MTA PoliticsMTA Technology

Economists say climate change could lead to more subway floods

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 17, 2007

When it rains, it pours, especially along the flood-prone Queens Boulevard lines. (Photo by flickr user chrisj)

As the MTA and the City of New York begin the long process of addressing systemic problems that came to light during last week’s subway flood and subsequent system-wide outage, economists studying climate change say New York and other urban areas should brace for more floods in the future.

An article at LiveScience delves into the issues cities with aging infrastructures face as the weather becomes harsher. Andrea Thompson has more:

The likely intensification of extreme weather events from global warming could mean that urbanites have more events like last week’s subway flooding in New York City to look forward to in the future.

The flooding and subsequent paralysis of New York’s subway system—from nearly 1.5 inches of rain falling in just an hour—raised concerns about the subway system’s infrastructure and the fate of the infrastructures of coastal cities worldwide in the face of extreme events that could become more frequent in our warming world.

“This is the kind of thing that we probably will see more of,” said Kathleen Miller, an economist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who studies the effects of climate change on society.

Thompson goes on to detail the problems New York will face as its infrastructure nears the end of its practical life. Ilan Kelman, a postdoc fellow at NCAR, said the city should invest heavily in its infrastructure for the 21st century because the drains and tunnels, some built as early as the mid-1800s, just can’t handle storms of increased intensity.

Of greater concern to me was MTA spokesman Mike Charles’ comments. In response to a question about the MTA’s factoring climate change, Charles told Thompson, “It’s too early to say on that… they’re not ignorant of it, but it’s so speculative at this point.”

Now, I recognize that global warming has somehow become a political issue. It’s damaging to admit that — gasp — the climate is changing and that human actions are largely responsible for the change. But that’s the reality of the situation. The IPCC has long since concluded this, and the evidence is all around us. Right now, the MTA can’t afford to wait on global climate change. If they do, just expect more and more subway flooding until it becomes cost-prohibitive to address the problems.

Someone somewhere needs to step it up in response to global climate change. Can it be the MTA?

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Subway Security

Feds sending anti-terror funds NYCT’s ways

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 16, 2007

Back in March, Deputy New York Police Department Commissioner Richard Falkenrath spoke in front of Congress about the federal government’s woefully inadequate contributions to NYC’s anti-terror funding. Today, the government acknowledging that it was listening.

According to a report on CBS, the Department of Homeland Security is set to announce that New York City with get $52 million for security. A large portion of that – $37 million, to be exact – will go toward securing the city’s subway systems.

On the surface, this is good news. More anti-terror funding for a very insecure subway system is always a step in the right direction. All things considered, $37 million is but a drop in the bucket. This money hardly addresses Falkenrath’s original points – that more people are needed for subway security, that airlines get $7 a person while subways get about 1.5¢ per person.

The bottom line is that New York City’s subways remain a viable target much like the subways in Madrid and London were over the last few years. We’ll gladly take the money, but it’s more of a token gesture than a move to shore up subway security. Hopefully, we won’t have to learn the hard way that the federal government, so bent on its anti-terror message, should be doing more to secure our tunnels.

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MTA TechnologyPANYNJ

PATH Trains: Coming soon with television screens

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 16, 2007

One of the more annoying parts of modern technology these days are those buildings with the Captivate Network television sets embedded into the elevators. If you haven’t seen them yet, check out 250 W. 57th St. to experience the joys of being bombarded with stupid news, stock quotes, the weather for Santa Fe and other nearby cities and, of course, advertising.

Owned by Gannett — the very same publishers of America’s Most Boring Newspaper U.S.A. Today — the Captivate Network really takes the cake as the most intrusive, annoying and unnecessary thing ever to be put in elevators. Now, these TV screens may be coming to public transportation too, but with an interesting and beneficial twist.

Hot on the heels of last week’s subterranean communications meltdown, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has announced a deal with NBC — a competitor of Captivate — to install these TV screens in PATH trains. Ken Belson of The New York Times has more:

The Port Authority…plans to…[announce] as early as today that it will include eight small, silent television screens by the doors in each of 340 PATH trains that it will begin introducing next year. The screens will broadcast news, entertainment and train departure times as well as alerts on delays, track changes and the like.

As part of a seven-year agreement, NBC Universal will spend up to $15 million to install the screens in the cars and upgrade 50 or so displays now in 13 PATH stations on both sides of the Hudson River.

NBC Universal will also pay the Port Authority up to $300,000 a year and be the exclusive provider of television content. The agreement includes an option to renew the contract for an additional five years.

According to Belson, this deal is part of an effort by PANYNJ to draw in more money by signing what amounts to advertising deals with private companies. Curiously, thought, Anthony Coscia, the Port Authority chairman, had a different take on the deal. “People today want to feel informed about the mass transit route they are using and events that are happening,” he said to The Times. “This has turned an expense into a revenue opportunity.”

Personally, I don’t see this primarily as a way to bring more information to PATH Train riders. I see this is a big advertising boon for NBC and a way for PATH to upgrade their technology at no cost to themselves. They’ll get $15 million upfront for the installation of these screens and then another $300K a year for NBC advertising. If they can use these screens to display service information during emergencies, all the better. But it is first and foremost an advertising deal.

Now, I’ve been advocating deals like this for a while recently, and maybe it’s something the MTA should explore. If a company is willing to fork over big bucks to install the equipment in exchange for the advertising rights, the MTA could witness a technological upgrade with little cost. While some subway purists like to bemoan advertising in the system, it has been and always will be a key moneymaker for the MTA. A little creative — such as subcontracting out a text message alert service or an advertising pattern for in-system TV screens — could go a long way toward bringing the MTA’s technology up-to-date.

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MTA Technology

MTA wnts 2 snd txt msgs 4 srvice alrts

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 15, 2007

Following last week’s communications debacle on Wednesday, the MTA is looking to establish a real-time text message alert system for service delays, amNY reported today.

Marlene Naanes has more:

Text messages alerting passengers that a train is not running are far from reality, but a task force the MTA created after last week’s transit meltdown is looking into the possibility. The group — the response to a gubernatorially ordered 30-day investigation — is also looking at possible real-time email alerts for New York City Transit riders.

“We are going to be looking at all of the electronic ways to communicate including text messaging,” said Chris Boylan, deputy executive director of MTA corporate and community affairs. “I think that the issue is not that we want to do it but what the technological limits are.”

While the writing in this amNY story is among the worst I’ve ever seen in a daily newspaper, that’s beside the point. As I noted earlier this week, text message and e-mail alerts are a reality in other transit systems. It couldn’t be that hard for the MTA to implement a similar feature.

But I have a better idea. Why not subcontract out an alert system? There are plenty of enterprising folks on the Internet who could design a text message alert system for the MTA. I bet the folks at Dodgeball could manipulate their service to serve a similar function for train lines. Text a train line to a number and get back a service alert.

It couldn’t really be that simple, right?

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WMATA

DC’s WMATA considers cutting late-night service

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 15, 2007

My former Woodley Park Metro stop lies empty. (Photo courtesy of flickr user DruhScoff)

Allow me to journey out of New York City for a little while and away from the beleaguered MTA. Allow me to depart from congestion fee victories and communications upgrades until this afternoon. Let’s instead turn to my former haunt (for ten months, at least): Washington, D.C.

I’ve written before on the WMATA and my time in Washington. What I’ve never mentioned here is that the WMATA was a contributing factor for my utter dislike of my time residing in the Nation’s Capital.

While ostensibly a subway system, the WMATA is infuriatingly annoying if you rely on it to get around. After peak hours are over — generally around 8 p.m. — wait times shoot up and forget late nights. The system shuts down at midnight on weeknights and 3 a.m. on the weekends, but if you want to get home around then, you have to leave an hour for travel. It was nearly always faster for me to walk the 2.8 miles uphill from the Kennedy Center to my apartment following performances than it was take the Metro.

Meanwhile, the system features two-track tunnels and no express service. While this may not seem like a big deal, the composition of the DC population makes it such. During government hours, numerous stops are very crowded as Congressional staff scurry to and from work. But after hours, these stops — and many others in downtown DC — empty out completely. Gone are the government workers, but the trains still open and close their doors at stations where literally no one gets on or off. When they don’t run extra trains after Nationals games and the crowded trains stop at empty stations and discharge no one, frustration levels are bound to rise.

And in terms of buses, when they aren’t busy running over pedestrians, they aren’t adhering to any set schedule. Night owl service is a joke, and buses just aren’t a reliable means of transportation in the city.

So with all of that in mind, I was amused and dismayed when this post on Subchat led me to a Washington Post article nothing that the WMATA may cut nighttime Metro service and replace it with Night Owl bus service. In no understatement, this is a stunning blow to residents living within the city limits of the District of Columbia.

Metro GM John B. Catoe Jr. gives the typical excuses for the consideration. He cites saving on costs, the seemingly declining popularity of late-night Metro trains and the need to lengthen the maintenance window for trains and stations. Opponents — and there are many — note that DC bus service isn’t an adequate replacement for Metro service, that more drunk drivers will be on the road late at night, and that subway systems in real cities don’t close early. As one rider puts it, “Metro needs to expand to far beyond what it’s doing now.”

The response on DC blogs is overwhelmingly against this idea. DCist chimed in with a well-reasoned post against cutting service, and the commenters on site went crazy. Rusty of Why I Hate DC fame, not a fan of the DC Metro by any standard, noted the “the stupidity of removing late-night Metro service.”

Having been back in New York for over a year now, I have come to appreciate the MTA and New York City Transit even more than I already had. For all its flaws — and I’ve been a harsh critic this week — subway service is always running. Sure, you might have to wait a long time late at night. Sure, rush hour trains are packed. But with this vibrant city comes a vibrant subway.

Down south, Washington, DC, may cut late night service. Can you imagine New York City without late night subway service? Can you imagine the cab fares and the grumpy revelers? For all the grief the MTA gives, I would like to give them credit for this one. They run one helluva service that allows for access to everything this city has to offer. Washington’s WMATA wishes it could say the same thing.

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Congestion Fee

Breaking: NYC to get $354 million for congestion pricing

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 14, 2007

Sewell Chan at the Cityroom blog reports that the Feds are kicking back $354 million to the City for Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan. This is a victory for the environment, for the MTA which will enjoy the benefits of the plan, and for opponents of a city overrun by automobiles.

However, despite this grant, there is still no guarantee that the congestion pricing plan will escape Albany gridlock. We can only hope for the best. Chan has more:

The secretary of transportation announced this morning that the federal government will provide New York City with $354 million to implement congestion pricing in New York City, if the State Legislature acts by March 2008 to put in effect Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal for charging traffic fees in Manhattan.

The announcement is a major step forward for Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, but it does not guarantee that the congestion fees will pass muster with Albany and the City Council…Nonetheless, the substantial federal support for the project gives enormous leverage to the mayor as he continues to press for his proposal…

To receive the $354 million, Ms. Peters said, the commission must agree to a traffic plan that meets the “same performance goals” as Mayor Bloomberg’s plan. Ms. Peters made it clear that she believed congestion pricing was an essential element of that plan, saying “it would be difficult for them to meet those performance objectives” if the commission arrives at a plan that is “substantially different” from the mayor’s.

As the news filters in, advocacy groups on both sides of the aisle are offering up their views. I’ll have more from later. For now, let’s just celebrate the good news. The city, with some common sense in Albany, could be $354 million richer and healthier.

Update: Streetsblog has a run-down of the responses from opponents and proponents of the congestion fee plan. Nothing Earth-shattering there, and Walter McCaffrey is still wrongly claiming the fee is a regressive tax that affects the poor more than the rich. Who drives more, Walter? Answer me that.

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MTA AbsurdityMTA Technology

MTA employees often the last to know everything

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 14, 2007

This MTA employee is hard at work preparing to aid would-be straphangers navigate the system.

It’s clearly Beat Up On The MTA Week around here so far. We learned yesterday that technology is not the MTA’s strong point and that NYCT express bus drivers were inexplicably not given the order to alter their routes during last week’s system-wide failure. Today, let’s tackle those ever-so-unhelpful MTA workers.

First a story from my sister. She heads to work from the 96th St. stop on the West Side IRT to the 125th St. stop. This wonderful adventure happened last week:

A passenger got injured … at 125th Street, so there were two indecipherable announcements on my train about skipping a stop, which I heard both times as 135th but was apparently 125th. At 135th, I asked the woman in the booth if downtown trains were skipping 125th also. She didn’t know. My co-intern had to get out at 110th because her train simply wasn’t going to continue yet … She asked the person in the booth what bus goes up Lenox Avenue. The person didn’t know. I thought the lack of knowledge of these two MTA employees was ridiculous and unjustifiable — how can they have people working for them who can’t answer these basic and obvious questions?

Victoria, you ask questions that have plagued New Yorkers since the dawn of time. What good indeed are those red-vested employees that roam the stations now that token sellers are defunct? What good are MTA workers who are supposedly in place to help riders negotiate their ways through the subway system if they don’t know which buses are available for transfer just 20 feet above their heads?

Meanwhile, my sister — and 7.2 million other straphangers — isn’t the only person in New York noticing this problem. WNYC, New York’s excellent public radio station, ran a short audio snippet featuring two MTA employees bemoaning their lack of knowledge. The clip, which you can hear at the link, features Beth Fertig’s talking to these workers.

“We’re the last to know,” a female employee says. “Sometimes we hear information from the scanners and sometimes that information is not right. And the audio system: sometimes that is not right.”

Fertig later asks if the MTA employees are equipped with cell phones or Blackberries in case of an emergency. The female says their only emergency training is in case of a terrorist attack. The employees are instructed to put on their masks. And that’s it.

When asked about computers, the male employee could only laugh. “Where do you see a computer?” he asks Fertig pointing to a station booth.

So there you have it. The first responders to a subway emergency have no access to any accurate information and no way of coordinating with central command. Houston, we have a communications problem.

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BusesMTA Absurdity

Express buses don’t stop there. Ever.

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 13, 2007

The MTA should have put their old bus fleets back in service last week.

Yet another story on the MTA’s utter inability to coordinate communications during an emergency came my way this afternoon. This time, the Daily News reports on Express Bus drivers who didn’t stop at local stops during last Wednesday’s flood because no one at MTA headquarters told them to.

What you hear now is the sound of millions of people smacking their foreheads at once. Pete Donohue has the gory details:

Hundreds of empty MTA express buses didn’t stop to pick up subway riders stranded by Wednesday’s torrential rains because no one told bus drivers to alter their routes.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s NYC Transit division has about 600 express coaches, and the MTA Bus Company, another division, has several hundred more. Combined, they could have moved thousands who were stranded by crippled subways and unable to board jam-packed local buses. But the MTA, which was caught offguard by the storm’s severity, didn’t issue an emergency directive for express bus drivers to make additional stops, even though the deluge crippled the entire underground system, union and transit officials said yesterday.

Here we have yet another salvo in the call for the MTA to adopt a better communications system. For his part, MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander thinks he could have asked express bus drivers to change their routes. “I believe that I have the authority under an emergency situation to ask all employees to do different things than they normally would do,” Sander said. “It’s in their contract.”

Coming not a moment too soon to the MTA: Common sense. I hope.

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MTA Technology

MTA enters the 21st century kicking and screaming

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 13, 2007

londonbus813.jpg

Bus shelters in London know when the next bus is coming. New Yorkers have to result to the tried and true peer-down-the-street method. (Image courtesy of the Department of Transportation)

Public transportation-minded New Yorkers have long bemoaned the state of the MTA’s technology. The Website, as I noted on Friday, has never been too reliable, and other systems around the globe have figured out how to tell riders how far away the next train or bus is. And don’t even get me started on the MTA’s mobile alert system or lack thereof.

But with Wednesday’s crippling flood, everyone else is starting to take notice. On Friday, The New York Times ran an article about the poor state of communications technology in the subways and how riders were left stranded with little information as events unfolded last week.

Citing rapid-response alerts in the Washington Metro, mobile alerts from New Jersey Transit and a mobile trip planning site in San Francisco, Ken Belson and Sewell Chan spoke less glowingly of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority:

In New York — home to the country’s largest transit system, with an $8 billion annual budget — information is doled out in a more elementary fashion. During Wednesday’s crippling storm, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Web site was overwhelmed by people seeking the latest information and directions, legions of commuters had to rely on station agents scrawling updates on white boards. Only a handful of riders already on train platforms had access to digital screens with up-to-date information…

Compared with commuters in many of the world’s leading cities, subway riders in New York live in something of an information vacuum once they enter the system’s 468 stations…But the storm this week, highlighting yet again deficiencies in how the authority gets information out, seemed to push riders past the limits of their patience. Those flaws are one focus of a 30-day review that Gov. Eliot Spitzer has ordered into what went wrong after the intense early-morning rains of Wednesday.

In the age of cheap bandwidth and pervasive cell phone use, the MTA, the article details, still relies upon telephone calls to every single station agent in the system. These agents are then supposed to be able to recall all of the service information in case passengers need help. Little wonder, then, that system breakdowns are so complete and total when they occur.

But now, the city and state leaders want this ludditism to become a relic of the past. City Councilman John Liu and U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner have renewed their calls for a wired subway system. A cell phone-compatible subway system would allow for text message and voice mail alerts during emergencies.

But outside of a wireless system, the MTA should be able to equip every station and bus stop with the same information readily available elsewhere. It’s not hard to tie the signal system in to a computer that displays the next train’s arrival time. It’s not that hard to equip buses with GPS monitors that show passengers waiting at busy stations when the next bus is due to arrive. It happens in London and Washington, in Madrid and Rome. It’s time to make this happen in New York.

Everyday, at West 4th St., I pass one of the MTA’s digital displays that is, without fail, an hour and 15 minutes slow. If the MTA can’t even get their digital displays to show the time correctly, if they can’t even secure accurate bus route maps at every bus stop, it’s almost naïve of us to think they can handle a full technological upgrade of the subway system. But as the system ages, we need better technology, not more excuses.

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Service Advisories

A weekend of delays after a week of problems

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on August 10, 2007

In a shocking move, the MTA has announced a generally stop order on all capital construction projects this weekend. After a nightmare on Wednesday in which every subway line shut down in the aftermath of a terrible storm, MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander has decided that every train should run as normally scheduled this weekend. There will, in other words, be no service delays.

Wait, wait, wait. Who are we kidding? This is the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Of course, there will be service delays. And since it’s easier to list them here instead of linking, let’s get this party started. For all of the alerts in the less-convenient press release form, click here. Otherwise, keep reading. Enjoy your weekend.

Because of capital construction work on the NYC Transit subway system, the following changes will be in place over the weekend. This work is part of NYC Transit’s ongoing $10 billion Capital Rebuilding Program aimed at upgrading and maintaining our tracks, stations and signal systems in order to continue to provide our customers with safe and reliable service.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, there are no 1 trains between 14th Street and South Ferry. Customers may take the 2 or 3 between 14th Street and Chambers Street. Shuttle buses replace 1 service between Chambers Street and South Ferry. This is due to work on the Cortlandt Street underpinning.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, 2 and 3 trains run local between 96th Street and Chambers Street due to the Cortlandt Street underpinning.

From 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., Sunday, August 12, 3 train service is replaced by M7, M102 and shuttle buses due to switch renewal south of 148th Street-Lenox Avenue.

From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, Manhattan-bound 4 trains skip Mosholu Parkway due to station rehab.

From 4 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 10 p.m. Sunday, August 12, there area no 5 trains between 149th Street and East 180th Streets due to track panel installation north of Jackson Avenue. Customers should take the 2 instead.

From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 4:30 a.m. Monday, August 13, these changes are in effect
– There are no C trains running; F trains replace the C between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts and Euclid Ave. due to signal work south of jay Street-Borough Hall Station
– A trains run local between 168th Street and Canal Street due to signal work south of jay Street-Borough Hall Station
– Free shuttle buses replace A trains between 168th Street and 207th Street due to tunnel rehab work between 168th Street and 207th Street stations

From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 9 p.m. Sunday, August 12, Far Rockaway-bound A trains skip 88th Street and Rockaway Blvd. due to track panel installation south of the 80th Street station.

From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 9 p.m. Sunday, August 12, free shuttle buses replace A trains between Lefferts Blvd. and 80th Street (Queens) due to track panel installation south of the 80th Street station.

From 6 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 9 p.m. Sunday, August 12, there are no E trains between West 4th Street and World Trade Center due to Chambers Street signal modernization. Customers may take the A to Chambers St. or Broadway-Nassau stations.

From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 4:30 a.m. Monday, August 13, Manhattan-bound E trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Queens Plaza due to track chip out south of Queens Plaza station (overnight only).

From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 4:30 a.m. Monday, August 13, F trains run between Euclid Avenue and 179th Street. G trains replace the F between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. and Stillwell Avenue. Customers may transfer between the F and G trains at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. station. This is due to signal work south of Jay Street-Borough Hall station.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13 (and until further notice), there is no G train service between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Court Square due to signal work south of Jay Street-Borough Hall station. Customers should take the E or R.

From 12:01a.m. Saturday, August 11 for 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, free shuttle buses replace L trains between Rockaway Parkway and Broadway Junction due to track panel installation south of Broadway Junction.

From 12:01a.m. Saturday, August 11 for 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, free shuttle buses replace M trains between Metropolitan Av. and Myrtle Ave-Broadway due to station rehab.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, Manhattan-bound N trains run on the D line from Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street (Brooklyn) due to track panel installation north of 86th Street station.

From 5 a.m. Saturday, August 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, Coney Island-bound N trains run on the local R track from 57th Street-7th Avenue in Manhattan to 59th Street-4th Avenue in Brooklyn due to switch work north of the DeKalb Avenue station.

From 11 p.m. Friday, August 10 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 13, there are no Q trains between 57th Street and 42nd Street due to a track chip-out south of Queens Plaza station. Customers may take the N or R instead.


From 5 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, August 11 and Sunday, August 12, R trains skip 5th Avenue, Lexington Avenue, and Queens Plaza in both directions due to track chip-out south of Queens Plaza station. Customers should take the E instead.

The Cortlandt Street Station is closed until further notice while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey continues to build on the WTC site.

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