Fare HikesMetroCard

With fare hike upon us, beware stockpiled MetroCards, says MTA

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 29, 2008

Back in the dark ages of the New York City subway, before the dawn of the MetroCard, fare hikes were momentous occasions around my house. My parents, who kept 10-packs of tokens in a Keds shoe box, were always prepared to beat the system when the MTA announced higher subway fares.

Unlike with MetroCards where computer chips can be programmed to deduct different amounts after a fare hike is instituted, tokens were a fixed-value item. Buy a token on December 30, 1991 for $1.15, and while the fare on January 2, 1992 may be $1.25, that token still cost you just $1.15.

So my parents would traipse off to the station at 93rd St. and Broadway and buy the maximum number of token packets allowed by the MTA. First, my mom would go and then my dad. Then, we would all head down to 86th St. and do it all over again. We beat the system.

Now, with a fare hike upon us, a lot of my readers have asked about Unlimited Ride MetroCards. These cards are facing the highest increases – as much as 6.6 percent for 30-day passes – and straphangers want to know if they can buy six months’ worth of Unlimited Ride MetroCards at $76 to use until the cards reach the expiration date printed on the back.

Well, not so fast, says the MTA. In a poster soon to appear in a station near you and available here as a PDF, the MTA lays out their policies regarding the potential stockpiling of Unlimited Ride MetroCards:

Unlimited Ride MetroCards currently being used for travel purchased prior to March 2nd will be valid for the full 7 or 30 days, even if some of those days are after the fare change.

In addition, customers who purchase an Unlimited Ride MetroCard prior to the fare change can take advantage of a “grace period,” allowing these cards to be used after March 2nd.

NYC Transit will monitor the number of cards in circulation and will announce at a later date the exact duration of the grace period. The MTA and NYC Transit assures its customers that, at a minimum, cards bought for normal, personal use will be valid for their full duration (1, 7 or 30 days) as long as the first day of travel is March 10 or earlier.

In plain English, riders can, after the fares go up on Sunday, continue to swipe Unlimited Ride MetroCards that are currently in use. My current 30-day pass expires around March 20th; I can use it for the duration.

Then, comes the grace period. The grace period hasn’t been defined, but if the MTA notices a run on 30-day passes this weekend, they could institute a grace period that is as short as eight days after the hike goes into effect. In other words, you won’t be able to use more than one of those stockpiled Unlimited Ride cards without paying extra.

However, if riders are judicious in their stockpiling, that grace period could be extended past March 10. Maybe the MTA gives riders a month or two; maybe just a week. But my words of advice are simply to beware. Overzealous commuters looking to save a few bucks may end up getting stuck with cards that can’t be used until the balance is paid anyway. Be judicious.

Meanwhile, my parents and I will just pine for the days of stockpiled tokens. Somewhere, that Keds box sits empty, wishing for a time when the system was beatable.

21 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
AsidesWMATA

DC, NYC subway proponents fighting it out online

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 28, 2008

Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee went down our Nation’s Capital recently and spied a sign extolling the supposedly rat-free environment of the WMATA’s Metro. Her subsequent blog post on City Room about the sign has spurred on a 112-comment debate comparing DC’s Metro to New York’s subway. As I’ve written in the past, I’m no fan of the WMATA. Its cleanliness, however, is about the only thing it has going for it. [City Room]

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
MTA Construction

Inside the MTA’s $29.5 billion program

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 28, 2008

The MTA, on Wednesday, unveiled a $29.554 billion capital plan designed to cover maintenance, upkeep and system-wide expansions from 2009-2014. The plan, as I noted yesterday, is substantially similar to the broad one the MTA presented to the public in November and would allow for a wide transit expansion in and around the New York Metropolitan.

While presenting the package yesterday, MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander called attention to the need for the congestion fee. “This proposed Capital Program will ensure that our transportation network is both maintained and expanded to support the region’s economic growth,” Sander said. “A fully-funded Program is critical to encourage transit use, to improve our customers’ experience and to keep pace with global competitors like London and Shanghai, where billions are being invested in transit each year. We won’t be able to get there without a robust funding package that includes congestion pricing.”

In broad strokes, the MTA is planning a three-tiered approach to system improvements. The first tier involves “state of good repair, normal replacement and system improvement” including station renovations and the purchase of new rolling stock. The second tier focuses around the completion of current projections such as Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway, the pesky Fulton St. transportation hub and the East Side Access project. The final tier revolves around system expansion and includes communications-based train control system, Phase 2 of the Second Ave. Subway and the Metro-North Penn Station access plan.

The capital plan also allows for system upgrades that would be enacted if the congestion fee is approved. These include more bus routes and buses; more service on the 1, E and F trains; and longer C trains. This is, of course, the most expendable part of the capital plan.

For those of you with a taste for government documents, the entire 237-page plan is available as a PDF on the MTA’s Website. I’m going to take a look at what I consider to be some of the more interesting and tangible benefits.

New Cars

As part of its ongoing effort to maintain and upgrade its rolling stock, the MTA plans to invest nearly $1.5 billion in new cars over the next five years. The agency hopes to replace 500 cars and add 90 new ones to the system, all in the B division. Most interesting to rail fans is the announcement of the R179s. The MTA plans to purchase 208 R179s to replace the R44s currently in service as A trains. Discussion of the R179s has generated a six-page rumor thread on the NYC Transit Forums.

Station Rehabilitation Plans

Outside of the rolling stock, station rehabilitation plans are the most visible aspect of any capital program. The flagship plan is probably the Bleecker St./Broadway & Lafayette renovation. The MTA will finally connect the uptown IRT stop to the rest of the complex. The agency also plans to make the Grand Central stop on the IRT a little more rider-friendly with more staircases and better access points. The moving platforms at Union Square are in line for replacement as well.

Additionally, the MTA is planning on overhauling 44 stations. Most of them — 41 — are above-ground stops in the outer boroughs. Nine stations along the Sea Beach line, 10 along the West End line, six in Far Rockaway, six in Rockaway, three along the Myrtle line and seven along the New Lots line are set for renovations. The MTA also plans to work on the 205th St. and 182-183rd Sts. stations in the Bronx and the IRT’s 14th St. stop in Manhattan.

Technology Upgrades

The MTA plans to bring communications-based train control to the Flushing and Queens Boulevard line. This represents the first expansion of the technological upgrades currently in testing along the L line. These upgrades should allow the MTA to increase service along high-demand train lines in Queens.

Second Ave. Subway

In the plan, the MTA admits that the budget for Phase 1 of the Second Ave. subway will exceed the initial, four-year-old estimates by a substantial amount. The new budget is set at $4.437 billion. The target completion date is also being pushed back to 2015 due to market forces and a weak economy. At the same time, the MTA is already planning for Phase 2, a good sign for those of us who don’t really expect to see a subway line heading up Second Ave. ever.

What’s Missing

In this ambitious, expensive and necessary plan, the aspect that jumps out at me is the utter lack of discussion about the future of the MetroCard. The document notes that “the current MetroCard system is still performing well.” However, with newer and better technologies available, I’d like to see the MTA consider a change to something more flexible than the MetroCard. Smart-card technologies really do speed up passengers at the point of entry.

21 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
MTA Construction

MTA set to unveil $28-billion capital construction plan

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 27, 2008

Back in November, during the MTA’s public engagement workshop in anticipation of the fare hike, Linda Kleinbaum, the MTA deputy executive director for administration, and Ernest Tollerson, the MTA director of policy and media relations, spoke at length about the MTA’s capital future. Today, the MTA will publicly unveil a final version of the plan Tollerson and Kleinbaum detailed to us a few months ago. The price tag is, in a word, shocking.

The five-year plan, covering 2009-2014 and incorporating routine upkeep and maintenance as well as big ticket items, could cost as much as $28 billion, according to a report by the Daily News’ Pete Donohue. This new total represents an increase of around $6 billion since the MTA issued its preliminary capital plan at the workshop in November. I’m sure the cost will rise again.

The plan encompasses a wide range of projects covering various MTA agencies. Included in it in November were financing plans for the completion of Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway and the start of Phase 2; a third track on the main LIRR line; Metro-North tracks on the Tappan Zee Bridge; Penn Station access for Metro-North; a Stewart Airport rail connection and the long-delayed computer-based train management system. My thoughts on this suburban-centric plan remain as I expressed them in November; I would rather see more of an investment in City-based transit expansion.

But what’s done is done, and now the MTA faces an uphill battle to cobble up $28 billion over five years. Donohue has more on this ambitious effort:

Details of the five-year construction and maintenance plan were still shifting, but the sources said the final price tag would fall in the $28 billion range.

Some transportation officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed serious skepticism the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could secure enough city, state and federal funding for such an ambitious program.

But two groups launched a major media campaign Monday to persuade state and city legislators to approve congestion pricing, which supporters say would quickly result in a federal grant of $354 million and generate $500 million annually.

The timing of this announcement probably couldn’t be worse. The MTA, set to raise fares in less than five days, is forging ahead with an expensive plan that needs funding about is badly as it needs implementation, which is to say very badly. But over the last month, we’ve heard rumblings that the MTA may pare down and delay some projects while others are facing a host of financial issues.

Meanwhile, as a few commenters have noted on Second Ave. Sagas, a lot of the budget projections for the Second Ave. Subway haven’t been updated in three or four years. Final price tags are bound to be higher than reported simply because construction costs have skyrocketed while our nation’s economy has tanked.

In this atmosphere, the MTA is unveiling a capital campaign that will require massive investments by the state, city and federal government as well as the anticipated congestion pricing revenues, as Donohue explains. The region needs this capital plan; the MTA needs a lot of money. Where this will all lead is anyone’s guess.

8 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
AsidesMTA Technology

MetroCard vending machines primed for new fares

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 26, 2008

While transit employees are gearing up to field complaints from irate customers next week when the fare hikes go into effect, the MTA has reprogrammed the MetroCard Vending Machines. The hulking beasts that dispense the cards will be automatically programmed to adopt the new fares on Sunday. Anyone want to place bets on the first reports of MetroCard Vending Machines that start changing the new fare before the hike is set to start? We all know how reliable the MTA is with their technology. [amNew York]

5 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
7 Line ExtensionCongestion FeeMTA Construction

On the precipice of a construction funding problem

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 26, 2008

December’s groundbreaking ceremony for the 7 Extension may have been a bit premature. (AP Photos)

Ah, remember those glorious days in December when hope sprang eternal and the City and MTA broke ground on the 7 Line Extension?

Let the nostalgia wash over you because here comes the bad news: That 7 Line Extension project — and the Hudson Yards — development is in financial jeopardy. Surprise!

In a lengthy piece on the future of Moynihan Station and the Far West Side, Daily News reporter Brian Kates drops in this five-paragraph bombshell:

In his State of the City address last month, Mayor Bloomberg said the No. 7 extension was so crucial that the city “refused to wait for the MTA” and in December “broke ground on the first new mile of subway track the city has funded since the 1950s.”

That’s the rhetoric. The reality is less optimistic.

To begin with, the city puts the cost of the expansion at a deceptively low $2.1 billion – a figure it set in 2003 and hasn’t budged from despite skyrocketing construction costs. The MTA, which considers the proposed Second Ave. subway line a greater priority, has refused to pick up the tab.

A $1.1 billion tunneling contract has been awarded, but to save an estimated $450 million, the city abandoned plans to put a station at 41st St. and 10th Ave.

That means the line will run from Times Square to 34th St. and 11th Ave. without a stop – a decision that “puts at risk several million square feet of potential commercial and residential development” in the Hudson Yards, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “Development follows mass transit.”

For a while, I’ve defended the MTA from a monetarily focused City. The City wants this 7 Line Extension; the City offered to pay for it; and then the City reneged on its promise. Considering the cost and the practical value of the extension, the MTA can spend its billions of dollars elsewhere for projects that would benefit more New Yorkers.

But the news gets a little worse if we dig deeper. In a weekend Subchat post about planned renovations at the Shea Stadium 7 stop, a Subchatter noted that steel prices are at all-time highs. He says that New Yorkers should “expect cost over runs and cut backs on all [construction] projects.”

So the cost of materials is skyrocketing, and the MTA and City are still using budget projections generated during our economy’s rosier days. Forget the 7 line; I want to know how this will impact the Second Ave. subway. The future cannot be bright for that project either.

To bring this all back home, congestion pricing seems more important than ever to the MTA. While we can — and have been — debating the traffic-calming aspect of the congestion plans, the MTA will draw in much-needed revenue from a congestion pricing plan, and right now, they need the revenue. They need the revenue for operations; they need the revenue for capital projects. And as the tales of the 7 Line Extension show, transit is very closely related to the development of New York’s last frontiers. The future of the city — and the subways — is hanging in the balance.

6 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
AsidesPANYNJ

PATH celebrates 100 years

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 25, 2008

The PATH trains, Port Authority’s underground connection from Manhattan to New Jersey, are celebrating their centennial today. As part of the festivities, everyone rides free. So if you’ve never taken a PATH, today just might be your lucky, free day. Maybe one day during the second hundred years, the MTA and PANYNJ can figure out how to integrate the subways and PATH to provide a one-fare ride to New Jersey. [City Room]

19 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Congestion Fee

Congestion pricing fate could depend on a ‘transit lockbox’

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 25, 2008

Stop the presses: I agree with John Liu.

As frequent readers of Second Ave. Sagas will know, I don’t have a very high opinion of John Liu. I think his statements about the MTA often show a misguided sense of direction from the man in charge of the City Council’s transportation committee. And while this isn’t the first time I’ve agreed with Liu — that first momentous occasion came just a few weeks ago, as commenter Julia noted — this time, he’s really hit the nail on the head with his comments relating to congestion pricing and the future of New York City’s public transit system.

A week ago, in the Daily News Liu penned a piece on the concept of a transit lockbox. He laid out a convincing argument for the congestion fee provided that all funds go to a transit lockbox so that the State or City cannot later decide to take the money and use it for other projects. Too many times in New York history have state and city bodies re-appropriated transit funds to the detriment of the MTA and the city’s public transit network. Liu’s solution would, in effect, fix part of that problem.

Liu’s plan notes too that this money would only be part of the funds given to the MTA from New York’s governing bodies. Take a look:

First and foremost, we must turn vague commitments of transit improvements into verifiable and protected investments for transit service so that New Yorkers with the worst transit service are prioritized in congestion pricing-funded improvements.

By “protected,” I mean the money must be dedicated solely to transit – no ifs, ands or buts. Legislation must mandate a “lockbox” that cannot be tampered with. The proceeds must go to capital improvements, not the operating budget, and they must be immune from poaching by future legislative bodies.

Politicians often make such promises: The lottery money will go to education, the smoking funds will go toward health care. This time, the pledge must be ironclad.

Second, the money must be additive in terms of overall transportation funding, not an excuse for future governors, mayors and legislators to cut MTA funding by an amount equal to congestion pricing proceeds.

In short, Liu absolutely hits the nail on the head with this one. For the congestion fee to work, the MTA must reap the benefits, and the money should come on top of other funds that the MTA should receive from the State and City.

Imagine a New York City with the congestion pricing. The streets are less crowded, and it’s generally more pleasant to work around town. Cars aren’t stuck in gridlock for miles, and drivers aren’t honking when the car in front of them waits half a beat to speed through a green light.

With all of the congestion fee money going to transit, the picture looks even brighter. With fewer cars on the road, the MTA and the Department of Transportation can work to give the city dedicated bus rapid transit lanes it so deserves. The MTA could beef up service and spend more money renovating stations in less time. We can even dream of capital construction projects finding their way to completion.

The way to get there — the way to achieve this transit dream — is through congestion pricing. And congestion pricing would work only with a secure lockbox. Councilman Liu is spot on. Now, as we sit one week out from a fare hike, everyone else involved has to make this new transit revenue source happen.

6 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Service Advisories

Snow knocks out weekend service changes

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on February 22, 2008

It snowed this morning! Everyone panic. (Photo by flickr user gmpicket)

By now, this morning’s blanketing of snow has turned to mush, and really, that wasn’t too bad. The Brighton Line suffered a few delays due to a problem unrelated to snow, and the surface transportation was sluggish. But the city’s subways weathered the storm this morning with grace and aplomb.

Meanwhile, things this weekend weren’t supposed to be so nice and neat. The West Side was due to run amok, and the F was set to run in strange and confusing ways, and NYCT was going to reroute the Q in order to start the “emergency replacement of rubbing board along track.”

But the snow knocked that out, and weekend service is running normally. Never mind that normal weekend service usually includes 8-10 service changes; this weekend, you can have your West Side express trains. Travel safely.

2 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Load More Posts