I’ll be back later in the day with some posts, but for everyone traveling on Presidents Day, keep in mind that service will run on a Saturday schedule. Some weekend service changes are still in effect while others are not. Listen to the on-board announcements, and check the signs in your local station.
Subway workin’ during the three-day weekend
For most people, three-day weekends are the best. Sunday night doesn’t carry with it the threat and dread of a Monday morning, and most people can kick back and enjoy an extra day off. For those working on the subway, this three-day weekend offers up a chance to catch up after Transit prematurely canceled last weekend’s work due to the threat of a snow storm that never really came. With Monday’s service set to follow a regular Saturday schedule, some lines — the A, G and 7, in particular — will see its work stretch through the entire three-day weekend.
Anyway, the fine print: These advisories came to me from New York City Transit and are subject to change with no notice. Check the signs at your local station and listen to on-board announcements for the latest. Subway Weekend has the map right here. The rest of the alerts follow:
12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 15, downtown 1 and 2 trains skip 86th, 79th, 66th, 59th and 50th Streets due to a concrete pour for switches north of 72nd Street and station rehabilitation at 96th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, February 13 and Sunday, February 14, and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, February 15, 3 train service is extended to/from 34th Street-Penn Station due to a concrete pour for switches north of 72nd Street and station rehabilitation at 96th Street.
From 11 p.m. Friday, February 12 to 6 a.m. Saturday, February 13, from 11 p.m. Saturday, February 13 to 8 a.m. Sunday, February 14, and from 11 p.m. Sunday, February 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 15, Manhattan-bound 4 trains run express from Burnside Avenue to 125th Street due to a track chip-out at 149th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 15, downtown-bound 4 trains run express from 14th Street-Union Square to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall due to construction of the Bleecker Street to Broadway-Lafayette transfer.
From 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, February 13 and from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Sunday, February 14, 5 trains run every 20 minutes between Eastchester-Dyre Avenue and Bowling Green due to construction of the Bleecker Street to Broadway-Lafayette transfer.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 15, downtown-bound 6 trains run express from 14th Street-Union Square to Brooklyn Bridge due to construction of the Bleecker Street to Broadway-Lafayette transfer.
At all times until September 13, 2010, the Whitlock Avenue and Morrison-Sound View Avenues stations are closed for rehabilitation. Customers should use the Elder Avenue 6 station, the Simpson Street 25 station, or the Bx4 bus, which provides alternate connecting service between stations.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, there are no 7 trains running between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza due to track panel installation on the Davis Street curve, installation of new switch at Hunters Point Avenue, track chip-out at Vernon Blvd.-Jackson Avenue, and construction of the Long Island City-Court Square to 45th Road-Court House Square transfer. The NQ and free shuttle buses provide alternate service. Note: 42nd Street Shuttle runs overnight; Q trains are extended to/from Ditmars Blvd.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, Queens-bound A trains run local from 168th to 145th Streets, express to Canal Street (except during midnights, when the A is normally local) and resume local service to Euclid Avenue with the following exceptions: 12:01 to 5 a.m., Saturday—Queens-bound trains skip Liberty, Van Siclen and Shepherd Avenues; 12:01 to 5 a.m., Sunday—Queens-bound trains run express from Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets to Utica Avenue; 12:01 to 5 a.m., Monday—Queens-bound trains skip Ralph and Rockaway Avenues. This is due to wall tile cleaning and the Chambers Street Signal Modernization project.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, Manhattan-bound A trains run local from Euclid Avenue to Jay Street, then are rerouted onto the F to West 4th Street, where they resume local service to 59th Street, express to 145th Street, then local to 168th Street. This is due to the Chambers Street Signal Modernization project.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, there are no C trains running due to Chambers Street Signal Modernization. Customers should take the A instead. Note: A trains run local with exceptions.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, D trains run local from 59th Street-Columbus Circle to 145th Street due to the Chambers Street Signal Modernization project. The D substitutes for the C train from 59th Street to 145th Street.
From 10:30 p.m. Friday, February 12 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, there are no G trains running. This is due to a switch replacement at Bedford-Nostrand Avenues, asbestos removal at Greenpoint Avenue, fan plant work at Jackson Avenue and track maintenance work at various locations. For service between Forest Hills-71st Avenue, customers should take the R during the day and the E during the late night hours. Free shuttle buses run between Queens Plaza and Jay Street. For service to Church Avenue, customers should transfer between the shuttle bus and F trains at Jay Street.
From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, February 13 and Sunday, February 14, the last stop for some Jamaica Center-bound J trains is 111th Street due to track maintenance. Customers should transfer at 111th Street to continue their trip.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, Queens-bound N trains run local from Canal Street to 34th Street-Herald Square due to a concrete pour at 14th Street-Union Square.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, Queens-bound N trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge between DeKalb Avenue and Canal Street due to the Lawrence Street station rehabilitation and construction of the underground connector to Jay Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 13 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, uptown-bound Q trains run local from Canal Street to 34th Street-Herald Square due to a concrete pour at 14th Street-Union Square.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, February 12 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, Q train service is extended to/from Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. due to track panel installation on the Davis Street curve.
From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Saturday, February 13, downtown-bound Q trains run local from 57th Street-7th Avenue to 34th Street-Herald Square due to track cleaning.
From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, February 14, uptown-bound Q trains run local from 34th Street-Herald Square to 57th Street-7th Avenue due to track cleaning.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, February 13, Sunday, February 14 and Monday, February 15, R trains are re-routed over the Manhattan Bridge between DeKalb Avenue and Canal Street due to Lawrence Street station rehabilitation and construction of the underground connector to Jay Street.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, February 12 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 16, the 42nd Street S shuttle runs overnight to replace 7 trains in Manhattan (track panel installation on the Davis Street curve.
Real Estate developers lobby for sensible 7 extension
As the 7 line extension’s tunnel boring machines continue their treks toward the existing sections of the route, the elimination of a stop at 41st St. and 10th Ave., killed for lack of funds, has become a sore point for the project, and now, real estate developers are calling upon the city and MTA to act sensibly. As Lori Weiss noted in The Post, Mary Anne Tighe, the head of the Real Estate Board of New York, believes the long-discarded stop should be built. She wants the MTA and city to anoint it a shovel-ready project so that it would be eligible for stimulus funds. However, others say there just isn’t money — some estimates put the price tag at $500-$800 million — available for it.
I’ve long wondered why the real estate lobby hasn’t been more vocal on this issue. New developments line 42nd St. far west of any current subway route, and Related is planning on constructing a building at 41st St. and 10th Aves., right above the new 7 line tunnel. It’s still not too late for the city and MTA to set this project on a better path, but time is short. Construction of a station there after the fact will be even more costly than it will be today, and as I’ve said in the past, this station would greatly improve the utility of this expensive subway extension.
Profiling a high-powered snow thrower
On Wednesday night, as I praised the MTA for better handling inclement weather than they had in the past, I ran a photo of the MTA’s high-powered snow blower. Described in a December release as “similar to a household snow thrower, just a lot bigger,” this particular thrower helped keep the Broad Channel crossing and the IND Rockaway Line free from snow.
Little did I realize just how alluring stories about big machinery can be. Yesterday, Pete Donohue of the Daily News profiled the MTA’s snow thrower as well. The machine is massive. It features a six-foot cylindrical brush that gobbles out snow, feeds it into a chute and launches it through a tube eight feet above ground. Transit says the machine can throw snow 200 feet and can clear 3000 tons of snow an hour.
These snow throwers are but a part of the MTA’s anti-snow fleet. The agency also has de-icer cars, jet blowers and ballast regulators that keep the tracks free from snow and ensure that snow drifts do not interfere with train operations. As other subway systems throughout the country — DC’s WMATA, in particular — struggle to maintain any semblance of service during large snow storms, the MTA has equipment ready to ensure that our 24-hour subway system can run above and below ground with few problems.
The many colors and destinations of the B train
A rollsign from years gone by recently on display on the B train. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)
I took the picture atop this post on Dec. 8, 2009. It was shortly after 2:15 when one of the last remaining R32s to make the B run pulled into Broadway/Lafayette, and the car I boarded was just flat-out wrong. As is evident from the picture, the B, normally running down the Sixth Ave. line and then the Brighton line out to Brighton Beach, was confused. It seemed to think it was running the BMT Broadway/West End Line, and while most passengers hesitated to board the train, most seemed content to ignore this anomalous rollsign.
For the B train, errant rollsigns are not an occurrence all that rare. Due to the Manhattan Bridge construction that spanned three decades and lasted nearly twenty years, the B train has been rerouted more frequently than any train, and for significant chunks of the 1990s, two different B trains — one orange and one yellow — ran various routes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In fact, a few months before boarding the confused B, I saw another slightly less lost B train:
So why the divergent history? The tale lies in the MTA’s need to adequately serve Brooklyn and in the need to shore up support for the Manhattan Bridge. Because the subways lines are on the outside lanes of the bridge, the joints on the bridge were severely stressed for decades, and by the mid-1980s, trains could only crawl across the bridge for fear of structural damage. Facing a disaster, the city and MTA finally began work on a decades-long project to steady the bridge. It would prove quite disruptive to subway travel and did not wrap until 2004.
To accomplish its task, the MTA had to close various sides of the bridge for long stretches of time. Today, the B and D trains run along the northern tracks on the bridge to Grand St. and up the Sixth Ave. IND line. The Q and N take the southern crossing and enter Manhattan at Canal St. before heading north along the BMT Broadway line. But that is a creation of the last six years. How then did service used to look and why are these rollsigns as they are?
Well, when the northern tracks were closed, the B train ran in two segments. One trip took riders from 168th St. in Manhattan — now a C train stop — to 34th St./Herald Square along the IND routes under Central Park West and Sixth Ave. That was the orange-and-white section. The other part of the trip started at either 21st St./Queensbridge in Queens or 57th St. and Broadway in Manhattan and carried the B over the southern Manhattan Bridge tracks. The train would travel along the West End line and terminate in Coney Island as the D does today.
When the southern tracks were closed, the B would invariable run via the 6th Ave. line, across the bridge and to Coney Island. At times, the B was truncated and saved as a Brooklyn shuttle between Atlantic Ave./Pacific St. and Coney Island. Sometimes, it would run weekedays-only, and sometimes, just in Manhattan. The fact that the B has had a stable route for the last six years and counting is a modern creation.
When the Bridge reopened for good in 2004, Transit had to address changing conditions underground and changing travel patterns. In 1986, when the Bridge closed, people were generally not too keen on riding the subway, and no one wanted to go to Union Square or Times Square, major destinations of the BMT Broadway line. So when faced with the chance to run trains that could spur to either route, the MTA polled riders and found a preference for the Broadway route that hadn’t existed 18 years earlier. As The Times detailed then, the routes were adjusted and for a few weeks, confused reigned.
Today, we know the B as the Brighton Express. It’s an orange-and-white bulleted train that runs only during weekdays and not at all during the overnights. It’s a speedy ride into Manhattan, and it’s the train I take more than any other these days. Today, it’s a very stable ride, but now and then, when someone sets an improper rollsign, the B can still remind of construction from years past.
Making use of abandoned subway stops
In Boston, a team of architects won the SHIFTboston Ideas Competition by re-imagining an abandoned subway station as an underground theater space. (Click to enlarge)
The history of New York City’s subway system is littered with idiosyncratic sites. Amongst stop-and-start construction efforts, origins as three distinct companies and station expansion efforts, the tunnels underground feature their fair shares of hidden mysteries and abandoned stations. What to do with these shuttered stations has been a question long on the minds of urban planners.
For the most, New York’s long-forgotten stations — meticulously documented here by Joseph Brennan and here at NYCSubway.org — are slivers of the past. The station at 91st St. and Broadway whizzes by in the blink of an eye. It, like the ones at 18th St. and Park Ave. South and Worth St., was closed when trains were lengthened and stations were suddenly too close together. Others — such as the abandoned platforms at Canal St. along the BMT Nassau St. line — are remnants of a Manhattan Bridge connection long shuttered. Still others, such as the famous City Hall stop, were beautifully designed stations that were simply impractical for passenger service. Astute straphangers know where to look for glimpses of the past.
In New York City, the city’s approach to these stations has been to simply close them and allow urban decay to take over. Most are overrun with trash and graffiti and serve as shelters for those intrepid or foolish enough to brave a few hundreds yard in an empty subway tunnel. One in Brooklyn is the home of the Masstransiscope, an excellent Arts for Transit installation I profiled last year. Besides the 91st St. station that sits outside my parents’ apartment building, the Masstransiscope is a prime example of an excellent use for an abandoned station.
The Big Apple is not alone in dealing with its neglected stops. In Boston, the subway system also sports hidden secrets of abandoned spurs and empty stations, and recently, a pair of architects have proposed turning the station into a museum and arts complex. As Metropolis Mag’s Mason Currey notes, two designers won the SHIFTboston Ideas Competition with this proposal, and it’s not such a far-fetched one at that.
In fact, we need journey only 13 years in our own city’s history to unveil a similar proposal for the one-time Crown Jewel of the subway system. As Christopher Gray of The Times first reported in April 1997, the Transit Museum was going to open an annex in the City Hall stop. Using $2 million in Federal, city and state funds to renovate the station and prepare it for museum-goers, the Transit Museum had hoped to open the annex by 1998 and were anticipating more than 200,000 visitors per year to the unique space.
Unfortunately, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had other ideas. Despite initially supporting the project when it was first announced in 1995, Giuliani quashed the plans in 1999, citing terrorism concerns over the station’s proximity to City Hall. “The decision was predicated on security considerations,” NYPD spokeswoman Marilyn Mode said at the time. “It’s right under the building.” With two other active subway stations in close proximity to City Hall, it sounded like a questionable excuse ten years ago and remains one today.
In the end, the Transit Museum spent $2 million to shore up the old station, and Museum members can now pay $25 for the unique privilege of attending tours of the old station. Still, as the 6 trains screech under the Guastavino Arches, the City Hall subway stop stands as an empty reminder of a plan that would better utilize an abandoned subway station. Maybe Boston can see fit to develop its unique empty underground spaces, and maybe New York could reconsider sprucing up the lost and forgotten bits of an extensive subway system.
On the brink of bankruptcy, some fingerpointing
As the MTA rushes headlong toward financial ruin, a few questions have repeatedly popped up in the debate over the authority’s future: Could the agency declare bankruptcy to escape its debt obligations? Who is to blame for the the fiscal state of such a vital part of the New York City (and state) economy? In today’s Post, Nicole Gelinas and E.J. McMahon of the Manhattan Institute tackle those two questions. Although the piece features some of Gelinas’ concerns over the MTA’s escalating labor and pensions costs, it mostly focuses on those who have allowed the MTA to slip toward financial ruin.
The two point fingers at Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. George Pataki, MTA heads, labor heads and the state legislature all for failing to rein in costs, and on that front, they’re right. More important, however, is the discussion on the parallels between the Urban Development Corporation’s fiscal state in the 1970s and the MTA’s in 2010. When the UDC defaulted on its short-term debt obligations, it triggered a crippling financial crisis in 1970s New York. If the MTA has to do the same soon, the outcome could be disastrous for everyone.
Surviving the snow storm
A snow thrower at the Howard Beach station in Queens helped keep the above-ground subway tracks cleared of snow. (Photo courtesy of NYCTSubwayScoop)
When Mother Nature decides to dump a foot of snow on New York City, travel becomes treacherous. Street corners turn to snow-blocked slushy pits; cars inch slowly down slippery streets; the subways run at slower speeds. Everyone is cold and wet, and they all just want to get to where they have to be.
For New York City Transit and the MTA, the weather has posed problems in the past. Most notable was an August 2007 storm that knocked out nearly every subway line. The subsequent panic and search for information also killed the MTA’s website for a few hours that day. Straphangers couldn’t get up-to-date information on service changes, and millions of New Yorkers were left searching for answers.
That day served as a catalyst for the MTA. Never again could the agency be left without a communications plan. Never again could the agency fail at providing up-to-date route changes and comprehensive travel information. That day, in fact, spurred the MTA into action, and as real-time Internet-based communications has exploded over the last few years with the advent of Twitter and Facebook, among others, the MTA has vastly improved its web presence.
Yesterday’s snow storm is the perfect example of the way the MTA communicates and how things have improved in just over two and a half years. As snow set in on Tuesday night, the new-look MTA website was updated to feature a prominent winter weather advisory, and the individual agencies hosted their own inclement weather plans as well. People navigating to the MTA’s site could easily and rapidly figure out how the storm was impacting the subway system.
Meanwhile, for those who dug a little deeper, the MTA and its agencies communicated via social media outlets as well. The NYCT Subway Scoop Twitter feed kept its followers up to date on storm preparedness and service changes. NYCT Bus Stop had the latest on surface transit, and MTA Insider served as a clearing house for the latest on Transit, Metro-North and LIRR. Amidst the storm, MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder took the time to record a video update on the status of MTA service.
Of course, many of these outlets have only a limited reach. To find the MTA and Transit on Twitter, one must first be on Twitter and following these accounts. The social media accounts, however, are linked from the MTA’s website, and after years of corporate silence from the MTA in light of weather disasters, this transparency and outpouring of information is welcome indeed.
Right now, the information is out there, and people who navigate to the website looking for the latest won’t find the same 404 errors we used to see. Today, the MTA can feel good about its efforts at improving. It may just be one small area of customer service, but it shows a level of care and attention to its customers that has long been lacking at the authority.
Transit to implement inclement weather plan again
Just a brief heads up for those still on traveling as snow continues to flutter: New York City Transit will be implementing its inclement weather plan again tonight. For more info on the service changes, check out yesterday’s summary. The B, V and W will all end early, and most routes will run local for all or part of their runs. Transit urges straphangers to allow extra time for travel and to tread carefully in wet and icy subway stations.
Pols decry payroll tax changes as advocates push for money
As the snow blankets New York, the subway system is holding up for now. As we know, the same cannot be said of the MTA’s finances, and as Gov. Paterson’s new payroll tax plan percolates through the political bodies of the area, New York City reps are up in arms. Today’s anti-Paterson rant comes to us from City Council Speaker Chrstine Quinn. Calling the new plan “outrageous” and “twisted,” Quinn slammed business for not complying and the governor for foisting more taxes on the backs of New York City business.
“Why do we have to pay for absolutely everything in the state of New York? It’s outrageous! It’s outrageous! I mean, we’re not a piggy bank! I mean, we’re not an ATM machine for the state. We’re willing to pay our fair share, and we do in greater amounts than our numerical, you know, whatever. But this is just above and beyond,” she said. “And it’s really – while we’re at the same moment talking about eliminating MetroCards, cutting back on disabled Access-A-Rides, cutting back on bus lines and subway lines – at the same time, we’re going to tell New York City workers who are getting less they’re going to pay more. And they’re going to pay more than other counties. It’s just twisted.”
Meanwhile, as Mt. Quinn erupted, the Empire State Transportation Alliance went north to Albany to lobby for better transit funding. Alliance members asked the state to restore $143 million in appropriations cuts to the MTA, to approve the next five-year capital plan and to fully fund the student MetroCard program. These funds, they say, can be found via “congestion management tacits” including tolls or congestion fees. “We are not asking the state for a bailout or handout,” Veronica Vanterpool, associate director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, said. “We are asking state legislators to restore transit funds that were taken and to keep last year’s promise for a financially solvent and sustainable funding plan.” Sounds good to me.