Second Ave. Sagas

Aug

Planned taxi strike will lead to crowded subways

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (5) ·

This Prius taxi may be off the streets for a few days in early September. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak).

Get ready for some crowded subway cars when September 5th and 6th roll around. Just two days after vacation season and Labor Day weekend draw to close, the Taxi Workers Alliance union members plan to strike over Taxi and Limousine Commission plans to install GPS technology in the city’s 13,000 taxis.

Bobby Cuza, NY1 transit guru and local TV heartthrob, has more:

The Taxi Workers Alliance says that at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, September 5th its members will go on a 48-hour strike…At issue is a new GPS system, a satellite-tracking technology the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission is requiring in all 13,000 of the city’s yellow cabs. It’s just one in a package of technology improvements that also includes a credit card reader and a video screen in every backseat.

The TLC says GPS will allow riders to track their trip on an electronic map, and make it easier to recover lost property. But the Taxi Workers Alliance calls it an invasion of privacy, arguing drivers’ movements could be tracked even while off-duty – and that any technological snafu will cost them.

As I see it, there are two separate issues of varying importance here. Let’s deal with what I consider to be the lesser of the two problems. Taxi drivers are concerned that the GPS system will enable the Taxi and Limousine Commission to track their every move as they drive around the city.

I don’t see this is a legitimate concern. For a while, the city has been able to employ various tracking methods for drivers: E-ZPass records could chart speeds, traffic cameras could watch for transgressions. But it doesn’t happen. In short, no city agency has the money or manpower to monitor every GPS record, and when we’re talking about 13,000 cabs running around the city, the monitoring issue is compounded. GPS systems would allow riders to get fair treatment; taxi drivers wouldn’t and shouldn’t have to worry about Big Brother.

The second issue is neatly summarized by Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai. “The technology, if it shuts down, the meter shuts down,” Desai said to Cuza. “If the meter shuts down, the drivers cannot pick up a fare.”

This is a legitimate concern and one the city and T&LC should address. Taxi drivers, who barely eke out a living as it is, shouldn’t have to bare the brunt of the costs if the city-mandated technology fails. Here, I side with the taxi drivers.

Meanwhile, how will this affect those of us who avoid taxis and take the subway? Well, for two days at a time when the city’s population is swelling with vacationers returning home and college students checking in for the year, 13,000 taxis will be off the roads. Expect crowded trains and grumpy people who usually think they’re too good for the subway stooping to the level of a common straphanger. Oh, joy. I can’t wait.

Categories : Taxis

Comments (5)

Aug

The subways are in ur facebook, updatin’ ur transit alerts

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (4) ·

A screenshot of the Facebook Subway Status application. The Seventh Ave. Express is definitely running local on the weekends for now until the end of time, it seems.

This afternoon, SUBWAYBlogger pointed its loyal readers in the direction of a nifty new Facebook application. The application — which you can find here — is called Subway Status. And that, folks, is the genius of Facebook and the orgy of (mostly) crap they unleashed with the application roll-out a few months ago.

(For all of you who don’t know Facebook, it’s a social networking site that started with colleges, expanded to high schools and has ended up open to everyone. It’s more addictive than crack if you were born in the 1980s or later.)

Anyway, the application, as you can imagine, brings subway information to the Facebooking masses. Using information readily available to the public as well as input from readers, Subway Status keeps subscribers attuned to the latest service alerts. To use this informative application, a Facebook user installs it on his or her profile and selects a favorite or oft-used subway line. That person can then view the alerts in that line and contribute. While nearly everyone in New York takes more than one subway, the application limits users to just one line, but it’s very easy to “transfer lines,” as the application so aptly puts it. I like where this is going.

Now, while SUBWAYBlogger and this Daily Intel post took care of the preliminaries, I decided to use Facebook for its true purpose: ~~stalking your friends~~ making new connections. I contacted Amos Bloomberg, the application’s creator, via Facebook, and he graciously answered some questions about this app. As Bloomberg mentioned, he’s worked on an idea such as this for a while, and it all stems from the lack of communication from the MTA, something with which we are quite familiar after recent events.

So take a read through the interview. And if you want to Facebook me, do it here. I’ll be your friend.

Second Ave. Sagas: Is Subway Status an independent application or was it developed in conjunction with the MTA?

Categories : MTA Technology

Comments (4)

Aug

Brooklyn council members to vote down fare hike over F express plan

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (11) ·

The construction on the Gowanus Viaduct is quickly becoming an issue in the F Express plan. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Everyone likes the F Express plan. Over 3600 people have signed the petition, and MTA board members have voiced their support. The plan would even give meaning to the neglected V train. But the MTA is throwing up a roadblock.

Over and over again, the MTA keeps saying that construction on the Gowanus Viaduct renders this plan impossible until 2012. Now, those of us who have been most vocal in the push to get this plan approved have never really understood how the work on the viaduct renders express tracks — unused tracks that would cost literally billions of dollars to build today — out of service.

Yesterday, we learned, via the Kensington (Brooklyn) blog, that two city council members agree with us. The MTA just hasn’t adequately explained why the F Express plan must suffer. The two politicians — Simcha Felder of Borough Park and Dominic Recchia of Coney Island — write:

The MTA has said that an express F train cannot be considered until 2012, upon competition of the Gowanus Viaduct restoration. As you know, in addition to the two unused express tracks between Bergen St. and Church Ave., a single unused track exists thereafter up to Kings Highway. Anyone who has ridden the elevated portion of the Culver line has seen the single express track between Church Ave. and Kings Highway used sporadically despite the scheduled Gowanus Viaduct project. We fail to understand what relevance the Viaduct has to the elevated express track between Church Ave. and Kings Highway, or, for that matter, the underground express tracks beyond the Viaduct, from 7th Ave. to Church Av. Additionally, we remain unconvinced that the MTA’s 2012 goal is reasonable timeframe for the completion of work on the Viaduct, and, transitively, full restoration of express service.

The MTA has also cited insufficient demand as an argument against restoration of express service on the F line. Based on the community’s loud voicing of their concern over this matter, including an online petition with more than 3,500 signatures, we believe the demand will be particularly evident when service is improved, and the MTA is offering its riders a more reasonable commute. At a time when the city’s leadership is attempting to convince more New Yorkers to step out of their cars and into mass transit, a fare hike without tangible improvements would severely undermine this effort.

While, as the Gotham Gazette notes, it’s not politically risky for anyone to oppose a fare hike, Felder and Simcha are using their platform to make a good point. We want more information on the Gowanus Viaduct. Will it really take until 2012? Is there no way to accommodate express service on the rest of the BMT Culver line in Brooklyn?

This line would have a positive impact on many people’s lives in Brooklyn. It should happen, and we shouldn’t have to sit through anymore vague answers as the MTA stalls on another construction project.

Categories : Brooklyn, F Express Plan, Fare Hikes

Comments (11)

Aug

The MTA is listening…to me!

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (14) ·

Michael Rundle, reporter for Metro, one of the city’s free daily newspapers, called me last week to talk subways. Specifically, we chatted about the recent proliferation of blogs talking about the MTA and the city’s subways.

It all started a few months ago with the F Express plan. During the major push for this plan — which is still gaining traction among politicians — Gary led the charge with some help from Kensington (Brooklyn) and The Gowanus Lounge. With a new group dedicted to saving the G train setting up shop online, Rundle and his article affirm what those of us writing have learned: The MTA is listening to the bloggers.

He writes:

The message seems to be getting through. Elliot Sander, executive director of the MTA, recognized that bloggers were calling for refunds after subway flooding during an Aug. 9 press conference. And with the introduction of “Rider Report Cards” on the L and 7 trains and new features on the MTA’s Web site, transit officials are increasingly recognizing the importance of customer opinions.

“Yes [we read them], and yes [they make an impact],” MTA spokesperson Jeremy Soffin said yesterday. “Reading blogs is a good way of keeping in touch with what our customers are thinking. Like anything online, the information varies from extremely well-informed people to those who aren’t well informed. But there certainly are a lot of real experts out there.”

Now, neighborhood blogs aren’t the only ones writing about the subway. Gothamist and City Room both cover the MTA religiously, and Streetsblog keeps its eye on public transportation as well. In another realm, the tireless contributors to the Subchat message board keep tabs on the city’s transit systems as well.

For our part, we bloggers have learned that for us to be heard, we have to stay on top of both the news and the facts. Here’s what yours truly had to say to Rundle: “I’ve been very outspoken at times. But at the same time I have to really be on my toes that I’m getting the story right. We have a lot of responsibility now. Things move slowly [at the MTA] but they are listening.”

As I today celebrate the nine-month anniversary of this blog’s first post, I am on the one hand surprised at the traction I and other subway writers have gotten. The MTA listens to us and uses our words as part of a barometer on customer service. It’s humbling. But at the same time, it’s hardly surprising that subway blogs and transit-oriented posts have gained in popularity. This city, after all, runs on its subways. We’re lost without them. And for that, I’ll keep on blogging.

Categories : Self Promotion

Comments (14)

Aug

Checking up on the Columbus Circle construction

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (11) ·

MTA workers lay out the floor on the downtown IND platform at Columbus Circle. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak.)

It’s hard to find a station in worse shape right now than the Columbus Circle hub. The station — a key transfer point between the West Side IRT and the 8th Ave. and 6th Ave. lines — is in the middle of an extensive renovation that won’t end until 2009 at the earliest.

It’s not a stretch of the imagination to call the current state of the station is a huge disaster. Blue construction walls dot the station’s landscape, and platform sizes have become severely restricted as work crews attend to matters as large as asbestos abatement (West Side IRT) and floor reconstruction (IND platforms). While in April, I wrote an extensive post looking at the overall plans for the station, let’s take a peek, by way of some subtlely-taken Blackberry photos, of the current state of the station.

As I’m currently undergoing physical therapy at an office on 57th St. between Broadway and 8th Ave., I have the pleasure of navigating this station two days a week now. Progress is haphazard; one day, a staircase will be open, and the next day, it will be shut. One day, sections of the platform will be roped off; the next day, they’ll be open.

Mainly, what I’ve seen are crews working on the floors on the IND platforms. For months, the platforms have existed below grade with the trains. Warning signs urged straphangers to watch their steps. Now, the platforms are rising up, at least in the middle, to meet the train doors. Take a look:

Categories : MTA Construction

Comments (11)

Aug

The subways stink and so does your weekend service

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (4) ·

Leave it to amNY to bury the lead. In an obvious article about how the subways smell, the most interesting quote from a rider came in third graph, nearly 100 poorly written words into the article.

“The further you go uptown in Manhattan, and anywhere in the Bronx, it gets pretty bad,” Jamie Rocha said to reporter Marlene Naanes. “I don’t really know how to describe it.”

While Naanes then goes on to note that, yes, the subways smell bad and that New York City Transit plans to add 350 more cleaners to their employment rolls this fall, there is no follow-up here. This, people, is the news.

Is the MTA doing a better job of cleaning up high-volume stations through which tourists and working people pass everyday? Is the MTA neglecting stations based on where they fall among New York City’s socioeconomic geography? These are questions worth exploring, and yet, here, they go unanswered.

Over at Gothamist, the coverage of this article features an interesting conversation in the comments. One person astutely noted that public bathrooms in the subways would go a long way toward alleviate the stench on the platforms. While the MTA would still need to maintain a vigilant janitorial crew, keeping the smell in the bathroom is preferable to stinky platforms.

Meanwhile, speaking of things that stink, here are your your weekend service advisories. Lots of changes everywhere – but particularly on the West Side IRT and 8th Ave. lines. Stay alert when reading those signs. For the changes in convenient press release form, click here.

See you on Monday.

Categories : Service Advisories

Comments (4)

Aug

Economists say climate change could lead to more subway floods

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (2) ·

When it rains, it pours, especially along the flood-prone Queens Boulevard lines. (Photo by flickr user chrisj)

As the MTA and the City of New York begin the long process of addressing systemic problems that came to light during last week’s subway flood and subsequent system-wide outage, economists studying climate change say New York and other urban areas should brace for more floods in the future.

An article at LiveScience delves into the issues cities with aging infrastructures face as the weather becomes harsher. Andrea Thompson has more:

The likely intensification of extreme weather events from global warming could mean that urbanites have more events like last week’s subway flooding in New York City to look forward to in the future.

The flooding and subsequent paralysis of New York’s subway system—from nearly 1.5 inches of rain falling in just an hour—raised concerns about the subway system’s infrastructure and the fate of the infrastructures of coastal cities worldwide in the face of extreme events that could become more frequent in our warming world.

“This is the kind of thing that we probably will see more of,” said Kathleen Miller, an economist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who studies the effects of climate change on society.

Thompson goes on to detail the problems New York will face as its infrastructure nears the end of its practical life. Ilan Kelman, a postdoc fellow at NCAR, said the city should invest heavily in its infrastructure for the 21st century because the drains and tunnels, some built as early as the mid-1800s, just can’t handle storms of increased intensity.

Of greater concern to me was MTA spokesman Mike Charles’ comments. In response to a question about the MTA’s factoring climate change, Charles told Thompson, “It’s too early to say on that… they’re not ignorant of it, but it’s so speculative at this point.”

Now, I recognize that global warming has somehow become a political issue. It’s damaging to admit that — gasp — the climate is changing and that human actions are largely responsible for the change. But that’s the reality of the situation. The IPCC has long since concluded this, and the evidence is all around us. Right now, the MTA can’t afford to wait on global climate change. If they do, just expect more and more subway flooding until it becomes cost-prohibitive to address the problems.

Someone somewhere needs to step it up in response to global climate change. Can it be the MTA?

Categories : MTA Politics, MTA Technology

Comments (2)

Aug

Feds sending anti-terror funds NYCT’s ways

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (1) ·

Back in March, Deputy New York Police Department Commissioner Richard Falkenrath spoke in front of Congress about the federal government’s woefully inadequate contributions to NYC’s anti-terror funding. Today, the government acknowledging that it was listening.

According to a report on CBS, the Department of Homeland Security is set to announce that New York City with get $52 million for security. A large portion of that – $37 million, to be exact – will go toward securing the city’s subway systems.

On the surface, this is good news. More anti-terror funding for a very insecure subway system is always a step in the right direction. All things considered, $37 million is but a drop in the bucket. This money hardly addresses Falkenrath’s original points – that more people are needed for subway security, that airlines get $7 a person while subways get about 1.5¢ per person.

The bottom line is that New York City’s subways remain a viable target much like the subways in Madrid and London were over the last few years. We’ll gladly take the money, but it’s more of a token gesture than a move to shore up subway security. Hopefully, we won’t have to learn the hard way that the federal government, so bent on its anti-terror message, should be doing more to secure our tunnels.

Categories : Subway Security

Comments (1)

Aug

PATH Trains: Coming soon with television screens

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (9) ·

One of the more annoying parts of modern technology these days are those buildings with the Captivate Network television sets embedded into the elevators. If you haven’t seen them yet, check out 250 W. 57th St. to experience the joys of being bombarded with stupid news, stock quotes, the weather for Santa Fe and other nearby cities and, of course, advertising.

Owned by Gannett — the very same publishers of America’s Most Boring Newspaper U.S.A. Today — the Captivate Network really takes the cake as the most intrusive, annoying and unnecessary thing ever to be put in elevators. Now, these TV screens may be coming to public transportation too, but with an interesting and beneficial twist.

Hot on the heels of last week’s subterranean communications meltdown, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has announced a deal with NBC — a competitor of Captivate — to install these TV screens in PATH trains. Ken Belson of The New York Times has more:

The Port Authority…plans to…[announce] as early as today that it will include eight small, silent television screens by the doors in each of 340 PATH trains that it will begin introducing next year. The screens will broadcast news, entertainment and train departure times as well as alerts on delays, track changes and the like.

As part of a seven-year agreement, NBC Universal will spend up to $15 million to install the screens in the cars and upgrade 50 or so displays now in 13 PATH stations on both sides of the Hudson River.

NBC Universal will also pay the Port Authority up to $300,000 a year and be the exclusive provider of television content. The agreement includes an option to renew the contract for an additional five years.

According to Belson, this deal is part of an effort by PANYNJ to draw in more money by signing what amounts to advertising deals with private companies. Curiously, thought, Anthony Coscia, the Port Authority chairman, had a different take on the deal. “People today want to feel informed about the mass transit route they are using and events that are happening,” he said to The Times. “This has turned an expense into a revenue opportunity.”

Personally, I don’t see this primarily as a way to bring more information to PATH Train riders. I see this is a big advertising boon for NBC and a way for PATH to upgrade their technology at no cost to themselves. They’ll get $15 million upfront for the installation of these screens and then another $300K a year for NBC advertising. If they can use these screens to display service information during emergencies, all the better. But it is first and foremost an advertising deal.

Now, I’ve been advocating deals like this for a while recently, and maybe it’s something the MTA should explore. If a company is willing to fork over big bucks to install the equipment in exchange for the advertising rights, the MTA could witness a technological upgrade with little cost. While some subway purists like to bemoan advertising in the system, it has been and always will be a key moneymaker for the MTA. A little creative — such as subcontracting out a text message alert service or an advertising pattern for in-system TV screens — could go a long way toward bringing the MTA’s technology up-to-date.

Categories : MTA Technology, PANYNJ

Comments (9)

Aug

MTA wnts 2 snd txt msgs 4 srvice alrts

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (3) ·

Following last week’s communications debacle on Wednesday, the MTA is looking to establish a real-time text message alert system for service delays, amNY reported today.

Marlene Naanes has more:

Text messages alerting passengers that a train is not running are far from reality, but a task force the MTA created after last week’s transit meltdown is looking into the possibility. The group — the response to a gubernatorially ordered 30-day investigation — is also looking at possible real-time email alerts for New York City Transit riders.

“We are going to be looking at all of the electronic ways to communicate including text messaging,” said Chris Boylan, deputy executive director of MTA corporate and community affairs. “I think that the issue is not that we want to do it but what the technological limits are.”

While the writing in this amNY story is among the worst I’ve ever seen in a daily newspaper, that’s beside the point. As I noted earlier this week, text message and e-mail alerts are a reality in other transit systems. It couldn’t be that hard for the MTA to implement a similar feature.

But I have a better idea. Why not subcontract out an alert system? There are plenty of enterprising folks on the Internet who could design a text message alert system for the MTA. I bet the folks at Dodgeball could manipulate their service to serve a similar function for train lines. Text a train line to a number and get back a service alert.

It couldn’t really be that simple, right?

Categories : MTA Technology

Comments (3)

Page 407 of 431« First «...405 406407408 409...»Last »

Planned taxi strike will lead to crowded subways

The subways are in ur facebook, updatin’ ur transit alerts

Brooklyn council members to vote down fare hike over F express plan

The MTA is listening…to me!

Checking up on the Columbus Circle construction

The subways stink and so does your weekend service

Economists say climate change could lead to more subway floods

Feds sending anti-terror funds NYCT’s ways

PATH Trains: Coming soon with television screens

MTA wnts 2 snd txt msgs 4 srvice alrts

The Author

30-Day MetroCard Challenge

Categories

Archives

Meta

Affiliates

Brooklyn Blogs

Manhattan Blogs

New York Blogs

NYC News Sites

Public Transit

Queens Blogs

Subway Maps