As we take our rides on the subway these days, advertising is just another part of our daily commute. Ubiquitous subway ads have always been there and seemingly will always be there. Now, as one MTA Board member is looking for creative ways to draw in revenue without raising fares, subway advertising has been thrust into the spotlight.
First, a history lesson.
Update: As expected, the MTA’s announcement jibes with the details we already knew. Of note is that the MTA is committed to provide more service to complement these fare hikes. The public will be much more accepting of this hike if more servide becomes a reality. More later.
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As the Day of the Fare Hike progress, details are emerging about the direction in which the MTA will head today. While not great for commuters, it sounds like this won’t be the most drastic fare hike in recent times.
Notably, as William Neumann of The Times notes, the MTA is looking to raise toll and fare revenues by 6.5 percent. The overall inclusion of tolls and fares is an important point to highlight. It’s up to the MTA to determine how they will draw in this revenue. They could opt for a large toll increase and a smaller subway and bus fare increase.
Neumann writes:
The plan..does not specify how much the base subway fare, unlimited ride MetroCards or bridge and tunnel tolls would go up, but it calls for an overall increase in fare and toll revenues of 6.5 percent…Based on annual fare and toll revenues of approximately $5 billion, a 6.5 percent fare and toll increase would generate about $325 million a year in additional income for the authority.
At a time when the MTA’s future revenues are largely relying on volatile property tax rates, the agency is also looking to implement an inflation-based measure that would feature modest fare hikes every two years. I think this is a great idea.
For decades, the New York City subways fell into disrepair because the independent companies that owned the various lines were afraid to hike the rates up from a nickel. For over forty years – from 1904 until 1948 – the fare was a nickel, and it doesn’t take an economic genius to know that a nickel in 1904 went a lot farther than a nickel in 1948. Sticking with inflation would ensure a steady stream of money from the MTA.
As the MTA board gears up to discuss these fare hike plans, they seem to be against cutting service and maintenance. Here lies one of the reasons why the public may feel up for stomaching this fare hike. People understand that the subway system can’t afford more deferred maintenance or delayed service.
And finally, with talk of the congestion fee swirling, the MTA has quickly noted that they wouldn’t see a penny of congestion fee money until 2010 at the earlies. As many have noted, the Authority cannot count on money they may or may not receive until the end of the decade as they contemplate their budgets for the next year. So here comes a fare hike.
As we await news of the fare hike, let’s instead check in with some technology problems plaguing New York City Transit. Both concern flooding in the system; one’s about the water and the other, people.
Last week, as Midtown Manhattan exploded in a burst of steam, subway problems in Queens were seemingly neglected. However, that day, as a friend mine related, the underground trains in Queens were an utter mess. Flooding problems effectively isolated hundreds of thousands of Queens commuters on Wednesday.
“Literally at those levels of rainfall we do not yet have the physical capacity to pump it out as fast as it’s coming in,” NYCT President Howard Roberts said.
Today, the MTA will further an ongoing and aggressive push to revamp the pump system along the tracks that shuttle the F, E, V, R and G into Queens. amNew York has more:
Queens train lines prone to flooding will soon weather storms better.
New York City Transit is already upgrading its pump system for the Queens Boulevard line, where the E, F, R and V lines run, and Monday moved toward adding another pump to the mix…The MTA board will vote on the extra pump Wednesday.
The pumps in these key tunnels have not seen serious upgrades since they were installed 75 years ago. When the MTA board meets to ponder the fate of the fares, the pumps will come under scrutiny as well. I anticipate the board to quickly agree to upgrade the pumps. They can strand Queens residents only so many times.
Meanwhile, a few miles south in Brooklyn, the efforts to automate the L train have hit a few speed bumps. Originally, the trains along the L line were supposed to be fully automated by 2004 or 2005 at the latest. Well, it’s 2007, and still no sign of those automated trains. Business as usual for the MTA, right? Well, not quite.
According to a report in the Daily News, these efforts to automate the L won’t come to fruition until at least 2009 because the MTA didn’t anticipate the populartion boom in Williamsburg and didn’t order enough cars to meet demand on the overtaxed L line.
To make matters worse, officials at Siemens, the manufacturers of these automated trains, claim they warned the MTA about the gentrifying north Brooklyn neighborhoods when the projected started during the waxing days of the 21st Century. Train drivers, for now, are happy because their jobs are safe, but riders on the L who have long complained about poor service must be grumbling more than usual these days.
Hands reach up the poles in a crowded subway car. (Photo by flickr user eszter)
Did you know that the subways are crowded? Because that’s what the MTA announced yesterday.
According to the MTA, ridership in the New York City subway system is at a 54-year high. In May, 138 million straphangers paid for the privilege of riding the subways. That’s an average of 4.45 million riders per day. WNYC has more:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says weekday subway ridership is up 4.5% from the same time last year and the number of people taking the subway on the weekends has jumped up over 6%.
So there you have it; conclusive proof that the subways are more crowded today than they have been since the Dodgers and Giants both played in New York. Now, you and I know that because we ride the trains each day and go through the joys of finding space, never mind a seat, just to make our 20-minute commute.
Now that the MTA knows that, will they do something about it? How about more frequent service on crowded lines? How about express service on unused express tracks in Brooklyn? How about a few new subway lines? Ridership is only going to go up from here as the city grows. Hopefully, our subway service will grow to meet (and dare I say surpass?) this demand.
When speaking about the best subway line in the city, it’s all relative. Which line arrives generally on time, is fairly clean and features mostly audible announcements?
The winner this year, according to the Straphangers Campaign newest State of the Subways Report Cardin the race to mediocrity is the 1 train. The worst trains are the C and W, a fact to which anyone who ever tries to take either of those trains can attest. Here’s what the report had to say:
The report itself is a labor of love. The Straphangers use MTA data to grade the subway lines. As SUBWAYblogger noted earlier today, isn’t it a little fishy that the MTA is grading itself? The Straphangers say the MTA has signed off on their methodology. Well, of course, they have. It’s their own data being manipulated to grade the subways.
Of concern to me are the overall trends found in this year’s report card. The subway system is, in the words of the report, “a stalled system.” Cars — even the newer, supposedly more reliable ones — are breaking down more frequently. The timeliness of the system hasn’t improved and neither has the PA system. While cars are cleaner, this is a small victory as the entire city seems to be clamoring for more service.
The Straphangers’ conclusion is rather dire too. “Continued progress will be a challenge,” the report reads. “The MTA is struggling to obtain all the planned funding for its current rebuilding program, including rising construction costs, a weak dollar and realizing $1 billion dollars from the sale of its assets, such as its valuable Manhattan rail yards.”
It certainly makes it sound like the MTA could really use that money from the congestion fee and that upcoming fare hike. But at what cost to the riders?
For all of that fun stuff like cleanest lines and most often on time, check out either this post at amNY’s Tracker blog or this one at The Times’ CityRoom blog. The individual breakdowns are fun to peruse but not as interesting as the overall trends seen in a system staggering under its popularity.
The Straphangers Campaign has released their annual State of the Subways Report Card, and the 1 train is their number 1 train. I’ll have a rundown of the survey results later on tonight.
Remember how Eliot Spitzer, during his campaign for governor, said that an MTA fare and toll hike would come about only a last resort? Well, get ready for that last resort.
News reports indicate that, when the MTA announces its proposed 2008 budget this Wednesday, fare hikes will be a part of the deal. Pete Donohue of the Daily News has more:
The MTA will put fare and toll hikes on the table next week in its preliminary 2008 budget but the agency won’t cut services next year, sources said yesterday.
The preliminary budget envisions raising hundreds of millions of dollars by charging more for buses, subways, commuter trains and Metropolitan Transportation Authority bridges and tunnels.
Sources said the plan – to be unveiled at the MTA board’s monthly meeting Wednesday – also envisions others sharing the burden of closing the gaps. It will call for administrative streamlining, better use of technology and increased revenues from state taxes.
This is of course bad news from those of us who are watching our wallets, and it does, as the News pointed out, fly in the face of Spitzer’s campaign promises. But transit advocates are at least accepting of the fare hike.
“In the face of large budget deficits, reality has to strike,” Neysa Pranger of the Straphangers Campaign told Donohue. “If that means everyone pitches in a bit more, including the riders and the state through dedicated taxes, I think that would be reasonable. But at the same time, riders can’t bear an unreasonable share, and possibly should get something in return if they are paying more.”
Gene Russianoff, also of the Straphangers Campaign, took a similar stance. “Any fare hike proposal should only be seriously considered at the same time the governor wins congestion pricing and new transit aid, which would raise billions of dollars to fix transit and take pressure off the MTA’s budget,” he said. I agree; the MTA should find a way to adequately distribute their budge deficit. It shouldn’t just be incumbent upon the riders to shoulder that burden.
Meanwhile, it seems to me that one of the ways the MTA may go about raising revenue and the fares will be through fewer discounts. Because of pay-per-ride discounts and unlimited ride passes, the average subway ride now costs around $1.30, lower than it did in 1996 before the widespread use of Metrocards. The reality is that the MTA cannot operate on such a low fare.
But if the MTA raises fares, riders are right to expect better service. The increased fares and added revenue should go toward better service – such as an F/V express option in Brooklyn – and more frequent service during off hours. On Wednesday, we’ll have a general sense of what the MTA’s revenue targets are. We won’t know about the nitty gritty of the fare hikes for a while. But be prepared for one; it seems inevitable.
It’s hard to believe that this whole new Yankee Stadium thing is actually happening. I’ve been going to Yankee games for my whole life at Yankee Stadium; my dad has been going to games at Yankee Stadium for his entire life. But come January 2009, the Yanks will be playing in some other stadium called Yankee Stadium with the so-called modern amenities that the House that Ruth Built is supposedly lacking.
While this is a discussion for another blog, one positive part of the new Yankee Stadium plan got off the ground — or should I say underground? — today as Yankee, MTA, city and state officials journeyed up to the Bronx for the Metro-North groundbreaking. The new stop, which I discussed in depth in May, will link the south Bronx area around Yankee Stadium to the popular Metro-North commuter rail network. During non-game hours, the Hudson line will head through this station. During game days, the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines will deliver thousands of fans to Yankee Stadium.
NY1 had more about the groundbreaking:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Eliot Spitzer were among those at a ground breaking Friday for a new commuter train station in the Bronx where Metro-North trains will one day pull up to the new Yankee Stadium. The station is located on the north side of 161st Street in the Bronx.
Officials say the station will be able to accommodate up to 12,000 fans, reducing traffic on the subway and streets. “There’s an awful lot of traffic and there will be even more traffic as time goes on, because more and more people will be coming to these games,” said Bloomberg. “So finding a way that we can get there by mass transit is just as integral of having the stadium as the actual field and the stands.”
The station is set to open in June of 2009, two months after the new stadium. And New York officials are hopeful that it will reduce congestion and traffic around the stadium during game days.
Meanwhile, the social impact of the new station can already be felt in the Bronx. As with any new transportation hub, real estate value is on the rise in the area, and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion noted that many young families are opting to buy apartments in what hasn’t been a very desirable neighborhood. While some think long-term residents will stick with their trusty automobiles, the congestion fee could very well change those plans.
Yankee fans will enjoy the benefits of this station too, and with fans coming from all over the area, this stop will be a boon for the Yanks and a boon for the area.
What a week, huh?
We had the ups and downs, the deaths and reincarnations of congestion pricing. In between the politicking surrounding the congestion fee, the city’s steam pipes started exploding again. I picked an exciting week to head west for vacation.
Meanwhile, this week goes out with a bang tonight as at midnight, the literary event of the year takes place. At 12:01 a.m., just as the weekend subway service changes go into effect, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be unleashed to the world. So as you make your way home from whatever Harry Potter-themed parties (and maybe this party took things a bit too far), remember that the trains will be a bit messed up.
The IRT lines are doing some funky stuff. Uptown 2 trains are running on the 4 line from Nevins St. to 149th St.-Grand Concourse. The 5 is running on the 2 tracks from Chambers St. to the Grand Concourse, and the 3 isn’t running between New Lots Ave. and Times Square. At least the 4 is once again running from the Brooklyn Bridge stop to Atlantic Ave. and beyond.
There is no L service from Lorimer St. to Broadway Junction. Take those fun shuttle buses instead. The J has some shuttle bus shenanigans going on as well, and the Q is terminating at 42nd St. instead of 57th St.
For all of your weekend subway service needs, check out the MTA’s site. Enjoy your Harry Potter weekend, and I’ll catch you all on Monday when I’m back home in New York.
At 1:50 p.m. yesterday, the MTA breathed a sigh of relief. For now, it seems, there is a flicker of hope for the financial future of the city’s transportation authority. This relief came in the form of four words from State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno: “We have a deal.”
This deal, of course, concerns the now-dead/now-alive congestion fee plan. Three days after a deadline to secure federal funds, the state government agreed to establish a commission to study the congestion issue. In doing so, amNew York’s Tracker blog reports, they’ve put themselves back in the running for a grant of up to $576 million from the federal government.
A few days ago, I reacted with bitter feelings toward the opponents of the Mayor’s plan. Today, I’m guardedly optimistic that the state will still do the right thing when it comes to the congestion pricing plans. The Times has more about the deal:
A commission will be created to study congestion and come up with a plan to mitigate it. The commission would not be limited to considering Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to charge a fee to drivers who enter Manhattan, and could also consider other traffic mitigation strategies.
The City Council would be required to approve whatever plan the commission recommends, and the Legislature would have until the end of next March to approve it, Mr. Bruno said.
The agreement appeared far more modest than what the mayor originally proposed. Still, state and city officials said they had been in talks with Bush administration officials and believed New York might still qualify for as much as $500 million in federal aid, despite the passage of an ostensible Monday deadline for cities to submit congestion plans to the Department of Transportation.
The commission, as Streetsblog reports, will consist of 17 members. The Mayor, Governor, City Council, State Senate Majority Leader and State Assembly speaker will all have three appointments to make. The Senate and Assembly minority leaders receive one appointment each. Considering the various viewpoints, you can bet that the plan the commission develops will be a watered down version of the Mayor’s original groundbreaking congestion fee plan.
Still, we have much to celebrate. The opportunity is there for New York to become a nationwide leading in combating traffic issues, and the state still has the chance to ensure financial support for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, one of the key agencies that can help combat congestion. While Sewell Chan at the CityRoom blog has the reactions from various city leaders, as this is a subway blog, I wanted to highlight MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander’s statement.
“The MTA is thrilled that an agreement has been reached to advance congestion pricing, which is critical to funding the long-term needs of the transportation system. We look forward to working with the City, USDOT and the commission to pursue the goals of reducing congestion, protecting the environment and investing in public transportation, “Sander said. The CEO is still optimistic that a deal can be reached that satisfies us all, and so am I.
As an editorial in The Times noted on Thursday, New York needs to combat its congestion problem, and the federal government is willing to pay big bucks to make it happen. Finally, some common sense prevailed in New York State politics. For now.