Transit

New York City’s first crosstown bike lanes proposed for Midtown

Photo via Wikimedia

January 18, 2018

New York City’s first crosstown bike lanes proposed for Midtown

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Crosstown protected bike lanes may finally come to Manhattan's Midtown neighborhood, the first of its kind in New York City. The city's Department of Transportation presented on Wednesday a series of proposals to create bike lanes that stretch from the East River to the Hudson River, traveling east to west instead of north to south. The first two protected lanes are proposed to run east on 26th Street and west on 29th Street, where an existing lane will be replaced. Officials are also looking to add a lane moving west on 55th Street and east on 52nd Street. DOT's move to add more protected bike lanes in Midtown comes after the city experienced an increase in the number of cyclist deaths in 2017, despite it being the safest year on record for traffic fatalities.
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Red Hook’s revitalization: Will transit and development proposals change the small community?

Photo of Fairway on the Red Hook waterfront, via CityRealty

January 17, 2018

Red Hook’s revitalization: Will transit and development proposals change the small community?

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The story of Red Hook is ripe for a movie-rights bidding war. In the past, there were mobsters and maritime ports, hurricanes and housing developments. Now there are politicians and developers fighting to rebuild and locals fighting back. In the end, what will happen to Red Hook is unknown but none of the massive proposals will happen in the near future. It is a small community in a big city that is tackling the issue many neighborhoods have dealt with in the past - how to grow. After the massive Hurricane Sandy rebuilding effort, there is a very solid and passionate local population and a growing cluster of cool restaurants, retailers, and artists attracted to the area. That coupled with the recent political attention by Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio and the developers drooling over the possibilities of the 130 acres of land ripe for redevelopment (that’s six times the size of the $25 billion Hudson Yards development) make Red Hook very newsworthy.
Transportation, development, and more
Cuomo’s proposed MTA budget requires more funding from New York City

Photo of Cuomo via the governor’s Flickr

January 17, 2018

Cuomo’s proposed MTA budget requires more funding from New York City

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled on Tuesday his proposed $168 billion FY 2019 executive budget, aimed mostly at raising revenue and protecting New York taxpayers from future federal cuts with a possible restructuring of the state's tax code. “Washington hit a button and launched an economic missile and it says ‘New York’ on it, and it’s headed our way,” Cuomo said. “You know what my recommendation is? Get out of the way.” While the governor's budget clearly targets President Trump and his administration, it appears to impose more financial responsibility on Mayor Bill de Blasio as well, according to Politico New York. The budget includes three provisions that require the city to increase their funding of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, including making City Hall pay half of the authority's $836 million emergency action plan. So far, de Blasio has refused to provide any additional funds to the MTA.
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Could legalizing marijuana be the state’s solution to fixing the NYC subway?

Photo via Dan Phiffer’s Flickr

January 16, 2018

Could legalizing marijuana be the state’s solution to fixing the NYC subway?

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to present the state legislature this week with ways to fund the financially troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority. On Tuesday, he released his $168 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year 2019, which includes a proposal for charging vehicles for driving in the busiest areas of Manhattan during peak hours, with the money raised going to mass transit. According to the Daily News, a Republican gubernatorial candidate has a different idea. Joel Giambra, a former Erie County executive who announced his bid for governor last week, said he wants to legalize marijuana to fund the city's desperately-needed transit repairs.
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Service changes galore this weekend, but MLK Day will run on a weekday schedule

Photo by Runs With Scissors / Flickr

January 12, 2018

Service changes galore this weekend, but MLK Day will run on a weekday schedule

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Happy long weekend! The MTA has a host of service changes in store for Saturday and Sunday, but come Monday the subway will be mercifully operating on a weekday schedule with only "minor timing changes." Still, though, the MTA advises customers to allow additional travel time, meaning service will predictably not be too stellar.
Service changes this way
Service changes to hit subways nearly as hard as a bomb cyclone this weekend

Photo by Vladimir Badikov via Flickr

January 5, 2018

Service changes to hit subways nearly as hard as a bomb cyclone this weekend

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The bomb cyclone may have officially passed, but the MTA is still struggling to get back on track following the relative havoc the storm wreaked on the frail subway signal system. Friday's overcrowded and delayed morning commute is unfortunately set to be followed by a weekend's worth of service changes, but hey, at least the LaGuardia Link is free again.
Bombs away
Cuomo asks MTA to study possible subway extension from Manhattan to Red Hook

Red Hook waterfront, photo via Sunghwan Yoon on Flickr

January 3, 2018

Cuomo asks MTA to study possible subway extension from Manhattan to Red Hook

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Tuesday to study a possible extension of subway service from Lower Manhattan to a new station in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook. In addition to expanding transit options, the governor is also asking the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to consolidate maritime operations by relocating them to Sunset Park, as a way to free up space for community activities. The revitalization of Red Hook is Cuomo's 21st proposal expected to be delivered in his 2018 State of the State address on Wednesday.
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Gateway tunnel project faces another roadblock from the Trump administration

Photo via The Gateway Program Development Corporation

January 2, 2018

Gateway tunnel project faces another roadblock from the Trump administration

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The multi-billion-dollar plan to build a second rail tunnel under the Hudson River and fix the deteriorating existing one has hit another setback after President Donald Trump's administration said on Friday it would not fund half of the project. As Crain's first reported, the Federal Transit Administration wrote a letter to Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie in response to their revised plan to fund $5.5 billion of the $12.7 billion project. A top FTA official said the administration would not recognize the prior deal made between President Barack Obama and the states, calling it "a non-existent '50/50' agreement between USDOT, New York, and New Jersey."
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Why do transit projects in NYC cost more than anywhere else in the world?

Construction workers giving a tour of the Second Avenue subway in 2015, photo via the MTA on Flickr

December 29, 2017

Why do transit projects in NYC cost more than anywhere else in the world?

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Even as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has cut costs on basic maintenance, they have allowed trade unions, construction companies and consulting firms to negotiate exorbitant deals on transit projects, with little intervention from officials.  According to an investigation by the New York Times,  labor unions have secured deals requiring construction sites be staffed as many as four times more workers than anywhere else in the world. Construction companies have increased their projected costs by up to 50 percent when bidding for work from the MTA and consulting firms have convinced the authority to spend an excessive amount on design and management. Caught up in the bureaucracy of the industry, neither public officials nor the authority have attempted to contain the spending.
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December 29, 2017

December 29, 1947 was the subway’s most crowded day ever

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After battling the mad crush of pre-holiday shoppers on city sidewalks, frenzied honking and general rudeness on streets and highways and endless airport queues, it's a little scary to think the worst might be still to come in the normally quiet days between Christmas and New Year's Eve–and on the subway, no less. The New York City subway system racks up 1.8 billion rides a year. The average ridership tally in 2015 was 5.7 million people daily; that number is the highest it's been since 1948. The New York Times tells us, though, that the actual record-setting day for subway rides was December 29, 1947, when a staggering 8,533,468 riders were counted. So, what drove so many into the subway's multitudinous depths?
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Should Uber and Lyft riders pay a fee for clogging Manhattan’s busiest streets?

Traffic in NYC, photo via joiseyshowaa on Flickr

December 27, 2017

Should Uber and Lyft riders pay a fee for clogging Manhattan’s busiest streets?

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As New York City’s failure-prone subway system continues to disappoint, some commuters are turning to ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft to reach their destinations instead. While getting picked up by a car is easy, especially in the busiest areas of Manhattan, the bumper-to-bumper traffic makes getting anywhere actually more difficult. A report released by Bruce Schaller, a former deputy city transportation commissioner, found that one-third of ride-hailing cars and yellow cabs are often driving on the city's most congested blocks without any passengers, creating unnecessary traffic (h/t New York Times). As a way to reduce car congestion, officials are considering a new fee on for-hire vehicles, possibly a way to raise money for the strapped-for-cash MTA.
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On this day in 1937, the Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic

Photo by Jumpy via Wikimedia Commons 

December 22, 2017

On this day in 1937, the Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic

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On December 22, 1937, the center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic. The $85 million project ($1.5 billion in today's dollars) linking Weehawken, NJ to Midtown Manhattan was hailed as a "new link of friendship between New York and New Jersey" and an "engineering feat." On that inaugural day, 7,661 cars drove through the 1.5-mile-long tunnel, paying 50 cents and likely not realizing they were 97 feet underwater.
Find out about the characters who made this day even more eventful
Hardly any subway service changes planned for this holiday weekend

Photo by Allan Beaufour / Flickr

December 22, 2017

Hardly any subway service changes planned for this holiday weekend

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A Christmas gift from the MTA! For once, there’s some good news in the weekend service change announcement: the Q70 LaGuardia Link Bus, which stops at all main LaGuardia Airport terminals and relatively nearby subway stations, will be fare-free today and Saturday and there will be “lots of extra LIRR & Metro-North Service,” as well as extra SIR trains Savor that information and read on to the less positive, but comparatively chipper, weekend service developments:
It's really not that bad
MTA testing technology to fix 100-year-old signals, let riders use cell phones in tunnels

Photo via Pixabay

December 21, 2017

MTA testing technology to fix 100-year-old signals, let riders use cell phones in tunnels

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While removing subway seats and employing customer service ambassadors in stations will slightly improve the commuting experience, these upgrades probably won't make the trains arrive at their destinations any faster. One of the biggest problems causing subway delays continues to be the 100-year-old infrastructure still used. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is finally addressing the failing, antiquated signals by testing technology known as Ultra-Wideband radio. As the Daily News reported, the MTA hopes the technology will more accurately locate trains, permitting them to run closer together.
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Artist uses the classic Vignelli design to reimagine the NYC subway map in concentric circles

Map via Max Roberts

December 21, 2017

Artist uses the classic Vignelli design to reimagine the NYC subway map in concentric circles

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Map via Max Roberts The classic NYC subway map is instantly recognizable--but what if you were to turn the design on its head? That was the thinking behind mapmaker and subway enthusiast Max Roberts, who wanted to visualize the city’s cohesiveness in a map that focused on aesthetics, rather than the angles and geographic accuracy New Yorkers are more familiar with. According to Untapped Cities, this isn't the first time Roberts has experimented with a concentric design. A few years back, he released a map that re-imagined the tradition map in concentric circles. This latest version uses Massimo Vignelli's design, a distinctive map released in the 1970s in which each subway route is represented.
Check it out
MTA running longer C-trains to accommodate more commuters

Photo of a C-train via Wikimedia

December 19, 2017

MTA running longer C-trains to accommodate more commuters

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It just became slightly easier to squeeze onto a C-train. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Saturday added 40 longer cars to the line to accommodate more riders. As part of its emergency action plan, the MTA replaced some of its 60-foot long R32 models, which first debuted in the system in 1964, with 75-foot long R46 cars. The longer cars increase commuter capacity by 25 percent per train set and are expected to also help absorb crowds during the 2019 L train shutdown.
More this way
Republican tax bill cuts critical funding for the MTA, report says

Photo via Wikimedia

December 18, 2017

Republican tax bill cuts critical funding for the MTA, report says

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If Congress passes the GOP-backed tax reform bill this week, the already-beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority will find itself in even more financial trouble, says a joint study released by transit advocacy groups Riders Alliance and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign on Sunday. The legislation adds $1.46 trillion in debt by providing the wealthiest Americans and corporations with tax cuts. As amNY reported, the tax plan would jeopardize the financing of major projects from the MTA like expanding the Second Avenue subway and even everyday operations. The MTA relies on federal funds to pay for about 23 percent of capital needs.
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Next president of New York City Transit says subway lines may be shuttered for repairs
December 18, 2017

Next president of New York City Transit says subway lines may be shuttered for repairs

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This November, the MTA announced it had hired Andy Byford as the next president of New York City Transit, the MTA agency responsible for subways, buses, para-transit services, and the Staten Island Railway. And already he's suggested that the city's struggling transit system requires aggressive steps to improve. According to the New York Times, he is weighing the option of shutting down lines for long periods of work with the goal of modernizing the system in years, rather than decades.
It may be a controversial choice
Service changes coming to all but six subway lines this weekend

Photo by John Fraissinet / Flickr

December 15, 2017

Service changes coming to all but six subway lines this weekend

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Per the MTA’s Weekend Subway Service Advisory, there are a ton of changes in store for straphangers this weekend, which, when compounded with the weather forecast, makes for all the more reason to stay home. There are a number of trains that have scheduled delays or will be making local stops – ahead are the direst of the weekend service changes.
READ MORE
NY and NJ commit $5B to the Hudson River tunnel project, but still no word from Trump

Photo via The Gateway Program Development Corporation

December 15, 2017

NY and NJ commit $5B to the Hudson River tunnel project, but still no word from Trump

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Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie on Thursday announced commitments to totally fund New York and New Jersey's share of the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project. The project aims to fix the 107-year-old tunnel damaged by seawater during Hurricane Sandy. It serves as the only intercity passenger rail crossing into NYC from NJ, a critical link for 200,000 daily passengers. Although two state officials wrote letters to the U.S. Department of Transportation detailing their combined $5.5 billion funding of the project through various agencies, the Trump administration has not agreed to fund the rest of the $12.7 billion project. As Crain's reported, a senior official at DOT called the states' funding commitment "entirely unserious."
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For $300, own a used subway trash can from the MTA
December 14, 2017

For $300, own a used subway trash can from the MTA

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Every month the MTA sells outgoing buses and subway cars, station signs, doors, seating and other fixtures from retired subways to lucky buyers who for some reason want to bring the underground experience into their homes. This holiday season, the MTA and the New York City Transit are offering discounted prices of memorabilia and collectibles until Dec. 18, making it easy to check off all holiday shopping lists. Brand new items up for grabs include a used "authentic, unique" refuse canister (read: trash can) for $300 and an "iconic" 10-foot-long wooden subway bench for a staggering $650.
Check out the full list of MTA memorbilia
NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

The Ninth Avenue El near 14th Street c. 1914. Via Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

December 14, 2017

NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

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Greenwich Village is known as the birthplace of many things – the modern gay rights movement, Off-Broadway theater, the New York School of artists and poets, the “new urbanism” pioneered by Jane Jacobs, among many other trailblazing firsts. Less closely associated with the Village, however, are radical and transformative innovations in transportation technology. But while little known, the Village was in fact home to the first elevated rail line, and the first streetcar.
The whole history right this way
New Amtrak app helps you navigate through Penn Station’s chaos

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

December 14, 2017

New Amtrak app helps you navigate through Penn Station’s chaos

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If you've ever found yourself lost in a maze of corridors or trampled in a boarding stampede at Penn Station, help may have arrived in the form of yet another useful mobile app. Beginning this week, Amtrak will offer a free app, FindYourWay, that helps travelers–65,000 of whom pass through the station each day–find their way through the station and avoid the crush of crowds that form around electronic boards announcing train departures, the New York Times reports.
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MTA releases plan to address impending 15-month shutdown of L train

Photo of the L-train via Wiki Commons

December 13, 2017

MTA releases plan to address impending 15-month shutdown of L train

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The MTA unveiled on Wednesday its much-anticipated plan for the 15-month shutdown of the L train, set to begin in April of 2019. Hurricane Sandy heavily damaged the 100-year-old Carnarsie Tunnel in 2012, filling it with 7 million gallons of saltwater and forcing a total reconstruction of the tunnel. The 225,000 daily L train riders that travel from Brooklyn through the tunnel to Manhattan will be given alternative travel options, as amNY reported. The MTA's plan calls for a new bus route that would run between Brooklyn and Manhattan, a busway on 14th Street in Manhattan with a two-way bike lane on 13th Street and increase subway service on nearby lines.
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