Archive for Asides
Mar
15
Labor lends a powerful voice to the Student MetroCard fight
Posted by: | CommentsAs the MTA counts down the days to the elimination of the Student MetroCard program, the Transport Workers Union Local 100 is lending its powerful voice to the fight. As Rachel Monahan and Pete Donohue of the Daily News detail, union officials have asked the state to pressure the city to increase its contributions to student transit. “The City of New York has a responsibility to ensure that our children have the means to get to school,” TWU head John Samuelsen said.
Labor is entering this fray because TWU members know that a healthy MTA is will only help them and because many of the union members are parents who will be forced to pay for student transit if the city and state don’t pony up the dough for this program. While a Bloomberg spokesperson defended the city’s $45 million contribution as “doing its part [so] that the program stays in place,” the truth remains that the city pays far more per student for yellow school bus transportation than it does for student MetroCards. The MTA is not a school bus provider, and the city and state should ensure that this program is fully funded. The TWU’s support on this issue could help tip the money the MTA’s way.
Mar
12
Report: No pay cuts for MTA admins
Posted by: | CommentsAlthough the MTA is still planning on laying off 680 administrative workers later this year in an effort to save $65 million annually, a report in amNew York today alleges that the authority will not be enacting a 10 percent pay cut as was originally planned. Heather Haddon reports that the MTA was able to “cut expenses to avoid the $49 million pay reduction.” While union officials responded as union officials will to this news, I’m left wondering about the accounting. The total package of service cuts will, for instance, save New York City Transit $77.6 million in annual reductions. As much as I don’t like to advocate for cutting salaries, I’d much rather see Transit enact just $28.6 million worth of cuts and have those administrators take their pay cuts than suffer through the upcoming service cuts.
Mar
12
A night off
Posted by: | CommentsI had grand plans to travel to West Palm Beach to spend some time with my grandparnets this weekend. In the last four hours, however, my second computer in as many months died, and my flight was diverted to Orlando due to storms in the Palm Beach area. So I’m hanging out in the Orlando airport with nothing to do. I’ll get some posts up during the day. For now, I’ve got nothing for you.
Mar
11
A groundbreaking at Atlantic Yards
Posted by: | CommentsEarlier this afternoon, Bruce Ratner and a bunch of New York politicos celebrated the groundbreaking of the Barclays Center at the Atlantic Yards. The ceremony was filled with all of the pomp and circumstance one would expect from an oft-delayed groundbreaking, but I can’t help thinking about how the MTA has voluntarily allowed itself to get screwed over by Ratner at a time when it most needs the money.
Less than nine months ago, the Board agreed to sweeten their sweetheart deal for the land rights above the Vanderbilt Yards. Instead of a $100 million payment, the agency agreed to accept $20 million now and $80 million deferred over the next 22 years. Without reappraising the land and without considering other offers, the cash-strapped agency simply forewent money it badly needs.
Over the last few months, a few who pay more attention to the Atlantic Yards happenings than I do have written about this decision. Norman Oder at Atlantic Yards Report tackled it in December, and Noticing New York wrote an extensive post on the topic as well. Today, the Daily Intel calls everyone involved with the deal losers, and the MTA’s fiscal woes march ever onward.
Mar
11
Transit wraps 7 line work three weeks early
Posted by: | CommentsFor Queens residents who live along the 7 train, the last few weekends have been headache-inducing, to say the least. With no 7 trains between Times Square and Queensboro Plaza, those heading east (or into the city) had to find alternate routes involving transfers, shuttle buses or the N and R trains. This work was to continue for the next three weekends, but Transit announced earlier this week that the work had wrapped up ahead of schedule. For Queens residents, this came as welcome news indeed.
“We were able to accomplish a lot of extremely important work in a shorter time period than we had planned and we are grateful for the patience of 7 Line riders for whom this service is a lifeline on the weekend,” NYC Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast said in a statement. “After meeting with the community, we took another hard look at what we could do to restore service as quickly as possible.”
Transit says they replaced the tracks on the curve leaving Vernon-Jackson and installed a new switch at Hunter’s Point station. Workers shored up the tunnel wall in the Steinway Tube and installed the elevator shaft at Court House Square. With this announcement of an early completion, 7 train riders are in for a smooth ride until after the baseball season when Transit plans to conduct track work near the 111th St. station.
Mar
10
MTA reassessing bus cuts, but larger deficit looms.
Posted by: | CommentsAlthough I referred to the MTA’s public hearings last week as political theater, I recognize that, as happened in 1990, these hearings can impact the MTA’s decision to cut services. Today, the Daily News reports, unsurprisingly, that the MTA is reconsidering some bus route eliminations. The report is light on details, but the Post says Walder will try to encourage $5 million in internal belt-tightening over eliminated some bus routes. For local neighborhoods who are on the verge of seeing their buses disappear, this is a good news indeed.
On the other hand, the MTA has a larger problem. When the cuts were first proposed the authority’s deficit was around $350 million, but today, it is approximately $751 million. Walder says the agency will eliminate administrative positions and stop some technology-based projects, but those cuts will save just $50 million annually. At some point, the authority is going to have to find big bucks, and if that means massive service cuts or a steep fare hike, New Yorkers who rely on the subways and buses for their daily needs are going to be feeling the pain.
Mar
09
More stimulus funds for SAS (and ESA)
Posted by: | CommentsA coterie of New York’s elected representatives announced a new round of stimulus funding for a pair of the MTA’s big ticket capital items. According to a release from Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office, the city is receiving another $275 million in Economic Recovery Act funding for transit projects. The Second Ave. Subway will receive $78.9 million — or enough for approximately a third of a mile of subway line — while the East Side Access project gets a $195.4 million grant. “This funding is a win-win for all New York straphangers,” Schumer said. “Both East Side Access and the Second Avenue Subway will meet commuter needs that have existed for far too long here in New York. These funds will help Long Island and New York City improve transportation options and spur economic growth in the process.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Representatives Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney all echoed Schumer’s statement.
Mar
08
On the ten most expensive transit projects of the decade
Posted by: | CommentsOver at the Infrastructurist today, Yonah Freemark took a slideshow look at the ten most expensive North American transit projects from the past decade. Number one was the $2.63-billion, 10.7-mile Tren Urbano, and the list includes New Jersey’s HudsonBergen Light Rail, Los Angeles’ $1.9 billion red line extension and the New Jersey River Line. Missing from the list is the Second Ave. Subway, and it’s staggering, really, to think about Phase I of the SAS in this context. The MTA’s subway spur north from 57th St. is going to cover approximately two miles and will cost somewhere close to $5 billion while these other projects cost half as much and cover miles of ground. Is the Second Ave. Subway truly worth it?
Mar
04
Four arrested at Brooklyn MTA hearing
Posted by: | CommentsThe proceedings grew rowdy last night at the Brooklyn Museum as four people were arrested at the MTA hearing in the County of Kings last night. Police had to remove these people — assumed to be students — from the auditorium last night when they jumped the line at the podium and refused to cede ground to those waiting to speak.
Meanwhile, news reports say hundreds of people attended hearings in the Bronx and Brooklyn last night, and as you can imagine, the grandstanding politicians were at it again. Assembly rep Vanessa Gibson joined the chorus of elected officials who decided to blame the MTA for her own personal inability to lead and govern in Albany. It’s too bad these people getting arrested can’t direct their passion and ire toward Gibson and her ilk — those politicians who are able to skip the line and speak before everyone else does. With a vehement public urging them on, Albany would finally have the impetus to approve the policies and ensure the money the MTA so badly needs.
Mar
03
Amtrak, now with some wireless internet
Posted by: | CommentsOver the last three and a half years of writing here, one of the recurring topics has focused on Internet access or lack thereof on the region’s commuter rail lines. The MTA has been engaged in a never-ending attempt to wire its underground subway system for basic cell service, and Sen. Chuck Schumer has called for wireless access on the MTA’s commuter rails. It truly is a matter of economics and productivity because people with Internet don’t suffer through time lost to commuting. Maybe people can spend more time with their families because they can get work done on their rides into and out of work. Still the efforts continue with no real end in sight.
Earlier this week, though, Amtrak kinda sorta joined the wireless fray. The national rail carrier announced wireless internet access for Acela Express passengers this week. Access is free on board all Acela Express trains, in stations in D.C, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Providence and Westwood, Massachusetts and in all ClubAcela lounges. Unfortunately, Amtrak says it won’t be extending access to its non-Acela trains in the near future. For a country so obsessed with productivity, the lack of non-phone carrier Internet access along our train lines is a technological step backward.
