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AsidesTaxis

Livery van pilot to target former Brooklyn, Queens bus routes

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 20, 2010

A little less than a month after the Taxi and Limousine Commission revealed its plan to replace lost bus routes with dollar vans, the agency has unveiled five routes in Brooklyn and Queens that will serve as pilots for a potential citywide program. The TLC announced on Friday that they will soon be accepting solicitations for bids for passenger van service that covers routes once served by the B23, B71 and B39 in Brooklyn and the Q74 and Q79 in Queens. Specific drop-off and pick-up locations will be determined before the service is put in place on or around August 16.

Per the press release, the TLC plans for these rides to have a flat fare of $2 with clear DOT signage — perhaps old bus shelter? — demarcating route stops. The vans will carry between six and 20 passengers and will be licensed by the TLC with insurance requirements akin to current regulations for van and livery service providers.

“The TLC’s action today paves the road for a new form of service that we believe will be of great benefit to people affected by the MTA’s service reductions,” David Yassky, TLC commission, said. “One of the great advantages of having a comprehensive transportation network as we do in New York City is that it sometimes has the flexibility to serve people in new and better ways that never before existed, and this van program is a perfect example of this.”

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AsidesSubway Advertising

Uncomfortably, buses carry religious messages

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 19, 2010

Every few months, some interest group — a union, a political party, a religious organization — buys some ad space from the MTA on its buses or subways, and New Yorkers are converted into people with no tolerance for opposing viewpoints. Today’s controversial ad comes to us from Metro New York, and it concerns a Muslims for peace advertisement.

According to Metro’s Carly Baldwin, the warring ads concerning Islam — one ran recently calling for support from former Muslims — has led one MTA Board member to question religious ads. “I don’t think we should be having any religious ads on our facilities,” Andrew Albert said. “I understand if you run one, you must run them all. The question is: Should we run any of them? Somebody is going to get offended.”

Somebody will get offended no matter what advertisement is up. In fact, those who built the subways were offended by the mere presence of ads. Here, the MTA has a First Amendment obligation to accept the ads. As long as any religious group is allowed to advertise, including atheist groups, all religious groups must be allowed to advertise. Of course, the authority could bar religious advertisements altogether, but in a time of crushing debt, cutting off a revenue stream seems to be a bad idea whether someone’s feelings get hurt in the process or not.

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AsidesTWU

Labor mediation through media wars

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 16, 2010

As the MTA and TWU prepare to head to mediation over the authority’s proposed cost-savings measures, the two sides are already engaged in a tense battle of words. In one corner: The Daily News reports that the MTA’s top earners have yet to be axed while lower paid jobs in management are being eliminated. In the other corner: Transit workers can earn overtime while on vacation. “When you go on vacation, why should your money be reduced by 15 to 20 percent?” Jim Gannon, a TWU spokesman, said to amNew York.

As labor representatives slam the MTA for keeping its top-heavy management structure in tact, the authority says it will soon begin to purge those jobs through its pending consolidation plan. The MTA says it will target overtime abuse as well. “We are looking to control unnecessary overtime as part of overhauling how the MTA does business,” spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. In the world of payroll abuses, the riders will always lose.

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AsidesFare HikesMetroCard

A lower pay-per-ride discount among fare hike proposals

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 14, 2010

As the date of the MTA’s board-oriented board meeting draws closer, details of the 2011 fare hike proposal are beginning to emerge. Yesterday, we heard how unlimited cards will become limited, and today, we know more about the authority’s plans for single-ride and pay-per-ride users. According to The Daily News, the MTA is going to raise the fares for the single-ride paper tickets from $2.25 to $2.50 and will drop the pay-per-ride discount from 15 percent to 10 percent.

According to Pete Donohue, this plan is apparently designed to have a smaller impact than the unlimited-ride increases. Only 2.1 percent of subway riders use the one-way paper tickets, and the base fare would remain $2.25 for pay-per-ride card users and those paying for bus rides in coins. The 10 percent fare discount will impact the 36 percent of riders who use the pay-per-ride cards, and instead of getting 10.35 rides for the price of nine, these riders will now get 11 rides for the price of 10. The average cost per swipe will increase by approximately four percent from $1.96 to $2.05.

For the MTA, their overall goal is a 7.5 percent fare hike, and unlimited card users are going to be hit the worst. In reality, the average fare across all payment systems remains lower than it did in 1996, and the authority is trying to at least keep pace with inflation. Come January, we’ll all be paying more for our subway rides with less service than we had three weeks ago.

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AsidesTWU

With station agent hearings on tap, mediation looms for TWU

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 12, 2010

As the MTA and TWU continue to square off over station agent dismissals and other cost-savings proposals that would impact labor, the two sides have reportedly agreed to go to mediation to attempt to settle their disputes. While TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen continues to remain firm in his call for a no-layoffs provision, MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder believes mediation could help lower the MTA’s budget deficit without resorting to further service cuts. “Labor represents a large portion of the cost of doing business here, about two-thirds of the cost of doing business at the MTA. My hope is that we can work together in partnership,” he said.

This news breaks on the eve of the public hearings the MTA must hold before it can shutter more token booths and fire station agents. The hearings are set for Tuesday and Wednesday with two per evening, and Streetsblog has the details: Manhattan and Queens tomorrow; Brooklyn and the Bronx on Wednesday. These hearings come after a state judge deemed the initial layoffs illegal without public comment, but I have to wonder how useful this political charade will be.

For weeks, the TWU has planned to turn the hearings into a labor rally. As a recent release on the union’s Facebook page noted, labor organizers hope to “pack these hearings and deliver a strong message that we’ve had enough.” As the TWU is also alleging that these hearings are illegal, I can’t imagine anything other than animosity tomorrow night. Will TWU officials propose funding mechanisms to keep their jobs? Will they support congestion pricing or bridge tolls? Or should the riders have to pay for jobs that are largely unnecessary?

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AsidesPANYNJ

For PATH stations, a $200 million overhaul

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 8, 2010

The Port Authority’s PATH system has a reputation for being, in the words of one author, “drab, dirty and uncomfortable.” Some trains aren’t adequately air conditioned, and the system’s stations haven’t been upgraded in years. That should begin to change, however, as PATH will invest $200 millionin its stations as part of a $1 billion upgrade plan.

The changes are extensive. As The Record’s Tom Davis reported earlier this week, the money will go toward expanding platforms along the World Trade Center line to “accommodate 10-car trains, which will allow an additional 400 passengers per trip”; a new public address system; better signage and maps; new station benches, lighting and flooring that “will make the wait in stations safer, more comfortable and visually appealing”; and a public arts program that will beautify the drab stations. “Mass transit over 40 years or so has continued to evolve, and you see train stations across the country are continuing to evolve,” Bill Baroni, deputy executive director of Port Authority, said. “We’re doing the same with the PATH stations.”

The crown jewel of this renovation will be the Harrison Station that currently serves the Red Bulls’ new arena. A $100-million investment will see a new pavilion arise that can better accommodate the larger crowds, and PATH officials believe the upgrades will help attract more people to the cross-Hudson subway and take a few folks out of their cars. “We’re trying to make it more commuter friendly,” Baroni said. “Like all good transit systems, we’re evolving constantly.”

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AsidesBuses

DOT halts TransportAzumah van service

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 7, 2010

As private van operators have sprung up to replace bus routes lost to the MTA service cuts, New York City’s Department of Transportation has waged a campaign to stop these businesses. With support from labor unions concerned about the privatization of transit services, DOT has claimed that these unregulated vans pose a serious safety threat to passengers, and the agency has gone to court to enforce its position. Yesterday, NYC DOT earned a temporary restraining order against TransportAzumah’s Joel Azumah, a fleet owner who had been operating vans along the now-defunct X25, X29, X90 and QM22 routes.

The city has until July 15 to make the case for a permanent injunction, and Azumah said he will fight the court order. He says that his $6-a-ride vans do not violate transportation laws because they are private charters outside the realm of city regulations. “My customers are very, very, very angry,” he said to the Daily News. “They had the benefit of a service that they were enjoying…We want the city – if they are going to interfere with these services – to run the buses.”

In other vans news, Yonah Freemark writing at Next American City profiles the rise of private service in New York City in the wake of the MTA’s service cuts. Freemark wonders if the city’s move to legitimize some private transportation providers will undercut labor’s position but posits that cities should ensure that people can get around cheaply and efficiently. As long as the MTA has to cut services, the private bus companies should be allowed to roll on.

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AsidesView from Underground

Try the subways for a slight respite from the heat

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on July 7, 2010

As temperatures in the city climb toward the upper 90s for the second day in a row, New Yorkers are searching in vain for some relief from the heat. We huddle in air conditioned apartments and offices, hoping that the Con Ed power grid will hold up as the city’s streets remain empty. Of course, to get from one air conditioned site to another often requires a ride in the subway, and during heat waves, the temperatures below ground can spike. Take comfort though, in a Wall Street Journal investigative report: It’s actually cooler underground than it is above ground.

Armed with a store-bought thermometer, Joy Resmovits hit the streets. At Grand Central, enjoying air-controlled platforms, the temperatures were just 86.5 degrees while above ground the mercury hit 96. As temperatures reached 102 during the afternoon, the Times Square platforms registered at a downright chilly 99 degrees. But at 116th St., the differences were just a matter of one degree. Cooler they may be, the platforms are not comfortable.

Of course, this temporary equilibrium will last only as long as the heat wave does. Once outside temperatures drop to the high 80s, the platforms will remain stifling as heat generated by the subway’s air conditioners stays trapped underground. I’d rather have cooler train cars than not, but it doesn’t make waiting on intolerably hot platforms any easier during the dog days of a New York City summer.

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AsidesSecond Avenue Subway

A slow start to the TBM’s journey down 2nd Ave.

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

Over six weeks, the MTA brought politicians and reporters underneath Second Ave. for the ceremonial launch of the Second Ave. Subway tunnel boring machine. The MTA’s plans called for the TBM to dig out two 7800-foot long tunnels from 96th St. to the northern stub of the BMT Broadway tracks at 63rd St. and Lexington Ave. Digging at a pace of 40-60 feet per day, the TBM should complete the first tunnel by January, but the early going has been rough.

As Dan Rivoli reported last week, the TBM had been digging at a pace of just 10 feet a day due to some highly fractured rock underneath the avenue. Because so much is unknown about the geology of Manhattan, the MTA had to proceed cautiously through this stretch of rock. Otherwise, the TBM’s digging could have created complications and the threat of a cave-in in the eastern starter tunnel. As of Thursday, the MTA’s Aaron Donovan informed me, the TBM had broken through the area of highly fractured rock and had reached the 300-foot mark. Although it is still in the start-up phase, the TBM should now begin to pick up speed. 2016, here we come.

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AsidesBuses

No tickets for parking at 570 former bus stops

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

When the MTA had to shutter 570 bus stops last week due to service cuts, the move created an odd occurrence of empty space on New York’s streets. Because NYC DOT maintains the bus shelters, no one knew what to make of the out-of-service bus stops all marked with prominent No Standing signs. Following the MTA’s signage, some brave folks tried to park in these spaces only to find a $115 ticket awaiting their return. DOT had a bunch of disgruntled New Yorkers on their hands.

This past weekend, to clear up the confusion, the NYPD has told its parking enforcement agents not to issue parking tickets for those cars parked at bus stops the MTA has designated out of service. This move is an unofficial one as DOT is still trying to determine the future for the 30,000 feet of unused curb space it now has at its disposal. I’m holding out hope for some combination of bike storage areas, mini green spaces and market-rate on-street parking spots.

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