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Metro-North to restore full Port Jervis service on Nov. 28

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 25, 2011

Nearly three months to the day since Hurricane Irene washed out a significant stretch of trackbed along the Port Jervis line, Metro-North will restore full service to the west-of-Hudson commuter rail, the MTA announced yesterday. Full service on the Port Jervis line is set to resume on November 28, a month sooner than anticipated.

“Since Irene, Metro-North’s top priority has been the restoration of train service on the Port Jervis Line and thanks to the tireless work of the railroad’s own employees, we are very pleased to announce that full, through train service will be restored a month earlier than expected,” Metro-North President Howard Permut said. “We invite our customers to come back to Metro-North and thank them for their patience during this crisis.”

On November 28, the MTA will restore the schedule of 26 daily trains and 14 weekend trains. The alternate bus service will cease then as well. Metro-North officials credited the expedited repairs process to the declaration of emergency issued by then-Chairman and CEO Jay Walder as well as increased cooperation from landowners and municipalities along the washed-out right-of-way. Although the MTA will continue to work throughout the winter and into the spring to repair the line, the authority now projects a completion date in June 2012, and the work will cost between $30-$40 million, significantly less than the original $60 million estimate.

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AsidesMetroCard

MetroCard surcharge not on tap until 2013

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 24, 2011

When the MTA unveiled its fare hike plan last year, a controversial centerpiece involved a MetroCard surcharge. In order to cut down on trash and the costs of printing new cards, the MTA proposed a $1 fee for every new MetroCard. This measure will make unlimited cards refillable and will help generate $20 million for the MTA in both cost savings and added revenue. It’s still a few years away though.

According to Transit documents released this week, the authority is not planning on introducing the surcharge until 2013 at the earliest. Agency officials tell me that the TA is experiencing “issues with the software that’s needed to implement the surcharge,” and troubleshooting is taking longer than expected. This is, of course, the problem with modifying 20-year-old proprietary software for a use that wasn’t contemplated at the time the system was built, and for now, discarded MetroCards will continue to build up.

Eventually, the surcharge will become but a footnote in the history of the MTA’s fare payment systems. If Joe Lhota sticks with Jay Walder’s plan, the MetroCard could become a thing of the past by 2015, and the surcharge will wind up as a prime example of the need to maintain current technology.

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AsidesTaxis

On the $1 million taxi medallions

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 21, 2011

Taxi medallions — a better investment than gold or a house over the past 30 years — reached a new milestone this week. As Michael Grynbaum reported yesterday, two medallions sold for $1 million. With so few medallion-owners willing to sell, corporate buyers jump at the chance to get their hands on this precious commodity. “It’s a lot of money, and it is an investment that someone would not make without being confident in the industry and the future of the city,” David S. Yassky, head of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, said.

While the $1 million mark provides a nice round number and a bit of news for the transit media, the sale underscores the absurdity of the taxi industry. By artificially limiting the number of medallions available, the City of New York has ensured that only potential buyers with deep pockets can buy medallions, and the city has ensured that cabs will operate in profitable areas without providing comprehensive service. No wonder the rich medallion owners have mobilized to beat back the taxi reform bill currently awaiting Gov. Cuomo’s signature.

Even if and when Albany hammers out a compromise on the plan to allow livery street hails outside of Manhattan’s Central Business District, with proper enforcement the medallion owners will not see their investments decline. Yellow cabs — the only cars permitted to pick up street hails in the lucrative areas — will continue to dominate the business while the rest of us who need taxis but can’t find them will have more options available for travel. Albany is beholden to the $1 million medallion owners when it’s the riders whose needs should come first.

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AsidesMTA Politics

Ravitch: Bridge tolls should help fund transit

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 20, 2011

As the whispers grow louder that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will nominate former Giuliani confidante Joseph Lhota as the next MTA head, former authority leaders and transit advocates are weighing on the challenges facing Jay Walder’s replacement. Yesterday, we heard from Gene Russianoff, and today, Richard Ravitch chimes in. In an interview with New York 1, he warned that the next MTA head will face a tough job environment.

With Albany reluctant to act sensible measures designed to identify sources of transit revenue and protect MTA funding, the MTA and person leading it must become a politician willing to ask tough questions, Ravitch said. “You have to persuade a lot of people to spend a lot of money, whether they are taxpayers or whether they are transit riders,” said Ravitch. To maintain and grow the system, to provide better service and cleanear subways, as everyone wants, it’s going to cost money.

To find the dollars, Ravitch continued to pound the drum he’s been beating since he released his report urging sensible funding mechanisms for the MTA: toll the free East River bridges. Keeping these bridges free while other crossings aren’t harms the city’s economy by creating congestion and the environment. Ultimately, fare hikes every two years are inevitable as the MTA’s debt payments escalate, but until Albany stops forcing the MTA to pay for its capital program with credit card, that’s the price we all have to pay.

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AsidesMTA Politics

Russianoff: Next MTA head must be ‘vocal advocate for transit’

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 19, 2011

In two days, Jay Walder will depart from his position atop the MTA and begin to prepare for his lucrative move to Hong Kong. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, then, will become front and center in the debate over transit. He will have to own up to the impact of making his own choice for head of the MTA and can no longer fall back on the idea that Walder was someone else’s choice and the MTA someone else’s problem. With rumors of Joseph Lhota’s impending nomination swirling, Cuomo has yet to make an official announcement, but that likely could come before Friday.

Once Cuomo does name names, all eyes in the transit community will shift to that person. We’ll inspect the process behind his nomination, his credentials and his plans for an agency eternally mired in an economic crisis. To that end, Gene Russianoff, head of the Straphanagers Campaign and a member of the search committee tasked with finding candidates to lead the MTA, has some ideas for Jay Walder’s eventual replacement. Ride the system, know the riders and their concerns and be an advocate for them, he says in a column in today’s Daily News. It’s obvious advice, but past heads have no always heeded such a call.

Beyond the need to restore customer relations as a priority at the MTA, Russianoff also urges the next MTA head to wade into the explosive politics surrounding transportation. The next MTA head needs to work with unions to smooth over rocky relationships while improving efficiency, and the person Cuomo names should urge the Governor to sign the Transit Lockbox Bill. Reducing borrowing while further improving transparency are on the list as well. It’s tough to argue with Gene’s list, and now we wait to find out if the next MTA Chair and CEO is up to the task.

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AsidesBusesMTA Economics

US DOT doles out dollars for NYC buses

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 18, 2011

The U.S. Department of Transportation released nearly $1 billion in funds for localities to spend on various livable streets and bus facility upgrades this week, and New York City and the MTA secured over $134 million of that total for a variety of badly-needed projects. “These grant funds will make sure that bus service in our communities remains reliable and desirable while putting thousands of Americans to work at the same time,” Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff said.

According to the grant list (available here as a PDF), the MTA will spend on the money on vehicle replacement and a bus command system while the NYC Department of Transportation will invest $3.4 million into a plan to improve bus access in and around the Broadway Junction area. The new command system, which will receive $34 million in federal funding, has been to designed to address communications failures that arose during last winters crippling blizzard.

Meanwhile, as the MTA’s bus fleet ages and buses break down more often, the authority will use over $60 million in federal funds to purchase 112 new vehicles. “This is welcome new funding and is a much needed investment that will go a long way toward updating our equipment and bus fleet,” authority spokesman Kevin Ortiz said to the Daily News. “It will help improve service and reliability for our customers.”

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AsidesBuses

For London, a comprehensive bus tracking system

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 18, 2011

Bus riders in London are for a treat as Transport for London announced yesterday that its real-time bus tracking system is now available “anytime and anywhere.” With over 8000 buses running via 700 routes and making 19,500 stops in the U.K. Capital, the system is one of the most complex in the world, and the new system allows bus riders to check the locations of all buses within 30 minutes of a select stop, street or post code. The information is available via the web, mobile browsers and text message.

TfL officials also announced they will be replacing 2000 digital signs and adding 500 more in an effort to better inform riders at popular stations throughout the city. Later this year, the agency will release datasets so that mobile developers can release bus tracking apps. “Over six million bus journeys are made every day in London and this fantastic application of bus data will now enable people, wherever they are, whatever they are doing, to have at their fingertips the power to know exactly when their bus will reach any one of the Capital’s 19,500 bus stops they want to use, at any time of day or night,” Kulveer Ranger, Director of Digital London, said. “This technological step forward will revolutionise the way people use London’s buses and will banish the need for them to ever wait at a bus stop again.”

New York, meanwhile, is working its way toward a similar system. Transit teams are developing a bus-tracking platform for Staten Island that will be modeled after the B63 pilot. If all goes according to plan, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx will see a rollout over the next few years as the technology grows and funds are released. Our system won’t come with MTA-installed screens; rather, that’s a decision local merchants can make using the live streaming data. Still, it’s a worthwhile endeavor, and one, as London will show, that can truly change the way people view and use the bus system.

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AsidesNew Jersey Transit

NJ Transit riders offer up low marks for train service

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 14, 2011

In an effort to provide transparency and improve service, New Jersey Transit released this week the results of its second annual rider survey. Unfortunately for the commuter authority, its riders aren’t very happy. As the survey shows, train customers gave NJ Transit a 4.2 out of 10 in overall satisfaction with announcement during service interruptions ranking just a 3.6. Fares, which have increased a bit lately, earned just a 3.3, and few people said NJ Transit was a good value for the money. Overall, just 57 percent of respondents said they would recommend New Jersey Transit’s rail service to a friend or relative.

While satisfaction with the rail offerings declined, customers ranked buses higher this year than last, and the light rail has been particularly well received with 85 percent saying they would recommend it. For their part, NJ Transit officials said they would use these results to improve. “The customer satisfaction survey results are driving NJ Transit’s understanding of what really matters to customers, enabling us to better respond to their needs and demands,” Executive Director James Weinstein said. “While these results show that overall we’re moving in the right direction, we need to continue to work to make meaningful changes and improvements that increase customer satisfaction.”

It’s notable that the commuter rail network suffered the most with regards to service disruptions. Without an alternate route into Manhattan, NJ Transit will always be at the whim of trains entering through the lone rail access point. Until a second tunnel is constructed — and who knows when that will be — customers will have to wait out those delays.

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AsidesMTA

Report: Saul to be named interim MTA Chair

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 12, 2011

In nine days, Jay Walder will leave his post as MTA Chair and CEO as he readies to depart for Hong Kong, and despite the looming resignation, all has been quiet from Albany on his potential replacement. Yesterday, I reported that Joseph Lhota may be the leading candidate, and today, the Daily News echos my scoop while adding Neil Peterson, Thomas Prendergast, Nuria Fernandez, Daniel Grabauskas and Karen Rae to the list of candidates. The outlook for the nomination remains hazy, but we do however have an inkling of who will replace Walder in the short term. According to a New York 1 report, current MTA Vice Chairman Andrew Saul will serve as interim chair as the search for a permanent replacement continues.

As interim heads go, Saul is the safest of safe choices and one primed for the moment. Named to the MTA Board by Pataki, he has served the Authority since 1996. He is a member of every committee, and with an extensive background in retail and private equity, he is the chair of the MTA’s finance committee. He also sits on a number of other boards, including the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and UPENN’s Wharton School.

In the immediate few weeks, Saul will have to continue to lobby for a resolution to the MTA’s $10 billion capital budget gap, and according to NY1, Saul will “likely follow in the same policy path” as Walder. It offers some stability for the MTA, but still, with another interim head preceding a new permanent CEO and Chair, the MTA is guaranteed to run through six chairmen or women in as many years. For an organization as vital yet on shaky financial footing as the MTA, such turmoil at the top isn’t helping in the long- or short-term.

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AsidesManhattan

Link of the Day: The decline of Manhattan’s gas stations

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 10, 2011

Here’s a fascinating infrastructure story from Crain’s New York’s Brian Chappatta: Manhattan is running out of gas stations. Chappatta profiles the dying breed of fill stations on the isle of New York county. Once upon a time back in 2009, there were 58 gas stations in Manhattan, and now there are just 41. Only four gas stations remain that are both south of 96th Street and east of 10th Avenue.

As Crain’s notes, two factors have driven gas stations out of business: midtown real estate value and the high costs of delivering fuel to the island. “It’s just a sign of the times,” Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said. “Selling off gas stations accelerated at the height of the market before the downturn, and now it’s picking up again. As money gets freed up and development moves forward, once again we’ll see some of those sites being bid on.”

Eventually, more gas stations will close as the land they sit on grows more valuable, and gas prices will increase in Manhattan. As long as cars (and non-hybrid taxis) remain a prominent part of the city’s transportation network, consumers will have to pay more as gas prices increase. The decline of gas stations should, however, create an opening for New York to become a potential leader in the electric vehicle field. After all, plug-in stations are far more flexible and take up far less real estate than a traditional filling station.

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