Subject: Passenger Transportation

• Flash Floods and a Hell Commute May Return on Friday

  August 9, 2007

• Congestion Pricing Panel Named

  August 21, 2007

• MTA Launches Green Initiative

  September 17, 2007

• The MTA Needs Better Signs A Homeless Man Biffed Me

  October 5, 2007

• The Hudson Railyard Bids Are In

  October 11, 2007

• It's Your Chance To Say No to a MTA Fare Hike

  November 5, 2007

• Brooklynites Rail Against Proposed MTA Fare Hike

  November 6, 2007

• A Sobering Plan to End Subway Alcohol Advertising

  November 12, 2007

• Spitzer Spikes MTA Base Fare Increase

  November 20, 2007

• MTA Bigwig Likes His Perks

  June 19, 2008

• Gay Pride Was Our Umbrella Ella Ella...

  June 29, 2008

• Getting the MTA's Goat at the Verrazano Bridge

  August 5, 2008

• EZ Pass: Times Finds NYers Won't Say No to a Free Ride

  August 14, 2008

• Who's Zoomin' Who? City Not Paying Its Share of MTA Bills

  August 15, 2008

• MTA Brains Propose New Congestion Plan: Sell the Bridges

  September 16, 2008

• State Comptroller: MTA Fucked; You, Too

  September 26, 2008

• Thompson: Charge Cars By the Pound

  November 24, 2008

• Pols Suggest MTA Deal Land for $; Still Seeks Missing Report

  November 24, 2008

• MTA Plan: Corporate Tax, Bridge Tolls, "Automatic" But Lower Fare Hikes

  December 4, 2008

• Gioia, LIC Residents Protest 7 Train Service Interruptions

  Straphangers are inconvenienced by the MTA all the time. This is especially true on the weekends, when construction-based service interruption after service interruption can turn a 10-minute commute into an hour-long, three-transfer horror show. The people of Long Island City, faced with an upcoming nine weeks of weekend delays on the 7 Train, are refusing to take the agency's transit abuse without a fight. A coalition of neighborhood businesses, non-profits and community leaders, led by Ci

  January 4, 2009

• MTA Hearings, Like Subway, Overcrowded with Long Delays

  Nearly 100 people remained outside the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fare hike hearing in Manhattan almost an hour after it began on Wednesday evening, their wait caused by stepped-up security measures and what appeared to be the authority's failure to anticipate the crowd. "We've recently had a shoe-throwing incident," said Aaron Donovan, deputy press secretary for the MTA, in reference to last month's copycat crime of the Iraqi shoe heard round the world. "We take security very seri

  January 15, 2009

• Passenger, Bill O'Reilly Spoiling "Miracle on the Hudson" Buzz

  Remember when US Airways Flight 1549's heroic Hudson River landing made us all feel good about America and ourselves? Well, it's all going to shit. Earlier this week Chicago's Joe Hart, one of the survivors, told USA Today that he'd like to be "made whole for the incident," and we all know what that means (rubs fingertips together). US Airways gave the passengers $5000 apiece, as well as ticket reimbursement, and has hired an insurance specialist to help Flight 1549 riders with any claims

  January 30, 2009

• In-Flight Hanging Apparently False, But Stephen Fry Really Stuck in Lift

  American Airlines flight 834, arriving this evening from the Dominican Republic, was met by emergency personnel because of a medical situation with a passenger -- not, American Airlines spokespeople insist, because the passenger had tried to hang himself, as persistent twittering had reported. The twitter report that actor Stephen Fry (twitpictured above) got stuck in an elevator at the Regent Street Apple Store in London, however, does appear to be true.

  February 3, 2009

• Ridership on Crowded Subways Going Down, Service Getting Worse

  How odd: yesterday Second Avenue Sagas told us that 2008 subway ridership reached a 59-year high -- but today the MTA tells us that its budget deficit may go as high as $650 million. The MTA cites a two percent drop in ridership this January compared to January of last year. A decline in employment, which usually gets people into the trains, is suggested as a cause. This too is odd, as we find the trains packed tighter than ever at rush hours, though maybe this is because New Yorkers are gett

  February 24, 2009

• MTA "Doomsday" Approaches, On or Near March 25

  Here's news to put you in a TGIF mood: March 25 is doomsday. MTA doomsday, that is. They say that if the state government can't get it together to fill their enormous budget gap soon, the MTA's own budget vote will certainly pass a "doomsday" plan including big fare hikes, layoffs, and even shittier service. They would start working on that two Wednesdays from now, but MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger assures us that the effects of the poison will not be felt immediately: "At some point, it's be

  March 13, 2009

• Near-Bankrupt NY Waterway to Sue US Airways for Water Rescue Funds

  We mentioned in January that there were signs that the heroic water landing and rescue of US Airways Flight 1549 might result in lawsuits. Now Crain's New York Business reports that NY Waterway, whose ferries helped haul Flight 1549 passengers out of the Hudson River, "is preparing a lawsuit against US Airways to recoup the expenses it incurred during the rescue effort." We have some sympathy for the ferry operators -- they're apparently facing bankruptcy, and say US Airways has been unrespons

  March 16, 2009

• State Senate MTA Plan Gets Cold Reception

  As promised, the state senate Democrats presented their watered-down MTA budget proposal today and, as predicted, no one likes it. Well, senator Pedro Espada likes it -- "Today's a great day for Pedro Espada, the M.T.A. ridership and the State Senate," he told Politicker NY. But Transportation Alternatives says, "The Senate Democrats' so-called MTA rescue plan is a deferral of responsibility that postpones tough decisions and threatens to make the Authority's financial situation worse." Katherin

  March 17, 2009

• MTA Lawyers Slams Volunteer Subway Stewardesses

  The MTA has apparently hit the charming MTA Service Specialists with a cease-and-desist order. They claim that the website of the uniformed volunteer subway helpmeets features too much official MTA imagery, which may deceive imbeciles into thinking that the MTA actually gives a shit how riders feel or think. Of course, the Specialists' act ("the service you deserve after the recent fare increase") implies criticism of the Authority, which might have something to do with it, too.

  March 26, 2009

• SUBWAY SWEET SUBWAY

  February 11, 2009

• Hail No!

  September 4, 2007

• Congestion Pricing Questions

  January 8, 2008

• 13th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema

  February 26, 2008

• Vanguard of the Senate Revolution

  When no one else will, Kruger and Espada battle on behalf of the people

  April 1, 2009

• Court: MTA Employees Not Required to Stop Rape

  To all the ladies who stand alone on a subway platform late at night, hoping that being within eyeshot of a station agent will make you somewhat safer from harm: You're wrong. MTA employees have no responsibly to intervene if you happen to be attacked and raped right in front of them, a Queens judge effectively ruled on Tuesday when he threw out a lawsuit brought against the MTA, and a station agent and train conductor who witnessed a rape in the 21st St. G train station in June 2005. Justi

  April 2, 2009

• Albany Dems Flail as GOP Suits Up for Subway Savior Role

  Though the Democrats have majorities in both Albany houses -- albeit razor-thin in the Senate -- they are so undisciplined that many now admit they need Republican votes to roll back the MTA's proposed fare hikes. The GOP senators they've targeted are from upstate districts where train and bus subcontractors operate and "have a stake in making sure that there is a well-funded MTA capital plan that produces jobs in those districts," says Sheldon Silver. But one of the senators says the incompet

  April 8, 2009

• No Cop, You Hop! Clerk-, Fare-Free Subway Entrances Coming?

  Photo via stationstops.com. It's an ill wind that blows no one some good. What, you don't understand that expression? We'll explain when we have more time. Anyway, there's a silver lining to this whole "doomsday" MTA fare-hike service-slash thing: honor-system subway entrances. It's not planned that way, mind you, but amNY's Urbanite's report on the aftermath of a recent subway disruption points in that direction:

  April 8, 2009

• 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). The firm is charged with falsifying business records and defrauding its employees by not paying them the local prevailing wage, which for laborers is $35 per hour plus $24.57 per hour for nights and

  June 3, 2009

• 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 associated with the 4,000 new bulbs in the 10 chandeliers, not counting the savings from the longer time they take to burn out. (They're supposed to be at least as bright as the old ones, though.) The chan

  April 28, 2009

• 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 dollars short. They're worried that the senate plan takes care of the MTA's operating needs (everyday stuff like salaries, basic services) but doesn't take care of the capital needs (new equipment, boondogg

  May 5, 2009

• 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. ("Despite the feckless performance of Paterson and his Albany cohorts during the doomsday debacle, and the short-sighted deal that resulted," says Streetsblog, "we assume the governor managed to keep a s

  May 7, 2009

• 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, got hit by a train, and reaped $2.3 million. And the MTA's lawyer says there is a "small, but not insignificant" number of people who try to get hit by trains, presumably hoping to live out their whee

  May 26, 2009

• 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 night because of a software glitch -- which an MTA employee readily admits. If the train brakes just a little too late at a platform, it can't open its doors, and so just surges ahead. Suddenly instead

  June 12, 2009

• 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 that would require such person to violate or forego a practice of his or her creed or religion." Around that time few lawsuits on that subject sprang up; later they were combined, and that suit is still

  June 19, 2009

• 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 expected, the new station name — which as Ben Kabak notes at Second Avenue Sagas would bear the unwieldy moniker "Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street/Barclays Center — would presumably be put in

  June 23, 2009

• 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 cross Manhattan faster that city buses. We suggest Bloomberg construct crosstown tramways equipped with rope ladders and, for the disabled, winches. "Countdown clocks on subway routes." Normally, askin

  August 3, 2009

• Bloomberg and Schumer Happy About Ferry Cash, Reminding Us of a Certain Fatal Crash

  By Tom Feeney Jr. ​When Mike Bloomberg announced the injection of nearly $50 million of federal stimulus funds into the maintenance of the Staten Island Ferry recently, he issued a press release also crediting US senator Charles Schumer and other members of the New York's congressional delegation. Bloomberg's kind words for Schumer, however, bring to mind the fact that Schumer's wife, Iris Weinshall, was the Department of Transportation commissioner overseeing ferry operations at the time of t

  August 11, 2009

• 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 North, wants him to cut it out or pay them licensing fees, retroactive to his October 2008 launch date, in return for which they'd supply him with a "data product." As this product does not automatic

  August 20, 2009

• 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 complained to the city of Washington that its Metro system was not capacious enough to accommodate the Partiers' heartland butts. "People couldn't get on, missed start of march," tweeted Brady. "I will deman

  September 17, 2009

• 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 equipping more than 150 stations with train-arrival announcement signs. Digital signs were among the priorities mentioned by Jay Walder when he was being proposed as executive director of the MTA, for whic

  October 2, 2009

• 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. The city in general has been encouraging the use of public info by developers, and MTA was portrayed as sensitive to being left behind. Now the Times reports that the city has enetered a new phase of

  October 6, 2009