Second Ave. Sagas

May

Weekend service changes impact Yankee travel

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (7) ·

As you browse the site this weekend, make sure to check out my tour inside the Second Ave. Subway launch box. There’s a corresponding photo set and a brief video as well.

The service advisories follow. These come to me via New York City Transit and are subject to change without notice. Listen to on-board announcements and check signs in your local station. Check Subway Weekender for the map, and don’t fret over the news that the MTA may consider shuttering larger segments of routes to make better use of weekend service changes. That future seems unlikely.

Just a note for those of you who, like me, are heading up to Yankee Stadium this weekend. Both the 4 and D trains have service changes that will impact how long it takes to get to the Bronx. The two trains are running local for parts of their routes in Manhattan, and there is no 4 service between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Plan accordingly.

Fulton Street Transit Center
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17:

A trains bypass Broadway-Nassau St. in both directions.
There is no C train service this weekend.
There are no transfers between the A and 2/3 trains at Broadway-Nassau St/Fulton Street.
In Manhattan, free transfers are available between 2/3 trains at Fulton Street and A trains at Chambers Street. Customers must exit and re-enter the subway system when making this connection.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, May 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, there are no 2 trains between East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse due to track panel installation south of Freeman Street and rail work at 149th Street-3rd Avenue. Free shuttle buses provide alternate service.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, 3 service runs to/from New Lots Avenue due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, there are no 4 trains between Utica Avenue and Brooklyn Bridge due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center. For Utica, Franklin and Atlantic Avenues, customers should take the 3. For Nevins Street, Borough Hall, Bowling Green, Wall Street, Fulton Street and Brooklyn Bridge, customers should take the special J shuttle.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, 4 trains run local between 125th Street and Brooklyn Bridge due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, May 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, there are no 5 trains between East 180th Street and Bowling Green due to track panel installation south of Freeman Street and rail work at 149th Street-3rd Avenue. Free shuttle buses, 4 and the special J shuttle trains provide alternate service. To travel between East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse, customers should take the shuttle bus. To travel between 149th Street-Grand concourse and Brooklyn Bridge, customers should take the 4. For Fulton Street, customers should take the special J shuttle to Fulton Street. For Wall Street and Bowling Green, customers should take the special J shuttle to Broad Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, Pelham Bay Park-bound 6 trains run express from Hunts Point Avenue to Pelham Bay Park due to track panel installation. Note: At Parkchester, train doors open onto the Manhattan-bound platform.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, the last stop for some Bronx-bound 6 trains is 3rd Avenue-138th Street due to station rehabilitation and structural repair at Whitlock Avenue, Morrison-Sound View Aves., and Parkchester.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 15, Main Street-bound 7 trains skip 82nd, 90th, 103rd, and 111th Streets due to rail repairs.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, downtown A trains run local from 168th Street to 145th Street due to Jay Street station rehabilitation, construction of the underground connector at Lawrence Street station and the Culver Viaduct rehabilitation.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, downtown A trains run express from 59th Street to Canal Street due to tile cleaning and platform repairs.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, 207th Street-bound A trains run on the F line from Jay Street to West 4th Street, then return to the A line running local to 59th Street due to Chambers Street Signal Modernization Project.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, 207th Street-bound A trains skip 135th, 155th, and 163rd Streets due to continuous welded rail installation and clean up.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, A trains run local between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts and Euclid Avenue due to Chambers Street Signal Modernization Project.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, A trains skip Broadway-Nassau St. in both directions due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, there is no C train service due to the Chambers Street Signal Modernization Project. Customers should take the A or D instead. Note: D trains run local between 145th Street and 59th Street. A trains run local with exceptions.

From 11 p.m. Friday, May 14 to 6 a.m. Saturday, May 15, from 11 p.m. Saturday, May 15 to 7 a.m. Sunday, May 16, and from 11 p.m. Sunday, May 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, Manhattan-bound D trains skip 174th-175th Sts. and 170th Street due to a track chip out north of 170th Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, D trains run local between 145th Street and 59th Street due to the Chambers Street Signal Modernization Project.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, D trains stop at DeKalb Avenue and run local between Pacific Street and 36th Street due to switch renewal north of 9th Avenue.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, May 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, free shuttle buses replace E trains between Jamaica Center and Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike due to switch renewal north of Sutphin-Archer. Note: E trains are rerouted on the F line between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Jamaica-179th Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, Jamaica-bound E trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to the substation rehabilitation north of Roosevelt Avenue.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, May 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, free shuttle buses replace F trains between Jay Street and Church Street due to Jay Street station rehabilitation and construction of underground connector at Lawrence Street station and the Culver Viaduct rehabilitation. Note: There is no G service between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. and Church Avenue.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, May 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, there are no G trains between:

Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Bedford-Nostrand Avenues
Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts and Church Avenue

This is due to a track chip out north of Metropolitan Avenue and work on the Culver Viaduct. Free shuttle buses and E R trains provide alternate service. For service between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Queens Plaza, customers should take the R during the daytime hours, and the E during the late night hours. – Another five-stop weekend for the G train.

Free shuttle buses run in two sections:

Between Queens Plaza and Bedford-Nostrand Avenue and
Between Jay Street and Church Avenue

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, special J shuttle trains run between Essex Street and the Prospect Park Q station due to Fulton Street Transit Center.

From 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, Forest Hills-bound R trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Street due to the substation rehabilitation north of Roosevelt Avenue.

From 10:30 p.m. Friday, May 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 17, free shuttle buses replace Rockaway Park Shuttle S trains between Rockaway Park and Beach 67th Street due to station rehabilitation work at Beach 98th Street.

Categories : Service Advisories

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May

Down the rabbit hole, a tunnel boring machine comes alive

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (43) ·

The front of the tunnel boring machine that will soon to be digging out the Second Ave. Subway tunnels. (All photos by Benjamin Kabak. Click to enlarge.)

As I ventured this morning into the Second Ave. Subway launch box beneath the area from 92nd to 95th Sts. along the Upper East Side, I was struck by how utterly massive the underground cavern is. It spans more than three city blocks and bottoms out at a depth approximately 60-70 feet below street level. Apartment buildings loom over the hole in the ground, and the scope of this project — an undertaking of massive proportions — is staggering.

For the first time since the April 2007 groundbreaking, the MTA invited reporters and city officials underground to mark another Second Ave. Subway milestone. Today, at shortly after 10:30 a.m., MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder blasted an air horn that marked the start of the tunnel boring machine’s journey from 92nd St. to 63rd St. With two City Council members and a House representative along for the photo op, the MTA reaffirmed its commitment to Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway and stressed the December 2016 completion date.

“There have been skeptics who saw construction start and stop in the 1970s and said the Second Avenue Subway would never be built,” Walder said. “But today, we are turning on the machine that will dig the Phase 1 Second Avenue Subway tunnels, and we won’t turn it off until the tunnels are done.”

“Every day,” Carolyn Maloney, House representative from the Upper East Side, said, “the tunnel boring machine will be moving the new subway dozens of yards closer to the finish line. That’s real progress, and it means that it’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ the Second Avenue Subway will get done — it’s now a matter of ‘when.’”

A close-up of a cutterhead blade.

Prior to the ceremonial launch of the tunnel boring machine, Michael Horodniceanu, president of MTA Capital Construction, took reporters and photographers on a tour of the launch box. He spoke at length about the progress they plan to make now that the 500-foot-long, 450-ton TBM is ready to go. The machine is going to dig out approximately 40-60 feet of dirt a day and will be operating nearly non-stop until next November. The first tunnel — the downtown tube on the west side of the street — will reach the existing tracks at 63rd St. by January 2011, and the MTA will then pull the TBM back through the tunnel to start working on the uptown tube. When all is said and done, the TBM will have dug out two tunnels 7800 feet long.

Currently, the TBM is decked out in the familiar yellow of the BMT Broadway trains with Q markings throughout the surface. The Q, running north from 57th St. and Broadway to 96th St. and 2nd Ave., will be the original Second Ave. Subway, followed eventually by the T train when and if Phases 3 and 4 reach south of 63rd.

This is the view from approximately halfway up the staircase that feeds to the street level, and it shows just how massive this project is. The machinery on the left is a part of the TBM tail, and the conveyor belt will bring debris and rock out from the two tunnels. The concrete and support beams are bracing the tunnel walls. In this picture, the concrete supports are visible, and two Second Ave. buildings loom over the open hole in the ground. These buildings, some 120 years old, are literally atop the subway tunnel, but MTA officials say residents won’t know when the TBM is passing underneath.

Interestingly, the utilities are still exposed for all to see. The Second Ave. water main is wrapped in insulation, and the MTA will eventually bury all of the pipes as they begin to fill in the tunnels and construct the station caverns. Despite this concrete beginning, there’s a reason why this project still has at least 6.5 years to go.

Before the launch, I couldn’t resist posing in front of the TBM, and after, Carolyn Maloney spoke about the money and the timing. “It’s our job to keep it on target” for 2016, she said.

With $1.3 billion in federal funds behind it as well, the pressure from DC is squarely on the MTA. “If they decided not to build,” she said, “we lose the money.” And so the TBM will start its journey inching slowly south as a subway line eight years in the making moves another step closer to reality.

Below is a slideshow of all of the photos I took underground. As the lighting conditions varied, some shots are better than others, and after the jump, check out a 45-second video of the TBM cutterhead spinning as Jay Walder celebrates the moment with an air horn.

Categories : Second Avenue Subway

Comments (43)

An impact beyond the wallet · A few weeks ago, New Jersey Transit implemented the largest fare hike in its history as part of an effort to close a $300 million budget gap. The hikes of approximately 25 percent across the board went into effect earlier this month, and today, NJ Transit announced that service cuts will go into effect on May 23. At least two trains per line will be eliminated, and some riders will look to private bus carriers or their personal cars as alternatives. Interestingly, New Jersey Transit anticipates a ridership decline of up to five percent. This figure underscores how service cuts and fare hikes lead to fewer transit riders. Although in New York City, ridership numbers have remained high despite recent fare hikes, at some point, cutting service makes public transit less convenient, and other, less socially-, economically- and environmentally-friendly means of transportation see an uptick in commuters. · (2)

May

Pondering the way the MTA cuts weekend service

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (17) ·

Reading these signs is often akin to deciphering a foreign language.

Edited (1:10 a.m., Saturday): Oftentimes, the G train is called the forgotten stepson of the New York City subway system, and last week’s service change illustrated just how the IND Crosstown can suffer. Since the G is no longer running to Forest Hills and because track work halted the run through South Brooklyn, the G train ran from Bedford/Nostrand to Hoyt/Schmerhorn or a total of five stops. Considering the walk from those two stations is under two miles, the MTA could have canceled the G entirely, and few riders would have noticed.

These extreme service changes come as no surprise to the subway’s weekend warriors. For the better part of the last decade, the MTA has used low weekend ridership figures to justify massive service changes that can result in confusing transit patterns. Considering the often convoluted explanations given on the MTA’s own signs, many riders find weekend subway travel to be a painful experience.

Yesterday morning, amidst stories of budget cuts and Homeland Security grants, New York’s two comptrollers announced an impending audit of the MTA’s service changes. Although the authority has to adjust weekend service to allow for capital improvements for a system that doesn’t shut down, Thomas DiNapoli and John Liu are skeptical that such widespread changes are completely necessary. “New Yorkers need the MTA,” DiNapoli said. “But they don’t have a lot of confidence that the MTA is doing its best to provide the service the city needs.”

As the comptrollers are set to explore the MTA’s reasoning behind the service changes and the economic impact of the weekend diversions, MTA CEO and Chair Jay Walder spoke about how New York City Transit is planning its own internal examination of weekend service patterns. “I welcome the audits,” Walder said to reporters. It is essential, he said, to evaluate the way the MTA conducts its capital improvements.

As Liu and DiNapoli conduct yet another MTA audit, Transit will undertake its evaluation with three key aspects in mind, said walder. First, the authority wants to maximize the productivity of service outages. When parts of a route are closed, in other words, the MTA wants to take full advantage of the closure. To that end, according to Walder, Transit will explore whether or not it makes more sense to close larger portions of subway lines for a shorter period of time in order to knock out numerous repairs at once.

Noting that New York’s 24-hour subways present more challenges than London’s 20-hour system does, Walder spoke about the differences between the two cities. “If you’re in London and you’re doing track work on the Jubilee Line, do you want me to tell you what the service announcement is on the Jubilee Line?” Walder said. “The service announcement is, ‘The Jubilee line is not running.’” The MTA, he said, would indeed consider a London-style shutdown if necessary.

Beyond those efficiencies, the agency will explore how the workforce is deployed and how it goes about communicating information about service changes to the straphanging public. Right now, weekend riders must piece together the parts of the system that are running in their minds, and the MTA’s own signs and announcements to little to alleviate the more confusing weekend changes. While Subway Weekender produces a weekly map of the service changes, the MTA relies on confusing signs that are subject to change, and Walder spoke of the need for a better presentation of the service advisories.

On a grander scheme, though, Walder stressed the need to focus on the 24-hour nature of the New York City subways. Because people in the city that never sleeps need to travel at all hours, the subways can never shut down even if closures would improve capital efficiency. “It’s a fair question,” Walder said, “to look and say would it make sense to stop running a line for a short period of time and get in there to do a lot of repairs.” The MTA says it would stop only portions of lines and provide shuttle buses to service the closed stations, and I believe it could work.

As the MTA explores how to improve its efficiencies and weekend service, everything is on the table. Maybe the MTA will determine that shuttering the G for one weekend is preferable to three weeks of a five-stop, 1.8-mile run. For now, though, Transit will await the outcome of the Liu/DiNapoli audit before moving ahead with any changes to their weekend plans. “We might out we’re doing it perfectly,” Walder said, ” and we might find out we’re not.”

Categories : Service Advisories

Comments (17)

May

Smarter work rules lead to Bridges & Tunnels savings

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (6) ·

Earlier this afternoon, MTA CEO and Chair Jay Walder along with new MTA Bridges & Tunnels President Jim Ferrara spoke to reporters about this agency’s plans for budget reductions and cost savings. It was another in the MTA’s ongoing attempts to close a massive budget hole, and as Bridges & Tunnels is the only agency that turns a profit, I was intrigued to hear about the authority’s plans for it.

First a brief history lesson: When the MTA formed, the city had to find a way to fund transit, and they eyed the huge surpluses at Robert Moses’ Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority as a key source of revenue. So as part of a move to depose Moses from power and find a solution to the subway’s constant annual budget deficits, Triborough and the New York City Transit Authority were merged under the umbrella of the MTA. Since 1968, the various bridges and tunnels under MTA control have continually turned a profit, and those dollars helped allow the MTA to kee subway and bus fares at levels that made the system accessible to all.

With that in mind, the MTA doesn’t need to have the Bridges & Tunnels division save money. It is still, after all, running at a surplus. But by asking the departments to streamline work shifts and operational efficiencies, the trickle-down effect results in more money for the region’s bus and rail networks. So today, Bridges & Tunnels announced approximately $10 million in additional savings for 2010 to bring its total annual savings for this year up to $20 million, and those savings are projected to be $25 million next year.

While some of the savings are rather technical — the eight preventative maintenance shops will be centralized into four shops — one key area involves maintenance work schedules. Currently, Bridges & Tunnels workers are on the clock from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. even though the agency doesn’t perform road work during rush hour. Instead, since most non-emergency repairs are completed at night, the workers earn overtime during the late-night shifts. To combat the spread of overtime, the agency is shifting workers from the daytime to a new 11 p.m.-7 a.m. shift.

With this new shift, the agency will reduce overtime by approximately $4.8 million, and they did so within the contours of their current labor contracts. Workers will have the chance to bid on overnight shifts that carry a 10 percent bump in salary, and daytime workers will, by and large, lose out on the overnight time-and-a-half shifts. It is, said Ferrara and Walder, a more efficient way of doing business.

On the one hand, this is a common-sense moved designed to combat the spread of overtime, and it highlights how Jay Walder is intent on streamlining MTA operations. On the other, it’s a duh-worthy moment that makes me question how the MTA had been doing business beforehand. Still, these savings and efficiencies are better late than never, and even if the dollars are small based on the overall deficit, every little bit is a step forward.

Categories : MTA Bridges and Tunnels

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DiNapoli, Liu to joint-audit weekend service disruptions · Every weekend, New Yorkers suffer through massive work-related service changes that turn subway service often incomprehensible and leave many travel stranded. According to the Transit, the changes are a necessary part of an “ongoing $11.2 billion Capital Rebuilding Program aimed at upgrading and maintaining our tracks, stations and signal systems in order to continue to provide our customers with safe and reliable service,” but both the New York State and City comptrollers are beginning to question this claim. The two announced today a joint audit that will examine both the necessity and fiscal impact of the myriad service changes. While I’ve often criticized Liu, I think the two comptrollers are on the right track here.

“It often seems that the MTA is most reliable for its perennial shutdowns of subway service, citing necessary track work,” Liu said in a statement. “There’s little question that repairs and upgrades are needed throughout the system. But people need far greater assurance that the MTA is planning the shutdowns and actual track work tightly so as to minimize the disruptions to riders and the economic impact to small business owners. Our examination of the MTA will shed light on whether ‘necessary track work’ has become an overused black hole of an excuse.”

According to the release sent out by DiNapoli’s office, this audit is the first joint effort between city and state comptrollers in ten years, and the two will examine service disruptions since January 2009 with an three questions in mind: (1) Is the maintenance and capital work scheduled to promote efficient, cost effective maintenance? (2) Is the maintenance and capital work scheduled to minimize service disruption? (3) Is the riding public adequately informed of potential service disruption? Although the examination will take a few months, I’m eagerly anticipating the findings. · (5)

May

Homeland Security cuts grants to transit safety

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (9) ·

Since the FBI stopped Najibullah Zazi and his co-conspirators from carrying out a potential terrorist attack on the New York City subway system, New Yorkers have had to come to grips with the reality of a porous subway system. With hundreds of miles of track stretching throughout five boroughs and access that costs one swipe of a MetroCard, New York’s subways — just like those in London, Madrid and Moscow — is open and insecure. We might rely on a catchy slogan to keep straphangers on their collective toes, but securing the subways requires a massive interagency effort that involves paying attention to chatter while keeping a close eye on the goings-on underground.

As the MTA has adjusted to life in post-9/11 New York City, its own security measures have been halting. A plan to equip every station with security cameras has been plagued with massive budget overruns. It’s beyond schedule and now the subject of a legal fight between Lockheed Martin and the MTA. Still, as the authority has promised to get some camera system online this year, the agency needs all of the support it can get from the federal government.

With that in mind, then, it’s dismaying to read that, due to the fact that the Department of Homeland Security has been forced to cut back its grants this year, New York City will be receiving fewer DHS dollars for security measures. According to numerous reports that cite a courtesy memo distributed to lawmakers this week, DHS is cutting its grants to New York City’s mass transit security fund from $153 million to $111 million. No one is happy.

“For the administration to announce these cuts two weeks after the attempted Times Square bombing shows they just don’t get it and are not doing right by New York City on anti-terrorism funding,” Chuck Schumer, New York’s senior senator, said.

Although lawmakers and New York officials have known since late last year that cuts would be forthcoming, both the timing — President Obama is due into the city later today — and the 27 percent reductions could not be worse. “We are hoping for substantial additional money from the feds to help protect our mass-transit system,” Mitchell Pally, a member of the MTA Board, said to the Wall Street Journal. “Any reduction is a concern, especially in these days when we don’t have enough money to begin with.”

Department of Homeland Security officials were quick to defend the cuts. New York City alone, they say, receives 11 percent of DHS funding, and the city took in $457 million in DHS grants last year. “DHS is actively engaged in supporting New York City’s first responders and overall preparedness for acts of terrorism and other disasters through an array of grant programs,” Matthew Chandler, a DHS spokesman who blamed congressional budget cuts for the reduction, said.

With the averted Times Square bombing fresh in the minds of city residents, New Yorkers can’t be too pleased with the news and for good reason. The New York City subways carry the bulk of the nation’s public transit riders, and although we hate to admit it, the infrastructure remains an appealing target for any potential attack. Even as New York remains vulnerable, we should learn our lessons from Europe, and DHS should ensure that transit security funding is not scaled back.

Categories : Subway Security

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Dig tunnel on time; get free steak · Here’s a fun little gimmick for the foodies among us: While the disruptions from the Second Ave. Subway have garnered headlines, in the eastern reaches of Midtown, the infrastructure for the East Side Access project has led to some obstructed sidewalks and partial street closures as well. To that end, Maloney & Porcelli, a steakhouse on 50th St. between Madison and Park Aves., has come up with a clever gimmick to attract customers as a ventilation shaft is sunk in its front sidewalk. If the MTA wraps the project in November, as they’ve promised the restaurant, the work crews will earn a free steak dinner, and the restaurant will host a few open bars for club members. The restaurant has set up a website for customers to join the club and plans to host three open bars this summer as long as work remains on schedule. Why not join? I’d take a lapel pin and some free drinks any day. Hopefully, the workers can earn their free steaks too. · (5)

An MTA labor war heads home · The battle between Jay Walder and the TWU continues to heat up in a major way this week. Today, in the Daily News, the editorial board lays out the case for common-sense changes to the MTA’s work rules. Included among their suggestions are the not-so-controversial proposal that the MTA be allowed to use the same snow-removal equipment at shows run by various unions, that Transit Authority garages be permitted to service buses run by multiple unions and that workers stop abusing the sick day system. “I genuinely believe if we can get a different dialogue going with labor, some of this is avoidable,” Walder said. “Even some of the station agents. If we have a different dialogue, it might be possible to bring back people and do things through an attrition process, but you won’t get there unless there’s a different dialogue going on.”

But the TWU, protesting Walder’s agressive stance and the dismissal this week of 250 station agents, has upped the ante. As amNew York’s Heather Haddon details, the TWU has taken its protest and the familiar inflatable rat to the Tribeca streets outside of Walder’s home. With signs protesting “an $800 million payout to Wall St. crooks,” union members are there to stay as this battle brews. “It’s indefinite for right now,” TWU head John Samuelsen said of the rat outside of Walder’s home. This is getting ugly indeed. · (16)

May

Musings on saying something and seeing something

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (10) ·

In Glasgow, a familiar anti-terrorism slogan has lost its edge. (Photo via Andrew in Amsterdam)

When two street vendors in Times Square noticed a parked car with smoke seeping out of it a few weekends ago, they did what any concerned citizen would do and called 9-1-1. The NYPD evacuated Times Square, and instead of a car with an electrical or gas fire starting, they found a vehicle packed with potentially explosive materials and alarm clocks rigged as a bomb. The bomb squad disarmed the device, the FBI caught their man and the law enforcement and anti-terrorist system worked.

As the story unfolded, the focus eventually turned to a slogan familiar to millions. Since 2003, the New York City subways have been covered signs with a simple request, now trademarked by the MTA: “If you see something, say something.” Ostensibly, this slogan is about awareness in a post-9/11 world. If citizens remain alert and see something — whatever it might be — that appears out of the ordinary, they should, as anyone with a civic duty would, say something about it. They could tell an MTA employee or, better yet, a police officer. Just don’t, urges the longer prerecorded announcements on new train cars, keep it to yourself.

Over the last few days, the widespread use of this slogan has gained some publicity. AdAge published a profile of those behind it on Monday, and The New York Times followed suit in yesterday’s paper. The phrase came to the MTA shortly after Sept. 11 from the desk of Allen Kay, an ad executive at Korey Kay & Partners, who has, according to Manny Fernandez of The Times, coined 80 slogans for his company’s clients.

“The model that I had in my head was ‘Loose Lips Sink Ships,’” Kay said. “I wasn’t born during World War II, but I sure knew the phrase and so did everybody else. In this case, I thought it was ironic because we want just the opposite. We want people to talk. I wanted to come up with something that would carry like that. That would be infectious.”

Initially, Kay wanted to launch a public campaign in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but the MTA believed the public would grew too scared and shy away from mass transit. Instead, they wanted until 2003 when they launched the now-ubiquitous campaign of posters and PSAs, and since then, the authority has spent between $2-$3 million in Homeland Security grants on their advertising campaigns.

While some read Orwellian overtones into it — “The phrase has come to mean, ‘Go get the cops.’ It’s not an invitation to citizen engagement. It puts everybody under suspicion,” civil liberties advocate Bill Dobbs said — the phrase has achieved global recognition as well. After securing the trademark three years ago, the MTA has granted the use of the phrase to 54 organizations worldwide free of charge. The MTA, however, has requested that those agencies who do use the phrase with their permission keep the message on point. “The intent of the slogan is to focus on terrorism activity, not crime, and we felt that use in other spheres would water down its effectiveness,” Christopher Boylan, an agency spokesman, said to The Times.

Yet, despite the hoopla surrounding the phase, I can’t help but think it’s almost unnecessary. On the one hand, very few people have responded to the MTA’s directive. In 2007, for instance, the authority claimed that 1944 riders out of the 1.5 billion who used the system saw something that warranting saying, and investigation into those figures revealed that few were terrorist-related. Meanwhile, the cops disputed those numbers at the time and said that fewer than 50 had actually called to report suspicious activity.

Furthermore, as Dobbs, the advocate who fears Orwell, said, “Common sense saved the day in Times Square, not an ad campaign.” Two people who see a car with smoke coming out of it should call the cops, in other words, because it’s what people are supposed to do in a society wary of terrorism or not.

It’s hard to deny that the MTA has coined a catchy phrase. It’s six words that remind people to stay aware of what’s going on around them, and it applies in any scenario. Despite my slight skepticism, it worked a few weeks ago in Times Square, and as long it catches a potential act before anything worse happens, it should stick around for years to come.

Categories : Subway Security

Comments (10)