Mass Transit Systems

MTA Spending $34 Million This Year on Employee "Overtime" (Read: Vacation)

​These days, no news from the MTA is good news.Turns out the transit authority is spending $34 million this year on overtime for workers who aren't actually working, but are on vacation, out sick, etc.

Update: MTA "Fixes" One Problem, Creates Another -- and So It Goes

​As of yesterday, the MTA planned to lay off two bus drivers currently at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a humanitarian move, perhaps realizing that the stress of war need not be coupled with the stress of job loss -- or that they would be getting some very bad publicity -- the MTA changed it ... More >>

The MTA PayPass Pilot Program Starts Today: Death of Metrocard Forthcoming

​Happy June 1st! If you didn't know, today is the magical day that the New York/New Jersey Port Authority and related transportation organizations with be experimenting with Mastercard's PayPass technology at certain MTA subway stops, buses, and on the NJ Transit. More importantly: in other wo ... More >>

Mass Transit Cuts Leave Passengers Stranded

Big wheels unmoved

City's Big Apps Contest Unlooses Public Data, But MTA Not On Board

You may recall that the Times reported the MTA was easing its grip on public information -- dropping their legal demands on the developer of the StationStops iPhone app and others who had been using their train schedules in technology -- and suggested that political pressure was part of the reason. ... More >>

Former MTA Lit-Picker Says Cute Subway Cards are Screened for Scary Words

​The "Train of Thought" aperçus and apothegms, which replaced the "Poetry in Motion" subway cards last year as the bored and bookless rider's eye-contact-redirect of last resort, has gone over well with literary-minded locals and been covered by the New Yorker before. The magazine now t ... More >>

MTA: 150 Subway Stations Will Get Digital Train Timers

​Lucky L train riders have had digital signs telling them when trains are coming (not always accurately, in our experience, but usually close enough for comfort). Now the MTA, which has mainly offered us blood, sweat and tears lately, says on December 2010, if not sooner, they'll start equipp ... More >>

6th Ave Trains OK Now; Lex Ave Trains Bollocksed

​The Sixth Avenue line delays earlier reported by MTA have been resolved, but there's trouble on the tracks for the Lexington Avenue line: 4 service is suspended in both directions between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and Crown Heights-Utica Avenue, and there are delays on all 4,5, and 6 train ... More >>

Tea Party People Mystified By Public Transportation

​Last weekend there was a Tea Party protest in Washington, with attendance estimated between 60,000-70,000 (ABC News) and a zillion kabillion (Michelle Malkin). Yet all was not good times and accusations of fascism. The Wall Street Journal reports that Texas Congressman Kevin Brady has complai ... More >>

2nd Avenue Subway Evicted Tenants Not Feeling the Alleged Drop in Manhattan Rents

We keep hearing that Manhattan rents are down significantly, but the folks who are being eminent-domained out of their homes to make way for the new Second Avenue Subway line aren't seeing it. The Times talks to several who've worked with the MTA and its realty partner O. R. Colan Associates, and ... More >>

Thompson Blasts Plan to Eliminate Subway Agents, Claims Study Finds Them Helpful

One of the ways the MTA wants to cut costs is by taking station agents out of the subways. This doesn't go over well with community groups, nor with insecure riders who find themselves on lonely platforms in the wee hours -- nor, really, with much of anyone except bean-counters. Comptroller and ... More >>

Worker Killed on Throgs Neck Bridge; Several Lanes Closed

On the Throgs Neck Bridge this morning a worker was "struck by the boom from a boom truck," says the MTA, and was killed. (Earlier reports had him falling from the bridge.) The worker, not yet identified, was pinned under the boom until firefighters arrived to lift it off. He was pronounced dead at ... More >>

iPhone App-Maker Publishes Train Schedules; MTA Demands a Cut

​Plucky commuter Chris Schoenfeld made an iPhone app called Station Stops that tells you when Metro North trains are scheduled to arrive and depart. He enters and updates the info manually from Metro North's timetables, which we thought was public information. But he says MTA, which runs Metro ... More >>

1 Train Screwed Through the Weekend

​The 1 train is still screwed up by yesterday's ceiling collapse at 181st Street. It's out between 168th Street and Dyckman Street -- MTA has put free shuttle buses on that route; between Dyckman and 242nd Street, only the 207th Street station is out. (The M3 bus is free between 168th and 191s ... More >>

34th Street Bus Lines Get Timers

​It surprises us that the MTA has chosen the M16 and M34 buses on 34th Street for its bus-shelter digital timer pilot program, which announces to waiting riders when the next one is scheduled to arrive. The relatively uncomplicated L train made a good test case for the subway version, but the ... More >>

Bloomberg Tweets Breaking News! Will Be Endorsed by Al Dia

​ And there you have it: N.Y. Al Dia, the Spanish-language daily which in April sort of replaced the defunct Hoy and joined other Impremedia Spanish New York papers El Diario and La Prensa on the newsstands, will va Bloomberg. It's great to have an inside source, for once. Earlier the Mayor t ... More >>

Mayor's Transit Plan Highlights, from Free Crosstown Buses to (Horse-Drawn?) Streetcars

​Tired of relying on entropy and black ops to secure his landslide, Mayor Bloomberg today unveiled at his campaign website "Mike's Plan for a Better NYC Transit System." Among the highlights: "Free crosstown buses on select routes in Midtown." And worth every penny! Unmotorized wheelchairs cr ... More >>

Top Marks to 7 Train, Low Marks to C, in Largely Meaningless Subway Survey

The subway nudges of the Straphangers Campaign issued their annual State of the Subways report. The 7 train was their favorite, which in their MetroCard rating system means it's almost worth the price of a pre-fare-hike ride ($1.55); on the GCT-to-Flushing line you're more likely to get a train and ... More >>

Butt-Slapper Terrorizes Subway, Tish James Speaks Out

NY1 says there's a serial butt-slapper riding the trains. Cops say they've received about a dozen reports of the man slapping butts in and around Crown Heights. Councilmember Tish James denounces the assailant as a "lowlife" and a "coward." He is thought to be in his mid-20s, between 5' 10" and 6' a ... More >>

Brooklyn Man Guilty of Selling Fake Parts to the MTA

Stories about people who defraud government agencies usually make us think only of taxpayer dollars wasted. But the story of Brooklyn's Joseph Ungar, who pleaded guilty yesterday to selling inferior knockoff parts to the MTA, also makes us a little nervous about using the traims, though the Authorit ... More >>

Today Barclays-Atlantic Avenue, Tomorrow Disney-Times Square? MTA "Very Open" To Selling Subway Naming Rights

That resounding "Ewwwww!" you heard emanating from Brooklyn was the sound of locals discovering that as part of Bruce Ratner's revamped deal with the MTA for the Atlantic Yards site, he's set to get naming rights to the Atlantic Avenue subway station. If it's approved by the MTA board tomorrow as ex ... More >>

Ratner Avenue! Developer Gets MTA Atlantic Yards Windfall -- and Subway Station Naming Rights

Just when you think Bruce Ratner and his cockamamie Atlantic Yards project are down for the count, they get back up again -- assisted by the city's moneyed interests. The MTA just cut Forest City Ratner an amazing deal. As expected, he'll pay $100 million for the Vanderbilt Railyards -- but he on ... More >>

Pols Stand With Sikhs Against MTA's Forced Branding of Turbans

On Tuesday several city councilmembers signed a letter of protest against an MTA policy that requires Sikh workers to have the MTA logo sewn into their turbans. In 2005 the council filed but never enacted a bill that would prevent city agencies from making employees "comply with a uniform code tha ... More >>

MTA Steps Up Robot Trains -- as L Accidentally Skips Stops

The MTA says it has been stepping up the automation of its guinea-pig L trains without telling us. They started with night service, but have been pushing into daylight hours and now say it's working round the clock. Interestingly, WCBS last night ran a report that the L has been skipping stops at ni ... More >>

D.A.: Queens Contractor Stiffed Workers $600K

A Long Island-City-based contractor with ties to the MTA was indicted today for cheating its employees out of $600,000. The firm, M.A. Angeliades, which had been contracted to repair 11 subway stations, had 150 employees (though the District Attorney's office wouldn't say how many were defrauded). ... More >>

Atlantic Yards Combatants Finally Forced To Sit Through State Senate Hearing

The footprint. Image via Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots. Yesterday was the long-awaited — like, six years long — first state legislative hearing on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, with State Senator Bill Perkins convening his Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Committee ... More >>

MTA Ad Seller Blows $7.5 Target; Ad Rates Down

We thought we were seeing an awful lot of Poetry in Motions on the subways lately, and now the Times tells us that Titan Worldwide has failed to meet its $7.5 million target for selling ad space on New York's subways, buses and commuter trains. Another vendor, CBS Outdoor, says it has had no problem ... More >>

MTA Wants Payouts Banned to Riders Who Get Themselves Hurt

The New York Post says "the chronically cash-strapped MTA has become a money train for riders filing personal-injury lawsuits." Personal injury claims against the Authority rose to $57.6 million last year. The Post focuses on cases like that of Dustin Dibble who, while "blotto," fell on the tracks, ... More >>

MTA Approves Plan; Fare Up 25 Cents on June 17

At long last, a practical effect to the months-long Albany-MTA wrangle: the MTA approved the Albany plan and officially voted in a fare hike from $2.00 to $2.25 (and from $81 for a monthly to $89, and so forth). The new higher fares kick in on June 17. Upstate Republicans continue to bitch about t ... More >>

No One Really Likes the MTA Plan

Governor Paterson greeted communters at the Bryant Park subway station this morning, in celebration of the MTA bailout plan that Albany passed last night, though no one seems in a celebratory mood -- not even the Governor. "The one thing that I learned through this process," Paterson said, "is that ... More >>

"Meet Miss Subways" at Rush Art Galleries

This is just sweet: the Rush Art Galleries on West 26th Street are having a show called "Meet Miss Subways," with contemporary photos taken by Fiona Gardner of some of the ladies who, between 1941 and 1976, won public phone and mail competitions for the competition, and appeared in subway ads. The c ... More >>

Chief Exec Sander Leaving MTA

Less than 24 hours after Albany passed its MTA bailout package, MTA chief executive Elliot "Lee" Sander has resigned. In an interview with WPIX, he did not dispute the assertion that Governor Paterson requested his resignation. The Governor told WNYC earlier that the MTA is in need of a shakeup. ("D ... More >>

Verrazano Bridge Toll Going Up?

We're still waiting for the vote that is expected to pass the MTA budget compromise, which charges drivers and employers taxes and surcharges to keep the buses and trains running with just a slight increase in fares. And we hope the Dalai Lama's invocation in Albany this morning put them all in a mo ... More >>

Our Cynicism Rewarded: Albany MTA Plan Still Not Ready

It wasn't just because we're lazy -- we thought the state senate MTA plan that everyone's been talking about sounded a little shaky, so we let it alone. And we were right: neither Sheldon Silver nor Governor Paterson are happy with the senators' proposal. They say it's about a quarter-billion dollar ... More >>

Flash! Albany Working on MTA Plan

Albany lawmakers are behind closed doors, working on an MTA plan. A taxi surcharge and payroll taxes are among the remedies they're considering. Paterson's calling for "action." His new wrinkle is to offer constituents reimbursement of the payroll tax to their school districts -- a typical Albany Ru ... More >>

MTA: Expect Even Worser Service, and Maybe No Trains at Night

You know those MTA service cuts we were promised along with the new fare hikes as part of the Doomsday Fun-Pak? Well, the Authority's executive director just announced they'll be even worse and may include the end of all-night subway service. "I'm not sure the English language captures what goes be ... More >>

Grand Central Chandeliers Now Lit By CFC Bulbs

The last incandescent lightbulb in the last Beaux Arts chandelier in Grand Central Terminal was replaced today with a compact fluorescent, completing a two-year job to make the 96-year-old "melon" fixtures energy efficient. The MTA expects to save $200,000 a year on the lower electrical cost assoc ... More >>

In Search of a Midnight Kiss Recasts LA as Romantically Comedic