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AsidesService Advisories

It’s official: Montague St. Tunnel R train service to resume tomorrow

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 20, 2012

Reports surfaced on Monday that the R train would make its triumphant return to the Montague St. Tunnel by the end of the week, and what d’ya know? Dreams do come true. R train service between Brooklyn and Manhattan will return in time for Friday’s morning rush hour, Governor Cuomo announced this afternoon. Citing “more than a month of around-the-clock work” in the tunnel, Cuomo trumped the post-Sandy restoration of this vital subway link.

“For the past several weeks the Lexington Avenue Line has been overburdened. Staten Islanders have been forced to find alternate routes to midtown and subway customers from Bay Ridge have endured longer trips and transfers,” he said in a statement. “The return of the full length R route is an enormous achievement that will take some of the pressure off of the 65,000 commuters who use this line every day.”

According to the Governor’s office and MTA officials, crews had to pump 27 million gallons of water and remove significant amounts of debris from the tunnel. The electrical and signal systems were rebuilt from scratch, and pump rooms and fan plants were heavily damaged. Despite tomorrow’s restoration of service, the MTA has warned that temporary service suspensions are likely to continue as workers make permanent repairs. Still, tomorrow is a good day for the connection between Downtown Brooklyn and City Hall. Joe Lhota can only dream his path is that easy.

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AsidesMTA

On an interim basis, Ferrer to succeed Lhota

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 19, 2012

Joe Lhota confirmed today what we already knew but with a twist: As of December 31, and not this Friday, as originally reported, he will be stepping down from his post atop the MTA in order to assess a run for mayor. Lhota began at the MTA on November 14, 2011 and was officially confirmed as Chair on January 9, 2012, making his tenure just 357 days long.

Succeeding Lhota as MTA Chairman will be Fernando Ferrer. The one-time Bronx Borough President and failed mayoral candidate has a whopping 18 months of experience with the MTA Board, but he won’t be responsible for day-to-day operations. That duty will fall to Tom Prendergast, current NYC Transit president who will assume the mantle of Executive Director as Gov. Cuomo looks to fill the MTA vacancy. The Governor, by the way, has yet to say much of anything about Lhota’s departure.

Ferrer offered up a perfunctory statement to the press. “The MTA continues to face serious fiscal challenges, but I am pleased by the progress we have been able to achieve in cost containment and service improvements, as well as the swift restoration of service after Superstorm Sandy,” Ferrer said. “The MTA is blessed with a dedicated Board and skilled and loyal staff at every level. I look forward to working with management to continue to strengthen and improve the system that is so essential to the region’s daily life and economic vitality.” And don’t forget: Fares will go up in March no matter who’s in charge.

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AsidesFare Hikes

Officially Coming March 1: $2.50 base fare, $112 monthly cards

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 19, 2012

It’s been two years since the last MTA fare hike, but the holiday is over. In a unanimous vote this morning, the MTA Board has approved a fare hike bringing the base fare of a subway ride up to $2.50 and the cost of a 30-day unlimited card to $112. Originally scheduled for January 1, the fare hike will instead go into effect on March 1 due to some favorable MTA financial returns from mid-2012.

The details of the fare hike remain as I reported them last Thursday. In addition to the base fare and 30-day increases, the MTA will raise the cost of a seven-day card from $29 to $30, and the pay-per-ride discount level will move to just five percent but will be effective for all purchases of $5 or more. The MTA has also approved a $1 surcharge on new cards purchased in-system. Such a fee is projected to generate $20 million annually.

While realizing annual savings of nearly $1 billion on the operations ledger, this fare hike is expected to generate $450 million in increased revenue for the MTA. Much of that will go toward funding pension obligations. The next MTA fare hike is on the table for early 2015. And so in one of his last actions as MTA Chair, Joe Lhota saw through a fare hike. How’s that for a mayoral platform?

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AsidesMTA Politics

Report: MTA Chairman Lhota to resign on Friday

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 18, 2012

The never-ending revolving door atop the MTA just keeps on swinging. According to a report in The Times, with dreams of the mayoralty flashing before his eyes, MTA Chairman and CEO Joe Lhota will step down from his post barely a year after assuming the office. As Lhota cannot run — or even talk about running — for mayor while serving as the head of a public agency, his resignation all but guarantees that he will at least publicly explore a campaign for Gracie Mansion.

With Lhota’s departure, he will have been the sixth person to leave the post since I started writing this column back in November of 2006. Lhota leaves just months before the MTA is set to raise fares and amidst praise of a fast response in light of the damage inflicted upon the system by Hurricane Sandy. Still, public perception of the MTA is not always a selling point in the city’s electoral politics, and Lhota will face a slate of high-profile, if less than inspiring, Democratic hopefuls as well.

And so the revolving door keeps moving. Someone else will have to head an agency requesting $5 billion in federal funds and in need of long-term fiscal and political stability. Who will it be next? And will they stay for longer than a year or so?

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AsidesService Advisories

R train’s Montague St. Tunnel expected back on Friday

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 17, 2012

New York City Transit expects to restore R train service between Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan this Friday, Carmen Bianco, Senior Vice President of the Department of Subways, said this morning at the MTA Board’s committee hearings. R train service has been suspended between the two boroughs since Hurricane Sandy came ashore, and the Montague St. Tunnel had sustained some of the heaviest damage due to flooding. The news is welcome for interborough commuters who have found the 2/3 and 4/5 lines more crowded than usual with the R out of service.

With this announcement, only the A train’s Rockaway service and the 1 train’s South Ferry terminal remain offline. Bianco today said that he expects regular service to the Rockaways to be restored before South Ferry is operational again. It’s unclear though how long either area will be without regular service as South Ferry sustained heavy damage and no full station assessment has been conducted. Transit officials say they are unclear as to what extent they will restore South Ferry, but it’s possible that some station components will be improved from their pre-Sandy condition.

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AsidesMetroCard

MTA introduces online MetroCard claim system

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 12, 2012

For years, the MTA has offered a protection plan of sorts for MetroCards. For those who buy fare cards with a credit or debit card and find that card lost or stolen, a quick call to 511 can result in an eventual refund. It’s not the speediest process, but it works. Now that process is available online.

As part of an upgrade to the MTA’s eFix website, lost of stolen MetroCards may now be reported online. The site isn’t quite intuitive; a lost or stolen card gets reported via the “Balance Protection claim.” But there it is, a 21st Century solution to a misplaced or misappropriated MetroCard.

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AsidesBusesStraphangers Campaign

NYC buses still pretty slow, sez Straphanger survey

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 11, 2012

Every year, the Straphangers Campaign goes through the pomp and circumstance of their Schleppie and Pokey Awards, and every year the outcome is the same. Some crosstown Manhattan bus is the slowest, and some north-south route is usually the least reliable. This year was no different as the M66 and M42 shared the Schleppie Award, and the M4 took home the Pokey.

The Straphangers’ report — full findings here — says that the two crosstown buses average around 3.9 miles per hour during their 12 noon runs. I’d imagine that time is even slower during rush hour when 42nd St. grows congested. “The M66 and M42 would lose a race to an amusement park bumper car,” Straphangers head Gene Russianoff said, “and be a lot less fun. A bumper car can go 4.3 miles per hour compared to the 3.9 miles of the Pokey Award winning buses.” The M4, meanwhile, suffered the most from problematic bus bunching and scheduling inaccuracies.

Of course, knowing that the buses are slow and unreliable is half the battle and barely news. While nodding at the city’s Select Bus Service as a clear sign of improvement, the Straphangers and Transportation Alternatives called for “investment,” but what kind of investment? The city should devote dedicated street space to buses, implement pre-board fare payment at most major routes and develop signal prioritization. Only then will buses begin to move faster than a healthy young adult can walk across town.

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AsidesService Advisories

Sandy Update: J/Z trains head to Broad St. tomorrow

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 3, 2012

We have another Sandy-related service restoration this afternoon: The MTA announced today that, beginning tomorrow at 6 a.m., J and Z trains will head south of Chambers St. for the first time since October. The BMT Nassau St. Line will again make station stops at Fulton Street and Broad Street. Trains had been operating only to Chambers St. as a result of storm-related damage.

According to the MTA’s announcement — I guess this one wasn’t important enough for the governor to broadcast himself — one of the main problems holding up service was damage from a fire. A third rail cable fire melted the signal cables that control the Broad St. interlocking. Thus, trains could not turn around at Broad St. New signal wires have been spliced in, and trains will run again tomorrow morning. Up next: The Montague St. Tunnel.

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AsidesMTA Politics

Rudy: Lhota to decide on mayoral run by Christmas

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on December 3, 2012

Even as Joe Lhota himself refuses to comment on the rumors that he may run for mayor, his former City Hall boss is far more willing to discuss the possibility. In an interview with Daily News reporter Ken Lovett, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that Lhota will decide by Christmas if he wants to ditch the MTA and run for mayor. “I’d like to see him run for the city and for the Republican Party, but I want him to be aware of the fact that it’s a very tough road,” Giuliani said.

According to The News, Lhota would have to step down as CEO and Chairman of the MTA were he to run for mayor next year, and Giuliani notes that this is a decision Lhota is not taking lightly. “He’s trying to figure it out. He loves his job,” the former mayor said. Lhota, said Rudy, must decide if he can “raise the cash to run a viable campaign.” Were he to run, Lhota would face a GOP primary challenger in Adolfo Carrión and a slate of Democrats who are both out-polling and out-fundraising their Republican counterparts. Furthermore, despite high marks from the public for the MTA’s post-Sandy performance, any Democrat outpolled Lhota by a 60-9 margin in a recent Q poll.

As I’ve said in the past, I’d prefer to see Lhota stay with the MTA. Lhota is the fifth agency head in the last six years, and turmoil at the top has cost the MTA an opportunity to move forward. Lhota’s current term runs through 2015, and were he to stay, he could oversee the next capital plan, a MetroCard replacement project and other innovations that have stalled amidst turnover in the CEO/Chairman position. Though should we really expect that much stability with the MTA these days?

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AsidesQueens

Report: Rockaway subway service out until mid-2013

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 29, 2012

Although the MTA hasn’t quite put the final touches on its cost estimates for Sandy-related repairs, a report today indicated that full A train service to the Rockaways may not return until at least the middle of next year. In a story low on details, New York 1’s Michael Herzenberg says that an MTA source believes summer 2013 is a potential target date for the reconstruction of the Broad Channel subway line. I almost wonder if even that estimate is optimistic.

According to preliminary documents, the MTA has requested $650 million for the restoration of the Rockaway subway line. Even if some of that money is invested in preventative measures, a multi-hundred-million-dollar spend usually takes years to complete, not mere months. It is nearly impossible, in fact, to spend $650 million on one project in six or seven months. Perhaps the MTA believes it can perform repairs that allow limited direct subway service while the remainder of the work continues. Either way, it’s going to be a while before commutes to and from the Rockaways return to normal.

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