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AsidesPenn Station

City Planning Commission grants MSG another 15 years

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 22, 2013

It’s looking more and more likely that Madison Square Garden will receive a 15-year occupancy permit from the city with strict instructions to reach a compromise on the Penn Station problem. In a unanimous vote today, the City Planning Commission supported the 15-year permit with a small loophole and strict conditions to improve Penn Station or relocate the arena. Of course, future administrations could see fit in 15 years to further extend the permit, and the City Council still has to validate today’s vote. But for now, there is a groundswell of political support behind the move to address Penn Station’s capacity constraints.

During the CPC’s proceedings today, commission chair Amanda Burden spoke about her desired course of action. “I don’t think anyone would disagree that the best outcome for New York City would be a relocated Madison Square Garden and a rebuilt Penn Station,” she said. I, for one, do disagree. The best outcome would involve keeping MSG where it is and improving and reconstructing Penn Station for increased transit operations. Still, I won’t quibble with the vote.

Meanwhile, somehow, supports and opponents of the limited permit expressed disappointment. MSG wanted an unlimited right to use the space while the Municipal Arts Society wanted to force the issue in 10 years rather than 15. MAS also warned against a special provision that could allow MSG to stay put if it can reach an agreement, not subject to public review, with Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit for Penn Station improvements. The City Council will take up the issue within the next two months.

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AsidesService Advisories

Reminder: FASTRACK on the IRT’s Lexington Ave. Express

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 21, 2013

Due to some pretty seamless site maintenance last night, I didn’t have a chance to post about the FASTRACK treatment for the week, but as far as service changes go, it’s pretty harmless. In fact, it’s barely a change in regular service patterns. Beginning at 10 p.m. and running until 5 a.m. for the next two nights, 4 and 6 trains will run local in Manhattan while 5 train service into Manhattan will end early. The 5 will still run in the Bronx.

Basically, this FASTRACK moves up the regular weeknight service patterns by about an hour or so and will have a small impact on commute times. It’s barely a bump in the road. The next overnight closure will be during the first full week of June on the Queens Boulevard lines between either 5th Avenue-53rd Street or 21st Street-Queensbridge and Roosevelt Avenue.

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AsidesMetro-North

Some Metro-North, Amtrak service to resume today

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 21, 2013

While the MTA continues to say that Wednesday service will be normal, some limited Metro-North and Amtrak service will resume today through the track in Connecticut damaged by Friday’s derailment/collision. With one of the two tracks now in service, the 3:07 p.m. from Grand Central will ride through to New Haven, and the 4:23 p.m. from New Haven will operate to Grand Central. The MTA plans to run half of the regular eastbound peak service this evening and hourly westbound service.

“We recognize the critical importance of both Metro-North Railroad and Amtrak to the regional economy,” said Metro-North President Howard Permut. “Although reconstruction and testing of the second track will not be completed until late tonight, enough work has been completed to allow us to operate this limited service in advance of resuming our regular schedule on Wednesday.”

Trains will pass through the area at just 30 miles per hour, and for seven miles around Bridgeport, Connecticut, trains will be single-tracked. Metro-North is warning its customers to expect delays. Amtrak, meanwhile, will run an Acela leaving Boston at 3:15 p.m. and an Acela departing New York at 4 p.m. Service along with the Northeast Corridor will run as scheduled after those two trains.

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AsidesMetro-North

Metro-North ‘confident’ Wednesday service will be normal

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 20, 2013

As repair continues along the 2000-foot section of track damaged by Friday’s derailment and collision, Metro-North officials said today that they anticipate restoring full peak service in time for Wednesday morning’s commute. “We are confident that the reconstruction work, inspection and testing will be completed in time for a normal rush hour on Wednesday,” Metro-North President Howard Permut said in a statement. The shuttle bus/train combination in place on Monday will last through the day on Tuesday.

The MTA, meanwhile, reported that 750 people took the train/bus combo from Bridgeport to Stamford. That figure represents that 20 percent of the usual a.m. peak ridership at New Haven, Milford and Stratford. But overall peak ridership declined by just 20 percent on Monday as Connecticut travelers drove to nearby stations to catch their trains. The Harlem Line saw a bump in ridership by around six percent over a typical Monday.

Despite Metro-North’s good news, Amtrak has yet to announce restoration of service along the Northeast Corridor from Boston to New York. I’ll have more as news breaks.

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AsidesMTA Absurdity

SI Council member highlights the 44-inch problem

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 20, 2013

As part of the MTA’s effort at making travel easier for parents with small children, kids 44 inches tall and under may ride the subways and buses for free when accompanied by an adult, but this rule has some strange consequences. The problem, as one Staten Island Council member recently noted, is that height isn’t consistent across ages. As growth charts show, some kids may reach 44 inches at 4 while others may not get there until almost 7 years of age.

Debi Rose wants the MTA to address this problem by moving toward an age-based solution. Based on the 50th percentile on the height charts, children five and under can ride for free. “Due to healthy eating and diet, and the fact that some families are just predisposed towards height — towards tallness — they are being charged the full fare for children who look like they’re older than 5, but in essence are not,” Rose said to the Staten Island Advance.

Of course, age is just as challenging to enforce as a height limit. Kids taller than 44 inches frequently pop under the turnstiles, often at the urging of their parents, and there’s no real way for a bus driver to ascertain a child’s age. Still, for those that embrace the honor system, an age limit seems more reasonable than a height limit, no?

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AsidesMetro-North

At least 60 injured in Metro-North derailment/collision accident in Connecticut

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 17, 2013

In the first major accident in 25 years, two Metro-North trains collided on the tracks in Connecticut. The two trains crashed at around 6 p.m. on Friday evening, and although 60 people were injured, no deaths have been reported yet. Service on Metro-North has been suspended between South Norwalk and New Haven, and Amtrak trains are not running between New York and Boston.

According to a statement just released by the MTA, the 4:41 p.m. from Grand Central New Haven derailed near the I-95 overpass in Bridgeport, and the 5:30 from New Haven struck the derailed train. As yet, no official cause of the derailment has been ascertained, and investigations are ongoing. A few minutes ago, the National Transportation Safety Board announced via Twitter a Go-Team to head up its investigation, and MTA Police, local police, Connecticut Office of Emergency Management, the Federal Railroad Administration and the FBI are on the scene as well.

To make matters worse, although this is an area with four tracks, two of the tracks are out of service for catenary work, and the remaining two tracks were badly damaged by the collisions. The trains cannot be moved until the on-scene investigation is over, and normal service will not resume until the infrastructure has been repaired. It may yet be a while, and I’ll have more as the story unfolds.

N.B. If you’re looking for the weekend service advisories, scroll down or click here.

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AsidesNew Jersey Transit

The Record on its effort to find what NJ Transit is hiding

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 14, 2013

In my review of WNYC’s reporting on NJ Transit’s response to Sandy, I noted how the transit agency had offered up four redacted pages as an overview of their storm preparedness efforts but neglected to mention the ramifications of the document. The WNYC report was but one half of a two-headed effort with The Record of Bergen County to tackle the story, and Karen Rouse has details on the dispute over the document in her piece in the paper.

According to her reporting, New Jersey Transit refuses to share the four-page document and hundreds of emails due to safety concerns. “Recent events including the uncovering of an al-Qaida-led ­terrorist plot targeting rail service reinforces why NJ Transit will not disclose sensitive information |that could potentially undermine the security of our transit infrastructure, our customers or our employees,” John Durso Jr., a spokesman for NJ Transit, said to The Record.

The Record has filed suit over the redacted and omitted documents, and they are essentially requesting what I said should be requested of NJ Transit. As Rouse writes, they asked for “details about whether NJ Transit had identified locations in its statewide rail network that were at risk for flooding prior to Sandy; whether rail crews were on duty and prepared for Sandy prior to its surge making landfall; and if NJ Transit police officers assigned to its Office of Emergency Management were trained in reading weather forecast data.” The MTA, also vulnerable to terrorist threats, could provide this information readily; New Jersey Transit opted not to. What are they hiding?

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AsidesSubway Security

Link: The anxiety of a subway groping attack

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 13, 2013

As part of its ongoing look at anxiety and the way we live, The New York Times has published a piece by Kimberly Matus about being a subway groping victim, and it is a must-read for New Yorkers. While the focus on underground crime tends to coalesce around reported thefts of electronics and handheld devices, groping is a far bigger concern for many law enforcement officials as these crimes are rampant and often go unreported.

Matus, in her piece, discusses her experiences on a very crowded train, how undercover officers spotted the groping and were able to arrest the perp and how the incident left her fearful of future subway rides. It’s not always as clean and simple as that. From those who flash women in the subways to lewd comments to inappropriate touching, this behavior is rampant and unacceptable. It can lead to concerns over personal safety and fears over riding the subway. Absent an aggressive targeted campaign of enforcement efforts, the subways remain a hotbed for these types of sexual assaults. [The New York Times]

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AsidesView from Underground

Gearing up for another battle in the War on Rats

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 10, 2013

As the MTA attempts to limit the subway’s rat population through birth control, the agency is also working on some decidedly less scientific efforts to control rodents. As officials explained to City Council members yesterday, crews will begin sealing off garbage rooms later this summer. The work will include, according to the Daily News’ report, replacing doors, blocking gaps and plugging “other avenues of entry.”

City Council members — who have a seeming inability to focus on big-picture transit issues while dwelling for months on minor issues — were happy to hear it. “I’m pleased,” Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca said. “I have seen rats dancing on the subway platform. There’s nothing more disgusting.”

I’m much less optimistic. Unless these rooms are hermetically sealed, rats will find away to food, and while sealing off some points of entry will push the rats to use common routes, it won’t eliminate the problem. Banning eating while underground would help, but otherwise, rats are here to stay no matter how many times Vacca and his brethren try to wish them away.

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AsidesView from Underground

Report: Homeless subway residents jumped 13% in 2013

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on May 9, 2013

Even as the city announced a significant decline in the number of homeless New Yorkers living on the street this year, the total living in the subways jumped by 13 percent, NYC’s Department of Homeless Services announced today. According to their annual HOPE survey results, the number of homeless who take up residence in the subway has hit 1841 this year, up 207 over 2012 and more than double the total found in 2005.

As part of the report, the MTA and City announced a new approach toward combating homelessness in the subways. DHS will now be in charge of outreach on all trains, stations and terminals while the MTA will focus on commuter rail properties, including Penn Station and Grand Central. The two agencies hope this approach will lead to better data sharing and more comprehensive outreach.

“The MTA and the Department of Homeless Services’ effective partnership will deliver enhanced outreach services to individuals in every area of the subways,” said Cynthia Wilson, manager of MTA Homeless Outreach Services. “By vastly increasing resources for homeless persons in the subways, we will bring greater services and develop more relationships to advance our goal of placing homeless individuals into housing and improving their lives.”

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