st Street to Bay 50th Street and ADA work at Bay Parkway. Note: At all times until Friday, October 28, the southbound D is bypassing 71st Street due to stair reconstruction. So, there is no D service at 71st Street this weekend.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, Coney Island-bound D trains run local from DeKalb Avenue to 36th Street (Brooklyn) and Manhattan-bound D trains run local from 59th Street (on the N line) to DeKalb Avenue due to work on the Culver Viaduct. Note: The D stops at DeKalb Avenue in both directions this weekend.
(Overnight)
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, September 18, Jamaica Center-bound E trains skip Van Wyck Blvd. due to cable work north of Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, free shuttle buses replace F service between Jay Street-MetroTech and 18th Avenue due to work on the Culver Viaduct including: installation of new signals, signal boxes, cable, insulated joints and rail between Bergen Street and 4th Avenue-9th Street. F trains operate in two sections:
- Between 179th Street and Jay Street-MetroTech, and then are rerouted to the C to Euclid Avenue
- Between 18th Avenue and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue
Free shuttle buses operate in three sections:
- Between Jay Street-MetroTech and 18th Avenue (Limited) making stops at Church Avenue and Ditmas Avenue only.
- Between Jay Street-MetroTech and 4th Avenue-9th Street, making stops at Bergen Street, Carroll Street and Smith-9th Streets only.
- Between 4th Avenue-9th Street and Church Avenue, making stops at 7th Avenue, 15th Street-Prospect Park and Ft. Hamilton Parkway only.
Manhattan-bound customers should consider transferring to the R at 4th Avenue-9th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. to 12 noon, Sunday, September 18 Queens-bound F trains skip Van Wyck Blvd. and Sutphin Blvd. due to cable work north of Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, there is no G train service between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. and Church Avenue due to work on the Culver Viaduct including: installation of new signals, signal boxes, cable, insulated joints and rail between Bergen Street and 4th Avenue-9th Street. Customers should take the A or F from Hoyt-Schermerhorn to Jay Street-MetroTech for shuttle bus to Church Avenue. See F entry for shuttle bus information.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, there are no L trains between 8th Avenue and Broadway Junction due to CBTC track and signal work between Bedford Avenue and 3rd Avenue. The M train, M14 and free shuttle buses provide alternate service. M train service is extended to 57th Street-6th Avenue. The M14 bus replaces L service between 1st and 8th Avenues. Free shuttle buses operate:
- Between Broadway Junction and Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs.
- Between Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs and Lorimer Street-Metropolitan Ave G station
- Between Lorimer Street-Metropolitan Ave G station and the Marcy Avenue J, M station
Note: Manhattan-bound customers should transfer to the A, F or J train at Broadway Junction or the M at Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs.
From 6 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, September 17 and from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday, September 18, M service is extended to 57th Street-6th Avenue F station due to CBTC track and signal work between Bedford Avenue and 3rd Avenue on the L line.
From 4 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 10 p.m. Sunday, September 18, southbound N trains run express from Astoria Boulevard to Queensboro Plaza, skipping 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue and 39th Avenue due to track panel installation between Astoria Boulevard and 36th Avenue.
From 10 p.m. Friday, September 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, uptown N trains skip Prince, 8th, 23rd, and 28th Streets due to platform edge rehabilitation at 34th Street.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18, uptown R trains skip Prince, 8th, 23rd, and 28th Streets due to platform edge rehabilitation at 34th Street.
(Rockaway Shuttle)
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 19, there are no S (Shuttle) trains between Broad Channel and Beach 90th Street due to the rebuilding of existing piers and bearings and the replacement of drain pipes on the South Channel Bridge. Shuttle trains operate between Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway. Free shuttle buses operate between Rockaway Park and Broad Channel. (See A entry for shuttle bus information.)
Sep
16
Give the MTA’s new Weekender map a whirl
Posted by: | CommentsI’m away from my computer right now so I can’t give the MTA’s new online weekend map a ride, but you can. Check it out right here in all of it’s Vignelli glory. As you poke around with the map, I would love to hear your reactions. Leave a comment with your thoughts, criticisms and potential improvements, and we’ll soon find out just how useful this new offering is.
Sep
16
A brief look at the shortlist for Walder’s replacement
Posted by: | CommentsWith Jay Walder’s departure date just a few weeks away, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s search committee is hard at work trying to find the next person brave enough to take on the role of MTA CEO and Chairman. Today, we find out a little bit more about the potential candidates under consideration. Courtesy of The Daily News, the list contains the following: Jeffrey Morales from Parsons Brinkerhoff, Tom Prendergast from NYC Transit, Helena Williams from the LIRR, Michael Burns of Santa Clara’s Valley Transportation Authority and Neil Peterson, a transit vet who founded a ZipCar predecessor.
Williams, a one-time interim MTA head, and Predergast are, of course familiar names around these parts, but I’m not too familiar with the other three. I’ll try to prepare some profiles of these potential candidates. Morales and Peterson both have experience with West Coast transit and transportation agencies, and Morales is a former higher-up from the Chicago Transit Authority. At the least, if one of these five is chosen, the next MTA head will have a pedigree of transportation and transit policy, and that’s a step in the right direction.
Sep
16
The return of Vignelli with a weekend twist
Posted by: | Comments
Transit's new Weekender offering provides an interactive, online solution to charting weekend service changes.
Over 30 years after being unceremoniously dumped in the face of extreme public outrage, the Massimo Vignelli subway map is making its triumphant return to the MTA this weekend. This map, repurposed to solve a problem that has vexed the authority for years, won’t be hanging in stations or cars, and in fact, it won’t be available in any physical form. Rather, the MTA will use it as a weekend landing page to offer straphangers a visual, interactive glimpse at the complicated array of service changes that often leave riders more confused than they should be.
The idea is a simple one. In fact, it’s a service Subway Weekender has been offering for years. By providing a visual representation of service changes instead of the jumbled syntax of the weekly postings, Transit can better prepare its customers for weekend headaches. The service, termed the Weekender, will launch later today at approximately 3 p.m. and will be the landing page for MTA.info until shortly before Monday’s morning rush. It is, according to Transit, very much a work in progress, and the MTA will look for rider feedback as it improves this much-needed offering.
Michael Grynbaum of The Times got the scoop on this project, and he offered up a wealth of details:
The stylish digital map will be customized each weekend to reflect the myriad service changes that regularly bedevil straphangers on Saturdays and Sundays. Currently, rerouted lines and shut stations are noted only in stiffly written prose that sometimes compound riders’ confusion. The interactive map is searchable by line, borough and station, and it flags trouble spots with blinking lights. Click, and the site will reveal a rundown of what woe awaits, whether a closed platform or an unexpected station stop. …
The Weekender does not redraw the usual map so much as annotate it. The A train, for instance, has an irritating habit of running along part of the F line on weekends. But the map, rather than repositioning the A’s blue trail onto the orange F route, simply flags the bypassed stations and offers a written explanation. (Officials said a more dynamic map would be logistically difficult to execute.)
Still, the online map has appealing features, including a line-by-line view, which highlights, in vibrant colors, the entire length of an individual subway route while fading out the others, like pulling a strand of spaghetti from a knotty pasta. Riders can quickly find out about changes on their own route while ignoring the rest. The site also allows users to toggle between the subway diagram and detailed neighborhood maps, which list local attractions.
“The idea here,” Margarte Coffey, a Transit official said to The Times, “was: ‘How do you show people at a glance what’s really happening?’ You’ve got this comprehensive poster that says all that is happening this weekend, but you still have to stand there with a map to be able to figure it out.”
Recently, the MTA’s growing weekend ridership has dominated headlines, and with it, weekend travel has come under the microscope. The City and State Comptrollers released a largely clueless report on weekend work that did manage to highlight the MTA’s information deficiencies, and this is a start. Plus, it returns Vignelli’s map, with updated colors, to the public eye. That’s bound to be good for some long arguments over design and functionality.
For now, the situation underground isn’t going to improve. Service changes will come and go as work continues, but the MTA is trying to make it easier for us to know how to get around during the weekend. And knowing is half the battle.
Sep
15
Along the Bx9, a third driver assault in as many months
Posted by: | CommentsAs we’ve learned over the last few years, bus drivers are among the most vulnerable of MTA employees. There is no physical barrier between them and passengers, and irate riders often take out their frustrations on drivers. Over the years, the MTA has promised more cameras to enable them to catch perps who assault drivers, and they are slowly working on a bus partition pilot that will better protect drivers. The hits just keep on coming though.
CBS News’ Lou Young spoke with Maria Hogan, a driver in the Bronx who was assaulted this weekend. She had to deal with an irate passenger when she passed a stop closed for construction. The passengers yelled and then, on the way out, he punched her. As Young recounts, this happened in the middle of the day on Saturday afternoon “all of 300 yards from the passed stop.” It was the third such assault on this same bus line in three months.
Both the MTA and driver’s union reps said the right things. The MTA is committed to improving safety, and the union wants to work closely and quickly with the authority in doing so. Officials attribute a recent uptick in driver assaults to frustration over the economy, but whatever the cause, driver security has to be a priority. Protective measures should be implemented as soon as possible, and if the authority can’t speed up the pilot program, increasing police patrols on high-violence bus routes could be an answer.
Sep
15
Skanksa JV set to build Second Avenue’s 86th St. station
Posted by: | CommentsThe MTA announced this morning that it has awarded a $301 million contract to a joint venture of Skanska USA and Traylor Bros Inc. for the construction of the 86th St. station cavern along the Second Ave. Subway. The construction, which will start this month an wrap in the fall of 2014, will include the excavation of the station cavern, installation of the cavern’s concrete structural lining and basic utility and underpinning work.
MTA and Skanska officials praised this deal as a clear sign that Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway will indeed see the light of day sometime this decade. “With this award we move one step closer to making the Second Avenue Subway a reality for our customers,” Michael Horodniceanu, the President of MTA Capital Construction, said in a statement.
Skanska has played a key role in this $4.45 billion subway expansion plan that the MTA says will open in December 2016. They are part of the joint venture building the Phase 1 tunnel, recently won the contract or the 34th Street station along the 7 line, are working on Fulton Street and have completed numerous other MTA renovations. “Skanska and the MTA have a long and successful history of working together to build, renovate and improve New York City’s transit system,” Michael Viggiano, a executive vice president with Skanska, said. “We are excited to build yet another major project with our MTA partners, one with historical significance. New Yorkers will soon have subway service on the Upper East Side which will reduce overcrowding and delays on the Lexington Avenue line.”
Sep
15
Bike share a new opportunity for unused bus shelters
Posted by: | Comments
A rendering of a proposed bike share station in front of the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn.
Whenever I leave my apartment for a stroll around my neighborhood, I walk past a former bus route. The B71 used to run, now and then when it felt like it, up and down Union St., and the CEMUSA shelter sits unused around the corner. Now, though, the city could find a use for these useless structures.
The bus shelters that are remaining on now-defunct bus lines are pretty much the pinnacle in useless infrastructure. Unless one believes the MTA is going to one day restore those bus lines — an unlikely proposition that would still be years off — the shelters serve only to satisfy an advertising agreement the city has signed with CEMUSA. They take up valuable sidewalk space, burn bright in the night sky and exist only to serve ads in high-traffic neighborhoods. What’s the point?
Today’s useless structures could have a purpose tomorrow for the city is starting a new initiative that could change the way we get around. The short of it is bike share. As Janette Sadik-Khan and city politicians announced yesterday, the city has signed an agreement with Alta Bicycle Share for an extensive bike share network. Included in this plan are 600 bike-share stations and 10,000 bikes. It would be, as Streetsblog noted, “a network of comparable size and density to bike-share systems in cities like London and Paris.”
The initial reaction from transportation advocates who have long fought for such a program focused on the integration of the bike network into the rest of the city’s public transit infrastructure. “Bike share will be the latest and greatest addition to New York’s menu of transportation choices,” Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement. “A subway or bus trip is rarely door-to-door and New Yorkers make hundreds of thousands of short trips a day that could benefit from the convenience of a public bicycle. This affordable and practical transit choice will empower New Yorkers with a new freedom of mobility and will harness the potential of bicycling to make our lives easier.”
Kate Slevin, from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, issued a statement with a similar sentiment. “In cities like Washington, people use bike share to get to the train station, pick up the groceries, and visit that park or restaurant that was always a little too far of a walk,” she said. “Bike share will give New Yorkers another way to get around and improve everyone’s quality of life.”
The bike share, in other words, will complement the subways and buses, but how? To include the public as much as possible in the planning process, DOT has opened up a website asking for the public to request bike-share locations, and nearly every corner in Brooklyn and Manhattan seems to be claimed already. People clearly want access to bikes.
A clear answer came to me immediately, and I posted it to Twitter yesterday morning: “The obvious solution for bike share stations would be to use abandoned bus shelters along axed routes.” These shelters exist already, and many of them are along well-established routes. The city doesn’t have to use every bus shelter, but those, for instance, along Union St. would be ideal for cross-Brooklyn bicyclists. Reactivating wilting infrastructures whose only current purpose is to serve ads could do wonders for the streetscape.
Those responding to my plan questioned the location. It’s better to have bike share kiosks near major retail locations, of course, but the point of the bike share is to reach all neighborhoods. With 600 stations — that’s over 130 more than the number of subway stations in the city — DOT can blanket residential neighborhoods as well as key retail hubs, and the shelters, especially those at key intersections, provide them with a clear location.
As proponents have noted, the city will have to tred carefully over the next few months. The media is always skeptical of bike initiatives, and even though this bike share program will be paid for via private contributions and user fees, it’s going to arouse those who want to keep fighting the battle for city space between cars and everyone else. Once the fervor dies down, though, and the city begins to whittle down the list of bike share locations, they can look to former bus routes for guidance. The bikes can’t fill the holes left by the service cuts, but it’s a start.
Sep
14
Work on final 7 line extension contract set to start soon
Posted by: | CommentsAlthough the opening of the MTA’s first new subway station in over 20 years still seems as though it is a ways away, December 2013 will get here sooner than we realize. To that end, the MTA announced today that work on the final contract for the 7 line extension will begin this month. The contract — a $513.7 million deal awarded this summer to a joint venture of Skanska USA and the RailWorks Corp — will be funded through the Hudson Yards Development Corporation.
Essentially, this contract is for the finishes for the one-stop, $2.1-billion subway extension. Under it, contractors will lay tracks and build the signal systems and third rail. They will add numerous pieces to the infrastructure of the new station at 34th Street and 11th Ave., including escalators and elevators, power systems, lighting, plumbing, heating, ventilation and even air conditioning. “This award marks a major milestone as we continue to make progress on the construction of the 7 extension project,” Dr. Michael Horodniceanu, President of MTA Capital Construction, said in a statement. “With the award of this contract, we’re one step closer to opening up the Far West Side of Manhattan to major, transit-oriented economic growth.”
Unfortunately, though, with this contract comes the death of a barely-alive dream. For now, the 7 line extension will be just one stop from Times Square to 34th and 11th Ave. While not quite a subway to nowhere, this expensive expansion will not stop at 41st St. and 10th Ave. Contractors who built the tunnels made sure to grade the path at that location to allow future construction, but neither a shell nor carved-out walls will be in place. Any effort to right this transportation planning oversight will carry a significant cost. Still, the finish line for the 7 line extension is now in sight.
Sep
14
From the TWU, opening salvos in a long war
Posted by: | CommentsA pair of articles concerning the TWU and its touchy relationship with the MTA caught my attention yesterday. First, NY1 reported on a small labor protest involving health care. Allegedly, the MTA has violated its contract by cutting some union members’ health care benefits, and the TWU has filed a protest. “There are issues with prescriptions, issues with hospital stays. There is an across the board effort by the MTA to nickel and dime transit workers to death,” TWU President John Samuelsen said. “If they attack our benefits, we’re gonna attack back.”
The Daily News too covered what they termed a “flash mob” protest. According to Pete Donohue’s coverage, Monday’s mini-protest was the first in a concerted attempt to bring “unorthodox and unexpected” to the MTA. “This fight starts now,” Samuelsen said.
For its part, the MTA struck a somewhat conciliatory tone. “We look forward to sitting at the bargaining table to negotiate, in good faith, a new collective bargaining agreement with TWU Local 100,” the MTA said. The problem is one of timing: The MTA cannot fight a political fight for capital dollars while negotiating with the union while waiting for and adjusting to a new CEO and Chairman. They could use a union willing to hold back until everything else is settled, but that seems like an unlikely outcome right now. The fall will be an interesting one indeed.
