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East Side Access Project

NYS Comptroller: Sky blue, East Side Access over budget

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 7, 2013

In a sense, the MTA’s East Side Access project has gotten a pass from just about everyone. It’s a worthwhile project, but it was originally supposed to be in revenue service by late 2012. It’s nearly a decade over schedule and billions of dollars over budget, but few people seem to care. The media has barely covered it; the public doesn’t care. Unlike the Second Ave. Subway, it doesn’t disrupt lives, but it just goes on and on and on.

By and large, the MTA has been forthcoming with budget information on East Side Access. We know that the project will cost more than $8 billion, and we know that this figure is well beyond initial estimates. We know it’s been delayed and delayed again, and we know the agency is going to have to spend money on new rolling stock to meet demand. In all senses, managing the budget for this project has been a disaster.

Enter Thomas DiNapoli. The New York State Comptroller has the power to do any number of audits on the MTA with any sorts of conclusions, but I’ve often been frustrated by his results. He re-reports numbers that already available in MTA materials without offering guidance on controlling costs. This time around, DiNapoli has discovered that East Side Access is — gasp — over budget and late. Shocking news, I know.

“Time and again, the MTA has come up short on the goal to deliver the East Side Access project on schedule and within budget,” DiNapoli said in a press release. “While this project is an important addition to the regional mass transit system serving New York City and Long Island, taxpayers will have to bear the brunt of these unanticipated costs. There must be lessons learned at the MTA from this experience as they move forward with their capital program.”

Here are some of DiNapoli’s stunning conclusions:

The MTA’s current cost estimate for East Side Access is $8.25 billion, but that figure grows to $8.76 billion when the cost of additional passenger railcars needed to meet service demand is factored in.
The MTA has acknowledged that its initial cost estimates and schedules (which were released in 1999) were based on conceptual plans with virtually no engineering work behind them.

By the time design work had advanced in 2006, the estimated cost had grown to $6.3 billion and the completion date had been pushed back four years to December 2013.

Since 2006, the cost has grown by $2.4 billion, or 38 percent, and the completion date has been pushed back another six years. A range of factors, including overly aggressive schedules, the number of large concurrent infrastructure projects, a contractor that performed poor quality work and unforeseen construction challenges increased cost and contributed to delays.

The MTA estimates that there is an 80 percent probability that the actual cost of East Side Access may be at or below its current estimate, and that service could begin up to one year earlier than currently forecast. Conversely, there is a 20 percent probability of additional costs or delays…

Debt service on bonds issued by the MTA to fund the cost of East Side Access is estimated to exceed $300 million in 2019 when the project enters service. This represents nearly 11 percent of the debt service for the MTA’s entire capital program in 2019. Debt service is reflected in the operating budget and is funded with fares, tolls and tax revenues.

A rezoning of the area around Grand Central Terminal to permit higher density office buildings proposed by Mayor Bloomberg, in combination with the completion of East Side Access in 2019, is expected to increase overcrowding on subway platforms and surrounding passageways.

None of these bullet points were conclusions DiNapoli reached through his own analysis, and they were all available in MTA board books released to the public last May, if not earlier. DiNapoli is, in other words, telling us something we already know: The East Side Access project has turned into a boondoggle. Contractors are reaping the benefits, and we the taxpayers are getting worked over on a daily basis.

So how can the MTA control costs in the future? What does the New York State comptroller offer as to lessons for the future? Well, he offers up a big fat nothing. His ultimate bullet point concerning rezoning could be culled from recent newspaper headlines and has very little to do with the costs or completion of the East Side Access project.

I would love to see DiNapoli’s office do more. We all know there are problems, inefficiencies and massive budget overruns, but tell us why. Tell us how to avoid it for future problems, and add to the dialogue. Regurgitating public records is simply an additional waste of taxpayer dollars albeit from the Comptroller’s Office instead of the MTA.

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F Express Plan

The son of the return of the F express train

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 6, 2013

Nothing proves the old maxim “You get what you pay for” quite like watching a City Council Transportation Committee hearing. New York City dedicates a laughably low amount of money to public transit, but the Council still has the ability to haul in public officials for berating. Oversight without the power of the purse combined with reticent MTA officials facing off against Council members who clearly don’t understand MTA economics makes for hilarious and frustrating hearings.

Yesterday’s hearings followed that format. While some committee members came prepared with pointed and intelligent questions, committee chairman James Vacca screeched about station cleaners while ignoring costs and Peter Koo railed against some conditions at his nearest station. These council members weren’t out there to protect constituent interests; they just wanted to lord over public agency officials.

David Greenfield, a representatives from Brooklyn, was one council member who wanted answers on specific projects. With the Culver Viaduct rehabilitation set to wrap up before the Apocalypse in the near future, Greenfield asked the MTA about the state of the dormant F express plans. As long-time readers may recall, the calls for an F express study grew in 2007 as a way to improve service along the Culver line and perhaps alleviate crowding at some high-traffic stations with express service. The MTA said that work along the viaduct would preclude implementing any F express service and that the agency would revisit the matter when the rehab wrapped.

Now that the rehab is coming down the homestretch, Greenfield urged the MTA to act now. His constituents out in Borough Park and Midwood suffer slow rides along the F, and he wants the MTA to speed up commutes. He says his office fields more complaints concerning F train service than anything else.

In response, Aaron Stern, the director of Transit’s Office of Management and Budget, vowed a study. Now, promising a study doesn’t mean much. So the question is: What should we expect from the study? Despite my support for this project, I believe the answer is “not much.”

Already, The Daily News has thrown cold water on the idea but without supplying details. Basically, the concerns are two-fold. First, the MTA doesn’t necessarily have the rolling stock to add F express service (but that’s a problem that can be addressed). The second and more valid concern though focuses around service to local stations. By adding express service, and coordinating with, at different spots, the G, M and E trains, the MTA would reduce local service, and considering how many of the most popular F stops in Brooklyn are local, this idea just won’t fly.

To make matters more complicated, Bergen St. — one of the busier local stops — has express tracks that need millions of dollars of work. The lower level at Bergen St. was effectively destroyed in a fire a bunch of years ago, and although the MTA stores runs bypass trains through that station, it cannot be used for revenue service. F express service without stops at Bergen, Carroll, Smith/9th or 4th Ave. would leave many, many riders with reduced service.

Still, despite the forces aligning against F express service, the MTA may try to find a limited way to add some express service. During a September meeting of the Transit Riders Council, MTA officials spoke about potential F options. The minutes are available online, but I can summarize.

Essentially, Transit operations officials believe the impact at local stops would outweigh the benefits to express riders. If any express service is implemented, it would likely be limited to weekday peak hours only and would not involve Bergen St. as it would be too expensive to repair the station for only limited service. That’s not a rosy picture.

Eventually, the MTA will release an official study on F express service, and the conclusions will likely weigh against express service. It’s a shame to underutilize preexisting infrastructure, but sometimes, from both cost and operations perspectives, such service just doesn’t make sense.

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Second Avenue Subway

SAS Updates: Photos at 86th, blasting at 72nd, sequester

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 5, 2013

Excavation work on the cavern that will house the Second Avenue Subway’s 86th Street Station continues as of February 23, 2013. Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin.

With approximately 45 months to go before Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway is ready for revenue service, the MTA has a status update for infrastructure watchers. A new photoset documents the station cavern excavation process at 86th St. With the lawsuit surrounding station entrances resolved, work has been steadily moving forward.

Meanwhile, for residents around the 72nd St. area — where giant structures loom over the avenue — a relief from blasting has arrived. The MTA officially proclaimed blasting in the area over as of last Thursday. The final charged was for an elevator entrance at the southeast corner of 72nd St. and 2nd Ave. As you may recall, an explosion went awry in the area last August.

Finally, in a piece of less optimistic Second Ave. Subway news, the federal government’s sequester could impact the project. As Tanya Snyder at Streetsblog DC wrote recently, the FTA’s New Starts program could lose around five percent of its funding, and some of that money has been earmarked for the Second Ave. Subway. It’s unclear what, if any, impact such a cut could have on this project, but by now, we’re at the point of no return. Phase 1 will happen, and it’s time to start thinking about Phase 2 and beyond.

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Public Transit Policy

The need to link development to transit investment

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 5, 2013

SHop’s Domino development will add a lot of subway riders to an area ill-equipped to absorb them.

It’s hard to believe less than a year remains in the reign of King Bloomberg. The Mayor since shortly after 9/11, Bloomberg has left a stamp, for better or worse, on the city, and the greatest impact of that stamp appears to be development related. From Atlantic Yards to Hudson Yards, from Long Island City to Williamsburg, developers have benefitted tremendously from Bloomberg’s three-term tenure. Unfortunately, transit hasn’t enjoyed the same boost.

It hasn’t always been from lack of trying. Bloomberg led an effort to implement a congestion pricing plan that would have generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the MTA’s capital plan that had the support of both City Council and the majority of New Yorkers. It died at the hands of Sheldon Silver in the back rooms of Albany, and Bloomberg hasn’t prioritized MTA-based transit since then.

Still, development has continued apace, and two of the last projects pushed by Bloomberg may yet have transit implications. The first concerns the Midtown East/Grand Central area, and it’s one I’ve already examined in depth. In a nutshell, by upzoning Midtown East, Bloomberg could strain transit offerings well beyond the point of acceptability in the area. The MTA has discussed the need for wider platforms and more entrances and has threatened temporarily closing station entrance points if crowding grows too extreme.

Some of the figures put forth by the Bloomberg Administration are coming into view though, and the money could alleviate the problem. According to The Post, district-improvement bonuses of $250 per square foot would go, by and large, to the MTA, and the agency could see as much as $750 million over the next 20 years. Now, $37.5 million per year isn’t all that much when you realize that the MTA spends $5 billion a year on capital construction projects, but that money can help with the Midtown congestion problem. We should know before Bloomberg leaves office if the rezoning goes through.

But what of another area that has benefited from pro-development and natural gentrification forces? In Williamsburg — an area with few options for transit expansion — Two Trees and SHoP unveiled their plans for the Domino Sugar factory area. It’s an ambitious plan for the Williamsburg waterfront. Nestled between the Williamsburg Bridge to the south and Grand St. to the north, it would bring office space and over 2000 apartment units to the area by 2013.

I like the look and feel of the SHoP plans, and I like the green space and park lands the developers will preserve. I’m concerned though about transit. The plans include a ferry stop, and the East River Ferries have been surprisingly popular. But most people will turn to the subways. The plans are weighted a bit toward the south — which should push subway riders to the J/M/Z stop at Marcy Ave., but those who live and work near Grand St. will be closer to the L at Bedford. The L at Bedford is one stop that can’t really absorb too many more straphangers.

Now, it’s tough to ask more of developers in New York. If we expect them to pay for transit infrastructure — which we should — can we ask them to also pay for affordable housing, community spaces and parkland? How do we begin to prioritize such demands? Yet, we can’t just ignore the need for adequate transit spaces. Adding hundreds of thousands of new square footage to Williamsburg will put more pressure on some of the city’s most taxed transit facilities, and someone has to pay for the upgrades. The folks who stand to benefit the most from developer should help foot that bill as well.

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Manhattan

Video: A glimpse at the old South Ferry loop

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 4, 2013

With the new South Ferry terminal out of service for the foreseeable future, Staten Island politicians and MTA Board members called upon the agency to do something for those heading to and from the ferry terminal building. Although the MTA has resisted putting a public timeline on any action, work crews have spent the last few weeks doing, well, something to the old one-track South Ferry loop station.

The above video hit the Internet yesterday. One SubChat poster rode the 1 south from Rector St. and through the loop in an effort to check out just what’s been going on there. The videographer has shot two scenes down there in recent works, and it’s clear that some sort of assessment is going on. The gap-fillers are reportedly in place, but there has been no word of operating conditions. Crews have been seemingly trying to maximize space as well, and a photo reportedly of a new entrance made the rounds recently too.

I reached out to the MTA for comment on the old South Ferry loop and was told that the agency is, in the words of a spokesperson, “still assessing” the situation. There is, in other words, no official decision one way or another. Reopening the old loop would not preclude restoring the new station, and the MTA fully plans to do so. It would mean, however, service to and from South Ferry only in the first five cars of the 1 train, no wheelchair access to the station and creaky gap-fillers at a station smaller than anyone would prefer.

But train service to South Ferry in any way, shape or form, and we’ll know soon if this work is for the reactivation of revenue service at the 1 train’s old haunt or not.

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View from Underground

A targeted birth control effort to limit rat numbers

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 4, 2013

A rat awaits an A, C or E train at 42nd St. and 8th Ave. (Photo by flickr user Susan NYC)

Much like the rodents themselves, stories about the MTA’s attempts to contain its rat problem never really go away. The MTA knows it has to eliminate garbage to eliminate rats, but the budget doesn’t allow for refuse collection frequent enough to keep the animals out. A pilot to remove garbage cans has been mildly successful, but as long as subway riders chuck food into the tracks, the rats will never leave.

The oft-discussed, never-implemented idea to enact a total ban on food in the subways never gets anywhere due to its controversial nature, but that’s one solution that could limit the rat problem. Still, rats are horny little buggers. The animals reach sexual maturity in about five weeks and produce litters of seven to 14 four times a year. With a gestation period of 21 days, that rat population can explode quickly.

So what if the MTA could control the rat population’s birth rate? Maybe the city could contain its rat problem through science. That, at least according to the latest from Ted Mann, is how the MTA is now approaching its rat problem. The Journal reporter offers up this tidbit on rat birth control:

Working with SenesTech Inc., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is launching the first urban trial of a pest-control bait that induces permanent infertility in rats. The product has succeeded in rural environments, lowering rodent populations without harming other animals, crops or humans. In New York, however, the company faces a new and vexing challenge: Big-city rodents have developed more sophisticated palates than their country counterparts, who have been lured into switching from grains or other foods to the bait…

But winning over rattus Norvegicus, the species common to New York, means making bait that’s more alluring than the pizza crusts, discarded Chinese takeout and cold French fries littering the subway system. It is a difficulty the company acknowledged in a grant application to the National Institutes of Health, which has put up more than $1 million to finance tests of its sterilizing product, ContraPest, in a metropolitan setting. Existing baits, the company wrote, are hampered in cities by “the abundance of more palatable food choices (i.e. trash).”

Later this month, Dr. Mayer and her colleagues will launch a rodent taste test in a handful of subway trash rooms. The scientists will spread birth-control bait of different flavors and scents. Should other available food scraps prove too tantalizing, Dr. Mayer didn’t rule out resorting to using pieces of pepperoni. “We really won’t know [what works] until we get in there,” she said.

Mann’s article delves into the technicalities behind these efforts. The idea is to introduce menopause earlier in rats so they have fewer opportunities to procreate. As Mann writes, the poison has to outpace procreation, but slowing down procreation could help too.

At this point, it’s worth exploring any avenue in the fight against rats. They’re large, gross and agressive, and they lend an air of anarchy to the subway system. They seemingly symbolize an endless fight against a clean, sanitary environment and add to the overall dinginess of many parts of the system. Short of aggressively eliminating all food underground, there’s only so much we can do to cut down on rats.

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Service Advisories

Weekend work impacting 17 subway lines

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 2, 2013

A few hours later with these, but nonetheless, here you go. Fares go up at 12:01 a.m. tonight.


From 3:45 a.m. Saturday, March 2 to 9 p.m. Sunday, March 3, uptown 1 trains skip 225th Street, 231st Street and 238th Street due to track panel installation north of 225th Street.


From 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3, the last stop for some uptown 1 trains is 137th Street due to track panel installation north of 225th Street in the Bronx.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, there are no 2 trains between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 96th Street due to station work at 149th Street-Grand concourse, track maintenance at 96th Street and tunnel lighting in the Harlem River tube. Downtown 2 trains operate local between 96th Street and Times Square-42nd Street.

Free shuttle buses operate:

  • Non-stop – Between 96th Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street
  • Local – Between 96th Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street

During this time, 2 trains will operate in two sections:

  • Between 241st Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street
  • Between 96th Street and Flatbush Avenue


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, 3 service is suspended due to station work at 149th Street-Grand Concourse, track maintenance at 96th Street and tunnel lighting in the Harlem River tube. 2 trains make all 3 station stops between 96th Street and Franklin Avenue. 4 trains make all 3 station stops between Franklin Avenue and New Lots Avenue. Free shuttle bus operates as a local between 96th Street and 148th Street.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, 4 service is extended to New Lots Avenue and operates as a local in Brooklyn due to work on the 2, 3, and 5 lines.

(Overnights)
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, March 2,
From 11:45 p.m. Saturday, March 2 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, March 3 and
From 11:45 p.m. Sunday, March 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4,
Downtown 4 trains run express from 125th Street to Grand Central-42nd Street due to track tie block work near 96th Street and 103rd Street.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, there are no 5 trains between East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse due to station work at 149th Street-Grand Concourse, track maintenance at 96th Street and tunnel lighting in the Harlem River tube.
Free shuttle bus operates across 149th Street between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse. 5 train service operates in two sections:

  • Between Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street
  • Between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and Bowling Green (every 20 minutes)

Note: 5 trains from Manhattan skip 138th Street-Grand Concourse, take the 4 instead.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, downtown 6 trains run express from 125th Street to Grand Central-42nd Street due to track tie block work near 96th Street and 103rd Street.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4 (and the next three weekends), there is no 7 train service between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza due to Flushing Line CBTC work. Customers may take the E, N, Q and S (42nd Street shuttle) and free shuttle buses as alternatives.

  • Use the E, N or Q* between Manhattan and Queens
  • Free shuttle buses operate between Vernon Blvd-Jackson Avenue and Queensboro Plaza
  • In Manhattan, the 42nd Street S Shuttle operates overnight

*Q service is extended to Ditmars Blvd. (See Q entry for hours of operation.)


From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3, uptown C trains run express from Canal Street to 145th Street due to electrical work at 47th-50th- Sts.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, there is no Bronx-bound D service at 34th Street-Herald Square, 42nd Street-Bryant Park, 47th-50th- Sts and 7th Avenue due to electrical work at 47th-50th Sts. The D will travel on the A from West 4th to 59th St.

(Overnights)
From 12:15 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, March 2,
From 12:15 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, March 3 and
From 12:15 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4,
Queens-bound E trains run express from Queens Plaza to Roosevelt Avenue due to track renewal north of 36th Street.


From 9:45 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, Queens-bound F trains are rerouted via the M line from 47th-50th Sts to Queens Plaza due to station work at Lexington Avenue-63rd Street for SAS.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, M service is suspended due to station work at Fresh Pond Road, Forest, Seneca, Knickerbocker and Central Avenues. Free shuttle buses operate between Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, making all station stops.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 4, Brooklyn-bound N trains run express from 34th Street-Herald Square to Canal Street due to track maintenance at 8th Street.


From 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, March 2 and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 3, Q trains are extended to Ditmars Blvd. in order to augment service between Manhattan and Queens.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3, Queens-bound R trains run express from Queens Plaza to Roosevelt Avenue due to track renewal north of 36th Street.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3, Brooklyn-bound R trains run express from 34th Street-Herald Square to Canal Street due to track maintenance at 8th Street.

(42nd Street Shuttle) (Overnights)
From 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, March 2, Sunday, March 3, Monday, March 4, and Monday, March 4, 42nd Street S shuttle operates overnight due to weekend work on the 7 line.

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Fare Hikes

The Fare Is The Thing: An MTA fare hike primer

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 1, 2013

Long gone are the days and costs of the blue MetroCard. (Photo via Second Ave. Sagas on Instagram)

The cost of life in New York City will continue its inexorable march upward this weekend as the MTA raises transit fares and tolls this weekend. It’s the third time in the last four years that fares have gone up, and New Yorkers grumble about it each time. We’re paying more for the same service, and riding the subways has always been a bit of a grind. This won’t be the last fare hikes — the MTA has an increase on the books for 2015 — but this one introduces a few new concepts and bonus structures. Let’s dive in.

When do these new fares kick in?

That’s an easy one: The new fares for New York City Transit buses and subways commences at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, March 3. Revelers stumbling home late after a Saturday night out will be the first ones greeted with higher transit costs. Nine-to-fivers will suffer their own sticker shock when the Monday morning commute kicks in.

What are the new fares?

For the first time since 2009, the MTA is jacking up the base fare. A cost of a swipe for pay-per-ride users will now check in at $2.50. Those who purchase $5 or more on pay-per-ride cards will enjoy a small bonus of 5 percent, but all new cards — pay-per-ride and unlimited — purchased via MetroCard Vending Machines will carry a $1 surcharge.

The price on unlimited cards is going up a bit as well. The 30-day cards will cost $112, and the 7-day cards will now cost $30. A 7-day express bus card will set a rider back $55. These unlimited increases are smaller, percentage-wise, than they had been in the past, and that’s a win for daily straphangers who have been shouldering more of the burden during prior fare hikes.

What should I be stockpiling?

While hoarding tokens prior to a fare hike used to one of my parents’ pastimes, the MTA has largely limited that practice due to sunset dates and shorter grace periods. Cards purchased prior to the fare hike must be activated by March 11 in order to make use of the full time period. So, in other words, 7-day cards are valid through March 17 and 30-day cards are valid through April 9. Cards not in service by then must be returned to the MTA for a refund. The Times has a bit more on maximizing value.

On the other hand, pay-per-ride cards don’t run out until the expiration date on the back. Take advantage now of the seven percent bonus to load up those pay-per-ride cards. Plus, it’s not a bad idea to stockpile all MetroCards. Since riders can now put both time and money on their MetroCards and are assessed a $1 fee on new card purchases, it’s not a bad idea to hold onto those MetroCards will expiration dates far into the future. My current 30-day card, for example, runs out of time next week, but the card itself is valid through March 31, 2014.

I’m not very good at math. What are the various key purchase points for pay-per-ride and break-even levels for unlimited ride cards?

Fear not, arithmophobes: The Math is getting easier. The new 5 percent bonus means that a $50 purchase will net the straphanger one free ride. Pay for 20; get 21. No more complicated equations with odd-number purchases. (And yes, the MetroCard Vending Machines should be programmed to give this info to customers, but they aren’t.)

With the new pay-per-ride discount, the per-swipe fare is effectively $2.38, and at certain points, it becomes more cost efficient to use eliminated ride cards. For 7-day cards, that breakeven point is 13 rides, and for 30 days cards, the breakeven point is now 48 (down a few from the current value). In other words, if you plan to take 13 or more subway rides in a seven-day period or 48 or more in a 30-day period, buy an unlimited ride card. And needless to say, a 30-day card is always a better value for frequent riders than four 7-day cards.

What’s this new $1 surcharge and how can I avoid it?

For a few reasons — environmental, cost-savings, because they can — the MTA is instituting a $1 surcharge on all new MetroCards purchased at MetroCard Vending Machines, from a station booth or at a commuter rail station. To avoid the fee, keep refilling your cards, buy your cards out-of-system or enroll with a transit benefit organization, if available. Customers will not be charged to replace cards that are damaged or expired.

Along with this $1 fee comes innovation in MetroCard technology. Cards can now carry both time and money, but with a caveat: When both can be used, time will always be used ahead of money. Still, you can carry cash on an unlimited ride card and use that cash for PATH or the AirTrain. More details are available in my post here.

That’s all well and good, but why are the fares going up? What can we do to stop it?

Pick your poison: The MTA says ever-increasing pension and healthcare obligations are driving fares up, but the agency’s debt obligations and bond pricing deals carry the blame too. I’m not going to give you a full answer to this question but will instead urge you to check out my next Problem Solvers session on just this topic. Gene Russianoff and I will be talking up the ins and outs of MTA finances at the Transit Museum at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13. Find out where your hard-earned dollars are going while learning if the city can possibly stave off future hikes.

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MTA Absurdity

The MTA’s left hand/right hand problem

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 28, 2013

Over the past few months, Matt Flegenheimer of The Times has documented a few of what can charitably described as the MTA’s operating quirks. He wrote about the mad dash that happens between uptown express and local trains at 34th Street when an express Q faces off with a local N, and he profiled the way 6th Ave.-bound commuters at Essex/Delancey fill the staircase as they attempt to guess if the F will show up before the M or vice versa. A modern system, of course, would automate service announcements concerning these train operations, but the MTA isn’t there yet.

Today, Flegenheimer tracks down another operation quirk, this time concerning a privately-operated exit at the 5th Ave. station on 53rd St. The full story is here, and I’ll excerpt:

Beginning at 9 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays — as several signs on the platforms can attest — the station’s Madison Avenue exits are closed. But an interior gate often remained open about an hour longer, laying the trap that led riders to the escalator, the turnstiles, the gate and, after a few moments of deliberation, the decision: Jump the turnstile to seek another exit? Call for help? Or, for those without unlimited-ride MetroCards, spend a second fare, not to enter the subway system, but to escape it?

First, the explanation. The top level of the station is owned by private companies, whose personnel control the street-level gates. On two recent nights, the gates were closed at or around 9 p.m. The gate on the platform is operated by Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers, who say their shift schedules usually summon them to the station around 9:45 or 10. “I don’t know why they make the schedule like this,” one worker, Daniel Martinez, said as he locked the gate last Thursday evening. He began his evening at the station at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue at 9 p.m., he said, and needed to perform several errands there before walking toward Madison Avenue. “For those 30, 45 minutes,” Mr. Martinez said, “I’m saying to myself, ‘How many times have people gone up and come back down?’ ”

On that night, and another, 48 hours earlier, the answer was about 20. Some paused for minutes at the turnstiles, contemplating a moral calculus that, according to transit officials, appears to be unique to 53rd Street.Over the course of two weeknights, about half of the riders hurdled over or ducked under the turnstiles. Several cajoled fellow passengers, who had not yet left the subway system, to push the emergency gate open. And the rest swiped their MetroCards, though for some, like Ms. Lingley, the possession of an unlimited-ride card eased the pain.

The rest of the article concerns an examination into the ethics of turnstile-jumping. Even the MTA workers in this case urge riders trapped between a functioning turnstile and a locked exit to eschew another fare, but between the way the NYPD operates and the fact that many people using this station are tourists, the MTA has managed to capture some additional fares. Just jump.

Now, the MTA grew a bit defensive over this article last night, and Adam Lisberg stressed on Twitter last night that the problem had been addressed. But I wanted to know why it took a New York Times article to solve the issue. The reporting process for issues such as these isn’t transparent, and even with a streamlined website, it’s not immediately obvious how to report a problem.

I see this, though, as a problem that shouldn’t have arisen in the first place. When the MTA forges agreements with the companies that operate these station complexes, it should pay attention to work shift schedules and the reality of the situation. Somewhere along the way, the left hand of real estate stopped speaking with the right hand of worker operations, and as a result, some subway riders found a working fare control area with a locked exit on the other side. That’s nearly as bad as New Jersey Transit’s $100,000 fence.

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AsidesPANYNJ

Some forward-thinking as PATH resumes 24/7 pre-Sandy service

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 28, 2013

Without much fanfare, the Port Authority has restored PATH train service to its pre-Sandy levels. Via a Tweet early Wednesday evening, the agency announced that weekend service to and from the World Trade Center and Exchange Place will commence this Friday. For Jersey City-bound travelers coming from points south in New York City, this announcement — unaccompanied by a press release — is a welcome one.

PATH’s service restoration comes nearly four months to do the day after we witnessed stunning video footage of water flooding through PATH’s system. Although the PA wasn’t nearly as transparent with its post-Sandy images or plans, we heard that water completely flooded the tunnel between Lower Manhattan and Exchange Place, and a subsequent escalator malfunction at Exchange Place was seemingly the result of such flooding. Four months and countless dollars later, PATH service — an oft-underlooked but key element of the region’s transit system — has been restored.

Yet, even with the good news, I am left wondering what now? The Port Authority hasn’t been too forthcoming with its plans, but now that service levels have been restored to pre-Sandy levels, the PA must placate concerns over future storms and future flooding. Will the agency invest in storm and flood mitigation efforts? Will the new $4 billion PATH hub in Lower Manhattan be protected from future storm surges? According to one report, Sandy cost PATH 18 months on that project, but subsequent denials cast doubt on that story. If those delays were due to hardening efforts, it would probably be a worthwhile one.

We cannot as a region afford to look this gift horse in the mouth. Outside of the Rockaways, South Ferry and New Jersey Transit’s inane treatment of its rolling stock, transit services were restored to pre-Sandy levels very quickly. But that doesn’t mean doing nothing is an adequate response today or for the future. Be it PATH, New Jersey Transit or the MTA, our transit agencies should be preparing for the next storm now and not three days before it’s due to hit.

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