Author Archive
Feb
07
Link: Explaining the high costs of building new subways
Posted by: | CommentsSalon, on its Dream Cities blog, tackles a question near and dear to my heart: Why does it take so damn long to build a new subway system? As the MTA already has nearly 17 years worth of documents on its website for only the current attempt at a Second Ave. Subway, by the time construction on Phase 1 alone is wrapped, it will have been over 20 years from the release of the initial scoping document in 1995 to revenue service in 2016. At that rate, it’ll take 80 more years for the other parts of the subway extension to see the light of day.
So what, then, takes so long? According to Salon’s Will Doig, seven different elements, many of them interrelated, slow down transit expansion plans in the United States. Up front, he pinpoints the obvious. By combining funding from various sources — the feds, states, cities, the bureaucracy slow distribution of money, and oftentimes, there isn’t enough money guaranteed up front to see megaprojects through to completion. He also pays heed to the physical challenges of working around 100-year-old city infrastructure that was never properly mapped, and he fingers a societal addiction to cars that often serves to marginalize transit. He certainly isn’t wrong there.
In my opinion, though, his two key elements concern mismanagement and what he terms basic fairness. With a small group of companies qualified to build subways, mismanagement runs rampant. That is a problem that should be addressed if other SAS phases receive funding. The fairness element though is a tough one. He writes:
Good public transit is a cherished ideal of many progressives. Ironically, progressive values can end up making transit construction take longer. Part of the reason we don’t build as fast as China does is because we have workers’ unions, ADA compliance rules, and environmental concerns that require time-consuming impact studies. “If we didn’t have to put elevators everywhere and we imported non-union Mexican immigrants to do the work, you could build a lot more of everything,” says Duke, who hastens to add that he’s not in favor of that. Good, affordable transit is a human rights issue too, though, and in many ways the common link in our desire for healthier, less wasteful cities that serve everyone equally.
Many transit advocates may whisper that the fairness balance has tipped too far to the other side. The MTA issued its notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Second Ave. Subway in March of 2001. The FEIS saw the light of day 38 months later in May of 2004, and the authority had to further revise its assessment in 2009 to find no material impact when it had to redesign station configurations at 72nd and 86th St. That is a time-consuming and costly process that should be streamlined as well.
Doig doesn’t dwell on another issue — NIMBYism — that can often stop subway expansion projects in their metaphoric tracks before they move much beyond an idea on paper. Lawsuits and community outrage can slow down worthwhile projects as well. Still, his list of seven can serve as a primer for readers of this site who want to know just why it’s taking so long for such a short subway extension underneath Second Ave. to become a reality.
Feb
07
An early Apple bump for GCT businesses?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen the Apple Store opened in Grand Central Terminal, the lease deal between the MTA and Apple came under fire for being of the sweetheart variety. Even though the MTA had managed to significantly boost its revenue stream from the space, the per-square-foot price was still markedly lower than what Apple had paid at other locations throughout the city. Still, the MTA noted that if Apple delivered the traffic gains as predicted, other businesses in the terminal would see a rise in sales, and for every percentage increase in sales through Grand Central, the MTA would enjoy $500,000 more in revenue.
Today, we get the early word that the Michael Jordan Steakhouse enjoyed a seven percent boost in business since the Apple Store opened. Its owners say the bump happened not when Metrazur closed but when the Apple Store finally opened its doors. “We know their customers are coming here,” Matthew Glazier, the owner’s son, said to Crain’s New York. “I’m always looking for the little white bags.”
Of course, Apple’s GCT opening coincided with the busy holiday season, and it remains to be seen if other businesses enjoyed a similar bump in foot traffic and purchases. From my experience, the Apple Store has been perennially crowded, and other businesses appear to be enjoying the success as well. It will be a few months before we know the extent of the economic boost Apple will lend to the Grand Central shopping mecca, but this supposed sweetheart deal may just end up as a good one for the MTA yet.
Feb
06
Proposing a suburban tit-for-tat with the payroll tax
Posted by: | CommentsWhen state Republicans won a partial repeal of the MTA-supporting payroll mobility tax in December based on some vague promise to “replace” the lost $320 million that should go to the authority’s coffers, I warned of the dangers of budging. By relenting even a little without identifying another source of dedicated funding, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his allies in Albany signalled a willingness to give, and opponents of the tax were likely to demand an even greater repeal. Now, that prediction is becoming a reality.
In Brookhaven, New York, yesterday, noted payroll tax opposition leaders Senator Lee Zeldin and Assemblyman Dean Murray called upon the state to fully repeal the payroll tax for “all counties, towns and villages outside of New York City.” The new measure — essentially similar to an effort last year that did not survive Sheldon Silver’s assembly — would eliminate the tax as it is levied on municipalities with large payrolls and libraries around the area. In essence, state representatives want the state to stop levying taxes on its own governmental subdivisions.
Using the same tiresome and ill-informed rhetoric that led this coalition to proclaim victory in December for what should be viewed as a defeat, the politicians spoke at length about the need to save our small municipalities for the taxation evil that is the PMT. we are taking the next step with the Martins-Zeldin bills to exempt all municipalities outside New York City, as well as all libraries throughout the MTA region. Assemblyman Murray and I are working hard with our Senate and Assembly colleagues to even further eliminate this ill-conceived tax on jobs,” Senator Lee Zeldin said.
Martin, the Assembly sponsor, spoke to similar talking points. “Last year, we were able to repeal the MTA payroll tax for roughly 80 percent of businesses. Unfortunately, this hidden tax still hurts far too many organizations, including libraries, local governments and municipalities. It’s a job killer and the legislation Senator Martins, Senator Zeldin and I are proposing will finally rid our job creators and communities of this onerous tax,” he said.
Meanwhile, local officials too decried the bill. “The repeal of the MTA Payroll Tax for counties, other municipalities and medium to large size businesses will serve as an economic boost for the Suffolk County economy and our region,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said. Somehow, some way, the leader of Suffolk County believes that defunded transit — the thing that makes his area economically viable with New York City so nearby — will help boost his county’s economy. It defies reason.
So I have a proposal for Lee Zeldin, Dean Murray, Steve Bellone and the others who stand behind them: For every dollar they earn back by repealing the Payroll Mobility Tax, the MTA shall cut Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road service by an equal amount. If they want New York City to bear the funding burden for suburban rail — as it already does to a far greater extent than they believe — then let’s cut their service.
In a way, this is a self-defeating proposal. Cutting LIRR and Metro-North service will serve only to weaken, and not strengthen, the New York economy. That, however, is a point lost to these gentlemen, ostensibly elected to serve their constituent’s interests. As with national plans to defund transit investment, this move reeks of political folly, and only when it is too late — when the MTA must slash service and spike fares beyond an acceptable level — will voters realize that these politicians are doing them no favors.
It may cost taxpayer money to subsidize transit, but suburban counties will not be desirable destinations without its train access to the heart of the region’s job centers. Defunding that service, repealing a key source of revenue without finding a steady replacement, harms everyone, more so than the payroll tax ever will.
Feb
06
Bleecker St. rehab now set for June completion date
Posted by: | Comments
A cross-section of the new connection between Bleecker Street and Broadway-Lafayette.
Once upon a time back in 2005, the MTA announced an unfunded plan to move the uptown 6 platform at Bleecker Street south a few hundred feet, connect it to the IND station at Broadway-Lafayette and make the entire station ADA-accessible all for the cost of a cool $50 million. By the time money materialized for the project in 2007, costs had reached $60 million, and and in 2009, the MTA said the $94 million station rehab would wrap in November of 2011. November has come and gone with many signs of construction but none of the new transfer in place, and many straphangers have been wondering what exactly is happening there.
We now have an update and a revised overall price tag. According to MTA documents from the last board meeting, work is set to wrap at Bleecker St./Broadway-Lafayette by the end of this June, and the combined price tag for the entire project is now over $109 million. The price estimates come from the MTA’s capital dashboard (1 and 2). The increase — from $50 million in 2005 to $109 million in 2012 — isn’t as bad as it seems as the earlier figures were rough estimates based on conditions before any design or engineering work has begun. Still, this project is massively over budge and will be seven or eight months late.
The current delay is only three months. At some point within the last two years, the MTA had pushed back the expected completion date to March 2012. Now we’ll wait until June because the MTA has found that contingencies related to ADA accessibility have been expended. The work to relocate tunnel lighting equipment necessary for placement of the elevator has been slower and more expensive than anticipated. Furthermore, contractors ran into problems relocating a water main at Houston St. as well.
And so we wait. We’ve waited decades for this transfer to become a reality. Now we’ll wait some more. What’s three more months among friends anyway? After all, where would be if it didn’t take nearly as long to rehab one of the original IRT stations as it took to build an entire subway line from City Hall to 145th Street?
Feb
06
Forest Hills – 71st Ave. stop set for ADA accessibility upgrades
Posted by: | CommentsFor disabled subway riders who must head into Queens, 14 of the borough’s 81 subway stations are currently on the list of accessibile stations, but the borough’s fifth most popular stop in Forest Hills isn’t. Riders looking for an elevator must get off in either Jackson Heights or Kew Gardens. As the Queens Chronicle reported recently, though, by the end of 2013, if all goes according to schedule, Forest Hills – 71st Ave. will join that list.
Transit officials announced the start of a $24.7 million project that will see the installation of elevators from street level at Continental Ave. to the station platforms along the IND Queens Boulevard line in Forest Hills. The project is due to wrap up by October of 2013, and renovations to this dilapidated but popular station will also include staircase work, signage upgrades, tactile warning strips along the platform edge and some communications and signal upgrades.
Politicians praised the work. “The renovation will greatly increase train accessibility for residents of our community, while also providing more neighboring residents access to the shops in Forest Hills,” Forest Hills’ Assembly rep Andrew Hevesi said. With the MTA on track to make 100 of its 468 stations accessible by 2020, the authority will have technically fulfilled its mandate under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The agency deserves its accolades, but the system remains frustratingly inaccessible for thousands of disabled riders who must cater their routes to this list of stations.
Feb
06
A federal attack on transit dollars draws NYC’s ire
Posted by: | CommentsAs more New York State Republican representatives try to whittle down the MTA-supporting payroll tax, their colleagues in Washington are trying to do the same with federal funds dedicated toward transit. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to send a markup of the transportation bill to the floor, and if passed by the House and Senate and approved the president — a tall order indeed — the bill could rob New York City of billions of dollars of transit funds.
For extensive coverage of the bill, check out articles from Reuters and The L.A. Times. Streetsblog D.C. offered a short summary of the mark-up’s impact. Essentially, the Ways and Means Committee is hoping to bar gas tax revenue from funding transit. Today, those taxes are essential part of federal transit grants. Ben Goldman writes:
The Ways & Means bill [PDF] would funnel all gas tax revenue toward road programs, redirecting billions of dollars per year away from transit, which for decades has received about 20 percent of fuel tax receipts. Instead, the House GOP wants transit funding to come entirely from the general fund, pitting transit against all other government spending. To offset that spending, $40 billion would have to be cut from the rest of the federal budget.
Essentially, the House GOP is holding transit hostage to achieve budget cuts elsewhere — and they don’t seem to care if the hostage dies. They will also be tossing aside a precedent set during the Reagan administration, one that has enjoyed bipartisan support through several transportation bills, including the 2005 law, known as SAFETEA-LU, which was passed by a Republican president and Republican Congress.
The announcement of the mark-up, which you can read here, came just one day before the committee voted to send the bill to the House floor, and a broad coalition of union officials, politicians, contractors and transit agency heads have voiced their opposition. Later today, in fact, MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota will join with TWU President John Samuelsen, NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and four New York House representatives to speak out against the bill.
In the meantime, Lhota, a one-time Giuliani deputy, has penned a letter to David Camp, the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee. “The 2.86 cents of the motor fuels tax currently dedicated for public transportation provides a stable fund source that the MTA relies on to fund its capital investments. It is critical,” he wrote, “that these funds continue to be dedicated for public transportation purposes.”
He later warned of the consequences of federal divestment. “Consistent, on-going investment by the federal government is critical to ensure that the MTA continues to be a safe and reliable system for the long term,” he said. “A less predictable funding stream for public transportation will not only result in degraded service, but will also have a ripple effect on manufacturers and suppliers that serve the transit industry.”
This is an issue that extends far beyond the borders of New York. It would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the nation in various domestic industry. Within the city, it would likely impact any future work on the Second Ave. Subway or other system expansion plans. It is yet another attack on transit dollars from those who underestimate the importance of public transit to the nation’s economy. It is a measure that likely won’t survive the Senate or the President’s veto power, but the House GOP is serious about gutting the funding mechanism for capital plans for transit agencies through the nation. That is a scary future to ponder indeed.
Feb
03
Weekend work impacting 12 subway lines
Posted by: | CommentsAn end-of-week announcement for Monday before jumping into the service advisories: Jarret Walker, the voice behind Human Transit, will be in town on Monday to give a talk related to his new book. He’ll be speaking at the CUNY Graduate Center from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and his talk is entitled “Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives.” For more info and to RSVP, check out this page.
On that note, it’s Friday, and thus, service advisory time. Subway Weekender has the map.
From 4 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, February 5, downtown 2 trains operate express from East 180th Street to 3rd Avenue-149th Street due to track panel installation at East 180th Street.
From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday, February 5, downtown 5 trains run express from East 180th Street to 3rd Avenue-149th Street due to track panel installation at East 180th Street. Note: Trains run every 20 minutes during this time.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, there are no 7 trains between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza due to track panel installation and CBTC work south of Queensboro Plaza, ADA work at Court Square and station renewal at Hunters Point Avenue. (Repeats next eight weekends through March 31-Apr 2.)
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, uptown A trains run via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street, then local to 59th Street and from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, uptown C trains run via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street due to electrical and substation work at Jay Street-MetroTech.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, A trains run local in both directions between 145th Street and 168th Street and from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, there is no C train service between 145th Street and 168th Street due to track maintenance. Customers should take the A instead.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, there is no D train service between Pacific Street and 34th Street-Herald Square due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection. F, N and Q trains and free shuttle buses provide alternate service. D trains operate in two sections:
- Between 205th Street and 34th Street-Herald Square
- Between Pacific Street and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue
Free shuttle buses operate between Grand Street and West 4th Street, stopping at Broadway-Lafayette Street.
From 11 p.m. Friday, February 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, Brooklyn-bound F trains run via the M line after 36th Street in Queens to 47th-50th Sts in Manhattan due to station work at Lexington Avenue-63rd Street for the Second Avenue Subway Project.
From 4 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, February 5, Queens-bound J trains skip Kosciuszko Street, Gates Avenue, Halsey Street and Chauncey Street due to track panel installation at Halsey Street and Gates Avenue.
From 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February, 5, N trains run local in both directions between DeKalb Avenue and 59th Street in Brooklyn due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection.
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, Brooklyn-bound N trains run via the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to station painting at City Hall. (Note: N trains stop at DeKalb Avenue in both directions all weekend.)
From 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, February 5, Q service is extended to Ditmars Blvd. due to the 7 line suspension.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, Brooklyn-bound R trains run via the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to station painting at City Hall. Customers should use nearby 4 stations instead.
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5 and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, there are no R trains between 59th Street and 36th Street in Brooklyn due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection. Customers should take the N instead.
(42nd Street Shuttle)
From 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, February 4, Sunday, February 5 and Monday, February 6, the 42nd Street shuttle operates overnight due to the 7 line suspension.
Feb
03
Summer date eyed for expanded underground cell service
Posted by: | Comments
In late September, we had the opportunity to sneak a peek at the partial list of underground stations that will be receiving cell service in 2012. At the time, Transit Wireless vowed to have this group of stations within the next 12 months, but the finer details remained obscured.
Now, we learn a bit more, courtesy of Ted Mann and The Wall Street Journal. According to Transit Wireless, the firm will wire 30 more stations this year, most in Midtown Manhattan, and the first will come online in late July or early August. The company expects to activate the service in five or six stations at a time.
“Bringing wireless service into our underground subway system reinforces the MTA’s effort to use technology to improve customer convenience that allows them to stay in touch with friends, relatives and business contacts,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz, said to Journal. “And by having access to real-time service status updates while underground, riders can better navigate the system.”
With a series of stations in Chelsea currently enjoying service from AT&T and T-Mobile, Transit Wireless is working to sign up Verizon and Sprint as well. So far, fears of the demise of civility underground that preceded the launch of the cell service pilot have been unfounded. As the service expands throughout Manhattan, though, usage will likely grow and grow and grow.
After the jump, the full list of stations set to enjoy cell service before 2012 ends. Read More→
Feb
03
For convention center, Genting will fund A train ‘improvements’ only
Posted by: | CommentsWhen Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans for an Ozone Park Convention Center, funded solely by Genting and with transportation improvements as well, Queens transit advocates had hoped for the best. With dreams of the Rockaway Beach Branch dancing in their heads, rail enthusiast reimagined the borough’s connections with hope. Alas, it is not meant to be.
We heard rumblings in early January that Genting would fund a Train to the Plane-type service, and this week, the company confirmed as much. In an interview with Crain’s New York, the company’s senior V.P. for development spoke about the company’s needs if they are to operate at a profit. Essentially, they would require a larger slice of the revenue pie from the convention center and an expected boost of traffic to the racino next door. They also won’t do much for transportation.
Jeremy Smerd reported:
Genting will pay for upgrades to the Aqueduct subway station and for direct A-train service to take passengers from Fulton Street in Manhattan to the site—with a stop in downtown Brooklyn—in half the 35 minutes it takes now. The company won’t fund a new AirTrain spur from John F. Kennedy International Airport. It also will not pay for street upgrades.
That simply will not cut it. Based on past experiences without new trackage, such a service won’t cut travel time from 35 minutes to 17 minutes. Rather, these super-express trains will end up stuck behind regular express trains, and straphangers who live along the IND Fulton will find their service less frequent.
Genting won’t like the reality of this situation, but they’re going to need to find a better transit solution that doesn’t rob service from areas with rapidly growing populations and transportation needs. If increasing capacity is not in the cards, this convention center, already a fairly bad idea, will just look worse.
Feb
03
CBC: Net-zero wage increase ‘fair and appropriate’
Posted by: | Comments
A net-zero wage increase for TWU workers would be “fair and appropriate” considering the totality of the circumstances, the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission said this week. In a report analyzing what could and should happen were the MTA and TWU face arbitration to resolve their ongoing labor dispute, the CBC said a compensation package should not cause fare increases, and the Commission explained in detail how TWU workers have enjoyed prosperity in a poor economic climate and should not expect to earn across-the-board wage increases.
The report, released on Monday and available here as a PDF, is framed as a grand what if. What if, as has routinely happened between the two sides, the MTA and TWU must go to arbitration in front of the Public Employment Relations Board to settle their differences? How would the PERB decide in a binding case?
Using the same five criteria PERB members must consider, the CBC analyzed the TWU’s current situation and the MTA’s financial crisis. Overall, they found the heavy rail operators and bus operators and maintenance staff are already the highest paid in the country and are often better off than New York City’s private employees when it comes to wages, health insurance and pension benefits. As TWU employees enjoyed raises of over 11 percent from 2009-2011, New York’s private employees saw, on average, pay bumps of barely one percent.
Furthermore, TWU compensation has “consistently exceeded inflation.” Since 1999, TWU raises have risen by 47 percent while inflation has increased by 38 percent. Over the past three-year contract, the raises have outpaced inflation by nearly 100 percent.
To compound the problem, the MTA is not in a position to suffer through more wage increases, the CBC notes. “Failure to achieve this [net-zero] target will widen the MTA’s operating deficit: each one point increase awarded to the TWU would increase costs by $42 million, if applied to setting wages elsewhere in the system. “An award along the lines of projected inflation – 2.2 percent in 2012 and 2 percent thereafter – would open a budget gap of $92.4 million in 2012, $176.4 million in 2013, and $256.4 million in 2014, approximately 2.25% of operating expenses,” the report says. “Since the MTA does not have the financial ability to pay any wage increases awarded with a greater cost than ‘net zero,’ riders are likely to bear the burden in the form of increased fares or reduced service.”
The net-zero wage increase then may be in the public good, the Commission believes. The MTA must, they write, have resources to “provide reliable service, preventing fares from becoming burdensome to riders, and securing decent compensation and work conditions for worker.” Efficient operations can accomplish this goal, and to that end, the CBC says, the TWU and MTA may have a serious discussion on one-person train operations. Ultimately, something as bare as work rule reform must be accepted by both sides.
In the end, the CBC issues a call for a net-zero wage increase. They write:
The findings indicate that awarding “net?zero” wage increases is fair and appropriate given the current economic climate, the fiscal outlook of the MTA, the burdens recently placed upon riders, and the high relative and overall compensation level of TWU employees. State and City governments have set a three?year wage freeze, with added employee responsibility for health insurance costs, as the pattern for settling expired public employee contracts. Applying this pattern to the TWU contract would not compromise the standard of living of TWU workers; the inflation rate is projected to be about 2 percent, and a three?year wage freeze will not undo the real wage growth that TWU employees have realized over the last decade. Increasing employee responsibility for health care costs, through increased premium?sharing or salary contributions, is also appropriate given the relatively modest contributions made by TWU employees as compared to other public and private employees.
Can it happen though? The TWU has not shown a public willingness to accept a net-zero increase in labor spending. Union leaders know such a plan would lead to stagnant wages or a work-force reduction, and that’s a tough pill for union members to swallow. For the public though, affordable and reliable subway service may just depend on it.
