Passenger Transportation

Flash Floods and a Hell Commute May Return on Friday

Congestion Pricing Panel Named

MTA Launches Green Initiative

The MTA Needs Better Signs A Homeless Man Biffed Me

The Hudson Railyard Bids Are In

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

Brooklynites Rail Against Proposed MTA Fare Hike

A Sobering Plan to End Subway Alcohol Advertising

Spitzer Spikes MTA Base Fare Increase

MTA Bigwig Likes His Perks

Gay Pride Was Our Umbrella Ella Ella...

Getting the MTA's Goat at the Verrazano Bridge

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

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

MTA Brains Propose New Congestion Plan: Sell the Bridges

State Comptroller: MTA Fucked; You, Too

Thompson: Charge Cars By the Pound

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

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

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 upc ... More >>

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 recentl ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 employme ... More >>

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 shitti ... More >>

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 again ... More >>

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 Alter ... More >>

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 fee ... More >>

Hail No!

Cabbies get taken for a ride by the taxi commission, so you don't.

13th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema

Cabbies get taken for a ride by the taxi commission, so you don't.

Vanguard of the Senate Revolution

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

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 j ... More >>

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 subco ... More >>

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 th ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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. ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Air travellers face further restrictions after terror attempt in Detroit

​In the wake of what the Obama administration is calling a terror attempt on a Northwest Airlines jet yesterday, the Transportation Safety Administration has announced, but not released, new restrictions on airplane passengers. Not released to us, anyway. Air Canada apparently got a copy.

Mass Transit Cuts Leave Passengers Stranded

Big wheels unmoved