Second Ave. Sagas

For SAS Phase I, federal funding all in place

by Benjamin Kabak July 2, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on July 2, 2012

A few weeks ago, Rep. Carolyn Maloney issued a pair of press releases touting the release of the final rounds of federal funds for Phase I of the Second Ave. Subway construction. The House Transportation, Housing & Urban Development appropriation included over $123 million for the project, and the FTA released $197 million as well. These were, as Maloney noted, the final pieces of the federal funding puzzle.

In a press release, Maloney, who touted job growth and transit expansion, issued her perfunctory statement. “I am gratified that the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access, the two largest mass transit initiatives under construction anywhere in the country, are receiving merit-based, bipartisan support from the House of Representatives,” she said of the House grant. “I am particularly proud that this appropriation would be the final installment of the federal government’s commitment to the first phase of the project that I have worked my entire congressional career to achieve.”

So now that Phase I funding is in the books, Maloney can reaffirm her career-long commitment to the project by shifting her focus. She could become a leading voice for Phase II investment. While still project to cost a few billion dollars, the northern section of SAS includes tunnels that are already in place. Pre-built infrastructure should not lie fallow, and although the MTA has yet to make a push for Phase II, some assistance from Washington will only help to inch this never-ending project a little closer to completion.

July 2, 2012 4 comments

Service Advisories

Weekend work impacting nine lines

by Benjamin Kabak June 30, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 30, 2012

A bit late with these this week. My apologies.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 2, there is no 1 train service between South Ferry and 14th Street due to concrete work south of Chambers Street for Port Authority.

Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Chambers Street and South Ferry.
1 trains run express in both directions between 34th Street and 14th Street.

2 and 3 trains run local in both directions between 34th Street and Chambers Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 2, 2 trains run local in both directions between 34th Street and Chambers Street due to concrete work south of Chambers Street for Port Authority.

From 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1, 3 trains run local in both directions between 34th Street and Chambers Street due to concrete work south of Chambers Street for Port Authority.

From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1, Flushing-bound 7 trains skip 82nd, 90th, 103rd and 111th Streets due to installation of cable tray brackets for Flushing CBTC.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 2, Coney Island-bound D trains are rerouted via the N from 36th Street to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue due to station and line structure rehabilitation at 25th Avenue.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 2, E trains run local in both directions between Queens Plaza and Roosevelt Avenue due to track maintenance.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 2, downtown F trains skip 23rd and 14th Sts. due to track roadbed construction north of 14th and 23rd Streets.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 2, F trains run local in both directions between 21st Street-Queensbridge and Roosevelt Avenue due to track maintenance.

From 4 a.m. Saturday, June 30 to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 1, M service is suspended due to track panel installation at Wyckoff, Knickerbocker and Central Avenues. Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, making all station stops.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 29 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 2, Coney Island-bound Q trains run express from Prospect Park to Sheepshead Bay due to track panel installation south of Kings Highway.

June 30, 2012 0 comment

New York City Transit

Children and Transit’s fare evasion conundrum

by Benjamin Kabak June 29, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 29, 2012

Earlier this week, during the MTA Board Committee meetings, the Transit Committee materials let slip an interesting fact: Fare evasion is higher than previously reported. Facing pressure from within and without, Transit has upped its estimate of lost revenue to around $100 million. Based on the latest budget projections, that puts the agency’s bleed rate at around 2.7 percent, not unmanageable but higher than anyone would like.

Now, it’s all well and good to target fare evasion, but there’s a potential PR problem looming. What do you if many of those evading the fares are children? According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, children who duck under turnstiles could account for up to 43 percent of the subway fare evasion problem. Sumathi Reddy had more to say:

Last year, the Daily News reported that an agency staff report presented at a conference found that 43% of fare-beaters were kids taller than 44 inches ducking under turnstiles. At the time, the Daily News said the authority was considering placing signs near turnstiles to make riders aware of the rule.

Bowling Green is the only subway station that has one: Near the turnstiles at every subway entrance is a blue sign with a yellow ruler. The 44-inch point is marked and the sign says: “When accompanied by an adult, up to 3 children under 44 inches in height, ride free.”

Hmmm. So if you have four babies in tow, you have to pay for one. Who knew? But it doesn’t clearly spell out that if a parent has even one child over 44 inches, he or she must pay (though that information is posted on booths).

A spokesman for the MTA said the Bowling Green sign was part of a pilot program that began last year to inform commuters that the requirement exists. He said the agency is studying whether it’s feasible to put them up across the entire system.

Of course, the sign, as Reddy notes, is having no effect. She noticed parents opening the emergency exits for her children, two children doubling up on one swipe at the urging of their parents and a general disregard for the height requirement.

What to do? What to do? Reddy offers up this child-friendly take: “It’s hard to complain about the MTA not cracking down on child fare-beaters. In fact, we should probably applaud them, though one has to wonder why the rule exists to begin with.” Still, with the stories she tells, parents should be under the microscope here, and neither age nor height should excuse a proper fare payment.

Yet, it’s a tough question to address. If the MTA is going to cut down on fare evasion, it will have to focus on the fact that a lot of children who should be paying for the rides have not been, and that’s an uncomfortable conundrum for parents and transit executives alike.

June 29, 2012 33 comments

MTA Absurdity

On Transit’s rapid response to a viral video

by Benjamin Kabak June 28, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 28, 2012

By now, I’m sure many of you have seen the video from Dean Peterson that’s been making the rounds. The Brooklyn-based videographer took to his local subway station — 36th St. along 4th Ave. — and filmed an amusing two minutes of straphangers tripping up the stairs. This station, along with some others, has an uneven staircase that has long been a part of station lore. No one had bothered to fix it until today.

The video has been viewed now over 530,000 times, and apparently, someone at the MTA noted it as well for, as NBC New York reported, the staircase is now closed for repairs. Considering Transit’s track record with staircase repair work, I’d imagine this entrance will be out of commission for a few weeks as crews realign the steps, but that’s practically besides the point. Why did it take a viral video to gain some attention?

It seems that no one at Transit had realized the imperfection, and that’s somewhat reasonable. No one is measuring every step at every station. Furthermore, perhaps straphangers who tripped simply chalked it up to their own stumbles. But if one person noticed the same stair as a problem over and over again, I’m sure some others did as well. Shouldn’t we have a system in place that allows New Yorkers to report these problems to someone who will listen? I don’t think viral videos are the way to go to get every routine maintenance problem in the subway addressed.

Thanks to @TheRealKroll and @tommy_bennett for passing this one along.

June 28, 2012 21 comments

Service Cuts

MTA considering $20M in service cut rollbacks

by Benjamin Kabak June 27, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 27, 2012

What once was no longer a bus stop may become one again in the future. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

Two years ago — to the day, if you’re reading this on Thursday — the MTA, in the face of a massive budget deficit, enacted sweeping service reductions that cut a deep gash through the city’s transit network. Although many believed the authority was playing chicken with Albany, the MTA called the state’s bluff in 2010 when, on June 28, it cut two subway lines, 36 bus routes and around 570 bus stops. Now, the agency may be reassessing these cuts as it prepares its 2013 budget, but the extent of any service restorations will remain contingent upon money and the reality on the ground.

At the time of the cuts, Albany could do nothing. New York State had been struggling financially, and legislatures couldn’t or wouldn’t find new revenue to keep services up and running. In an effort to spread the pain, the MTA included service cuts in its sweeping economic reforms, and since that day two years ago, neighborhoods have been up in arms. The same state representatives who refused to confront the MTA and its problems head on have spent years arguing for the restoration of services. Cries have gone up from every corner of the city, from the M8 to the B77, from Sheepshead Bay to the Bronx.

For years, MTA representatives have said services could be restored if the money materializes, and yesterday, the MTA Board made a similar pledge. According to Board members, up to $20 million in next year’s budget could go toward restoring lost services. I have to believe most of that will go toward brining back the buses, but I’m hopeful some could lead to increased subway service as well.

Matt Flegenheimer of The Times had more from Wednesday’s board meeting:

There is no date. There is no proposal. And there is certainly no guarantee. But for the first time since 2010, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved deep cuts amid a budget shortfall, there appears to be optimism that some of the services that were eliminated may be restored — provided that the agency’s recent, if tenuous, financial trends and ridership increases hold.

“Not a day goes by when I don’t think about restoration of services and further investments in the system,” Joseph J. Lhota, chairman of the transportation authority, said Wednesday during a monthly board meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. Mr. Lhota added that the authority remained in the “early stages of evaluation” for possible restorations.

Andrew Albert, a board member and the chairman of the New York City Transit Riders Council, said that some board members had discussed a $20 million restoration fund — enough to bring back some bus, subway or commuter rail services, but probably far too little to return to former levels. “It looks like some figures are trending in the good direction, versus what we’ve seen last year,” Mr. Albert said. “The fact that the chairman is talking about it, and several board members are talking about it, I think bodes well.”

According to Flegenheimer’s report, many MTA Board members are also concerned that the looming fare hikes, guaranteed a few years back, will leave a very bad taste in people’s mouths without a corresponding bump in service. “It’s awfully hard to ask people to pay more when they’re getting a lot less,” Albert said.

Of course, a pair of issues remain, and first between those is money. When asked about the dollars, former Gov. David Paterson, the newest addition to the MTA Board, hedged. “This is the problem,” he said. “Everybody could tell me what they didn’t want cut, but no one could tell me how we balance the budget.” It’s still the problem as New York politicians want service restored but have no plans to pay for it. The MTA will likely have to move some money around and hope for a recovering economy.

The second problem though is a tougher one to overcome. In the aftermath of the service cuts, NYC DOT, the party that controls the city’s bus stops, uprooted many of the then-defunct stops, including all of the shelters and poles along B71 just around the corner from my apartment. The CEMUSA shelters are gone; the bus stations are now parking spots. The MTA isn’t going to restore those services; we’ll never get many similar routes back.

Still, it’s hard not to be optimistic here. Politicians have responded to their constituent demands, and the MTA is listening to those in positions of power who can exert some influence over the authority. By the time 2013 rolls around, we’ll likely have more service then than we do today, and that’s a net positive for the millions who need public transit in New York City.

June 27, 2012 36 comments

MTA Technology

Photo: A B Division countdown clock, in trial

by Benjamin Kabak June 26, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 26, 2012

An Instagrammer spotted some new countdown clocks at 23rd Street on the BMT Broadway line (Photo via @krislopresto)

An eagle-eyed straphanger spotted these countdown clocks on the B Division yesterday. Although he said an R came first, the point remains that some technology that had been in the discussion stages seems to be moving closer toward a reality. While A Division stations currently enjoy countdown clocks everywhere, bringing a similar PA/CIS system to the B Division would be costly and time-consuming. So what’s going on here?

I reached out to Transit to track down more information and learned that this clock is part of a test that hasn’t quite yet begun. The plan is to test the clocks at 14th St., 23rd St. and 28th Sts. along the BMT Broadway Line, and the underlying technology uses Optical Character Recognition and some scheduling information. Right now, Transit says they are still working with vendors to configure the software, and the customer information screens may display some messages while the tests move forward.

As I understand, OCR can be used to identify train sets based on scans of the car numbers as they move through the system. Such a technology can offer similar results to the A Division’s clocks, but the underlying technology is entirely different. I’ll try to have more on OCR soon, but it seems as though the plans to bring some type of countdown clock to the B Division are beginning to move forward.

June 26, 2012 42 comments

Brooklyn

T-Shirt of the Day: A Brooklyn subway landmark

by Benjamin Kabak June 25, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 25, 2012

Miss Wit Tees is selling these for $14 a pop. That’s one way to fight a Bruce Ratner-inspired naming-rights deal. The protest language:

You can tear the buildings down, and run folks out of town, and spin your tales of heroism. Billionaires come, and billionaires go. Names change, streets are bulldozed, neighborhoods divided, but these coordinates remain the same. Change is great, destruction ain’t. When the name becomes Atlantic/Housing Way we might sing a sweeter tune. You can call it the Barclay’s whatever, but I’m Still Calling it Atlantic Avenue Pacific Street!

This ain’t the first time I’ve heard these sentiments. Based on the city’s collective experiences with the Triborough Bridge renaming, I have a feeling the discarded Pacific St. moniker will live on well beyond its elimination from the subway map.

June 25, 2012 45 comments

MTA Construction Service Advisories

Quiet acceptance as FASTRACK returns to 7th Ave.

by Benjamin Kabak June 25, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 25, 2012

Transit’s whole FASTRACK program is starting to become old hat for New York City subway riders who rely on late-night weekday service. The merry-go-round stops on the West Side again this week as the West Side IRT will be without service for four nights beginning Monday at 10 p.m. As in the past, the MTA will be terminating all 3 service at 10 p.m. while the 1 and 2 will run only between their northern terminals and 34th St./Penn Station. West Side redundancies, however, will ease commuters’ angst.

The map, which I’ve borrowed from February’s announcement, appears above, and the changes, which last from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night through Friday morning are as follows:

The 1 will run between 34 St-Penn Station and 242 St
The 2 will run between 34 St-Penn Station and E 180 St; Rerouted via between E 180 St and Dyre Av
Free shuttle buses run to/from 3 stations at 148 St, 145 St, and 135 St.
The 4 will be extended to New Lots Av early, trains run local in Brooklyn
The 5 will run its regular route between Flatbush Av and E 180 St; Rerouted via the 2 between E 180 St and 241 St.
42 Street Shuttle runs all night.

As I’ve noticed in the past, the West Side routes are better equipped to handle FASTRACK than the East Side. Those who are traveling between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the 2 or 3 will be able to rely on the BMT and IND lines on the West Side or the 4 and 5 in Lower Manhattan. Brooklyn travelers on the East Side IRT won’t have to change to the 2 or 3 for local stops.

Still, although Transit has shown great results from this program, I can’t help but feel that FASTRACK is a last resort of sorts. The MTA could not accomplish this work without shutting down its 24-7-365 subway system for a few hours each day for consecutive days four days a week. Basically, for the first time in New York City history since the dawn of the subway era, the system has been shut down over night. It’s acceptable because of the redundancies in place, but it serves as an indictment of the decades of deferred maintenance.

The future brings more challenges for subway riders as FASTRACK expands. When it reaches beyond the core of Manhattan, redundancies fade away. The IND isn’t an avenue block away from the IRT as it is through most of Manhattan, and many areas are accessible via only one subway line. Still, these are lines that are just as important for mobility as the routes that snake through Lower Manhattan and into Midtown.

FASTRACK is the new normal, and it’s not going away any time soon. That said, we’ve reached this point because of a lack of political and economic support from Albany and a clear sense of construction oversight from the MTA. After an initial flurry of complaints concerning the service changes, the public hasn’t made many sounds of outrage and the media has largely ignored this every-other-week story. Will subway service always shut down periodically on a line every few weeks or can we escape this cycle? Do people care enough or are we just accepting of what is thrown our way when it comes to rapid transit during off-peak hours?

June 25, 2012 21 comments

Service Advisories

Weekend service changes? There’s an app for that.

by Benjamin Kabak June 22, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 22, 2012

Massimo Vignelli now comes in iPhone form.

Massimo Vignelli is now an app. A few months after the MTA reintroduced Vignelli’s controversial map via their Weekender offering, the authority has produced an app with the map. The app, available free (right here) for iPhone/iPod Touch, brings the subway diagram and the weekend’s service changes to Apple’s popular mobile platform.

I’ve spent some time playing with the app, and it’s pretty good. You can view the entire weekend schematic or individual stations or lines. To pick a specific station, you have to zoom in pretty far, and to find the service advisories, you have to tap around a bit. But with few options, it’s easy to learn. Plus, the app will download the MTA’s neighborhood maps.

“The Weekender has transformed the way riders navigate the subway system on weekends by making it easy for subway riders to visualize exactly how weekend work will affect their subway service,” Paul Fleuranges, the MTA’s Senior Director of Corporate and Internal Communications, said in a statement. “Now, by putting the power of The Weekender on mobile devices, customers can access service change information not just at their home or office, but anywhere, anytime, any way they want.”

Eventually, the MTA says future updates will incorporate TripPlanner+ too. The Weekender is the first app developed in-house by the MTA. Meanwhile, while you peruse the mobile version of this weekend’s changes, here they are in text form.

From 12:01 a.m. Sunday, June 24 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 25, there is no 1 train service between 168th Street and 242nd Street due to rehab work at Dyckman Street and structural rehabilitation, platform edge and canopy work at stations between 207th Street and 242nd Street and track panel installation north of 215th Street.

For 181st Street and 191st Street, take the uptown 1 to 168th Street and transfer to the M3 or free shuttle bus on St, Nicholas Avenue.
For Dyckman Street and 207th Street, take the uptown 1 to 168th Street and transfer to the A.
For stations from 215th Street to 242nd Street, take the uptown 1 to 168th Street and transfer to the A to 207th Street, then take the free shuttle bus along Broadway.

From 5 a.m. Saturday, June 23 to 9 a.m. Sunday, June 24, there is no 2 train service between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 135th Street due to survey and asbestos abatement at 149th Street-Grand Concourse. 2 service operates in two sections:

Between 241st Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street
Between 135th Street and Flatbush Avenue

Free shuttle buses run between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 135th Street, making a stop at 149th Street-Grand Concourse.

From 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23 and from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Sunday, June 24, there are no 5 trains between East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse due to survey and asbestos abatement at 149th Street-Grand Concourse. Customers should use the 2 and free shuttle bus instead. 5 service operates in two sections:

Between Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street
Between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and Bowling Green

Free shuttle buses run between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 135th Street, making a stop at 149th Street-Grand Concourse.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 23 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 25, Manhattan -bound D trains are rerouted via the N from Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street due to station and line structure rehabilitation near 9th Avenue.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 23 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 25, E trains run local in both directions between Queens Plaza and Roosevelt Avenue due to track maintenance.

From 10 p.m. Friday, June 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 25, Jamaica-bound F trains re rerouted via the M line from 47th-50th Sts to Queens Plaza due to Second Avenue Subway construction at Lexington Avenue-63rd Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 23 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 25, downtown F trains skip 23rd and 14th Sts. due to track roadbed construction north of 14th and 23rd Streets.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 23 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 25, Jamaica-bound F trains run local from the Queens Plaza M station to Roosevelt Avenue and Coney Island-bound F trains run local from Roosevelt Avenue to 21st Street-Queensbridge due to track maintenance.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 25, Coney Island-bound Q trains run express from Prospect Park to Sheepshead Bay due to track panel installation south of Kings Highway. Trains stop at Church Avenue, Newkirk Plaza and Kings Highway.

June 22, 2012 4 comments

View from Underground

Image: A PSA for personal safety

by Benjamin Kabak June 22, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on June 22, 2012

A new PSA from the MTA urges common sense platform safety measures.

Over the past few years, as often-fatal incidents involving passengers hit by subway trains have grabbed headlines, New York politicians have urged the MTA to focus on platform safety. While the MTA doesn’t have billions on hand to spend on platform doors, the authority has launched a new PSA urging straphangers to stay alert.

For many New Yorkers, standing away from the platform edge runs against our ethos. We like to stand impatiently waiting for a train as close as possible to that platform edge as we can get. Yet, it’s dangerous With a 4.5-foot drop off the platform, the track bed is lower than it appears. Additionally, trains can nick those standing too close to the edge. Last year, in fact, 47 of the 146 people struck by subway trains were killed after falling on the tracks.

“Venturing onto the subway tracks is the most dangerous thing a customer can do, so this is an issue that we take extremely seriously. We have created and are posting visible reminders of the hazards of either standing too close to the platform edge, or descending to the tracks to retrieve a dropped item,” Cheryl Kennedy, Vice President of System Safety for NYC Transit said.

The twist here though is that his PSA isn’t just a lecture. It also asks others to be mindful of those around them. If someone else looks like they may be at risk or may venture down to the tracks, the MTA asks everyone to stop it. After all, a delayed train can have a severe impact throughout the system.

June 22, 2012 12 comments

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