Author

Benjamin Kabak

Weekend work impacting seven subway lines

by Benjamin Kabak June 1, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 1, 2012

Not a whole lot of work this weekend. Subway Weekender has the map.

From 4 a.m. Saturday, June 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday June 3, there is no 4 train service between Woodlawn and 161st Street-Yankee Stadium due to track panel installation and track maintenance north of Bedford Park Blvd:

For service to or from 161st Street-Yankee Stadium, 167th Street, 170th Street, Mt. Eden Avenue, 176th Street, Burnside Avenue, 183rd Street, Fordham Road and Kingsbridge Road, customers should walk or take a crosstown bus to D service at nearby stations.
Free shuttle bus service is available to and from Bedford Park Blvd. 4 station, Mosholu Parkway and Woodlawn with a connection to the Bedford Park Blvd. D station.

From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 2 and Sunday, June 3, downtown C trains run express from 145th Street to Canal Street due to track maintenance south of 59th Street-Columbus Circle on the D line.

For local service between 145th Street and West 4th Street, customers should take the D instead, making all stops during this time.
Customers may transfer between trains at 145th Street, 125th Street, 59th Street-Columbus Circle, 42nd Street-Port Authority, 14th Street or West 4th Street.
For Spring Street, customers may transfer to the E at West 4th or Canal Streets.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 4, there is no downtown D service at 7th Avenue, 47th-50th Sts., 42nd Street-Bryant Park and 34th Street-Herald Square due track maintenance south of 59th Street-Columbus Circle. The D will operate on the C line (as a local) from 145th Street to West 4th Street. D service operates in two sections:

Between Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue and West 4th Street
Between 2nd Avenue F station and 205th Street

From 10 p.m. Friday, June 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 4, Jamaica-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 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, June 3, F service operates in two sections due to replacement of a switch frog south of Avenue X

Between Jamaica-179th Street and Avenue X
Between Avenue X and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue

Note: Manhattan-bound F trains skip Avenue U.

From 6 a.m. Saturday, June 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday, June 3, there are no J trains between Jamaica Center and Crescent Street due to structural steel repair and painting north of Cypress Hills.

Free shuttle buses operate between Crescent Street and Jamaica-Van Wyck, where E trains are available.
J trains operate between Crescent Street and Chambers Street.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 2 and Sunday, June 3, Ditmars Blvd-bound N trains skip 39th Avenue, 36th Avenue, Broadway and 30th Avenue due to rail and switch repairs at Ditmars Blvd.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 4, Manhattan-bound Q trains skip Neck Road and Avenue U due to track panel installation south of Kings Highway.

June 1, 2012 5 comments

Asides East Side Access Project

At least one part of East Side Access ahead of schedule

by Benjamin Kabak June 1, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 1, 2012

Every now and then, an MTA press release tickles my funny bone. Earlier this week, eight days after announcing that the East Side Access project would not open until August of 2019, the authority trumpeted its progress. A part of East Side Access is ahead of schedule! Rejoice!

The news concerned some tunneling. Boring for the third of four East Side Access tunnels wrapped up after just nine weeks — seven weeks earlier than planned. The machine, nicknamed TESS, dug for 2200 feet and installed 441 precast, segmented concrete rings as it excavated 875,169 cubic feet of soft soil. “The completion of this tunnel is another reminder that we continue to make tangible and significant progress on this project every day,” Dr. Michael Horodniceanu, President of MTA Capital Construction, said of a project that still has seven years to go.

At least MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota offered up some measure of perspective on this saga. “Each piece of the project that we bring in ahead of schedule means we can dedicate resources to those parts of the project that most need attention,” he said.

June 1, 2012 10 comments

MTA Construction

At South Ferry, a new station with old problems

by Benjamin Kabak June 1, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 1, 2012

The new South Ferry station is sporting some serious signs of water damage. (Photos via The Tribeca Tribune)

A little over three years ago, the new South Ferry terminal had an inauspicious beginning. Due to some engineering errors, the gap between the train and the platform edge was unacceptably wide, and Transit had to delay the station’s grand opening for months over a matter of inches. This hold-up was a harbinger of things to come.

Over the past few years, we’ve heard of water damage impacting the station and poor water-proofing on behalf of the MTA’s contractors. This week, The Tribeca Tribune checked in on the station, and what it found at the $530 million, supposedly state-of-the-art facility was not promising.

Jessica Terrell had the details:

Opened to great fanfare in 2009, the South Ferry Station cost the MTA $530 million to build, and the agency continues to give special attention to its daily upkeep. On any given day, a half-dozen workers armed with spray bottles and brooms keep the platform and trains pristine. But careful cleaning by MTA crews cannot hide the fact that the subway’s newest station is already showing signs of damage.

Brown sludge drips from the ceiling, congealing in large swaths along otherwise sparkling white walls. In one of the hallways, strips of paint hang where the ceiling has bubbled. Many columns along the platform are missing chunks of tile, and wall tiles along an escalator are cracked or missing altogether.

What most commuters don’t know is that ever since the station opened, the MTA has been trying to fix the leaks that are causing most of South Ferry’s problems. “Addressing the leaks has been an ongoing effort,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in an email to the Trib.

Meanwhile, the MTA and its independent engineering consultant have butted heads over the cause. Jerry Gold, the consultant, said the leaks were a result of shoddy tunneling work discovered before the station opened. By injecting grout behind the walls, this so-called remedial measure simply moved water elsewhere.

The MTA, though, blamed the station’s depths. South Ferry sits near the southern tip of Manhattan and below the water table. “Despite efforts to waterproof the South Ferry structural box during construction by the contractor, we have experienced leaks,” Ortiz said. “To remedy this problem, funding has been secured from the contractor to address the leaks through grouting.”

With money from Schiavone Construction — the contrator who constructed South Ferry and is currently working on Fulton St. — the authority conducted repairs last year, but temporary measures have not been successful. “We’ve done grouting and we need to look at other methods for a more permanent solution,” Ortiz said.

With missing tiles and water damage prevalent, the photos attached to The Tribune’s story are well worth the click-through. The story, though, gives me pause. The MTA is currently building four new subway stations in Manhattan and an overly expensive transit center at Fulton St. Should we expect better construction for our millions and billions or are we doomed to a system forever plagued by the ugliness and decay of water damage?

June 1, 2012 27 comments

Asides View from Underground

Pet Peeve: The public playing of personal music

by Benjamin Kabak May 31, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on May 31, 2012

For those New Yorkers — straphangers and street-walkers alike — boomboxes were once the scourge of New York. Despite nostalgic Times pieces heralding their 1980s impact, the boombox meant music pervaded public space in ways it just shouldn’t. With the advent of the Walkman, personalized music delivered via headphone became the norm, but lately, a new trend has me thinking about the boombox again.

That trend, of course, is a public airing of music. As the Walkman begat the iPod and headphones grew smaller, they also grew leakier. Nowadays, no subway ride is complete without the tinny sounds of someone else’s music filling the air. Today, though, I got to experience the ultimate in subway annoyances. Now that most smartphones have the capacity to play music, people are starting to leave their headphones at home. Using the built-in speaker, selfish riders play their songs into the general atmosphere of the subway. Today, for 30 minutes on my way to work, I got a free listening of some classic Michael Jackson tunes.

Amongst the door-blockers, pole-huggers and leg-spreaders, it’s tough to find someone more disrespectful and more infuriating that the public music player. It shows a certain selfishness and disregard for public spaces that has become a hallmark of the New York City subway over the decades. No one misses that era of the boombox for just that reason, and having it return in the form of a smartphone speaker is an unwelcome development indeed.

May 31, 2012 19 comments

MTA Economics MTA Politics

Paying too much attention to fare-beating dollars

by Benjamin Kabak May 31, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on May 31, 2012

Hand-wringing over subway and bus fare-beaters seems to be one of those annual traditions in New York City. This year, with the City Council pressuring the MTA over its lack of dollars and authority board members seeking to squeeze out as much money as possible from as many sources as possible, those watching the watchers have been ramping up the anti-fare-beating rhetoric.

Recently, The Staten Island Advance has been beating this drum but with numbers pulled seemingly from thin air. They ran an informal poll that found 18.5 percent of bus riders skipping out on the fare and seemed to extrapolate losses of $328 million for the MTA due to such scofflaws. They repeated that figure in an article on the City Council questioning, but then they backtracked in an editorial. Their revised figure is $40 million systemwide which seems in line with the MTA’s public proclamations.

The made-up numbers are nearly besides the point. A Post article seemingly sets the record straight and notes that bus fare beaters cost the MTA around $14 million a year while subway turnstile-jumpers cost another $20 million or so annually. Considering how the MTA could restore all of their 2010 service cuts if they could capture the revenue, it sounds like a considerable sum, but it’s not.

In their 2012 adopted budget, the MTA projects over $3.6 billion in fares from New York City Transit services alone. Even if The Advance’s estimate of $40 million is correct, we are looking at a bleed rate of around 1.11%. Just about any business would kill for such a low rate, but with the MTA, it’s a problem that requires attention and a solution.

So just what solution are New York City politicos suggesting? Spending on more enforcement, of course. “We need additional police on buses to ensure fares are paid,” Council member Debi Rose said to The Advance. “The system is bleeding revenue because of fare-beaters.” She later added more rhetoric: “The system is hemorrhaging and we need to triage the situation and stop the loss of revenue wherever it occurs.”

In an ideal situation, the MTA would have a fare capture rate of 100 percent. And in an ideal world, the Second Ave. Subway would have been completed decades ago. With Council members advocating for more enforcement, we’re in a situation in which a solution is looking for a problem. After all, how much should the MTA or New York City spend to stem the fare-beating tide? Considering the low rates, would spending a dollar on more enforcement lead to a net increase in revenue or would the MTA be spending a dollar to capture a dollar?

It’s easy for politicians to take to their soap boxes in favor of something that sounds good. It’s harder to think through the problem in order to do the right thing. I don’t think fare-beating has a problem, and although I’m not going to advocate for hopping the turnstile, I question the need to spend much more to catch fare beaters. Targeted enforcement along problem bus lines as well as some smarter policies should do the trick just fine.

May 31, 2012 30 comments

Asides MTA Absurdity

Is it ever OK to hop the turnstile?

by Benjamin Kabak May 30, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on May 30, 2012

In terms of gems from the City Council, here is another one, courtesy of The Daily News. Recently, while speaking with reporters, City Council member Robert Jackson told a tale involving his wife and an unstaffed subway entrance. Apparently, the MetroCard Machines at 181st St. weren’t working, and no station agents work at the entrance in question.

Instead of hoofing it to another entrance or seeking out a way to buy a fare, Jackson urged his wife to skip out on the $2.25. “I told her to go under,” Jackson said. “I would have gone under…Whoever goes to buy a MetroCard should be entitled to a free ride if the machines aren’t working, if there’s no token booth clerk there.”

For its part, the MTA was less than impressed with Jackson’s ethics. “Farebeating is a crime,” Adam Lisberg said to The News. “It’s wrong. It’s illegal, and it deprives the MTA of the money it needs to carry you on the subway.”

I want to pose this a different way: Do you ever consider a fare jump acceptable? Personally, I’m never without at least one and usually two MetroCards. I keep my unlimited on hand and have an emergency pay-per-ride back-up just in case. That way, I’m never faced with the possibility that I can’t board a bus or ride the subway. Furthermore, as every station complex has at least one staffed entrance, I also don’t think walking to that entrance with a person or working machines is too onerous. Apparently, though, politicians whose lack of support for the MTA has led to the dismissal of those station agents disagree.

May 30, 2012 40 comments

Queens

A NIMBY response to the unlikely Rockaway Line

by Benjamin Kabak May 30, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on May 30, 2012

A school bus parking lot now occupies a part of the Rockaway Beach Branch right of way.

Over the past few months, reactivating the Rockaway Beach has because the cause célèbre for 2012 amongst rail activists. It’s a long shot that may benefit from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desires to bring a giant casino to the Ozone Park area, but it’s certainly rankling and inspiring Queens residents along the long-dormant right of way.

Recently, I explored how the project’s proponents were making a compelling case for the Rockaway Beach Line. It’s not particularly tough to figure out how reviving a dormant right of way that crosses numerous subway lines and could provide a fast ride to Midtown Manhattan from some rather isolated neighborhoods would benefit the city, but it’s an argument that needs to be heard.

It needs to be heard because elected officials are now the ones parroting NIMBY talking points. Enter Karen Koslowitz, a City Council member from Forest Hills. A few weeks ago, she railed against the rail line at a Community Board meeting. The Times-Ledger was on the scene:

“It will affect the neighborhood in an extremely negative way,” said Koslowitz. “The train will burden residents who have built their homes close to those tracks. We cannot allow another train to come through our neighborhood.”

“It’s an intrusion on private property,” she said.

The Regional Rail Working Group Rockaway Subcommittee, a transit advocacy group, released options for the line in February. The options include a plan that would build two stations at Rego Park and Aqueduct Race Track. The revived railroad line could potentially be used to shuttle passengers from Penn Station to Resorts World Casino and a proposed convention center at Aqueduct in South Ozone Park.

“The city is closing schools and shutting down after-school programs,” Koslowitz said. “I would like to know where the money is coming from to rebuild this railway.” Koslowitz said she plans to fight “tooth and nail” against the reopening of the railway and pledged to “bring it up at Council meetings.”

The Queens Chronicle had a few more choice quotes from Koslowitz. “We will protest, even if I have to lie down. We don’t want this in our community,” she said. “The Rockaways need transportation, but not on our backs. We don’t need another train running through that doesn’t service our area.”

It’s hard to wrap my heard around such patently absurd statements from someone elected to represent a neighborhood on the City Council. How does a New Yorker argue so vehemently against increased rail access? How does a politician not understand that rail is what drives the city and what will determine our economic success and future viability?

Koslowitz’s individual arguments aren’t accurate either. Nothing about reactivating an unused but hardly secret right of way is an intrusion on private property, and while people who foolishly built homes abutting rail road tracks may not like it, better rail access would actually improve the neighborhood in an extremely positive way. Furthermore, many of the homes along the right of way were built before the old Rockaway Beach Branch was deactivated. Koslowitz is treating trains as though it is an invading species intent on ruining her idyllic New York City neighborhood, and her words — “we cannot allow another train through here” — are extremely off-putting and historically inaccurate.

Finally, Koslowitz seems to have no grasp on the funding situation in play. If the MTA is tasked with reopening the Rockaway Beach Branch, the state would fund the construction, likely via some incremental financing scheme arranged with Genting, the planned casino operators. She can fight tooth and nail in the City Council, but when it comes to MTA projects, she’ll be facing quite the uphill battle.

Ultimately, we may all be arguing against nothing. The MTA isn’t exactly prioritizing this reactivation, and silence has enveloped the Genting plan. The state hasn’t shown a willingness to see this through, and only locals are fighting over it. Still, Koslowitz and her words are why we do not have an ambitious plan to improve rail access in New York City. NIMBYs are forever fighting against the transportation that has made New York what it is today.

May 30, 2012 38 comments

Congestion Fee

Event Tonight: Sam Schwartz on Battling Congestion

by Benjamin Kabak May 29, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on May 29, 2012

If you’re looking for an excellent transportation event to attend tonight, check out this this program hosted by The New York Chapter of Young Professionals in Transportation and the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation. It’s a conversation with Sam Schwartz. Details please:

The New York Chapter of Young Professionals in Transportation and the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation invite you to join us for a conversation with former Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz on his vision for battling congestion in the New York region. Schwartz’s plan, which involves reorganizing tolls to generate $15 billion over ten years to fund road, bridge, subway and bus improvements, has been lauded by the media since its release in March 2012. Learn more about the Fair Plan and Schwartz’s career on May 29th.

CEO and Founder of Sam Schwartz Engineering, “Gridlock Sam” is considered a worldwide authority in traffic, highway, bridge, transit and parking systems. Prior to founding the firm in 1995, Schwartz was responsible for transportation engineering, infrastructure, and quality control and planning as Senior Vice President of Hayden Wegman Consulting Engineers, Inc. from 1990 to 1995. At the New York City Department of Transportation, he was responsible for an 8,000-person agency, a $350 million expense budget and a $700 million capital budget. Schwartz is a visiting scholar at the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management and a member of the New York Transportation Journal Editorial Board.

The shindig kicks off at 6 p.m. and runs until around 8 tonight. It’s on the 2nd Floor of the Puck Building at 295 Lafayette Street, easily accessible from the B, D, F, M, N, R and 6 trains. RSVP here if you’re interested.

May 29, 2012 4 comments

Public Transit Policy

On the problem with unfunded federal safety mandates

by Benjamin Kabak May 29, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on May 29, 2012

Over the years, I’ve mentioned the ways in which the federal government overreacts when it comes to rail safety. High-profile train accidents are so few and far between that the feds seem to deem them great failures that require immediate legislative responses. If only our representatives were so attuned to the problems of pedestrian safety.

Anyway, a few years ago, a train accident in California that caused the deaths of 25 passengers set off a flurry of action. Investigators determined that the train operator was texting while driving and failed to stop at a red light. The solution: Require all rail roads to implement Positive Train Control, a costly technology that doesn’t really even exist in a form usable by the most heavily trafficked commuter lines. Amtrak has spent an exorbitant amount of money on it and likely will not meet the federally-mandated 2015 deadline. The MTA is struggling with the unfunded mandate as well, The Post reported.

Jennifer Fermino had more:

A federally mandated safety program that will cost at least $750 million has forced the MTA to put off upgrades that would benefit millions of riders on the LIRR and Metro-North, The Post has learned. The improvements would have eased crowded train cars, reduced delays and increased parking spots, sources said. But instead, the MTA is being forced to spend money on a system called Positive Train Control, which must be installed by 2015. It’s even more outrageous because the agency has already spent $1 billion on safety upgrades that make Metro-North and LIRR the safest commuter railroads in the nation.

Still, to meet the deadline, the MTA has had to defer a host of rider-friendly projects. That includes signal upgrade work on Metro-North’s upper Harlem and Hudson lines, which would allow officials to run more trains in a shorter period of time and reduce delays. It will also defer the addition of electrical substations on the upper Harlem line, which will give officials the juice needed to run longer trains that would ease rider overcrowding. The Long Island Rail Road, meanwhile, has shelved plans to expand and add parking at busy stations…

The MTA’s preliminary estimates for PTC, which allows a computer to reduce a train’s speed in a number of situations, will cost $750 million for both railroads combined. But a recent MTA analysis found the true cost could soar to $1 billion, in part because the technology will have to be specially adapted to suit the nation’s two largest and busiest commuter rail systems. Adding to the cost, much of the software and hardware needed to install PTC in New York — which includes retrofitting 1,200 miles of track and 1,000 rail cars — hasn’t even been developed yet.

With many agencies looking at few options, price tags will be significantly higher than they should be as well. “All the railroads in the Northeast simultaneously are having to do the same thing in a very small industry, so there’s clearly going to be a lack of competition” Metro-North President Howard Permut said last week.

The MTA failed to get a exemption two years ago and will now lobby the FRA for a compliance extension to 2018. No matter the outcome, the authority will have to spend money it doesn’t really have on a technology it doesn’t need. And this is why I grow wary every time the feds start talking about subway safety regulations or rail standards. It’s a hindrance to good oversight and future growth.

May 29, 2012 8 comments

Service Advisories

A long weekend of subway diversions

by Benjamin Kabak May 25, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on May 25, 2012

The long weekend gives the MTA extra hours of work. Some of these end on Tuesday morning so be forewarned. Have a great long weekend.

3
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 26 to 5 a.m. Monday, May 28, 3 service is extended to New Lots Avenue due to platform edge,mechanical and electrical work at Fulton Street and renewal of switches north of Borough Hall. (During the overnight hours, 3 service is express in both directions between Chambers Street and 96th Street.)

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

From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday,May 29, 4 service operates in two sections due to switch repairs at Utica Avenue:

Between Woodlawn and Utica Avenue

Between Utica Avenue and New Lots Avenue, every 24 minutes

4
From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday,May 29, Utica Avenue-bound 4 trains run express from Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center to Utica Avenue due to switch repairs at Utica Avenue.

5
From 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Saturday, May 26 and from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Sunday, May 27, there are no 5 trains between Grand Central-42nd Street and Bowling Green due to platform edge, mechanical and electrical work at Fulton Street and renewal of switches north of Borough Hall. Customers should take the 4 (operating between Woodlawn and Brooklyn Bridge) or R trains instead. 5 trains run every 20 minutes between Dyre Avenue and Grand Central-42nd Street.

For service between Grand Central-42nd Street and Brooklyn Bridge,customers may take the 4.

For service between Brooklyn Bridge and Bowling Green,customers may use the nearby Cortlandt Street,Rector Street and Whitehall Street R stations.

7
From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday,May 27 and Monday, May 28, 7 service operates in two sections due to switch repairs north of Flushing-Main Street and running rail replacement north of Mets-Willets Point:

Between Times Square-42nd Street and Mets-Willets Point

Between Mets-Willets Point and Main Street

C
From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, May 26, Sunday,May 27 and Monday May 28, uptown C trains run express from Canal Street to 145th Street due to cable work north of 47th -50th Streets on the D line.

For Spring Street take the E instead. Transfer between trains at Canal Street or West 4th Street.

For service to local stations between West 4 th Street and 145 th Street,take the D instead,making local stops on the C line during this time.

D
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 26 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, May 29,there is no Bronx-bound D service at 34th Street-Herald Square, 42nd Street-Bryant Park, 47th -50th Streets and 7th Avenue due to electrical work north of West 4th Street and cable work north of 47th -50th Sts. The D will operate on the C line (as a local) from West 4th to 145th Sts.

To 34th Street-Herald Square, 42nd Street-Bryant Park and 47th -50th Sts,transfer to the Queens-bound F at West 4th Street

To 7 th Avenue,take the D to 42nd Street-Port Authority and transfer to a Queens-bound E.

F
From 10 p.m. Friday, May 25 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, May 29, Jamaica-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.

J
From 4 a.m. Saturday, May 26 to 10 p.m. Monday, May 28, Manhattan-bound J trains skip Flushing Avenue, Lorimer Street and Hewes Street due to track panel work on the M line tracks.

M
From 4 a.m. Saturday, May 26 to 10 p.m. Monday, May 28, M service is suspended due to track panel work at Wyckoff, Knickerbocker and Central Avenues. Free shuttle buses operate between Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue,making all station stops.

Q
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, May 25 to 5 a.m. Tuesday, May 29, Manhattan-bound Q trains skip Neck Road and Avenue U due to track panel installation south of Kings Highway.

May 25, 2012 0 comment

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