Arts For Transit hosted the auditions for the MTA’s Music Under New York program this morning, and the authority’s videographer has already produced a video from the day’s events. For my money, the best MUNY group around are the Ebony Hillbillies.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

Just like every subway in the world, New York has a core with branches.

In New York City, we like to think of our subway system as fairly unique. We have no true circle line, and our Outer Borough tendrils snake throughout the city. The amalgamation of old rights-of-ways and three independent builders, the current subway system arose through fate, fortune and good luck. Or so the story goes.

Two pieces making the rounds covering the same academic journal article beg to differ. As both Scientific American and Wired noted today, two scientists using two-dimensional spatial network analysis have determined general rules for any subway system. It’s interesting research, but it’s hardly groundbreaking to those who know urban planning.

Sarah Fecht of Scientific American summarized the “rules”:

First, subway networks can be divided into a core and branches, like a spider with many legs. The “core” typically sits beneath the city’s center, and its stations usually form a ring shape. The branches, which are more linear, extend outward from the core in many directions.

Second, the branches tend to be about twice as long as the width of the core. The wider the core, the longer the branches. And subway systems with more stations tend to have more branches. The number of branches corresponds roughly with the square root of the number of stations.

Last, an average of 20 percent of the stations in the core link two or more subway lines, allowing people to make transfers. [Physicist Marc] Barthelemy says his team does not know which factors are guiding subway networks to follow these general rules; perhaps the rules maximize efficiency. For example, too many branches or connections would be redundant and unnecessarily costly. In contrast, having too few branches would reduce the range of areas that the network services, and having too few connecting points would reduce travel efficiency.

Fecht notes, as an example, that New York City doesn’t have a clearly defined ring core, but even on that point, I beg to differ. It’s a four-train loop that isn’t particularly efficient, but the area constrained by the two IRT lines on the East and West Sides, the L along 14th St. and any of the 53rd, 59th or 42nd St. lines forms a loop around the city’s major work center. Lower Manhattan throws a wrench into this ring, but that’s what makes the city’s subway system works.

That’s neither here nor there though. New York’s subway system still fits under these rules as we have a clear core with branches feeding into that core. The branches are significantly longer than the core itself, and depending upon how you define the core, many of them offer multiple transfer points. Check, check, and check.

Of course, as interesting as this summary is, we’re not really learning anything new here. Subway systems exist to offer a cost-effective and relatively quick way to bring urban dwellers from mostly residential areas into and through the commercial centers. As the commercial centers generally form a core surrounded by other neighborhoods, a subway system will always follow this shape. That’s the whole point.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

These East Side Access corridors and the valuable retail space could be privatized when they open in 2019.

In a few years at some point, the MTA will have opened a great expanse of new retail space. The Fulton Street Transit Center will feature more than 30,000 square feet of retail space out of a total of 70,000 square feet, and the 360,000-square-foot East Side Access terminal will have 23,000 square feet of retail space. With the need to find an efficient and skilled operator for these spaces, privatization may be on the table.

In an article in Crain’s New York, Jeremy Smerd recently delved into the MTA’s plans for the spaces. While Metro-North currently operates the Grand Central retail space, the agency seems to recognize that transportation should trump its focus on the space. “Ultimately, our core competency is transportation,” an official said. “We want to try this method of operations at the Fulton Center, and we’ll see how it does.”

So what’s the plan at the East Side Access station? It’s going to be a few years before we have a definite answer, but right now, the MTA is thinking about privatizing some aspect of operations. Smerd reports:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering outsourcing the management and operations of the tunnels and 360,000-square-foot station being built to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal under the East Side Access project. The authority paid Scottsdale, Ariz.-based InfraConsult $600,000 to determine the feasibility of outsourcing the operations of the concourse, 90 feet under Grand Central. The company completed its report in February. It has not yet been publicly released.

An MTA spokesman said the authority was particularly focused on whether it should outsource the maintenance of the 360,000-square-foot concourse, which includes 23,000 square feet of retail space. “We don’t know for sure if we are going to go the RFP route,” the spokesman said.

A British trade journal, PPP Bulletin, reported last week that the MTA was considering a public-private partnership at the site. The spokesman told Crain’s Insider Thursday that the privatization would be limited to the operations of the station, not the new tunnels, which will be run by the MTA. But the consultant on the project on Friday said the report examined privatizing both the station as well as the tunnels’ operations and maintenance. “Our objective was to determine whether it would benefit the long-term operations of the new East Side Access program to use the private sector to operate the tunnel component and the terminal component,” said Mike Schneider, a managing partner with InfraConsult.

It’s probably a bit premature to read anything into this development. It’s an exploratory move by the MTA, and the authority won’t have to confront the question head on until 2016 or 2017. Yet, with the public-private partnership moving forward for Fulton Street — the RFP will come out next month — it’s hard to envision the authority not following a similar path.

So should they? On the one hand, the authority should focus on transportation offerings. But on the other, rail companies across the globe have made significantly dollars on real estate. The MTR in Hong Kong is essentially a real estate company that operates the trains, and others have exploited their holdings far more effectively than the MTA has. I’ll be curious to see the terms attached to Fulton St., but such a deal there or underneath Grand Central isn’t necessarily a slam dunk.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Benjamin Kabak

On the way home from Yankee Stadium on Friday night, I had the chance to enjoy one of those quintessential subway experiences, and the photo above was my surreptitious attempt to capture the moment in all of its glory. The woman who has decided to take up three subway seats was not sleeping when I snapped the photo. She was putzing around with her iPod while shouting across the car to her traveling companions.

From Yankee Stadium until I got off at Nevins St., this woman sat splayed across three seats. As other riders came and went, many in search of a seat on a relatively crowded train, she would not move. At various points, she had both feet up on the seats, and when someone would approach about the empty seat, she would glower at them and then laugh as they went off elsewhere in search of a sit.

I wondered how it came to this. Why do people think they can hog seats? Where are our manners underground? Where was the cop to give this woman a summons for her rude behavior? No one had the audacity to say anything. We, like the woman next to her in my photo, just stared and pursed our lips. It was an utter breach of underground etiquette.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

An astute straphanger noticed some new signage at Atlantic Avenue this week. (Photo by flickr user OverclockedBravo)

It sure does seem like ages ago that the MTA announced its first — and, so far, only — subway station naming rights deal, but after three years, the Barclays Center is coming to the subway system. As we learned back in June of 2009, the MTA is earning $200,000 annually for 20 years for the right to append the name of the new arena to the subway station name, and the new moniker is now showing up on maps and at the station.

Pacific Street, we hardly knew ye.

As the photo above shows, the Barclays Center name is slowly taking over some column posts even though the arena won’t open for another four months or so. Meanwhile, it has made its first appearance on the online subway map but not the PDF available for download. According to one report, maps and system signage will not bear the new name until later this summer.

With this glimpse at the subway naming future, we see that, apparently, the MTA will be dropping the Pacific St. half of the station name entirely. In a way, that’s no big loss as Pacific St. was a relic of the old BMT system. As Pacific St. is a tiny one-way street with nothing much of note on it, passengers bound for that station are more interested in the fact that the stop lies at the intersections of Flatbush, 4th and Atlantic Aves. Only some of the entrances were on Pacific St., and the Atlantic Ave./Barclays Center name better captures why subway riders are heading there in the first place.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

Yesterday’s amNew York featured an extensive interview with Denise Richardson, the managing director of the General Contractors Association of New York. Richardson is a former procurement officer for Transit’s capital program and has spent her career in various governmental and agency positions. In light of the current price tags attached to various MTA capital projects, Richardson’s words are quite informative and well worth our attention.

Richardson begins the Q-and-A throwing her voice behind the MTA. When asked what she wants to see changed, she argues for more comprehensive investment in and more attention paid to the MTA. “Everyone complains when there is a problem on their line,” she said, “but the MTA moves 8.5 million people every day and gets almost everyone to their destinations safely and on time. There was almost no capital investment in the system at all from the 1950s to the 1980s. They’ve spend $76 billion since 1982 trying to bring it back to a system of good repair, but some of these projects – like refurbishing the signal system to provide increasing capacity – are very messy and they still haven’t caught up.”

Of course, the GCA is a unique position to lobby for the MTA, and generally, they do so. They were an important voice during the lead-up to the funding of the capital plan, and they have argued for MTA dollars time and again in the past. They support congestion pricing, as Richardson explains in the interview, and they have some weight in Albany as well.

Yet, as the contractors have a symbiotic relationship with the MTA, they also have a slight parasitic one as well. Archaic work rules has led to overstaffing that significantly increases costs. While MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu once made an off-hand reference to me on overstaffing, few MTA officials are willing to speak at length about this problem, and Richardson didn’t say too much either. “As a practical matter, the only way we can build large, transformational projects like the World Trade Center or the Hudson Yards is with the skilled, unionized construction workforce,” she said. “[Unions] have had issues adapting to new construction techniques and new construction methods, but they’ve worked hard to address them, so it’s a positive future.”

Ultimately, Richardson’s dream lines up with the impetus behind this blog. As she says, she wants to see “a full-length, Second Avenue subway.” She explained, “The plan is for it to run from Upper Manhattan all the way downtown. I would like to see the funding to continue the project.”

The current leadership at the MTA has yet to come out with plans for Phase 2 north to 125th St., let alone ay sections south of 63rd St. The engineering studies have long been completed, but the dollars aren’t there. A first step in the right direction would involve a concerted effort between the GCA and the MTA to identify ways in which costs can be lowered. Can the MTA and its contractors reduce staffing levels on these projects? Why does everything goes significantly more in New York than in other cities around the globe? These aren’t easy questions, but they need to be answered.

The General Contractors Association could be the MTA’s best friend. They both need each other to move forward, but at some point, moving forward will require compromise and sacrifice. It’s not an easy path.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

FASTRACK hits 6th Avenue tonight. Click for the much larger version.

The FASTRACK express heads to 6th Ave. on Monday night, and Transit has laid out the week’s service closures. From 10 p.m.-5 a.m. each night beginning on the evening of Monday, May 14 and ending on the morning on Friday, May 18, there will be no service along 6th Ave. between 57th St. and West 4th St. in both directions. Here’s how service will operate instead:

• D trains are rerouted and operate in two sections:
• D trains will operate between 205th Street and 59th Street-Columbus Circle, then via the C line between 59th Street-Columbus Circle and West 4th Street, then via the F line between West 4th Street and 2nd Avenue, the last stop.
• D trains will operate between Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue and 36th Street in Brooklyn, then via the R line between 36th Street and Whitehall Street in Lower Manhattan, the last stop.
• F trains operate via the E line between Roosevelt Avenue and West 4th Street in both directions. For service to Lexington Avenue/63rd Street, Roosevelt Island and 21st Street-Queensbridge, customers should take the Q. Q service will be extended to 21st Street-Queensbridge via the F line after 57th Street-7th Avenue.
• Manhattan-bound B and M service in Brooklyn and Queens ends at 9:30 p.m. Service in Manhattan is available until 10 p.m.
• Free Shuttle buses provide connecting service between the Grand Street D station and both the Canal Street N/Q/R/6 and Broadway-Lafayette D/F stations.

Leave plenty of time for alternate travel. At least with the Yankees on the road this week, post-game D service from Yankee Stadium will be only marginally impacted.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

The North Shore Alternatives Analysis has endorsed a busway for Staten Island. (Click to enlarge)

For the past few years, I’ve been following along as the MTA, at the behest of local Staten Island politicians, has reexamined the fallow right-of-way on Staten Island’s North Shore. When last we checked in on this story, the MTA had narrowed the choices considerable and seemed to be deciding between a light rail option and a truly dedicated bus route. Predictably and to my chagrin, the MTA has decided to endorse a bus route over the old rail right-of-way.

In a study unveiled to the public last week and obtained by Streetsblog on Friday [PDF], the authority delved into its thinking behind endorsing a bus rapid transit line. Overall, the Alternatives Analysis tried to meet three goals. It had to identify an option that improved mobility while preserving and enhancing the environment, natural resources and open spaces and also maximizing the MTA’s limited financial resources. With the right-of-way already secured, the authority had to identify something then that wouldn’t cost a crippling amount to implement while still providing the other benefits identified. Light rail would have allowed for a potential spur over the Bayonne Bridge and into New Jersey while a true bus rapid transit route would better distribute current and future riders throughout Staten Island.

So how did the BRT option win? The numbers, as identified in the study, seem to make it a winner. According to the MTA’s report, a bus rapid transit line would allow for a 23-minute trip from West Shore Plaza to the Ferry Terminal. That’s two minutes slower than the light rail option, but the authority estimated that, with additional bus lines using the ROW, estimated AM peak ridership would reach 12,100 with the bus line and just 10,590 with a light rail. Operating costs for a bus line would be around $500,000 per year less than light rail, and the capital costs pale in comparison. Light rail would cost $645 million while installing the infrastructure for true BRT would cost $371 million.

The SI Busway would bring the first truly dedicated BRT lanes to New York City.

Should we be satisfied by this answer though? I am a bit skeptical of the ridership estimates. By including bus lines with stops outside of the busway — including preexisting lines that would be rerouted — the MTA has seemingly inflated the number of bus riders who would take advantage of the busway. This is the so-called “open” busway model that would include exit points from the dedicated ROW for routes heading to other points on Staten Island. Still, considering how light rail can run higher capacity vehicles more frequently, it’s tough to see how exactly a bus lane would carry more passengers than a properly designed and integrated light rail system.

Meanwhile, the study seems to give short shrift to environmental concerns as well. Only a box of checkmarks notes that BRT could have a high impact on air quality. Light rail would be a far cleaner transportation option, and if environmental concerns were truly on the table, it wasn’t weighted too heavily here.

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised though. New York City has been singularly hesitant to embrace any sort of light rail. A 42nd St. proposal that would reshape midtown has gained no traction, and alternatives for Brooklyn and Queens have never been regarded as realistic options for underserved areas. Staten Island has a dedicated right-of-way and an easy connection to a preexisting light rail line, albeit one in another state, but this option too was left on the table.

Ultimately, though, as Noah Kazis noted, this entire discussion may be a moot one for the foreseeable future. Even at a modest cost of a few hundred million dollars, the MTA can’t yet afford to do anything here, and it still would have to send this project through an engineering and environmental review process. Right now, the North Shore Alternatives Analysis is nothing more than a thought experiment that deserves a better future. When the money is there, perhaps the rail option will be as well.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 14, there is no 1 train service between 168th St and 242nd St due to rehabilitation work at Dyckman Street station and structural rehabilitation, platform edge and canopy work at 1 stations from 207th Street to 242nd Street and track panel installation north of 215th Street.

• For 181st St and 191st St, customers may take the uptown 1 to 168th St and transfer to the M3 or free shuttle bus on St. Nicholas Ave.
• For Dyckman St. and 207th St, customers may take the uptown 1 to 168th St and transfer to the A train.
• For 1 stations from 215th St to 242nd St, customers may take the uptown 1 to 168th St and transfer to the A to 207th St, then take the shuttle bus on Broadway.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 14, there are no 2 trains between Flatbush Ave and Franklin Ave due to electrical work near Church Ave. 2 trains operate between 241st St and the Utica Ave 3, 4 station. Free shuttle buses provide alternate service. (Repeats next weekend: May 19-21.)

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 14, 3 service is extended to New Lots Avenue due to platform edge, mechanical and electrical work at Fulton Street and renewal of switches north of Borough Hall.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 14, there are no 4 trains between Brooklyn Bridge and New Lots Avenue due to platform edge, mechanical and electrical work at Fulton Street and renewal of switches north of Borough Hall. Customers should take the 3, N, Q or R instead. Note: 4 trains operate local in both directions between 125th Street and Brooklyn Bridge. (Repeats next two weekends May 19-21 and May 26-28).

From 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Saturday, May 12 and from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Sunday, May 13, there are no 5 trains between Grand Central-42nd Street and Bowling Green due to platform edge, mechanical and electrical work at Fulton Street and renewal of switches north of Borough Hall. Customers should take the 4 (operating between Woodlawn and Brooklyn Bridge.), or R trains instead. 5 trains run every 20 minutes between Dyre Avenue and Grand Central-42nd Street.

• For service between Grand Central-42nd Street and Brooklyn Bridge, customers may take the 4.
• For service between Brooklyn Bridge and Bowling Green, customer may use the nearby Cortlandt Street, Rector Street and Whitehall Street R stations.

From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, May 12, Flushing-bound 7 trains skip 82nd, 90th, 103rd and 111th Sts due to cable tray bracket installation for Flushing CBTC.

From 12:15 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 4:45 a.m. Monday, May 14, shuttle trains and buses replace A train service between Howard Beach and Far Rockaway due to rebuilding of piers and bearings on the South Channel Bridge and replacing of drain pipes between South Channel Bridge and Hammels Wye.

• Rockaway Park shuttle trains operate between Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park.
• Free shuttle buses operate between:
1. Howard Beach and Far Rockaway, non-stop.
2. Howard Beach and Rockaway Park, making a stop at Broad Channel.

From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, May 12 and Sunday, May 13, uptown C trains skip Spring, 23rd and 50th Sts due to electrical and substation work at Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 14, E trains are rerouted via the F line in both directions between 36th Street, Queens and West 4th Street in Manhattan due to work on the 5th Ave Interlocking Signal System Modernization project. Trains travel via the 63rd St and 6 Ave corridors, stopping at F stations. Downtown trains resume the E route at West 4th Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 14, Queens-bound F trains are rerouted via the A from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street due to electrical and substation work at Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 11 p.m. Friday, May 11 to 5 a.m. Monday May 14, there are no G trains between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts and Church Ave due to station painting at Classon Ave and Clinton-Washington Aves. G trains operate in two sections:

• Between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand Avs
• Between Bedford-Nostrand Avs and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts (every 20 minutes)

For service between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts and Church Avenue, transfer to the A or C at Hoyt-Schermerhorn to Jay Street-MetroTech, where F service is available.

From 6 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 10 p.m. Sunday, May 13, there are no J trains between Jamaica Center and Crescent Street due to structural steel repair, painting and track work north of Cypress Hills. J trains operate between Crescent St and Chambers St. Free shuttle buses operate between Crescent St and Jamaica-Van Wyck, where E trains are available.

From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, May 12 and Sunday, May 13, Coney Island-bound N trains are rerouted via the D line from 36th Street to Coney Island- Stillwell Avenue due to NYC DOT installation between 59th St and 8th Ave. (Trains stop at the New Utrecht-62nd St station.)

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, May 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 14, Manhattan-bound Q trains skip Neck Road and Avenue U due to track panel installation south of Kings Highway.

From 12:15 a.m. Saturday, May 12 to 4:45 a.m. Monday, May 14, Rockaway Park shuttle trains operate between Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park due to rebuilding of piers and bearings on the South Channel Bridge and replacing of drain pipes between South Channel Bridge and Hammels Wye.

• No Rockaway Park shuttle trains between Beach 90th Street and Broad Channel
• No A trains between Howard Beach and Far Rockaway
• Free shuttle buses operate between:
1. Howard Beach and Far Rockaway, non-stop
2. Howard Beach and Rockaway Park, making a stop at Broad Channel

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

All in all, shakeups like these are fairly common as new agency heads come and go. Cuomo has not been a vocal advocate for transit himself, but those in charge are doing the job. “There’s a desire for a stronger connection between the governor’s office and the MTA, and that’s not a bad thing,” William Henderson of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, said to Crain’s.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.