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MTA Economics

NY Senate, under GOP control, aims for payroll tax

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 6, 2010

The future is not looking bright for the MTA’s balance sheet. Facing the spectre of looming raids on its supposedly dedicated funding, the state Department of Taxation and Finance confirmed that they did indeed overestimate the payroll tax revenues. While the MTA has long since adjusted its budget projections to align with state totals, the payroll tax is increasingly coming under fire.

This development, first reported in February, drives home the need for a better and more reliable source of revenue for the MTA. Tom Namako at The Post reports:

The latest jostle for commuters is that the wide-ranging “bailout” package of fees and taxes approved in 2009 is coming in about $400 million short of projections that were established earlier this year, statistics show. The controversial business tax — which hits all business owners in the MTA region with a 34-cent levy for every $100 of payroll — appears to be $321 million under expectations, MTA data show. Overall, it will bring in about $1.34 billion instead of the $1.66 billion that bean counters projected.

And the “MTA aid” levies — like a 50-cent surcharge on every yellow-cab ride along with car-rental, garage-parking and license fees — are under projections by $60 million, the numbers show.

“The riders have done their part with service cuts and fare hikes, but motorists aren’t doing their part,” fumed Andrew Albert, an MTA board member. He added that the bailout bill “is not a good package” and that city’s free bridges should be tolled to help finance mass transit.

A state Division of Budget spokesman confirmed that the MTA had already been prepared for this shortfall. “The $320 million drop reflects current projections for 2010 against what the MTA had in its February plan,” said Erik Kriss said. “The MTA’s February plan numbers are based on the payroll projections the state made in December 2009.”

Meanwhile, as Republicans have reclaimed the New York State Senate, Newsday brings us some alarming news: Because so many Republicans campaigned on anti-payroll tax platforms, the GOP members in the Senate will try to repeal the tax. “It’s such an infamous, self-explanatory tax that is has to be addressed,” Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City) said to Newsday. “Will [the Assembly and Gov. Cuomo] go along with it? I’m not sure they know what they’ll go along with.”

It’s basically impossible for the state to overturn the payroll tax because of the massive crisis it will create. If the state were to revoke $1.3 billion in MTA financing, the authority and our transit system would simply collapse. Until Republicans propose a better way to generate this revenue, their attempts to overturn the tax cannot be supported. Albert’s proposal won’t be popular amongst drivers, but it’s high time for a renewed attempt to toll the East River bridges.

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Second Avenue Subway

On the importance of station spacing

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 6, 2010

Station distances along Second Ave. doesn't bring the subway closer to certain areas. (Click to enlarge the map)

One of the key considerations in planning a subway — or bus — line focuses around distances between two stations. Planners want to space stations far enough apart to allow trains to build up considerable speed underground, but they also want to place stations close enough together to provide comprehensive coverage to previously underserved neighborhoods. As the city builds out the Second Ave. Subway, the MTA has a chance to improve subway coverage through station spacing.

Along Second Ave., a few key cross streets are missing their subway stops, but much of the empty space is covered through proper station construction. For instance, 79th St., a major crosstown street, won’t enjoy a subway station, but the exits and entrances at East 86th and 72nd Streets should make up for it. The south end of 86th St. will deposit people between 83rd and 84th Sts. while the north end of 72nd St. will leave them near 73rd St.

The problems arise elsewhere down the line. After 72nd St., the next stop on the theoretical T train would be at 55th St. and 2nd Ave. while the Q will stop at 63rd St. and Lexington. The seventeen blocks between local stations would be a system-wide high. Along the Q, Transit plans to construct a station entrace at 3rd Ave. and 63rd St., but those trying to reach the East River area with its numerous hospitals will have considerable walks.

On the Lower East Side, the same problem arises. After 14th St. and 2nd Ave., the T won’t stop again until Houston St. and 2nd Ave., a span of 14 blocks. Along other lines that stop at Houston St., the 6 next stops at Astor Place and then Union Square while the 1 stops at Christopher St. and then 14th St. The 14-block gap makes the T a semi-express along 2nd Ave.

Here, the real losers are those who live in Alphabet City. Currently, for someone who lives at, say, Ave. C and East 7th St., the nearest subway is the 6 at Astor Place, a walk of around 0.8 miles. The subway stop at 2nd Ave. and 14th St. will be a 0.9-mile walk from Ave. C and East 7th St. It won’t be any more or less convenient to have the Second Ave. Subway. In fact, for an area that once would have enjoyed a cup-handle extension of the Second Ave. Subway, the SAS will have profoundly little impact on a transit-starved area.

An idealized street grid leads to a diamond-shaped coverage area. (Via Human Transit)

What then is the proper distance for station spacing? Jarrett Walker at Human Transit tackled this topic back in November. Playing off of the news that San Francisco’s Muni is looking to improve both bus and subway travel times, Walker proposed an ideal solution for station spacing. The object, he says, is to minimize the overlap area while maximizing the coverage area.

For rapid transit stops, Walker proposes a distance of 1000 m between stops — or approximately 0.6 miles. That would correspond nicely to the 14-block distance between stations in the East Village, but it doesn’t solve the problem of Alphabet City. They are far away from the subway and will still be far away from the subway even when a new subway line opens. That doesn’t quite solve the city’s transit problems.

Ultimately, station spacing is less important for subway stations than for bus stops, and Walker is rightly critical of the American approach to bus stops. In Brooklyn where I live, the local routes stop every two blocks or around 500 feet. Buses are slowed by the need to stop constantly, and most healthy riders would choose to walk instead of ride.

For now though, we can see transit spacing in action along Second Ave. By and large, the distances are appropriate, but Walker ends on an intriguing question: “If you had two parallel transit lines, how might the stop locations on one of them affect the logical locations of stops on the other? And what’s the furthest apart that the lines can be (in terms of multiples of the maximum walking distance) for this consideration to matter?”

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PANYNJ

NY, NJ spar over Tappan Zee funding plan

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 5, 2010

The two final proposed replacements for the Tappan Zee Bridge.

New York State has put forward an ambitious $16-billion plan to replace the Tappan Zee with a multi-modal bridge. The new structure will feature rail and bus lanes and will improve transportation in between northern New Jersey, upstate New York and the metropolitan region. The state, however, has not allocated funding for the project in its next five-year capital plan, and Gov. David Paterson, in the waning days of his time in Albany, is searching for a funding solution.

To that end, Paterson floated the idea of folding the Tappan Zee into the Port Authority. The newly-rich PA could spend some of its ARC allocation on the bridge replacement, and New York and New Jersey would split the toll proceeds. Even though the bridge does not go into New Jersey and advocates feared it would be, in the words of the RPA’s Neysa Pranger, “a tough sell,” Paterson’s people believed that the bridge’s importance to the region would be a compelling enough reason to move forward.

“The ball’s in their court right now. But if they’re ready, I’m ready,” Paterson said of New Jersey. “And if they’d like to do it with the next governor, that’s fine, too.”

And guess what Gov. Chris Christie said? Well, he said no no no. “I can’t make this any clearer to New York than this: Stop screwing with us, OK?” he said. “You’re not going to come and pick our pockets. New Jersey’s not going to permit it anymore.”

He went on: “Gov. Rockefeller, may he rest in peace, decided that he wanted to keep all that money to himself. Well you want to keep all the money to yourself? Then you pay for the repairs by yourself. Unlike the George Washington Bridge, unlike the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, where we share the toll revenue and we share the cost of maintenance — like the airports.”

Christie appears to be ignoring the part of Paterson’s proposal where New Jersey gets to keep the toll money, but it’s not a surprise that he shot this idea down. What is surprising is his reaction. It’s tough to find anyone who thinks New York is “screwing” with New Jersey or picking the state’s pockets. New York provides jobs for workers in the region who take home their earnings to spend in New Jersey. We don’t capture revenue through a commuter tax any longer, and we’ve put up with increased congestion due to the influx of cars from across the Hudson River.

At some point, New Jersey and New York are going to have to work together to solve the transportation problem. If Christie and Paterson can’t, maybe Christie and Cuomo can. If not, we’ll just have to wait out these obstinate politicians. The traffic and transportation problems will remain long after Christie out of office.

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AsidesBrooklynQueens

Queens, Brooklyn to enjoy long-awaited subway connections

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 4, 2010

As far as minor subway construction projects go, none generate more interest among riders than the long-awaited transfer between the 7 at Court House Square and G at Court Square. The project was supposed to be completed in early 2010, and it has stretched ever onward. Today, though, NY1’s John Mancini brings word that the connection will finally open in February. Riders will now have an in-system transfer between the E, M, G and 7 and will no longer have to cross Jackson Ave. or pay two fares.

Meanwhile, Mancini tells us that another new subway connection — the pedestrian tunnel between Jay St. and Lawrence St. in Downtown Brooklyn — will open on December 10, ahead of schedule. This new transfer point between the A/C/F and R trains is part of a $108 million rehab of the Lawrence St.-MetroTech and Jay St.-Borough Hall Stations. When the project is completed, the new station complex will be called Jay St.-MetroTech. For a video on the new transfer point, check out this July post. Now if only Transit would connect the L and 3 trains at Junius and Livonia.

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Service Advisories

Wrapping up the week, previewing the weekend

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 3, 2010

As the week draws to a close, I wanted to take the opportunity to once again plug my Jay Walder interview. You can find the various pieces here:

As Friday evening dawns, New Yorkers can look forward to a rare weekend of few service changes. In fact, Transit has increased service beginning this weekend and extending through December 19. That’s a nice holiday present for harried commuters and weekend travelers.

Still, there are a handful of changes, and they are below. As always, these come to me from New York City Transit and are subject to change without notice. Check signs in your local station and listen to on-board announcements. Subway Weekender has the map, and the Nostalgia Train runs on Sunday.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, December 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, December 5, uptown trains operate express from East 180th Street to Gun Hill Road, skipping Bronx Park East, Pelham Parkway, Allerton Avenue and Burke Avenue stations due to track panel and tie installation north of Allerton Avenue. For service to these stations, customers may take the uptown 2 to Gun Hill Road and transfer to a downtown 2.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, December 4 to 11 p.m. Sunday, December 5, Flushing-bound 7 trains skip 82nd, 90th, 103rd, and 111th Streets due to switch renewal work at 111th Street. Customers traveling to these stations may take a Flushing-bound 7 to Junction Blvd. or Mets-Willets Point and transfer to a Manhattan-bound 7.


From 10:30 p.m. Friday, December 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 6, free shuttle buses replace A train service between Far Rockaway and Beach 98th Street due to station rehabilitations. A trains replace the S shuttle train between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park.


From 11 p.m. Friday, December 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 6, D trains run local between DeKalb Avenue and 36th Street, Brooklyn due to switch renewal north of Pacific Street and track work south of DeKalb Avenue.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, December 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, December 5, J trains run every 20 minutes between Jamaica Center and 111th Street due to work at the fan plant north of 121st Street. The last stop for some Jamaica Center-bound J trains is 111th Street.


From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Saturday, December 4, Sunday, December 5 and Monday, December 6, Manhattan-bound N trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from DeKalb Avenue to Canal Street due to Lawrence Street station rehabilitation. (No Manhattan-bound trains at Lawrence Street, Court Street, Whitehall Street, Rector Street, Cortlandt Street or City Hall. Customers may take the 4 train at nearby stations.)


From 11 p.m. Friday, December 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 6, N trains run local between DeKalb Avenue and 59th Street, Brooklyn due to switch work north of Pacific Street and track work south of DeKalb Avenue.

(Franklin Avenue Shuttle)
From 7 a.m. Saturday, December 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, December 5, free shuttle buses replace the Franklin Avenue Shuttle between Franklin Avenue and Prospect Park, making all station stops. This is due to ground work on the track bed.

(Rockaway Park Shuttle)
From 10:30 p.m. Friday, December 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 6, A trains replace the Rockaway Park Shuttle (S) between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park due to station rehabilitations. Free shuttle buses replace A trains between Far Rockaway and Beach 98th Street.

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View from Underground

Video of the Day: A platform glides by

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 3, 2010

Via Sarah Kaufman on Twitter comes this mesmerizing video. Shot on high-speed aboard a train at Bath Spa in Britain, this video captures the essence of a platform as a train slides by. The train was moving at around 35 miles per hour as the video was shot, and the people are frozen in time, watching and waiting to begin their commutes. For more on the video, check out the videographer’s explanation. I’d love to see this reproduced on board a New York City subway car. Imagine the looks on people’s faces as a 2 train slides into Times Square.

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Subway Security

Covertly terror-proofing subway tunnels

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 3, 2010

While you were sleeping, the MTA has terror-proofed its subway tunnels and bridges, according to a report in The Post. Transit reporter Tom Namako spills the beans on a $250-million plan to shore up the ten subway tunnels that pass under the East River.

Since 2004, agency contractors have been lining subway tubes — especially the 10 that run under the East River — with high-impact-bearing metal that would prevent collapse or massive flooding in the case of a terrorist attack, multiple sources said. And in the more shallow tunnels that aren’t fully dug into rock, like the F line that connects 63rd Street to Roosevelt Island, workers dropped massive slabs of rock and concrete on the riverbed to prevent disaster, the sources said.

The MTA’s security makeover isn’t limited to tunnels. The agency’s seven bridges are being “hardened” with plates and “collars” on cables that can resist a blast, sources said. The agency originally planned to use a lightweight, blast-resistant material to ring the tunnels — but sources said that various types of materials have been used.

One of more complicated tasks was determining which parts of the aged tunnels were bored deep into rock and which parts come close to the surface. “That presents several issues. With some tunnels, there’s a point where they come out to the surface and there’s different vulnerability there than with tunnels in bedrock,” one source said.

The work, was deemed 93 percent completed in January, has come in at $22 million over budget. “A lot has been done in regards to hardening, and that work continues to move forward,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said to The Post.

Namako’s report follows an earlier revelation that the Port Authority has spent $600 million to to ring PATH tunnels in steel. Reported The Post, “Defense contractors — toiling in the cloak of darkness — are installing reinforced metal plates along the interior walls of the tunnels, and massive flood-prevention gates are being erected at either end of the two main lines that run from the World Trade Center and the West Village to Jersey City, sources said. The flood gates are designed to close off one or more tubes should water come surging in. That would protect other parts of the PATH system and its riders, which number about 250,000 a day.”

The PATH project, funded in part by the Department of Homeland Security and some stimulus dollars, carries a higher price tag than the MTA’s own security initiatives, but it has come in at nearly $300 million under budget. “The safety of our customers is the Port Authority’s highest priority, which is why we have spent over $5 billion since 9/11 upgrading the security systems at our facilities,” PATH COO Ernesto Butcher said. “Hardening our PATH rail tunnels is one example of that effort.”

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MTA

Some thoughts on the direction of the MTA

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 3, 2010

Jay Walder is the center of attention during an April ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Benjamin Kabak/Second Ave. Sagas)

Now that I’ve had an opportunity to run my complete interview with MTA CEO and Chair Jay Walder, I wanted to wrap up the series with my thoughts on the leadership at the MTA. The authority, routinely under fire by straphangers, politicians and everyone in between, has faced some rocky times, and the next legislative session could, as Streetsblog’s Noah Kazis detailed today, lead to more reappropriated and stolen transit funds. It’s not been an easy few years for the MTA.

Yet, despite tough economic times, the agency is currently growing its transit network. Within the next six to eight years, we’ll see part of a new subway line open along Second Ave. We’ll see Long Island Rail Road service into and out of Grand Central. We’ll see the 7 line reach the Far West Side and the Javits Center.

Beyond the expansion of service, we’ve also seen new customer-focused initiatives. Countdown clocks now tell riders exactly how long they must wait for trains, and commutes are less stressful because of it. A better website delivers real-time information about bus locations and service outages. New York City Transit even has its own Twitter account to amuse and inform its 10,000 followers. This is an MTA that has, sometimes kicking and screaming, entered a better era.

That isn’t to say that the authority is problem-free. As funds are tight, services have been eliminated even as capital spending is steady. We lost the V and W trains earlier this year and saw countless bus lines eliminated. We wait longer for off-hours trains and suffer through dirtier platforms that are in desperate need of rehab and renovation. For all of this, we’re getting a fare hike in four weeks. To make matters worse, even the major capital projects are hundreds of millions — if not billions — of dollars overbudget and years behind schedule.

All of which leads to two questions: How has Jay Walder performed as the first leader to act as both Chair and CEO of the MTA? Is he the right person for the job?

By and large, Walder has worked well with what he has, and what he has is not much. Walder came back from London with the promise of a fully funded MTA and a request or even a mandate to modernize the system. Only half of that vision has come to fruition, and his tenure is very much a work in progress. He is still, for instance, amidst an effort to overhaul and discard the MetroCard.

What drives many of Walder’s recent initiatives, even as service is scaled back and fares go up, is the need to, as he puts, make every dollar count. It’s important to replace the MetroCard with something more efficient because those are easy cost savings. By improving fare collection by just a few cents on the dollar, the MTA can generate upwards of a $100 million in added revenue every year. It shouldn’t take an economic crisis to address such an easily solvable problem, but change does not come easy to the MTA’s bureaucracy.

Where Walder has fallen short has been with labor. Right now, labor relations between the MTA and its workers are at a low point. The authority begrudgingly assented to an arbitration award for the TWU that required 11 percent in raises over three years, and Walder has overseen a drastic reduction in the number of personnel staffing stations. Even as modern technology can create a safer environment than a lone agent in his or her station, the appearance of a person can be a strong deterrent.

Soon the labor battle will rear its head again as the TWU’s contract comes due after 2011. Management at the MTA is expected to take a tough stance. It is there goal to maintain the labor spending levels, and that either means far fewer employees or no raises. No matter which path the authority chooses, Walder will have to convince a reluctant union to sacrifice, and if he cannot do that, then costs will continue to climb and climb and climb. Making friends with the workers will be of paramount importance.

Today, we know Walder, as we knew his predecessor Lee Sander, as a politically responsible choice to head a transit agency. His expertise lies in running a transit system and not in operating a real estate empire. He’s learned a lot during his first 14 months on the job, and he’ll be the first to tell you that. As we near the reign of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Walder’s job could be in danger, but if Cuomo were an astute politician, he would keep Walder on. Flaws and all, he’s one of the stronger allies the MTA has right now.

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ARC TunnelAsides

Nearly one-third of ARC money heading to roads

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 2, 2010

When Gov. Chris Christie canceled the ARC Tunnel over what he said were cost overrun concerns, many transit advocates believed he had an ulterior motive for canceling the project. Today, we learn that the conspiracy theories just might be true. As Bloomberg News’ Dustan McNichol reported, New Jersey will take $1.25 billion in money originally intended for the ARC Tunnel and use it on roads instead.

On the one hand, this development isn’t as outrageous as it could be. The $1.25 billion is coming from bonds issued by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, and had ARC gone forward, this bond issue would have been one of the few in which highway funds were bonded for rail projects. “Historically, only turnpike projects have been funded with turnpike tolls,” Martin Robins of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center said. “[ARC] was one of a few exceptions to the rule — by far the largest exception.”

On the other, well, investing in roads — and in particular, road expansion plans — without adding rail capacity will hinder the New York/New Jersey region. By improving and widening roads, New Jersey will be encouraging more cars to hit the roads, and as these cars head to the region’s center of commerce, congestion under the Hudson River will continue to gross worse. Sustainability and economic efficiency will take a significant hit. It’s true that the ARC Tunnel had design flaws, but spending on roads without increasing rail capacity will be disastrous for the region.

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AsidesBuses

For Long Island Bus, a one-year reprieve?

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 2, 2010

As Nassau County and the MTA continue their standoff over the funding future of Long Island Bus, the authority has made a peace offering. As Newsday reports today, the MTA has offered to run Long Island Bus through 2011 as long as Nassau County works to up its funding contributions. The MTA also wants Nassau County to that it is “solely responsible for funding its bus system, that it increase its subsidy in 2011, and that it meet its obligation to fully fund LI Bus during Mangano’s current term in office.”

The funding subsides have, of course, been at the heart of this dispute. While Nassau County owns the Long Island Bus system, it contributes just $9 million to its operating costs, and the MTA has to dole out over $25 million to cover the difference. Nassau County has, reports Alfonso Castillo, volunteered to raise its subsidy by $5 million beginning in 2012, but the MTA wants the county to fulfill its terms of the deal and fully fund the system. County leaders, no longer calling for Jay Walder’s resignation, said only that they “are continuing our discussions with the MTA as well as exploring a public-private partnership.”

Ultimately, the MTA won’t cut off Long Island Bus service. It has to give 60 days’ notice if it does, and the authority is working to maintain service levels. Will Nassau County take responsibility for a bus system will a daily weekday ridership of over 100,000? They should.

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