AsidesFare Hikes

Walder: MTA Board will vote for $104 unlimited card

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 5, 2010

While speaking on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show this morning, Jay Walder reiterated his stance on the MTA’s upcoming fare hike proposal: As he said last week, the MTA Board will not approve a proposal to cap the number of rides available to those who use timed cards and will instead vote on a larger increase for the unlimited ride cards. The authority will do away with the 1- and 14-day passes while the 30-day cards will cost $104 and the 7-day cards will carry a $29 price tag.

The MTA Board will vote on Thursday morning, and the fare hikes will go into effect on January 1. “The discounts that we give on the monthly pass are much steeper than the discounts that we give on the weekly pass,” Walder says. “At the same time, if you look at the income level of the people who buy weekly passes and monthly passes, more lower income people buy weekly passes than monthly passes. So we sought to be able to limit the increases on those fare options that lower income people use the most.”

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MTA Technology

Leveraging the MTA’s focus on real-time train information

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 5, 2010

Transit's new SAID sign on display at the Atlantic Ave. station. (Photo courtesy of MTA)

As I walked through the Atlantic Ave./Pacific St. subway stop yesterday, I came across a variety of Transit workers tinkering with technology. On the mezzanine above the BMT platform on 4th Ave., two men with a computer were fiddling with the electronic information sign while the familiar voice of Transit’s train-information PA recording filtered through the loud speaker. It seemed as though Transit was prepping the B Division countdown system for wider system adaptation.

Today, the MTA confirmed that this innovation as well as a few others are coming to the system as CEO and Chair Jay Walder works to increase both the MTA’s willingness to share information with customers and bring badly-needed innovation underground. While the B Division countdown timer system is now in place between 207th St. and Columbus Circle with a rollout along Eighth Avenue down to 23rd St., the Atlantic St./Pacific St. stop will serve as the model station for the MTA with new technology in place for both the IRT and BMT parts of the station.

Although the A Division stations now feature to-the-minute countdown timers that rely on a new (and expensive) PA/CIS set-up, the B Division system leverages preexisting technology to bring information that international subways have brought to customers for years. This system uses the track circuits to follow the progress of trains. These circuits can detect the train and trigger a message displayed or broadcasted in the stations ahead. Unfortunately, for train routes that share tracks, the system can only tell if an express or local train is coming and cannot identify whether, say, a D or N will be next to arrive at Pacific St.

On 4th Ave. and Pacific St., the SAID sign simply resembles any outdoor video ad. (Photo courtesy of MTA)

The SAID sign seen above is another example of the MTA’s latest customer outreach initiative. The Station Advisory Information Display boards are now online in Grand Central and at the 4th Ave. entrance at Atlantic/Pacific. Installed in the fare-control area, these signs inform potential straphangers of any delays before one must pay their fare. “The installation of the SAID signs will test NYC Transit’s ability to successfully transmit real-time subway service information, as reported on the “Current Service Status” portion of the MTA website, to large LCD screens located in station areas outside of the turnstiles,” the agency said in a release.

As the photo shows, the screen will feature a split with the line groupings and train service status on the right and specific changes on the left. If any lines show “Service Change,” “Delay” or “Planned Work,” the explanation and alternative routing will be provided on the other side. “We want riders to see something electronic before you get into the station so you know what’s going on before you pay your fare,” Walder, whose one-year anniversary at the MTA is today, said to reporters yesterday. “It could be a game-changing event. I’m envisioning a screen that will be out there and can lay all of this information out. We can put the information in the coffee shop on the corner and other places located near the bus stop. What we’re trying to do is give information that allows people to relax. It gives riders a sense of control that they know what’s going on.”

For the MTA, times are tough. Their finances are a mess, and the authority has come under attack — sometimes rightly, sometimes not — from politicians of all stripes. Yet, the authority, not know for its customer service outreach or technology initiatives, has been making an effort to bring more information to the public and keeping riders better informed.

* * *

Postscript: The authority has also debuted a prototype of their Help-Point Intercom system at the Atlantic Ave./Pacific St. station complex. It’s only on display to show how these will appear on the platforms at stations come 2011. Check out a quick photo right here.

After the jump, a view of the SAID sign as it appears in the fare-control area at the 4th Ave. entrance to the Atlantic Ave./Pacific St. station.

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Second Avenue Subway

With 2nd Ave. Subway gains come economic pains

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 5, 2010

As the Second Ave. Subway construction has dragged on throughout the past three and a half years, life along the avenue has been something less than pleasant. Construction lights and noise fill the air at all hours of the day, and fenced off sidewalks and roads have become the norm. Under the aegis of lazy landlords, poorly-maintained residential buildings have suffered structural damage while businesses have suffered tremendously.

Time and again, the media coverage has returned to the price businesses have paid as subway construction has enveloped the neighborhood. Early on, merchants along the avenue complained of reduced foot traffic and the inconveniences from and concession to construction had on their bottom lines. For instance, 13 restaurants lost significant revenue when they could not install outdoor cafes over the summer months, and as recently as August, real estate trade The Real Deal noted how business at some stores was down by as much as 40 percent. It’s not a good time to be a store-owner above the future subway route.

In today’s Times, Joseph Berger covers the tried-and-true economic ground along Second Ave. He spoke with over 20 merchants, and they all said the same thing: It’s worse than they expected. By Berger’s count, over 30 businesses have closed since 2007, and those that are still open say construction has led to drop-offs in business by 25-50 percent. “Second Avenue has become a place that shoppers avoid,” Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Chairman Jeffrey Bernstein said. “People don’t want to come. It’s difficult to maneuver.”

Berger’s piece is largely anecdotal, but he hits upon the concerns that neighborhood business owners have. Some of them are more founded than others. For instance, restaurants and other service-based stores that rely on foot traffic have suffered legitimate declines in business during the construction. Some, though, complain that construction has limited the ability of their suburban costumers to drive into the city — and illegally double park — while picking up speciality items such as bratwurst or non-speciality items such as a quick lunch.

Therein lies the rub. The city is building the Second Ave. subway to improve transit access to the eastern parts of the East Side. I find hard to be too sympathetic to those businesses bemoaning a lack of on-street space for customers who owners willing admit double-park while shopping.

Berger too focuses on the he said/she said aspect of the fight between business, the MTA and city and state politicians. Says The Times scribe:

Many say they were misled at meetings about the damage construction would wreak. “I think they painted a picture at these meetings, and then they delivered something else,” said Joe Pecora, an owner of Delizia 92 pizzeria and restaurant at 92nd Street, who formed the Second Avenue Business Association two years ago because of the construction’s impact.

Officials say they have honored commitments they made to minimize disruption and mitigate noise and dust. Lois Tendler, a vice president for government and community relations at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the agency had met regularly with merchants and had signs on its Web site and at Lexington Avenue subway stations urging people to “Shop Second Avenue.”

Shopkeepers say they need financial help and compensation. But an effort to provide tax relief and grants was vetoed last year by Gov. David A. Paterson. “We have been incredibly responsive to every feasible request,” Ms. Tendler said. “Where we part company with shop owners is that we do not have the ability to pay them for the lost income. We use public money, and we do not know of any government entity that pays for lost business.”

The kicker to Berger’s story reveals another dichotomy along Second Ave. He tells the story of Young Yoo, a then-60-year-old widow who opened up a small restaurant right near the Launch Box at Second Ave. She invested heavily in this space ” a few months before ground was broken for the subway in front of her store” and today is nearly broke. She’s trying to wait out a year before her Social Security benefits kick in, and her son sounds defeated. “Instead of being a prosperous restaurateur, she’ll end up being a penniless person waiting for a check,” Peter Yoo said. “That’s what Second Avenue did to her. It created a pauper.”

I feel for Mrs. Yoo. She wanted to open a business personal to her before retiring, but the subway construction interfered. Yet, at the same time, I have to wonder why Mrs. Yoo chose that spot a few months before ground-breaking. By late 2006, it was clear that the MTA would soon begin work on the Second Ave. subway, but after decades of false starts and canceled projects, business owners and Second Ave. residents refused to believe work would happen. Should the city be forced to foot the bill for these risky decisions? Some might even call it folly.

In six years, business owners will be clamoring for Second Ave. space, and property values will climb precipitously. The construction will fade like a bad dream, and merchants will enjoy renewed prosperity along Second Ave. For now, though, they’ll suffer. Even as the state and city try to help, even as the MTA tries to minimize the disruption, these businesses are paying the costs of progress.

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AsidesSubway Cell Service

AT&T, T-Mobile sign on for underground cell service

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 4, 2010

With MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder pushing hard for technological innovation underground, Transit Wireless renewed its attempts at bringing cell and wifi service to the subway system. The company’s three-year old plan had fallen by the wayside struggled to secure financial backing. When the money came in, so too did the cell companies.

As Business Week reported late last week, AT&T and T-Mobile have signed on to offer their service in the subways. The two cell companies have reportedly inked ten-year deals with Transit Wireless, and the deals can be renewed four times for five years each. As Michael Grynbaum reports, the service should be ready to go in six stations around 14th St. by the end of 2011, and Transit Wireless will have the entire underground part of the subway system cell-ready by the end of 2015.

While this project is well behind Transit Wireless’ initial launch date, that carriers are serious about it is a very good sign. As Walder said to The Times, “Phone carriers signing on is further proof that this project is a reality.” No longer will the subways be the last bastion of relief from cell signals, and in a few years, we’ll find out if constant access brings with a panacea or a prison in this hyper-connecte city of ours.

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LIRRMetro-NorthNew York City Transit

The trains most often delayed

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 4, 2010

By and large, the MTA’s commuter rail trains are the model of on-time performance for North American trains. At 98 percent, Metro-North, in fact, has the highest percentage of on-time trains in the country, and the Long Island Rail Road is on time over 92 percent of the time. Yet, the two rail agencies also suffer from some very regularly delayed trains, and in today’s Wall Street Journal, Andrew Grossman explores those frequently late routes.

Using data on delayed and late trains the MTA made available on its website, the Journal explored which peak-hour routes are often behind the schedule. For its part, the MTA defines an on-time train as the national industry does. “A commuter train,” the authority says, “is considered On Time if it arrives at its final destination within 5 minutes and 59 seconds of its scheduled arrival time. Only trains that are canceled, partially canceled or arrive at their final destination 6 or more minutes behind schedule are listed on the website.”

Grossman found that the least reliable train is the LIRR’s 4:39 p.m. into Penn Station from Babylon. The train has a scheduled arrival time of 5:53 p.m. but frequently misses that deadline. Between July and the end of September, the train was late 32 times by an average of 13 minutes and 12 seconds. Grossman offers more:

Overall, LIRR trains suffer more-frequent delays than those on Metro-North, and almost one-third of LIRR trains delayed were running at the busiest times, compared to 27% of Metro-North delays. All except for one of Metro-North’s 12 most-frequently delayed trains were off-peak trains, which tend to carry fewer passengers than rush hour trains. That wasn’t the case on the LIRR, where trains carrying commuters home from the city in the evening—such as the 6:25 p.m. to Port Washington—were among the most-often delayed.

The LIRR is older, larger and more complex. Long Island riders have also had to deal with a string of incidents this summer that led to hundreds of canceled and delayed trains, including a signal fire. “The Long Island Rail Road has had a challenging couple of months,” the Long Island Rail Road’s president, Helena Williams, said last week.

Some of the oft-delayed trains have recurring problems, such as track work, crowding that makes stops take longer or train traffic. Others seem to be just unlucky. There was no pattern to the problems on the 12:07 p.m. from Grand Central to New Haven, MTA spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. One of the train’s 10 delays was because the devices that connect the train to overhead power lines needed inspecting. Another was because of track work and a passenger needing help boarding the train.

Despite these findings, it’s worth repeating that only two percent of two percent of Metro-North trains are late. Underground, meanwhile, the MTA’s on-time performance has declined lately. Transit says its weekday on-time performance was down to just 86.3 percent in July 2010, a twelve-month low. Right-of-way delays, overcrowding and the presence of track workers accounted for 67.2 percent of the 21,076 delays reported that month.

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MTA

Accenture pitch highlighted MTA bloat, cronyism

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 4, 2010

Update (2:24 p.m.): An earlier version of this article contained reference to an Accenture report that was not, in fact, a report. It was a pitch from Accenture to the MTA given back in December 2009. The post has been updated to reflect this view.

In late December 2009, as part of its efforts at renegotiating its preexisting contracts, the MTA worked with Accenture, a management consultant firm, to assess the structure and operations at the authority. During its pitch, Accenture noted, based on its past experiences, that the MTA had been rife with cronyism, bureaucratic overmanagement and downright laziness. For anyone paying attention, it was not a surprise, but with Accenture’s guidance, the authority was able to identify over $700 million in internal savings.

Heather Haddon, now at The Post, has got a hold of the pitch, and she highlights the areas Accenture planned to target, including:

  • Promoting people based on “friendship and familiarity,” rather than skill.
  • Failing to differentiate between top-quality employees and the bottom of the barrel. At times, employee evaluation is weak or nonexistent, and it is very hard to lay off bad apples, according to sources.
  • Wasting a “huge” amount of time by appointing underlings to discuss issues when only executives can make decisions. At Long Island Rail Road, for example, the organizational chart includes layers of confusing titles, and administrators often aren’t up to speed with what other managers do, transit sources said.
  • Being stuck in the past and lacking any “demonstrated desire” to do better.
  • Suffering from a “horde” mentality that sparks protracted turf fights, with bureaucrats scuffling over limited resources.

Those who keep a close eye on the goings-on inside MTA Headquarters echoed the results of this report. “Things don’t get improved, or the decisions just don’t get made,” William Henderson, head of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, said to The Post. “There is a lot of inertia.”

From my own experiences researching and covering the MTA, I’ve seen many of these problems in action. The authority, for instance, does not have its past budgets in digitally-readable format. They instead keep hard-copy reports on file but seemingly have to put analytic reports showing budget changes over time together by hand. The stories of bureaucratic in-fighting and turf battles are endless.

For its part, Accenture has urged the MTA to trim its administrative structure and eliminate numerous middle management positions, cut overtime spending and freeze some discretionary expense accounts. The MTA, who paid Accenture $3 million for the consulting treatment, has already enacted numerous cost-saving suggestions. Earlier this year, the Accenture ideas had saved the MTA $202 million and now the authority says they will realize savings of $381 million and $525 million annually going forward, increasing to $750 million.

With these savings in hand, implementing them will take some time. Consolidation and work-rule efficiencies have begun, but offices need to be modernized while redundancies ironed out. No CEO likes to tell his employees that they’re unnecessary, uninspired or extraneous. Yet, if Jay Walder is to earn the public’s and Albany’s trust, he must continue to push for Accenture’s recommendation reorganize. He came from McKinsey; he hired Accenture; and now he’s acting on it. The future of public transit in New York City may depend on it.

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Service Advisories

A month ahead, a weekend ahead

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 2, 2010

With the first weekend of October upon us, the MTA released a series of service advisories that cover the entire month. Generally, 1 train riders are out of luck, and Fulton St. is a mess. Let’s wade in.

Due to ongoing construction of the Fulton Street Transit Center, the following service changes will be in effect for weekends in October:

October 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18

  • A and C trains bypass Fulton St/Broadway-Nassau St. in both directions.
  • No transfers between the A, C, 2, 3, and 4, 5 at Fulton St/Broadway-Nassau St.

October 23-25

  • Brooklyn-bound A and C trains bypass Fulton St/Broadway-Nassau St.
  • Manhattan-bound A and C trains run on the F line from Jay Street to West 4th Street.

October 30-November 1
Normal service.

Customers traveling from Fulton St. to uptown Manhattan may take the 2 or 4 trains at Fulton St. or go to the nearby Chambers St/World Trade Center station, take the E to West 4th Street and connect to uptown A and C trains. Customers traveling from Fulton St. to Brooklyn may take the 2 or 4 at Fulton St. or take the A or C at the nearby Chambers Street A, C station.

Meanwhile, the work at Dyckman St. is is wrecking havoc along the West Side IRT line. There will be no 1 service between 242nd St. and 168th St. for all five weekends in October. Rather shuttle buses will operation in various segments: on Broadway between 242nd Street and 215th Street with a connection to the A train at 207th Street and along St. Nicholas Avenue, stopping at 191st Street, 181st Street and 168th Street. The M3 will also allow free boardings at these three stops. On Saturday, October 2 and 9, between 11:15 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. free shuttle buses will be available between Columbia University’s Baker Field and the 207th Street A Line station located on Broadway at Isham Street.

The 1, meanwhile, will operate as a local between 168th Street and 34th Street and non-stop between 34th Street and 14th Street where it will terminate. The 2 and 3 trains will run local between 96th Street and Chambers Street. Due to work being performed by the Port Authority at the WTC site, free shuttle buses will replace No. 1 train service between Chambers Street and South Ferry. On Saturday, October 23, No. 1 service will operate normally as a local between 242nd Street and 34th Street and then express between 34th Street and 14th Street. On that weekend, the suspension of No. 1 service between 242nd Street and 168th Street will begin at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, October 24 and continue until 5 a.m. Monday, October 25.

Got all that? There won’t be a quiz. Meanwhile, we have a weekend of other service changes too. These come to via New York City Transit and are subject to change without notice. Listen to on-board announcements and check the signs in your local station.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, October 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, 1 service is suspended between 242nd Street and 168th Street due to rehab work between 242nd Street and Dyckman Street stations and is also suspended between Chambers Street and South Ferry due to Port Authority work at the WTC site. The 2, 3 and A trains, free shuttle buses and the M3 bus provide alternate service. Free shuttle buses run in three sections:

  • On Broadway between 242nd Street and 215th Street stations, then connecting to the 207th Street A station.
  • On St. Nicholas Avenue between 191st and 168th Street stations.
  • In lower Manhattan between Chambers Street and South Ferry.

1 trains run local between 168th Street and 34th Street then express between 34th Street and 14th Street where it terminates. 2 and 3 trains run local between 96th Street and Chambers Street.


From 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, Bronx-bound 2 trains skip 219th, 225th, 233rd Streets and Nereid Avenue due to elevated structure painting.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, 2 trains run local between Chambers Street and 96th Street due to rehab work at between Dyckman Street and 242nd Street stations, track work at Franklin Street and Port Authority work at the WTC site.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, 3 trains run local between Chambers Street to 96th Street due to rehab work at between Dyckman Street and 242nd Street stations, track work at Franklin Street and Port Authority work at the WTC site.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, Manhattan-bound 4 trains run local from Utica to Atlantic Avenues due to third rail work between Utica and Atlantic Avenues.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, downtown 4 trains run local from 42nd Street-Grand Central to Brooklyn Bridge due to gap filler work at 14th Street.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, downtown 5 trains run local from 42nd Street-Grand Central to Brooklyn Bridge due to gap filler work at 14th Street.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday, October 3, the last stop for some Pelham Park-bound 6 trains is 3rd Avenue due to track panel installation at Westchester Square.


From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, Manhattan-bound 7 trains skip 111th, 103rd, 90th, and 82nd Streets due to elevated structure painting.


From 10:30 p.m. Friday, October 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, free shuttle buses replace A trains between Far Rockaway and Beach 98th Street due to station rehabs. (A trains replace the Rockaway S shuttle between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park.)


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, downtown A trains skip 50th, 23rd, and Spring Streets due to track replacement at 42nd Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, there is no A train service at Broadway-Nassau/Fulton Street in either direction due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, there is no C train service at Broadway-Nassau/Fulton Street in either direction due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, downtown C trains skip 50th, 23rd, and Spring Streets due to track replacement at 42nd Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, Coney Island-bound D trains run on the N line from 36th Street to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue due to structural repair and station rehabs from 71st Street to Bay 50th Street and ADA work at Bay Parkway.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, downtown E trains skip 23rd and Spring Streets due to track replacement at 42nd Street.


From 12:01 a.m. to 12 noon, Saturday, October 2, Manhattan-bound E trains skip 67th Avenue, 63rd Drive, Woodhaven Blvd., Grand Avenue and Elmhurst Avenue due to sub-station cable work at Grand Avenue.


From 12:01 a.m. to 12 noon, Sunday, October 3, Queens-bound E trains skip Elmhurst and Grand Avenues, Woodhaven Blvd., 63rd Drive and 67th Avenue due to sub-station cable work at Grand Avenue.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, October 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, free shuttle buses replace L trains between Lorimer Street and Myrtle Avenue due to CBTC signal work.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, Brooklyn-bound N trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to work at Cortlandt Street. (No trains at City Hall, Rector, Whitehall, Court, or Lawrence Street stations. Customers may use nearby 4 stations instead.)


From 10 p.m. Friday, October 1 to 5 a.m. Monday October 4, Coney Island-bound Q trains skip Avenue J due to station rehab work.


From 6:30 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday, October 2, Manhattan-bound R trains skip 67th Avenue, 63rd Drive, Woodhaven Blvd., Grand Avenue and Elmhurst Avenue due to sub-station cable work at Grand Avenue.


From 6:30 a.m. to 12 noon, Sunday, October 3, Queens-bound R trains skip Elmhurst Avenue, Grand Avenue, Woodhaven Blvd., 63rd Drive and 67th Avenue due to sub-station work at Grand Avenue.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, Brooklyn-bound R trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to work at Cortlandt Street. (No trains at City Hall, Rector, Whitehall, Court, or Lawrence Street stations. Customers may use nearby 4 stations instead.)

(Rockaway Park Shuttle)
From 11 p.m. Friday, October 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 4, A trains replace S shuttle service between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park due to station rehabs.

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AsidesATU

NYC bus driver voted new ATU president

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 1, 2010

The Amalgamated Transit Union, the city’s biggest bus driver union, has voted one of New York’s own as their next president. The ATU announced yesterday that Larry Hanley, a 32-year New York City Transit veteran, has been elected head of the ATU International. Hanley, one of the founders of the Keep America Moving coalition, is billed as a reform candidate, and shortly after his election yesterday, he spoke with Labor Notes’ Mark Brennan about his plans for the union.

The interview touches upon a variety of topics that impact New Yorkers and Americans in general. Hanley talks about the need for better legislative action that keeps transit agencies afloat and talks about working with T4America to promote green jobs and transit expansion. He recognizes that unions have earned a bad rap these days but seems to understand that car culture, particularly in New York City, is bad for our community and our environment. “If we can organize and convince the users of mass transit and the workers of mass transit that they have a common interest, and if you carry that forward into different areas in the labor movement, that is a long, hard battle but it’s in reach. It’s also an imperative,” he said. “If we don’t do it we’ll cease to exist.”

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MTA Economics

State again reappropriates dedicated transit funds

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 1, 2010

Earlier this week, the MTA released its September 2010 Budgetwatch Monthly Flash Report — available here as a PDF — and against it appears as though New York State has taken dedicated funds from the Authority. Here’s what the report says on the first page of the authority’s overall latest conditions:

August monthly passenger revenue was on target while toll revenue was slightly higher by 1.1%. On a YTD basis, passenger revenue was slightly unfavorable by -0.4% and toll revenue was slightly favorable by 0.4%. Operating expenses were less than Forecast by $16.6 million, or 2.5%, for the month and 72.3 million, or 1.2%, on a YTD basis, reflecting vacancy savings, favorable timing, and lower energy, health and welfare, and OTPS costs. In addition, Overtime savings have exceeded the reductions that were included in the Mid-Year Forecast. Debt Service costs were 2% favorable due to timing.

YTD PMT receipts were better than the forecast by $35.8 million or 3.5%, while YTD MTA Aid receipts were $55.5 million or 23.5% unfavorable. September combined real estate tax receipts of $34.9 million were $4.3 million, or 10.9%, below the Mid-Year Forecast. YTD, real estate tax receipts were $13.9 million, or 4.5%, unfavorable.

The latest funding cuts by New York State, the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) cuts, effective September 15, 2010, are reducing dedicated taxes and subsidies earmarked for the MTA in NYS’ Budget by $16.7 million in 2010.

The FMAP fund is a bit of a bureaucratic twist and turn. In New York State, the governor can cut medical care expenditures if it does not receive other federal monies, and that, it appears, is exactly what happened here. The state expected $1 billion in FMAP money, didn’t get it and has now removed $16.7 million in taxes and subsidies previously earmarked for the MTA.

The timing of these cuts is incredibly circumspect. Albany took money from transit riders to balance its budget at contemporaneously with the MTA’s fare hike hearings. While politicians were railing on the MTA for raising fares, they were taking more money away from the transit system. Why, I ask, should the city’s transit riders pay when Albany receives fewer federal funds than they originally — and foolishly — expected to?

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Subway Security

The way we ride: obliviously

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 1, 2010

In the 1974 version of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three — airing later today at Film Forum — Robert Shaw has successfully hijacked a subway car, and to ensure his ransom demands and getaway plans, he threatens to kill the passengers on board. In a moment quintessentially New York, the passengers laugh. They don’t believe that the guy with a gun is actually going to use it. It’s the subway after all; anything goes.

At that point, the subways were amidst a long, slow decline to lawlessness. Graffiti markings that marred every available surface of nearly every single subway car lent the subways an aura of anarchy, and the always-feared subway shooting can to pass in December of 1984 when Bernard Goetz opened fire on four young men he claimed were trying to rob him. Straphangers took the subway at night at their own risk, and riders were always aware of their surroundings.

Today, we treat subway crimes with an aura of detachment and murder with spectacle. In the backs of our minds, we know that people can get robbed, mugged or raped in the subway, but the numbers and anecdotes say it doesn’t happen too frequently. In fact, through August 2010, the police have received no reports of any rapes in the subway and just 775 instances of grand larceny. As recently as 2000, the NYPD had fielded four rape calls in the subway, and as recently as 1997, grand larceny reports numbered 2264.

Yet, a narrative has emerged, fueled in part by overeager police and in part by real-life experience, that suggests straphangers have become almost too complacent underground. The narrative is summarized by Andrew Grossman and Tamar El-Ghobashy in the Wall Street Journal. Criminals, they say, are targeting high-tech devices.

Based on the latest totals released by the NYPD, grand larcenies were up only 15 percent for August 2010 as compared with August 2009. Overall, grand larcenies are up from 759 from January-August in 2009 to 775 over the same period in 2010. That’s a jump of just 2.1 percent, and while it’s hardly an alarming increase, this year marks just the second time since 1997 that grand larceny has increased over the first eight months of the year.

Cops tell the Journal that the increase in theft is directly related to appealing iEverythings. Police officials claim that perps grab iPhones, Blackberries or anything else electronic out of the hands of those sitting near car doors and then bolt right before the train leaves. “We often see spikes in thefts of popular items, especially in teen-on-teen crime after school,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. “For example, when eight-ball jackets were popular among teens, we saw a spike in their thefts. Same thing when certain expensive sneakers became popular. In more recent years, Sidekicks, cellphones and iPhones were targeted.”

So when then do I say we ride obliviously? If the NYPD says more people are getting their high-tech gadgets snatched, I believe New Yorkers have become too complacent on the subways. Newcomers to the city and even younger kids who grew up here don’t remember the days when the subways were dangers. Their parents have never told them to avoid the train at night or to ride in packs. Rather, they see people who flaunt their iPods, iPhone, iPads and Kindles. They see people who do work on their laptops during long rides. They see everyday life going on underground without an undercurrent of menace looming around the corner as many felt in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now, don’t get me wrong; a safe subway system is far preferable to one where we must sit on guard at all times wary of that guy giving us an eye across the aisle. But at some point, riders buried in their oh-so-familiar Apple headphones should remember where they are. Just as the noise leaking from headphones screams “obliviously,” so too does a disregard for personal security. It only takes a moment to see that iPhone ripped away from the train. Beware of the closing doors.

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