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Second Ave. Sagas

News and Views on New York City Transportation

View from Underground

In water main response, old tech trumps older infrastructure

by Benjamin Kabak January 15, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 15, 2014

West 4th Tower crews work to restore service following an early morning water main break this morning. Photo: MTA / J.P. Chan

Following an early-morning water main break at 5th Ave. and 13th Sts. that flooded out subway service at West 4th, the MTA restored service this morning, and the commute this evening should be relatively problem-free. The same, of course, couldn’t be said for this morning as Sixth Ave. trains were rerouted all over the place, and Uber, as expected, instituted surge pricing while people struggled to get into the office.

As part of the postmortem on the accident, the MTA offered up some spin on how service was restored so quickly:

Two pump trains were dispatched but were not needed. A pump room located at 9 St as well as portable pumps that were positioned into the area were able to pump water that had risen 24-30 inches along 300 feet of track north of the West 4 St station. Drains along the tracks were able to absorb much of the water that had entered the system. The drains performed well as a result of the attention they have received during FASTRACK work along that corridor.

This is the rosy view of everything. “Look! All that work we do that inconveniences you overnight now and then is paying off because we could restore subway service in a matter of hours,” the MTA says. It’s easy to cast a cynical eye toward that statement, but it’s also true that the MTA’s old technologies — pump rooms, well-placed drains — have continued to serve the agency well. Sometimes, infrastructure built in the late 1920s and early 1930s holds up remarkably well. It’s just something to chew on.

January 15, 2014 9 comments
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Service Advisories

Major West 4th water main break knocks out IND service

by Benjamin Kabak January 15, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 15, 2014

Due to a sinkhole and a water main break that has caused flooding in the West 4th St. subway station, service on the 6th Ave. IND lines as well as the Q train has been severely affected this morning. As of around 8:45, service looks like this:

  • There is no B train service in both directions between Bedford Pk Blvd and DeKalb Av.
  • B trains are running local in Brooklyn in both directions.
  • Northbound B trains are running on the Q line from DeKalb Av to Astoria-Ditmars Blvd.
  • There is no D train service in both directions between Atlantic Av-Barclays Center and 34 St-Herald Square.
  • Southbound D trains are running local in the Bronx and will terminate at 34 St-Herald Square.
  • Northbound D trains are running on the Q line from Atlantic Av-Barclays Center to 57 St-7 Av.
  • F trains are running on the E line between W 4 St-Washington Square and Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Av in both directions.
  • There is no M train service between 36 St (Qns) and Essex St.
  • M trains are running on the F line from 36 St (Qns) to 34 St-Herald Sq.
  • C trains are running express from Canal St. to 59th St.

These are, of course, subject to change at any moment, and I’m not going to be readily available to update this post over the next few hours. So keep an eye out on the MTA’s service status page. Their website seems to be holding up OK for now.

Meanwhile, as expected, with massive transit outages, Uber has entered surge pricing mode. Cabs are scarce, and on-demand cars will be very expensive. As the MTA’s website says, seemingly tongue-in-cheek, “Allow additional travel time.”

January 15, 2014 8 comments
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MBTA

From Boston, a ‘Hail Mary’ on naming rights

by Benjamin Kabak January 14, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 14, 2014

Every few months, another transit agency comes out with a proposal to generate revenue through naming rights, and every few months, I sit back and shake my head. The money and the interest just hasn’t materialized yet, and while its time might one day arrive, selling naming rights is much more of an idea in theory rather than practice. This time around, Boston is going to learn this lesson.

Up in Beantown, the MBTA has some ambitious expansion plans on the table. Using DMUs, the transit agency hopes to drastically expand its reach over the next ten years and will of course need money to do it. One way to generate funds could be through naming rights, and although the MBTA has been talking about naming rights for nearly a year, the agency seems ready to try to draw in advertisers.

Boston Magazine has the story:

For the low, low price of $1 million, corporations and businesses can slap their name on select MBTA stops or stations, or even name an entire rapid transit line after their brand. [A few weeks ago,] the MBTA put out Requests for Proposals for the naming rights on nine stations along the system, which includes Back Bay, Downtown Crossing, Park Street, North Station, State Street, Boylston, South Station, and Yawkey Way.

The asking price to add a moniker to each station starts at $1 million per year, except for Yawkey Way, which starts at $500,000. The contracts would last five years. The call for interested companies to shell out cash to rename stops and stations also includes an opportunity to have their name on some rapid transit lines—specifically the Red, Blue, and Green Lines. According to documents, prices vary for each line, but the most expensive starting bid is on the Green Line for $2 million per year.

If a company opts to purchase transit line naming rights, they would have their brand printed on station maps, and on system signage. The chance to take over the naming rights of certain MBTA properties, under the “Corporate Sponsorship Program,” was a directive of the state legislature as part of an extensive transportation bill passed over the summer.

That last line — that’s the crazy part. In the same bill that will allow the MBTA to run T service later than it currently does, the Massachusetts legislature required the agency to issue RFPs for station naming rights. Agency officials still believe naming rights could generate upwards of $18 million for transit, but so far, the grand total has been a whopping $0 in revenue after two years of searching.

According to the MBTA’s RFP, advertisers could host promotional events in their stations, have their brand broadcast via the subway’s PA system and have their logos appear on the T subway map. Rightly so, though, station names would retain their geographic identifier while adding the advertiser much as the MTA has done with Atlantic Ave./Barclays Center.

On the one hand, it’s admirable for the MBTA to try, and maybe they can be the ones to succeed. On the other hand, it seems like these efforts have been a waste of time and money. SEPTA in Philadelphia has managed to sell one subway station, and even the MTA hasn’t been successful here in New York. Furthermore, the MBTA is asking for an annual fee that’s five times what the MTA received from Barclays for stations that have, at most, two-thirds the ridership of Atlantic Ave. Many have much less than that.

Overall, the idea of corporate naming rights as a revenue generator seems to have peaked. The Nationals’ baseball stadium in DC, for instance, has gone without a corporate sponsor for nearly a decade, and Met Life paid only around $1 million per year to name the new Meadowlands stadium. As skeptical as I am, though, if the MBTA’s legally-required due diligence leads anywhere, it will have been worth it.

January 14, 2014 10 comments
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AsidesMTA Economics

New York’s top court upholds $1.2 billion Payroll Mobility Tax

by Benjamin Kabak January 14, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 14, 2014

The zombie lawsuit to overturn the MTA payroll mobility tax has finally hit a dead end. New York’s Court of Appeals, the state’s top judicial body, has upheld the tax. The measure, a 34-cent tax on every $100 of payroll, has not been popular amongst Republican suburban legislators, but the MTA has long maintained, as they did last June, that “removal of the tax’s revenues would have had a catastrophic impact” on the region’s economy and transit system. Today’s dismissal, without comment from any judges, is a victory and should put an end to the legal wrangling over the tax.

The PMT grew out of the MTA’s last financial crisis when state legislators approved a mix of fees and taxes to bolster the agency’s bottom line. It was deeply unpopular outside of the city, and after a variety of unsuccessful challenges, plaintiffs found a sympathetic ear on Long Island. While one judge found the tax unconstitutional on shaky legal grounds, the Appellate Division revsered course. For the tax to fall now, politicians will have to step in with better solutions and replacement funds.

In responses to today’s ruling, those politicians are well aware of what awaits. Lee Zeldin, who has made a career out of opposition to the payroll tax, spoke against the court’s decision, and Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano declared a Pyrrhic victory as the structure of the tax has changed over the years. Meanwhile, other state reps from north of the city have recognized that the tax is, absent a significant amount of horse-trading, here to stay.

January 14, 2014 15 comments
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East Side Access ProjectPenn Station Access

Musings on East Side Access, Penn Station Access and fare policies

by Benjamin Kabak January 13, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 13, 2014

Penn Station Access may have to wait for East Side Access. (Image via @NYGovCuomo)

The news that East Side Access is yet again over budget and off schedule isn’t just an embarrassment for a project that’s been plagued with troubles. It has a cascade effect too on the entire region. The longer we wait for East Side Access, the longer we have to wait for Penn Station Access, and the longer we wait for Penn Station Access, the less likely its current champion will be in office. Meanwhile, the MTA is trying to incorporate commuter rail into the city’s transit fabric, but can it do so without rationalizing the fare?

In a sense, Penn Station Access is the dependent stepson of East Side Access. When ESA finally opens, a few trains will shift from the West Side to the East Side, and despite the selfish whining from Long Island politicians, the MTA will have space to send some Metro-North trains to the West Side. New Yorkers from both sides of New York City’s suburbs will be better distributed to the side of the city with their places of employ, and everyone wins. The planning for Penn Station Access can start now, and if the money is there, work can begin. But until East Side Access opens, Metro-North riders hoping to get to Penn will have to wait.

Furthermore, with Gov. Cuomo throwing his support behind the Penn Station plan, we may cast a wary eye at East Side Access delays. There’s a chance Cuomo could still be governor in 2020 when ESA opens, but he could move on to bigger and better things by then. If he’s not around, will Penn Station Access live to see the light of day (and the green of money)? It’s no sure thing, but the longer East Side Access takes, the more likely enthusiasm for Penn State Access will dim.

Finally, there is a question of fares. The MTA clearly views Penn Station Access as a way to better serve areas in the Bronx that seem — and are — remote. As The Times details today, Co-Op City would stand to benefit tremendously from a Metro-North stop promising access to both Midtown and Greenwich, CT, in 30 minutes. But some residents are skeptical, and the culprit lies in the fares.

As Stephen Smith detailed in a New York Magazine piece a few weeks ago, the MTA’s desire to get city residents on commuter rail clashes with fare policy and operations. He wrote:

The MTA treats Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road as a limited, luxury service for suburbanites commuting during peak hours, with city residents largely excluded from the lines that run through neighborhoods like Ozone Park and Jamaica in Queens and Tremont in the Bronx. But each of them could be transformed into super-express subways: The LIRR, for example, could easily handle trains every twenty minutes from Forest Hills into the city midday and late at night (to pay for it, retrain conductors as train drivers), compared with the hour-long waits between trains today—a welcome relief line for the overcrowded subway beneath Queens Boulevard. And with more frequent trains, railroad stations in Queens that were axed decades ago could be added back without slowing down existing commuters. Elmhurst could get its LIRR stops back, and the confluence of lines at Sunnyside Yards merits a major transit junction, with all of the development that would follow.

A one-way, peak-hour, off-board Metro-North from Fordham is $8.25 per ride and the monthly for MNR service only is nearly twice as much as a 30-day MetroCard. The costs are out of proportionate to the benefits and do little to encourage ridership. There is, after all, a reason why as of the mid-2000s fewer than 1000 people per day used some of the Bronx’s Metro-North stations.

So these are the challenges the MTA faces: Get East Side Access under control; continue the push for Penn Station Access; and figure out a way to better integrate intra-city travel into the Metro-North and LIRR fare structure. These aren’t insurmountable challenges, but the deck is ever so slightly more stacked against timely forward progress.

January 13, 2014 67 comments
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MTA Technology

An ‘L’ of an update for Subway Time

by Benjamin Kabak January 13, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 13, 2014
The update to the MTA's SubwayTime app includes real-time information for trains on the L line.

The update to the MTA’s SubwayTime app includes real-time information for trains on the L line.

L train riders, rejoice: The MTA’s real-time subway tracking app and developer feeds have been updated today with location information for the BMT Canarsie line. The update was originally due by the end of 2013, but missing a deadline by two weeks seems minor in the grand scheme of things. With the latest update to the MTA’s own iOS app and the web-based interface as well as the open-data feeds for third-party developers, L train riders can find out how long — or short — their waits will be before heading underground.

For the MTA, this is the first upgrade to the Subway Time app, and while the design or scrolling experience haven’t improved, the data available now includes arrival time estimates for eight of the city’s subway routes. Unfortunately, it’s also likely to be the last update for a few years. The CBTC signal project currently underway on the 7 line is expected to wrap in 2016, and the Flushing line could be added thereafter. The MTA is still eying a three- to five-year rollout of some sort of digital tracking system on the remainder of the lettered lines, but it’s unclear if the agency can meet that deadline.

In any event, today’s upgrade is a welcome one, even if it underscores the time we’ll have to wait for information on the rest of the system’s trains at the same time.

January 13, 2014 15 comments
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East Side Access Project

Déjà vu all over again: East Side Access late, over budget

by Benjamin Kabak January 12, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 12, 2014

A glimpse at progress on the Manhattan side of the East Side Access project as of October. The giant construction effort is once again delayed and over budget. Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The MTA’s East Side Access project is over budget and unlikely to be finished by the end of 2019, the current deadline for the multi-billion LIRR cavern underneath Grand Central. For the MTA, this is but another delay in what has been an unmanageable project. Originally set to cost around $4 billion with a revenue date of 2013, East Side Access will cost over $8.3 billion and may not be ready until 2020.

The agency hasn’t yet released a revised timeline or budget; that’s expected to arrive in a report due in February. But at a hearing in front of the state assembly’s Committee on Corporations, MTA Capital Construction officials said East Side Access was “slipping a little bit further [beyond 2019] and could cost more.” Said Craig Stewart, the senior director of capital programs, “I haven’t heard the update yet on the projected time, but we don’t think we will make 2019.”

As of mid-2012, when the MTA pushed back the completion date from 2018 to 2019, officials said they were 80 percent certain they could meet the new deadlines, and current MTACC President Michael Horodniceanu has focused on deadlines and budgets. Still, the hearing on Friday painted a picture of missed opportunities and poor management. Newsday’s Alfonso Castillo has a comprehensive report:

William Henderson, executive director of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, which includes the LIRR Commuter Council, said the latest delays will put further out-of-reach critical capacity improvements for “weary” and “disgusted” Long Island commuters. “It is discouraging. I mean, you talk to people on Long Island and they say, ‘I’m never going to ride this thing. I’m going to be retired before it happens,'” Henderson said. The MTA should have done a better job predicting the project’s risks before releasing a projected completion date and budget, he said. “They just weren’t realistic.”

MTA officials noted the project, which entails linking the LIRR to a new, 350,000-square-foot customer concourse at Grand Central via newly bored tunnels, is the largest construction project underway in the country, and a complicated one. “This project has gotten very large,” Robert Foran, MTA chief financial officer, told the Assembly panel. “It’s gone well beyond what the preliminary scope and scale anticipated.”

East Side Access has faced multiple obstacles, including unexpected engineering challenges and underperforming contractors. Stewart said Friday that the MTA has hired an outside consultant with “expertise that we don’t necessarily have” to find ways to expedite the project and reduce its cost. It also has recently gotten some favorable bids from contractors for future phases of the job.

At this point, the only way out of this morass is forward, but there’s no doubt that East Side Access has become a transit disaster. Officials formerly involved with the project have come to regret the shape of things. Though few will talk on the record, fingers have been pointed at politicians, Metro-North/LIRR turf battles and misguided advocacy efforts. It has also given credence to those who supported Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to cancel the ARC Tunnel.

I’m anticipating further details in the next report to the MTA Board. I’m sure for now many people wish these billions could be spent on something not quite as problematic. It is, after all, enough money to wrap up the next two phases of the Second Ave. Subway, and with six years left, who’s to say we won’t have more delays and more cost overruns? That’s been the norm now for nearly a decade.

January 12, 2014 82 comments
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Service Advisories

Weekend work affecting 11 subway lines

by Benjamin Kabak January 11, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 11, 2014

With the Super Bowl just four weeks away, things are ramping up for the Big Game, and one of those things involves our MetroCards. As part of an advertising deal for an undisclosed amount of money, the Super Bowl host committee has purchased 1 million MetroCards and adorned them with one of the four designs you see above this post. The cards are available at booths and vending machines at 400 stations throughout the system and will be on sale between now and the Super Bowl in early February.

Your chances of finding a promotional card are approximately one in four as around 4 million MetroCards per month are put into circulation. Buy up, if you’re looking for one. Meanwhile, PATH is getting into the game as well as they’re releasing limited edition SmartLink cards with a Super Bowl tie-in. Ironically, you can’t use a MetroCard or a PATH card to get to the Super Bowl, but the collector’s items will be with us forever.


From 3:30 a.m. Saturday, January 11 to 10:00 p.m. Sunday, January 12, 4 trains are suspended between 149 St-Grand Concourse and Woodlawn due to track maintenance and track panel installation between 149 St-Grand Concourse and 161Street-Yankee Stadium. 4 trains operate between Utica Ave/New Lots Av and 149 St-Grand Concourse. Customers are advised to use crosstown buses to access nearby D stations. Free shuttle buses operate in two sections:

  • Between 149 St-Grand Concourse and 161 St Yankee-Stadium and
  • Between Woodlawn and the Bedford Park Boulevard D station.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, January 10 to 4:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, Brooklyn Bridge-bound trains run express from Pelham Bay Park to Parkchester due to station work and platform demolition work at Castle Hill Avenue and Middletown Road stations.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, January 10 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, Brooklyn-bound A trains run express from 59 St-Columbus Circle to Canal St due to structural survey work in the Rutgers Tunnel.


From 5:30 p.m. Saturday, January 11 to 10:00 p.m. Sunday, January 12, A trains are suspended between Howard Beach and Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue due to the installation of third rail heaters between Howard Beach-JFK Airport and Aqueduct, and for maintenance on the North Channel Bridge. Free shuttle buses operate in two segments.

  • Non-stop between Howard Beach-JFK Airport and Far Rockaway via Nassau Expressway
  • Between Howard Beach-JFK Airport and Rockaway Park, stopping at Broad Channel.


From 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, Brooklyn-bound C trains run express from 59 St-Columbus Circle to Canal St due to structural survey work in the Rutgers Tunnel.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, January 11 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, D trains run local in both directions between 34 St-Herald Sq and W4 St due to switch repairs south of 14 Street.


From 12:15 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, and from 12:15 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, E trains run express from Queens Plaza to Roosevelt Ave due to track tie renewal north of Queens Plaza.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, January 10, to 5:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, Manhattan-bound E trains skip Van Wyck Blvd and 75 Ave due to signal modernization at Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike.


From 9:45 p.m. Friday, January 10, to 5:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, Queens-bound F trains run on the M line from 47-50 Sts to Queens Plaza due to Second Avenue Subway construction.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, January 10, to 5:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, Brooklyn-bound F trains skip Sutphin Blvd, Van Wyck Blvd and 75 Av due to signal cable installation.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, January 10, to 5:00 a.m. Monday, January 13, Brooklyn-bound F trains are rerouted via the A line from W4 St to Jay St-MetroTech due to structural survey work in the Rutgers Tunnel.


From 5:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, G trains run every 20 minutes between Court Sq and Bedford-Nostrand Avs, due to Fix and Fortify Sandy Recovery Work in the Greenpoint Tube.


From 6:45 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, Coney Island-bound trains are rerouted via the D line from 36th St to Coney Island Stillwell Av, due to design survey work near 20 Ave.


From 6:00 a.m. to 12 midnight Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, Queens-bound R trains run express from Queens Plaza to Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave due to track tie renewal north of Queens Plaza.

(Rockaway Shuttle)
From 5:30 p.m. Saturday, January 11 to 10:00 p.m. Sunday, January 12, Rockaway Park Shuttle trains run between Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway due to the installation of third rail heaters between Howard Beach and Aqueduct, and for maintenance on the North Channel Bridge. Free shuttle buses operate between Howard Beach-JFK Airport and Rockaway Park, stopping at Broad Channel.

January 11, 2014 1 comment
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AsidesMetro-North

Giulietti tabbed to head Metro-North

by Benjamin Kabak January 10, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 10, 2014

Joseph J. Giulietti, a 42-year transit veteran, will replace outgoing Metro-North President Howard Permut on February 1, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast announced today. In the first public statements following reports of Permut’s sudden retirement, Prendergast praised the outgoing president and welcomed back Giulietti, the current executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, the agency that operates Tri-Rail.

“Joe began his railroad career as a brakeman and assistant conductor on the Penn Central Railroad, and has honed his operational and leadership skills through positions of increasing responsibility,” Prendergast explained. “I am confident Joe will quickly focus on enhancing Metro-North’s strong operational standards and safety practices, while continuing to develop the railroad’s future as a critical link in the region’s transportation system and economy.”

Giulietti first started working for the railroad that would become Metro-North in 1971 when it was then Penn Central. He became a foreman with Conrail in 1978 and served as superintendent of transportation when Metro-North began operations in 1983. Before departing for sunny South Florida in 1998, he had served as engineer of track for the Harlem and Hudson lines and assistant director of transportation and schedule coordination, among other roles, at Metro-North.

Coming in after a year of troubles, Giulietti will have to restore both the perception and reality of safety to the beleaguered railroad. “Metro-North’s customers have learned to have high expectations of their railroad,” he said, “and I want to ensure it always performs safely, efficiently and effectively for the future.”

January 10, 2014 2 comments
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WMATA

Dispatches from DC: $184 million for an open payment system

by Benjamin Kabak January 10, 2014
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 10, 2014

DC is moving forward with another fare payment system that far surpasses New York’s.

The MetroCard just hit the big 2-0 earlier this week, and while the MTA desperately wants to find a suitable replacement, the familiar gold-and-blue piece of plastic is likely to live to see 25. In fits and starts, the MTA has tried to find a way to bring on board something better, something with lower fare collection and maintenance costs, something that will survive the next two or three decades. But an effort that was restarted last year has yet to bear fruit.

Meanwhile, other transit systems are moving forward quickly with their own plans to find a next-gen fare payment system. Earlier this week, Washington’s WMATA announced that it will begin testing a new electronic payment program that, if all goes according to plan, will replace the current scheme. It builds off of the SmarTrip tap-and-go system and could give riders more options for paying their fares.

The WMATA opted to give the $184 million to Accenture, and while I’ll touch upon the problems with that decision shortly, we have details from a press release:

The new system will be designed to provide a state of the art system for Metro customers that enables them to continue to use SmarTrip cards, while expanding fare payment to chip-enabled credit cards, federal government ID cards, and mobile phones using near field communications (NFC).

“While Metro pioneered the tap and go system we currently use, by today’s standards that system is cumbersome and the technology is not sustainable,” said Metro General Manager and CEO Richard Sarles. “The new technology will provide more flexibility for accounts, better reliability for riders, and real choices for customers to use bank-issued payment cards, credit cards, ID cards, or mobile phones to pay their Metro fares.”

Washington Metro will be among the first transit systems in the United States to use this advanced technology to enhance reliability, and make travel more convenient for riders. Accenture will help deliver the electronic fare management system by combining its transit experience with industry and functional management consulting expertise in mobility, analytics, customer service, payments, financial services, retail and marketing science. Accenture has successfully implemented similar technology in Canada and the Netherlands.

The driving goal behind this plan, as it is in New York, is to reduce the costs of ongoing maintenance and completely phase out paper farecards. Metro says that just 10 percent of riders still use those clunky cards, and the WMATA’s vintage fare gates will be replaced if all goes according to plan. The initial pilot will be implemented in 10 Metro stations — or around 12 percent of the system — and on 50 buses as well.

The choice of Accenture is not without its problems. As a WAMU report detailed, Accenture had some issues implementing a similar technology in Toronto back in 2012, but WMATA officials said they were confident the company could deliver. “Our procurement was very thorough and competitive. We looked at a ‘best value’ procurement and we felt that the partner we selected is going to work the best for Metro,” Metro CFO Carol Kissal said. “We considered their technical design, their history and their background, and all those things were factored in the decision.”

This, to me, is forward progress. While the Metro is much smaller than the MTA’s with many fewer stations, the nation’s second busiest subway system is moving forward with a fare payment system that isn’t only more advanced than New York’s but will lap us as well. Already, Metro has a tap-and-go system; now they’re moving further beyond any sort of swipe-based technology. Hopefully, we won’t be commemorating the MetroCard’s 30th birthday in 10 years, but who wants to take any bets?

January 10, 2014 31 comments
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