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Second Ave. Sagas

News and Views on New York City Transportation

New York City Transit

What future the G train

by Benjamin Kabak April 10, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 10, 2012

Of all the guff given out by New Yorkers directed at the subway system, none is worse than the ire those who rely on the G have for that train. The IND Crosstown line is the rare subway line that doesn’t enter Manhattan, and thanks to the stubbornness of history, it doesn’t provide the right transfers for Manhattan-bound trains, missing Atlantic/Pacific by a few hundred feet. With short trains and stations in need of repair, it has earned its Ghost Train nickname.

Yet, despite its reputation, my personal experiences with the G train have been as expected. At rush hour, the train runs every 6-8 minutes and never more frequently. While I sometimes have to wait longer than I’d prefer, the G is a pretty regular train that generally adheres to its schedule. It shares track only with the F at its southern end, and thus, it doesn’t have to deal with too many delays caused by switching priorities. It’s convenient and relatively fast for a ride that would otherwise take too long or cost over $20 in a cab.

Someone though is always trying to do something with the G train. It once ran to Forest Hills, and now it does not. It currently heads south to Church Ave., but even that sensible and useful extension is in jeopardy. A few petitions and some vocal politicians are working to ensure that the five-stop extension of the G train made necessary for the Culver Viaduct rehabilitation becomes a permanent one. My money — and hopefully the MTA’s — is on this movement becoming successful.

Yet, despite the bad reputation, the G is showing some serious signs of ridership growth. Take a look at its improvements in 2011 as compared with 2010:

Branch Station 2011 Ridership % Change from 2010
Crosstown Fulton St (G) 1,179,034 +7.30%
Crosstown Clinton-Washington Avs (G) 1,628,558 +7.33%
Crosstown Classon Av (G) 1,308,232 +8.33%
Crosstown Bedford-Nostrand Avs (G) 2,012,606 +6.20%
Crosstown Myrtle-Willoughby Avs (G) 1,383,197 +13.06%
Crosstown Flushing Av (G) 616,083 +11.26%
Crosstown Broadway (G) 995,856 +5.80%
Crosstown Nassau Av (G) 2,396,169 +12.67%
Crosstown Greenpoint Av (G) 2,490,286 +13.16%
Crosstown 21 St (G) 364,597 +13.94%

That’s growth that far outpaces the overall 2.26 percent bump in annual subway rides. The stations that service Greenpoint, meanwhile, rank in the top 44 of all Brooklyn subway stations, and Carroll St. and 7th Ave., shared with the F along the Culver line, witnessed jumps of over 15 percent as well. It’s hard to isolate out the number of F riders there as opposed to those waiting for the G, but the line is becoming popular.

So what is the MTA to do? Nothing shows the G train’s increased popularity more so that a late-night wait at Metropolitan Ave. as the platform fills up. Nothing shows the G train’s problems as the mad dash people make to reach the center of the platform as the short train zooms by. The two concerns, then, as noted yesterday in this space, focus around transfers and train length. The MTA, if it won’t increase the frequency of the G train, should lengthen the train sets.

The authority must also ascertain what impact a heavily utilized G train will have on transfer points. After all, most people are taking the G to get to another subway line that connects with Manhattan (although some use it to reach Court Square in Queens or the Pratt campus in Brooklyn). As ridership increases, those transfer points will see crowds swell as well.

Once upon a time, the G was the butt of all jokes, but it’s shedding this reputation. It’s not quite yet overcrowded but as its areas grow, ridership will continue to climb. Maybe it’s time to pay attention to the IND Crosstown line, that little G train that could.

April 10, 2012 103 comments
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AsidesMTA Construction

FASTRACK returns to the West Side, now in Queens

by Benjamin Kabak April 9, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 9, 2012

Everyone’s favorite late-night service suspension returns this week as the MTA gears up for another round of FASTRACK work. The agency quietly unveiled the year’s remaining dates in posters that have sprung up over the past few weeks, and tonight, work begins anew on the West Side IRT. As of 10 p.m. tonight, all 1 train service is suspended south of 34th St.; 2 trains will not run between 34th St. and Atlantic Ave.; and 3 train service is suspended entirely. Those leaving the Bruce Springsteen concert at MSG this evening will find no southbound 1, 2 or 3 service at Penn Station.

Meanwhile, Transit is beginning what could be called Phase 2 of FASTRACK this week as well. Beginning on Saturday at 5 a.m., the authority shuttered Manhattan-bound stations on the Queens Boulevard line between Parsons Boulevard and 71st Ave.-Forest Hills. The closure is supposed to last until 5 a.m. on Monday, April 16th. According to Transit, this full segment shutdown for an extended period of time is aimed at speeding up work. Through weekend advisories, such a treatment would generally last many weekends, and both progress and commutes would be slow. By targeting the area in a condensed period of time, the inconvenience is greater for a week but lesser overall.

For those riders impacting, the following applies: E and F riders at 75th Avenue wishing to travel toward Manhattan must board a Queens-bound train, travel to the Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens station and transfer to a Manhattan-bound train; E and F riders at Briarwood-Van Wyck Boulevard must board a Queens-bound train and travel to the Jamaica-Van Wyck (E) or Parsons Boulevard (F) stations to transfer to a Manhattan-bound train; F riders at Sutphin Boulevard (F) must board a Queens-bound train and travel to Parsons Boulevard (F) to transfer to a Manhattan-bound train.

April 9, 2012 15 comments
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New York City Transit

Chrystie St. Connection M service proving popular

by Benjamin Kabak April 9, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 9, 2012

Once upon a time, long ago in the days of early 2010, the brown-bulleted M train was for many New Yorkers an enigma. It would sneak from Middle Village in Queens through parts of Brooklyn into Manhattan for a quick jaunt along Nassau St. before a peak-only trip down 4th Ave. in the County of Kings. For a part of the night, the train runs only as a shuttle along the BMT Myrtle Ave. line. “What is this thing called M?” many subway riders wondered.

At the time, the M was useful mostly for Wall St. workers and civil servants. It offered a direct line to One Centre Street and the courthouses at Foley Square, and it provided for a stop right near Wall Street. It had its core riders but never gained much traction even as the areas it serviced in Queens and Brooklyn grew. It’s usefulness was limited by the need to transfer. To get to Midtown required a transfer to a crowded F train at Essex/Delancey, and most straphangers were content to take the L, a generally more direct and reliable train.

In mid-2010, amidst a budget crisis, that all changed. To save dollars, the MTA axed the rush hour extension of the M train to Bay Parkway, killed the V train, gave the bullet an orange make-over and re-routed the M to snake through midtown and to Forest Hills via the Chrystie St. Cut. A few vocal groups were unhappy with the cut. They feared less frequent service at Second Ave., once the V’s southern terminal but now only an F stop,. Too, the commuters from Middle Village to Lower Manhattan bemoaned the need for a transfer.

Yet, the possibilities for the new M train seemed promising. It would deliver a one-seat ride from rapidly growing residential neighborhoods to the core job centers in Manhattan. It would alleviate some pressure on the L train and would make use of existing and underutilized infrastructure. It seems to be a hit.

Late last week on Subchat, a well-connected poster unveiled the 2011 station-by-station ridership figures. Transit has yet to publish this information on its website, but the numbers are available. As ridership climbed over 2 percent in 2011 to over 1.6 billion, the stations along the Myrtle Ave. Line showed the most growth. Take a look:

Branch Station 2011 Ridership % Change from 2010
Myrtle Ave. Middle Village-Metropolitan Av (M) 1,220,377 +8.50%
Myrtle Ave. Fresh Pond Rd (M) 1,617,252 +11.26%
Myrtle Ave. Forest Av (M) 1,172,881 +12.19%
Myrtle Ave. Seneca Av (M) 758,144 +13.02%
Myrtle Ave. Knickerbocker Av (M) 1,136,213 +12.82%
Myrtle Ave. Central Av (M) 890,194 +17.03%

Across the board, those numbers are astounding. If the system showed such growth, it would quickly become far too crowded for the service levels. By and large, Subchatters noted that the growth likely came from people who are switching from the L train to the M due to the promise of a one-seat ride. In fact, the L train stations closet to the M — Halsey and DeKalb — showed less growth than other nearby L stops. Some of the increase too comes from new riders.

This news is, in no small sense, a vindication for many transit activists who had urged the MTA to make use of the Chrystie St. Cut for years. The service change, which just made sense even absent the need to preserve money, has become quite popular, and it’s one that should have been made years ago. Because of the fixed nature of rail tracks and the glacial pace of system expansion, the MTA is limited in ways it can meet shifting demographics and commuting patterns. Using the Cut is one of those ways, and it’s been a success. Now if only the authority would restore rush-hour along 4th Ave. in Brooklyn. Perhaps the J or Z could be put to such use.

April 9, 2012 50 comments
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Service Advisories

Weekend work impacting 12 subway lines

by Benjamin Kabak April 6, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 6, 2012

With the combination of Passover and Good Friday upon is, we’ll wrap up the week a bit early. You know the drill. Have a good holiday if you’re celebrating this weekend.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, April 7 to 10 p.m. Sunday, April 8, uptown 2 trains run express from 3rd Avenue-149th Street to East 180th Street due to track panel installation at East 180th Street.


From 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, April 7 and from 9 a.m. to 11p.m., Sunday, April 8, uptown 5 trains run express from 3rd Avenue-149th Street to East 180th Street due to track panel installation at East 180th Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, April 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9, uptown 6 trains run express from 3rd Avenue-138th Street to Hunts Point Avenue due to scraping and painting of ceilings at Cypress Avenue, East 143rd Street and Longwood Avenue stations.


From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8, uptown C trains skip Spring, 23rd, and 50th Streets due to electrical and substation work at Jay Street-MetroTech.


From 11 p.m. Friday, April 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9, Manhattan-bound D trains skip 182nd-183rd Sts. due to track maintenance.


From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8, and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9, Bronx-bound D trains run express from 36th Street to Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street, skipping DeKalb Avenue due to track replacement north of Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street.


From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m., Saturday, April 7 uptown D trains run local from 59th Street-Columbus Circle to 145th Street due to replacement of broken rail plates north of 59th Street-Columbus Circle.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, April 7, at all times until 5 a.m. Monday, April 16, E trains will skip Briarwood-Van Wyck Blvd. and 75th Avenue due to tie, tie block, plate and rail replacement.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, April 7, at all times until 5 a.m. Monday, April 16, F trains will skip Sutphin Blvd. (Hillside Avenue), Briarwood-Van Wyck Blvd. and 75th Avenue due to tie, block, plate and rail replacement.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, April 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9, Queens-bound F trains run via the A line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street due to electrical and substation work at Jay Street-MetroTech.


From 11 p.m. Sunday, April 8 to 6 a.m. Monday, April 9, Jamaica-bound F trains run local from 21st Street-Queensbridge to Roosevelt Avenue due to rail replacement.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, April 7 to 10 p.m., Sunday, April 8, Jamaica Center-bound J trains skip Hewes Street, Lorimer Street and Flushing Avenue due to track panel work at Hewes Street and Flushing Avenue.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, April, 7 to 10 p.m. Sunday, April 8, M trains run every 24 minutes (every 20 minutes overnight) between Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue due to track panel work at Hewes Street and Flushing Avenue.


From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8 and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9, Queens-bound N trains run express from 36th Street to Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street, then via the Manhattan Bridge, skipping DeKalb Avenue due to track replacement north of Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, April 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9, Manhattan-bound Q trains run via the R line from DeKalb Avenue to Canal Street due to track replacement north of Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street. Note: Q trains stop at Jay Street-MetroTech, Court Street, Whitehall Street, Rector Street, Cortlandt Street and City Hall.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, April 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9, Coney Island-bound Q trains skip Avenue U and Neck Road due to track panel work south of Kings Highway.


From 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8, Manhattan-bound R trains run express from 36th Street to Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street, then via the Manhattan Bridge, skipping DeKalb Avenue due to track replacement north of Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street.


From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8 and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m., Monday, April 9, there is no R service between 59th Street and 36th Street in Brooklyn due to track replacement north of Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street. Customers should take the N instead. R trains will operate between 96th Street and 59th Street in Brooklyn.

April 6, 2012 12 comments
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7 Line Extension

After a tragedy, crane inspections come under fire

by Benjamin Kabak April 6, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 6, 2012

A crane at Site J for the 7 line extension, shown above, collapsed in a fatal accident earlier this week. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

I was unexpectedly out of town earlier this week when news broke of a tragedy at the site of the 7 line extension. On Tuesday night, shortly before 7:30 p.m., a crane collapsed in Site J of the 7 line extension, killing one worker and injuring another. The Manitowoc 4100, located on the east side of 11th Ave. between 33rd and 34th Streets, snapped, and Michael Simmermeyer, a 30-year-old who worked the site with his father, passed away.

“The entire MTA family would like to extend our sincerest condolences to the family of the worker who lost his life as a result of this tragic accident,” the authority said in a statement. “We at the MTA grieve for this loss and vow to do everything we can to ensure that everyone working on projects to better the lives of all New Yorkers can do so as safely as possible.”

In the aftermath of the accident, MTA officials ordered a full stoppage of work at the site, and Michael Horodniceanu of MTA Capital Construction, ordered all MTA cranes inspected. The NYC DOB was called in, and OSHA, the NYPD and the Manhattan DA were looking into the matter as well. The City Council too voiced its concern.

Christine Quinn, currently the presumptive frontrunner in the 2013 race for mayor, raised her voice in concern. She has repeated over the last few years the point that as a state agency, the MTA may invite city inspectors into their sites but is under no legal duty to do so. She also posted a similar message to her Facebook page. As news outlets noted that the crane was due up for inspection this week, Quinn called upon the MTA to allow for oversight closer to home.

“We need the MTA and other state agencies to give the city oversight and authority at these construction sites,” said Quinn. “In fact, the MTA should follow the lead of the Port Authority, that has enters into a memorandum of understanding with the city around crane safety issues.”

The MTA acknowledged the City Council Speaker’s concerns but seemed defensive in doing so. It highlighted two previous inspections that found no deficiencies with its equipment. “The MTA shares City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s concern for the safety of MTA construction sites,” the authority said in a statement. “As a state public authority, the MTA already is subject to state building codes. The MTA is examining the Speaker’s proposal to put all MTA construction activity under the inspection authority of the New York City Department of Buildings.”

Still, other City Council members voiced similar views. Jessica Lappin who represents the area surrounding the Second Ave. Subway construction and has fought for crane safety, echoed Quinn. “I do think the MTA should stop pointing fingers and should follow the rules that we have already set out,” she said to WNYC. The MTA downplayed a jurisdictional tussle with the City Council, but it’s clear the city wants a greater say in the matter.

Work on the site, meanwhile, will resume on Monday after a pause of nearly a week, and the construction crews will return with a heavy heart as they mourn one of their own, taken at far too young an age.

April 6, 2012 12 comments
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Capital Program 2015-2019

Link: Richardson on the MTA’s capital plan

by Benjamin Kabak April 5, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 5, 2012

As the major players with stakes invested in the MTA’s capital plan gain a better sense of what the next few years hold, they have grown more willing to discuss the short- and long-term futures for the agency’s ambitious construction scope. We know the authority may scale back on mega-projects after 2014, and that’s a development sure to dismay the contractors and construction companies that benefit, perhaps too much so, from the MTA’s dollars.

Today, Streetsblog checks in with Denise Richardson, the head of the General Contractors Association and one-time MTA official. Richardson speaks of the fears the city had as Albany played chicken with the capital plan and the ways in which the federal government still has sway over the debate.

GCA members are still a bit wary of the House Republicans’ transportation bill, but the immediate focus is on debt. The big takeaway from Richardson:

DR: There has to be a very serious conversation about how to fund the MTA, which is part of the larger conversation about funding infrastructure nationally. We’re not the only place that’s having this debate. As we head into 2014 and the next MTA capital plan, we have to really talk about how we’re going to fund the MTA going forward.

This is a debt-laden capital plan. Everyone who follows the MTA knows that. To the MTA’s credit, what they’re doing is they’re paying off old debt while they take on new debt. The new debt has very favorable terms. Interest rates are as low as they’re ever going to be, so they’re swapping less favorable debt for more favorable debt. But it’s still debt and it still needs to paid. We have to look at a revenue source for the MTA that is stable, recurring and will be there.

With the threat of both federal and state spending drying up over the next few years — and the way such infrastructure spending may be tied into November’s presidential election — no one knows what the next five-year capital plan will resemble. Everyone involved though agrees: The debt situation is getting out of hand.

April 5, 2012 1 comment
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Capital Program 2015-2019MTA Construction

A five-year capital plan a little less ambitious

by Benjamin Kabak April 4, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 4, 2012

For transit expansionists, the MTA’s recent five-year capital plans have been a little bit of infrastructure excitement amidst a system that had remained fairly stagnant for a few decades. We’ve seen the 7 line head west, the Second Ave. Subway materialize after eight decades, a transit center grow and an LIRR tunnel emerge. It is an unprecedented era of expansion for most New Yorkers.

But what of the future? We know the 7 won’t end up in New Jersey in our lifetimes. Will future phases of the Second Ave. Subway survive? Joe Lhota isn’t making any promises. As City & State reports today, Lhota spoke of behind-the-scenes investment taking center stage for the 2015-2019 capital plan. They wrote:

The future is all about tweaking the existing system, Joseph Lhota, the MTA’s chairman, told the audience at a New York Building Congress breakfast yesterday. That means updated signals to shuttle more trains through, longer platforms and more entranceways to ease the flow of commuters in and out of stations. “We’re going to have to expand our system in a way that isn’t as sexy as these four mega-projects,” Lhota said. And while such mundane efforts may not grab the public’s attention, Lhota said the aim would be to cut wait times in half. “It’s about signals,” he explained after his speech. “If we’re going to have more throughput, we’re going to put more trains on the same track, and we’re going to have to have more modernized signals.”

Politicians love mega-projects because they are clear and visible signs of progress that piqué constituent interest. There are no photo ops for a modernized signal system as there are for the launch of a tunnel-boring machine. Still, these investments are equally as important, if not more do, than a mega-project. It’s also easier and more fiscally responsible of the MTA to eye a five-year plan that won’t saddle the agency with massive debt, and upgrades that increase capacity could deliver on that goal.

Yet, this blog is named after one of those mega-projects, and it’s my firm belief that future phases of the Second Ave. subway should remain on the radar. Phase 1 is a good start, but without phase 2, SAS is but a stub. To ease congestion and provide faster service, the full line must remain a target.

We are of course getting ahead of ourselves. The MTA only recently secured funding for the last few years of the current phase. But the era of mega-projects may be nearing an end, and that is not a day for celebration.

April 4, 2012 36 comments
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7 Line Extension

Thoughts on the death of another ambitious transit expansion

by Benjamin Kabak April 4, 2012
written by Benjamin Kabak on April 4, 2012

The 7 line will terminate only at 34th Street and 11th Avenue and not in New Jersey. (Via The Wall Street Journal)

When it comes to transit planning in 2012, not too many people in America are dreaming big. We can’t seem to get a national high-speed rail plan off the ground, and while some cities — notably Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — are working hard to expand their subway systems, most urban areas are content with incremental improvements. In New York, it was a battle to get a four-station extension of the Second Ave. Subway built, and the East Side Access plan could be facing a two-year delay.

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg, then, announced in November 2010 his plans to extend the 7 line to Secaucus, New Jersey, he was met with both skepticism and enthusiasm. The skepticism arose from the fact that Bloomberg seemingly failed to notify even the MTA of his announcement, and enthusiasm because a leading New York politician had finally embraced an ambitious transit opportunity. It was, of course not to be.

The warning signs were in place early. Although the mayor continued to voice support for the 7 line last October, a promised engineering study that was due late last year has yet to materialized. Meanwhile, the MTA, under two different chairmen, never embraced the plan, and yesterday, Joe Lhota offered up a dose of reality in essentially canceling the plan. According to today’s reports, the authority had made the determination at least a month ago that the 7 extension to New Jersey was too costly, and the Mayor seemed to agree. “I know there’s an effort afoot to try to get the subway system to go to New Jersey,” Lhota said. “I told the mayor this, I told the deputy mayor this: I can’t see this happening in our lifetime.”

The Mayor, speaking yesterday afternoon, seemed resigned to Lhota’s reality. “It’s very hard to see the funding coming right now,” he said. Even the Mayor’s initial cost estimates of $5 billion seemed optimistic, and the MTA has other fish to fry. So even though, as The Wall Street Journal reported today, the Parsons Brinckerhoff preliminary study is still a few months away from seeing the light of day, it may just be an exercise in futility at this point.

As I pondered this development last night, I kept wondering whether or not we should mourn the death of the 7 line to Secaucus. I’ve long believed that we simply do not dream big anymore. Perhaps it’s a sign of the economic times; perhaps it’s a tendency to kowtow to loud NIMBY voices; perhaps it’s fallout from the Robert Moses Era, a period in planning with which New York has never come to terms. Likely, it’s a combination of all three factors, and rare are the politicians who have been the will to push through an ambitious plan and the political capital to do so as well. For better or worse, Mayor Bloomberg was one of those politicians, but his lasting legacies will be a meager extension of the 7 to Hudson Yards and a controversial arena in Brooklyn. Transit hasn’t been a top priority.

When Bloomberg announced the 7 extension to Secaucus, he seemed to be capitalizing on headlines concerning Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to cancel the ARC Tunnel, and he had hoped to secure federal dollars that would have gone to New Jersey. In that sense, it was a rather blatant move. Yet, it represented a sign that transit could command headlines, and with the Secaucus-bound subway dead for generations, plenty of other projects could grab the spotlight.

So let’s find a champion for a Second Ave. Subway that heads north. Let’s find someone willing to explore the Triboro RX plan. Let’s examine a connection to State Island for a rapid transit system. Let’s look into those Utica and Nostrand Avenue extension plans. Just because this grand idea died doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep dreaming.

April 4, 2012 69 comments
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AsidesMTA Construction

Transit quietly unveils remaining FASTRACK dates

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

Get ready for more “partial-line closures” this year. With little fanfare, Transit has unveiled the remaining FASTRACK dates for the rest of 2012. The announcement came via poster, and you’ve probably seen the signs in the fare control areas at your favorite subway station. I guess these week-long, late-night service shutdowns are the new normal.

Anyway, here goes: Service on the 7th Ave. line from 34th St. to Atlantic Ave. or South Ferry will be suspended from April 9-13, June 25-29 and October 15-19. Service along the 8th Ave. line from 59th St.-Columbus Circle to Jay St.-MetroTech or the World Trade Center will be shut down from April 23-27, July 9-13 and October 22-26. The 6th Ave. line will not run from 59th St.-Columbus Circle to West 4th St. from May 14-18, July 23-27 and September 24-28. The Lexington Ave. routes will be suspended from Grand Central-42nd St. to Atlantic Ave. from June 11-15, September 3-7 and November 5-9. All service suspensions will run from 10 p.m.-5 a.m. as MTA crews blitz the tracks without trains speeding by.

April 3, 2012 8 comments
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7 Line ExtensionAsides

Lhota dashes dreams of a 7 train to Secaucus

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

The Mayor Bloomberg-inspired plan to extend the 7 train underneath the Hudson River to Secaucus has captured transit dreamers’ imaginations over the past few years, but the odds have long been stacked against it. The subway expansion would require interstate cooperation and billions of dollars that aren’t readily available. Useful? Yes. Practical amidst the current political and economic climates? Probably not.

Today, while speaking at a meeting of the New York Building Congress, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota threw an ice cold bucket of water on those dreaming of such a subway plan, as Transportation Nation reported this morning. The extension, he said, not going to happen in our lifetime. It’s not going to happen in anybody’s lifetime…The expense is beyond anything we’re doing.”

From the cost of construction to the need to build railyards and shops in New Jersey to the more pressing needs within the city, Lhota was unequivocal in his stance. “I’ve told the mayor this, I can’t see that happening in our lifetime,” he said. The Mayor, in his response, seemed to accept the MTA head’s assessment. Calling Lhota a “realist,” Bloomberg said later that he hopes it “happens within someone’s lifetime. Those people may not have been born yet whose lifetime it would be.” Ain’t that aiming for the stars?

April 3, 2012 41 comments
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