Brooklyn

BQE reconstruction shelved, but is it a loss?

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 30, 2011

The BQE reconstruction will not move forward.

In mid-2010, after years of community meetings and design forums, New York State unveiled some ambitious plans to overhaul the BQE. With price tags ranging from a few billion to many billions of dollars, the proposals included a tunnel that would run underneath the Gowanus and Fort Greene neighborhoods to the Brooklyn Navy Yards that would allow for connections to the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges while siphoning traffic away from the always-congested cut in Carroll Gardens and Brooklyn Heights. Despite the pie-in-the-sky nature of such a project, I liked the ideas behind it.

Today, though, we learn that the project will not go forward. The money simply isn’t there, and the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration do not consider repairs for the BQE and Gowanus Expressway to be “critical needs” any longer. “We assumed it was a necessity because they described the BQE as very deteriorated and substandard,” Brooklyn Heights Association Executive Director Judy Stanton said to The Post. “But if all they are going to do is continue Band-Aid repair work at the city’s expense, it won’t be sufficient.”

Rich Calder has more:

Blaming the national economic downturn, state and federal transportation officials said yesterday that they are abandoning plans to modernize and revamp crumbling stretches of the Brooklyn-Queens and Gowanus expressways…Cobble Hill activist Roy Sloane, who has been fighting for the BQE improvements for many years, said the decision to discontinue studying a highway makeover is a big blow to public safety.

“We were told by the state that the BQE was in danger of collapsing in the 80s,” said Sloane. “It’s also pathetic that they put all these years and effort in, spent money on all sorts of designs and are now dropping it.

However, a state DOT spokesman said recent inspections of the two highways showed they “do not require major repairs at this time.” Naomi Doerner, an urban planner who consulted the state DOT on the BQE project, said in an email that that the city and state “will continue to support efforts to ensure” the highway “remains a safe and reliable roadway in our transportation system.”

So it sounds bad that the state has decided roadways that a few years ago, could not withstand the pounding they took from daily traffic are suddenly sufficient just because the money isn’t there to replace them. That portends ill for the city’s aging transportation and transit infrastructure. But there’s a second side to this story that indicates perhaps it’s not such a bad decision after all.

Take, for instance, Cap’n Transit’s past coverage of the BQE plans. As the Cap’n astutely notes, transportation dollars are limited, and money spent to reconstruct roads in New York City will ultimately mean fewer dollars for competing transit projects. If the state spends a few billion to rebuild the BQE and tunnel through some Brooklyn neighborhoods, that’s a few billion dollars they can’t spend to build better transit service that would take cars off the road anyway.

In that sense, then, not moving forward with BQE reconstruction plans seems perfectly acceptable, if not ideal, for those who want to spend on transit to the exclusion of roads. Building, say, the Triborough RX line could have the same impact on traffic as constructing a BQE tunnel would, and the rail line would be a net gain for the environment and non-auto mobility as well.

Ultimately, if the physical infrastructure is secure, there’s no need to spend billions on a reconstruction. Spend those dollars, if they exist, on transit instead, and congestion will decrease. I’d still like to see the city move forward on plans to green the BQE trench as that would have a tangible positive impact on the Hicks St. neighborhood, but failing to build this multi-billion-dollar project that would increase road capacity isn’t a net loss for the city.

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Subway Security

Pondering the late, great token booths

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 30, 2011

Even as they tore down token booths across the city, the MTA erected a new one at South Ferry in 2008. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

For the past few years, the MTA has waged if not a war then an assault on station booths. The once-ubiquitous boxy structures that were the home to token agents and then the jack-of-all/no-trades station booths have been axed along with the employees who used to work in them. Even though the MTA’s finances may some day recover, the station booths have been physically removed from many stations, and only those that remain will be staffed.

When the MTA first announced the decision to axe station employees and their booths, I viewed it as one that would challenge perception rather than impact reality. The tangible impact would come in the arena of fare-jumping as once-reluctant hoppers would climb off the turnstiles with impunity. The overwhelmingly vast majority of people would continue to pay.

The perception of safety though presented a real concern. Although station agents are not authorized to stop crimes and in fact are instructed not to leave their booths, they provide another set of eyes and a lifeline to a telephone that can be used to summon the authorities. Although station agents have made headlines for falling asleep as their posts, if anything, the presence of a station agent can be comforting to someone not so keen on a late-night subway ride, and today, those security blankets are dwindling.

Last week, Pete Donohue took the MTA to task for its whole-scale eliminate of station agents. Instead of Occupy Wall St., an amorphous protest against everything and nothing, New Yorkers, he wrote, should be protesting the MTA’s decision to remove personnel from the subway system. “I always feel safer when I see someone in the box,” he said, “particularly late at night when there are fewer riders around.”

Donohue reimagines the role of the station agent:

Occupy the Booth would protest the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s staff reductions in subway stations and demand more uniformed MTA personnel to help straphangers and tourists. If the job of assisting riders leaves these workers with extra time, have them occasionally pick up a broom and tidy the place, or maybe change a light bulb or shoo away the rats.

The MTA shuttered booths to cut expenses and close budget gaps. The pink-slipped clerks were directed to report to a former public school in Brooklyn that the MTA had taken over for use as a training facility. There, they had to turn in their uniforms, keys and badges. It was a sad parade of civil servants, many of them single mothers, carrying their transit gear in black plastic garbage bags. In the past, when senior executives were shown the door, they received full salary for one year as severance. The clerks got a MetroCard.

The vacant booths remained in place. Police made use of a few: They covered the glass with newspaper on the inside and cut peep holes to spy on swiper scammers at nearby turnstiles, hoping to catch them in the act. I’m not so sure it was terribly effective. It was a swiper who told me about the strategy in a Bronx station when I wondered about the newsprint curtains. The cubicle must have been empty. Two teen-agers with backpacks hopped the turnstile and no police emerged. The booths mostly served as big boxy reminders that you’re paying more for less. Then they started disappearing.

I never shed too many tears over the departure of the station agents. They were useful a few times a day for certain riders unfamiliar with the city and the system, and they’re still nominally in place in at least one booth in every station. Yet, if the MTA and its unions had reconstructed the role of the agent to take ownership of his or her station, to be a face, to take a broom and sweep up now and then, perhaps the authority wouldn’t have been so quick to remove the station booths themselves forever, thus lending an air of permanence to the whole thing.

Of course, the unions would be rightly concerned with employee safety, and with rising assault numbers, those concerns would likely be justified. But instead, the MTA has effectively cut off its station booth nose to spite its face. These booths aren’t coming back any time soon, and no occupation, for better or worse, would have much of an effect on them.

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AsidesSelf Promotion

Reminder: 2nd Ave. Sagas 5th Anniversary Soiree on Thursday

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 29, 2011

On November 21, 2006, I wrote a brief introduction to Second Ave. Sagas, and while I didn’t really start with daily post until Fulton St. attracted my attention a week later, thus was born this website. Five years later, it’s time to celebrate, and this Thursday, I’m hosting a party. The Second Ave. Sagas 5th Anniversary Soiree is set for 7 p.m. on December 1 in the Vice Room at the 13th Step. Details and an RSVP form are right here.

We’ll have a cash bar at the party, but thanks to Roadify, the popular transit app, we’ll have some finger food as well. Roadify combines NYC’s best transit data with updates from real commuters, giving you the most up-to-date transit conditions for subways, buses and traffic in real-time. Roadify’s free iPhone app won Grand Prize at the city-sponsored NYC BigApps2.0 earlier this year and can be downloaded here. Roadify v2.0 is due in December and is set to change commuting for good.

Anyway, I hope to see you all on Thursday. This site wouldn’t be nearly as fun or successful without my readers, and having the opportunity to meet everyone in person would be a joy. See you on Thursday.

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View from Underground

Improving accessibility through better sound

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 29, 2011

A few months ago, I noticed a placard had popped up at the remaining token booths throughout the city’s subway system. These booths trumpeted a new accessibility project that would better outfit subway stations with technology that enables the hard-of-hearing to ask for directions and receive information from the station agents. Today, NY1 explores this new initiative.

The technology is based upon a “hearing loop” that has been in use for a few decades. The MTA has adopted it for over 400 booths throughout the subway system. Kafi Drexel reports:

The technology, known as an induction loop, is already common in some European countries. The loops, placed around the perimeter of a room or window, sends out electromagnetic signals that can jump to a receiver called a telechoil or “t-coil,” which is already in most hearing aids or cochlear implants. When the t-coil is switched on, it picks up only what comes through a microphone or loudspeaker and cancels out the background noise.

The $13.5 million subway hearing loop project is the largest in the country. “Induction loops were a federal stimulus project. It was a project we were considering and had completely designed, so the project came directly from the federal government,” says Marc Bienstock of MTA NYC Transit.

Advocates say the technology is so advanced that the sound can actually come across more clearly than what New Yorkers without any hearing loss might normally hear. “It’s gaining attention now but it’s not even new. I seem to recall back 20, 25 years our hearing aids had t-coils on them. You used them for the telephone. Nobody talked about it,” says Arlene Romoff of the Hearing Loss Association. “To put this infrastructure in looping systems, where it can actually do some good aside from just hearing on a phone or sitting in a looped room, to finally literally get light shown on this, it’s enormous.”

The MTA has faced criticism for its slow response to the ADA and the glacial pace of the attempts at making the system accessible. The authority has pledged to make 100 “key” stations ADA-compliant by 2020, and disabilities advocates have accused the MTA of shirking on its ADA responsibilities during rehabs of non-key stations. This effort, a small one in the grand scheme of the MTA’s overall budget, will help improve commutes for those who are hard of hearing, and that’s a worthwhile goal indeed.

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View from Underground

At Grand Central, finding an open use for public space

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 29, 2011

Once a restaurant, soon an Apple Store.

As Thanksgiving morphed into Black Friday a few days ago, the transit stories were dominated by something that didn’t happen. Despite rumors stretching back into the spring, Apple did not open its Grand Central flagship store by the time the day of sales rolled around. Instead, construction has continued apace, and the computer giant finally revealed its temporary signage at the former Metrazur space.

According to reports on 9to5mac, an Apple insider blog, rumors are now percolating of a December 9 opening date. That’s just a week and a half away now and still within the frenzied month of shopping that feeds into Christmas. Grand Central, already overrun with tourists during the holiday season, will soon play temporary host to legions of iPad-toting technologists as well.

For Apple and the MTA, the deal for the space is one made in fiscal heaven. Apple paid Metrazur, the restaurant that once called the mezzanine home, $5 million to terminate its lease early, and the deal with the MTA is a lucrative one. Apple will pay at least $800,000 a year for the space and another $300,000 for ancillary storage facilities. The MTA believes the mere presence of Apple could boost sales to other businesses in the landmarked terminal by a few million a year as well.

But what of the store itself? Does it fit in with the ethos of Grand Central Terminal and what it has become in the years after its renovation and renaissance?

A few weeks ago, my dad and I had lunch at the Oyster Bar, another iconic Grand Central locale, and our discussion turned toward the Apple Store. My dad, who has seen his favorite New York stores — the Tower Records locations, the local bookstores, anything on the Upper West Side that isn’t a bank or a Starbucks or a Gap — close over the years, wasn’t too impressed with a corporate behemoth of an Apple Store opening up in Grand Central.

When the MTA renovated the space and agreed to lease it to the restaurants, the balcony spaces were to be open for all as an open-air display of grandiosity and good food. With an understated presence, Metrazur simply blended in, and my dad wondered if the Apple store would do the same. Of course, Metrazur wasn’t exactly an egalitarian restaurant. Lunch combination plates started at $27 with prix fixe dinners topping $50 — before drinks. These weren’t Aureole prices, but they were steep enough.

The Apple Store, on the other hand, is a transient place. To those of us in my generation, the Apple Store is a public realm where we can take a break to check our email, browse the Internet or look up nearby attractions or restaurants. We don’t have to pay $12 for a Caesar Salad just to enjoy the views from the Apple Store; rather, we can walk in, look around and walk out without paying a dime. As long as Apple keeps its own signature stylings to a minimum, it’s hard to imagine a space as all-encompassing and welcoming as a computer store opening up in Grand Central.

The ultimate issue with the incoming Apple Store won’t concern the ease of access though. Rather, it will concern crowds. How will Grand Central cope with an influx of people streaming toward the Apple Store as harried commuters rush to and from their trains? What happens on days with big product launches when the lines at other Apple Stores stretch for blocks and blocks? How can the world’s largest computer retailer co-exist with the nation’s busiest rail terminal? The Apple Store will be open space for the public to use, and perhaps as they climb those stores, they can stop to appreciate the rest of what makes Grand Central so grand.

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7 Line ExtensionAsides

A Far West Side rebirth, but without a key subway station

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 28, 2011

For a long time, I was skeptical of the 7 line extension to the Hudson Yards area. With nothing in the area around the new terminal, New York City was spending $2.3 billion of scarce transportation money on a subway to nowhere that would largely benefit real estate interests without improving transit mobility throughout the city. The project still suffers from some of these problems, but as The Times details today, it’s clear that the Far West Side is booming and will continue to do so for years. Manhattan’s last frontier is having its coming-out party.

Charles Bagli’s concept for his Times piece is an intuitive one: Mayor Bloomberg’s plans for Far West Side were designed to showcase the 2012 Olympics, but by losing out on those Summer Games, the West Side has benefited from mixed-use development far more than it otherwise would have. New York anticipates constructing more office space in Hudson Yards than in some small cities, and a variety of residential buildings have opened from 42nd St. down to 29th St. A few thousand new residential units will anchor the commercial areas, and the 7 line will bring everyone there.

There is, of course, one grand omission from both Bagli’s article and the city’s West Side plans, and that is a subway stop at 41st and 10th Ave. Originally part of the 7 line extension, the station was axed amidst concerns of rising costs. The project likely would have carried a $3 billion price tag otherwise, and only the barest of provisioning for a future station has been put into place.

By omitting a station in an area surrounded by both new and old developments, the city clearly decided to pursue uncharted opportunities above Hudson Yards, and that’s a serious omission in the tale of West Side Renaissance. It’s a short-sighted one that will cost New York and its residents more money in the future. While the Far West Side development deserves praise, we should not forget the mistakes of planning as well.

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Abandoned Stations

Video: Inside the Essex St. trolley terminal

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 28, 2011

A few months ago, as Jay Walder’s tenure at the MTA came to an end, word leaked out of an ambitious plan to turn some idle underground infrastructure owned by the MTA into a park. Called “Delancey Underground,” the plan involved bringing sunlight from above through fiber optic cables to create a park in the abandoned Essex St. Trolley Terminal. As New York City has seen the High Line take off on the West Side, the park proponents envision something similar for the Lower East Side.

As I understand it, the men behind this plan had a sympathetic ear in Jay Walder, and although press coverage of the Delancey Underground hasn’t died down, I’m not sure what their future holds. Even if the space isn’t turned into a park, the MTA, though, wants to see it redeveloped. Enter today’s video. In it, Peter Hine of the MTA takes us on a visual tour of the Essex St. Trolley Terminal, a mysterious space across from the J/M/Z platform that has been shuttered for decades. Sneak a peek:

I’m trying to arrange a tour of the space myself, but for now, Hine’s walk-through will have to do. While South 4th St., for example, remains sealed off seemingly forever, the Essex St. Trolley Terminal is firmly on the authority’s radar. As Hine says in the video, the MTA is looking for something to fill the space that “benefits both our transit system and its passengers.”

For Transit, converting these idle spaces into something useful is part of a new focus on “creative redevelopment and reuse.” If the authority can make money while turning parts of the system into spaces for urban creativity and exploration, even better. Still, the trolley terminal hasn’t been in use for sixty years. It could be a few more before anything lands there. For now, it’s still just a glimpse into the city’s transit past.

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Second Avenue Subway

A temporary reprieve from Second Ave. blasting

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on November 28, 2011

During my Thanksgiving sabbatical from blogging, news come down from on high that blasting underneath Second Ave. would cease temporarily as the MTA and its contractors work to mitigate the impact of the construction. For a project that has plowed ahead while often barely considering the impact the immediate would have on the locals, this decision to reassess the situation both below and above ground is not a small one for a project on a timeline with little margin for error.

The New York Times reported on the decision last week. Per Christine Haughney and Michael Grynbaum, the MTA has issued a two-week moratorium on blasting as it works to modify the exhaust systems and giant enclosures that are supposed to trap debris. Blasting will resume on December 5, and residents are thrilled with the decision.

Those Upper East Siders who spoke with reporters were concerned with the long-term impact such blasting would have on their health. “I don’t want it to turn into a 9/11 situation where, five to 10 years down the line we’re sick,” Donna Pressman said to Pete Donohue of The Daily News. Said Jean Schoenberger to The Times. “It’s like gun powder that is going up in the air. It is a smoke cloud that is very pervasive.”

So while it’s all well and good that the MTA is responding to community complaints and hosting a quarterly public workshop on construction progress this Wednesday, there’s another side to this story as well. As Carolyn Maloney, the Congressional representative whose constituents include Upper East Siders, said of the long-awaited subway, “The best thing to do is to finish it.”

Thus, as Christine Haughney wrote last week, a faction of Upper East Siders would prefer to see the MTA just finish the damn thing already. She reported:

Francisco R. Quijada and Gus Sofronia, both longtime business owners along Second Avenue, know how frustrating the construction of the new subway line can be. Both have watched their businesses suffer from the huge enclosures that have been built in front of their buildings. And both have asked customers to ignore the steady drilling and hammering that emanate from beneath their feet. But when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided on Tuesday to stop temporarily the blasts it had been conducting around East 72nd Street each afternoon to try to better contain the dust billowing up, the two men reacted very differently.

Mr. Quijada, 79, an interior designer who has had his studio on Second Avenue near 72nd Street for 45 years, welcomed a break from the thunderous booms. They rattle his studio, riddle his walls with cracks and send dust into his front window display like sand pouring down an hourglass, he said. When he looks outside after a blast, he said, he sees passers-by covered in dust. “It sounds like another bomb is coming,” he said. “Maybe for somebody in their 20s, it would be exciting for it to happen. We have lost a lot of business.”

Mr. Sofronia, owner of Cafe Greco on Second Avenue near 72nd Street for 25 years, also says that the booms have hurt his business. But he is angry that the Second Avenue project has slowed. He wants the authority to wrap up its work so he can start making money from customers riding the new line. “That’s just delaying the project; you can’t have construction without dust,” Mr. Sofronia said. “As a business owner, I don’t really care about dust. If people start nagging about everything, this is going to be done in 2030.”

That is, of course, the ongoing battle. When Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway is completed, the Upper East Side will be a far more accessible area, and property values and business will jump. I’ve often wondered, in fact, if investing in the area around Second Ave. now while prices are depressed would constitute a sound investment. As long as the MTA finishes Phase 1 somewhat on time, I’d think it is.

But on the other hand, people have to live within this construction zone for another five years. The MTA is building a subway through a densely populated urban area with decades or centuries of uncharted and ill-maintained infrastructure, and it’s no easy task to do so without disrupting every day life. Without adequately stable buildings, without thorough maps of the underground scene, the MTA is flying blind.

Ultimately, just finishing it would be the best thing for the Upper East Side. Unfortunately, though, even the best case scenario means five more years of construction, some more invasive than others. For now, the MTA must strike a balance between moving forward and placating neighbors who want a subway line but don’t want the headaches, dust and debris that comes with it. As the fun starts up again on December 5, that gives the agency just one more week to address the problems.

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Service Advisories

Weekend work impacting 11 subway lines

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

It’s high tourist season in New York City now, and weekend work is slowing down tremendously. This weekend, the worst of it is along the IRT in Brooklyn. Enjoy your holiday weekend.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 26 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, there is no 2 service in Brooklyn due to track work south of Wall Street and fiber optic cable installation between Hoyt Street and Atlantic Avenue. 2 trains run between the Dyre Avenue 5 station and the South Ferry 1 station.

  • 5 trains replace the 2 in Brooklyn (Manhattan-bound trains run express from Franklin Avenue to Atlantic Avenue.)
  • 2 trains run local between 34th Street-Penn Station and Chambers Street.
  • 2 trains operate via the 1 line between Chambers Street and South Ferry.
  • 2 trains replace the 5 between East 180th Street and Dyre Avenue.
  • 5 trains replace the 2 between East 180th Street and 241st Street.

Note: Customers may use a free out-of-system transfer between the 2 at South Ferry and the 4 or 5 at Bowling Green station.


From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, November 27, Bronx-bound 2 trains run express from 3rd Avenue-149th Street to East 180th Street due to rail and plate replacement at Simpson Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 26 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, there is no 3 service in Brooklyn due to track work south of Wall Street and fiber optic cable installation between Hoyt Street and Atlantic Avenue. Customers should take the 4 instead. 3 trains operate between 148th Street and 14th Street. (Manhattan-bound 4 trains run express from Franklin Avenue to Atlantic Avenue, otherwise local in Brooklyn.)


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 26 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, 4 train service is extended to and from New Lots Avenue due to a chip out south of Wall Street and fiber optic cable installation between Atlantic Avenue and Hoyt Street. Manhattan-bound 4 trains run express from Franklin Avenue to Atlantic Avenue, otherwise local in Brooklyn.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 26 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, 5 train service is extended to and from Flatbush Avenue due to track work south of Wall Street and fiber optic cable installation between Hoyt Street and Atlantic Avenue. See 2 train entry for details.


From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday November 27, Bronx-bound 5 trains run express from 3rd Avenue-149th Street to East 180th Street due to due to rail and plate replacement at Simpson Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Friday, November 25 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, D trains skip Bay 50th Street in both directions due to the demolition and installation of a new mezzanine floor. Free shuttle buses operate between Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue and Bay 50th Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 26 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, there is no L train service between 8th Avenue and Broadway Junction due to CBTC track and signal work between Bedford Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. The M train, M14 and free shuttle buses provide alternate service.

  • M train service is extended to 57th Street F station.
  • The M14 bus replaces L trains between 1st and 8th Avenues.

Free shuttle buses operate in three sections:

  • Between Broadway Junction and Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs
  • Between Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs and Lorimer Street-Metropolitan Avenue (G) station
  • Between Lorimer Street-Metropolitan Avenue (G) station and Marcy Avenue (J, M) station.

Note: Manhattan-bound customers should transfer to the A or J at Broadway Junction or the M at Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs.


From 6 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, November 26 and from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday, November 27, M service is extended to the 57th Street F station.


From 11 p.m. Friday, November 25 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, Brooklyn-bound N trains run on the D line from 36th Street to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue due to track panel installation south of 59th Street.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, November 26 and Sunday, November 27, N trains stop at DeKalb Avenue in both directions due to structural repair of tunnel columns between Atlantic Avenue and Prospect Park.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 26 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 28, there is no Q train service between 57th Street-7th Avenue and Prospect Park due to structural repair of tunnel columns between Atlantic Avenue and Prospect Park. For service between:

  • 57th Street-7th Avenue and Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street, customer may take the N or R.
  • Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street and Prospect Park, customers should use the free shuttle bus.

(42nd Street Shuttle)
During the weekend, the 42nd Street (S) shuttle extends operating hours through the night and early morning hours.

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AsidesSelf Promotion

Holiday Happenings: Nostalgia Trains and a SAS party sponsor

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

A few brief items this afternoon relating to the holidays: Transit will again be running the Holiday Special nostalgia train this year. According to the latest on Subchat, the R1/9 set will run on Saturdays this year from Nov. 26 through Dec. 24. The trains will leave Second Ave. at 9:58 a.m., 11:37 a.m., 12:57 p.m., 2:27 p.m. and 3:57 p.m. and make local stops to Queens Plaza. Planned departure times from Queens Plaza are 10:43 a.m., 12:13 p.m., 1:42 p.m., 3:13 p.m. and 4:43 p.m. Bring a camera, of course.

Meanwhile, a reminder: My Second Ave. Sagas 5th Anniversary Soiree, planned for Thursday, December 1, is fast approaching, and I’m bring aboard a sponsor. The transit app Roadify will be sponsoring a part of the party so look for them over the next few days. To RSVP, mosey on over to the Eventbrite page. You’ll find all of the details there.

Update: Due to a few circumstances, SAS has gone dark for Thanksgiving a day or so early. I’ll be back after the holidays. Have a safe Turkey Day.

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