Second Avenue Subway

What Should The MTA Do With $30 Million From Albany?

We all know the MTA's wallets are running thin, even amidst record high ridership. The recent fare hike and the fact that major project proposals are tripping over price tags are more than enough indication that the authority is handling the City's transportation on a slim, slim budget. So the news ... More >>

The MTA: A Grand Metaphor for Human Existence

Sure, you might hate it when your train doesn't show up on time or suddenly goes express and takes you five stops too far. But you have to admit, the MTA is pretty impressive. If only the Senate ran as efficiently and frequently as the subway, it might not have taken three months for Sandy victims t ... More >>

Ten Things We Should Expect To See In 2013

As you may know by now, today is the last day of the year. Take advantage of these few hours before midnight to review every 'Best Of 2012' list out there because their timeliness will soon be quelled by the imminent switch in our non-Mayan calendar. Once that clock strikes 12, mankind will turn the ... More >>

MTA's "Hurricane Plan" Calls For "Orderly Shutdown" If Frankenstorm's Winds Top 39 MPH

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) just sent us its plan for what it will do if the storm that's predicted to basically be the storm to end all storms hits New York City.For now, the MTA is suspending construction on almost all subway construction projects it had planned for the weekend ... More >>

How to Handle Penn Station Without Popping a Xanax

There's an advertisement on the subways that you might have seen. It describes a project in the works - the largest public works extravaganza in the country - known as East Side Access: a portal from Grand Central Terminal that will outsource time and trains from Penn Station. As the sign says, "Com ... More >>

Is The L Train Running? Yes, Much Better Now Actually

Every straphanger knows about the L train. The (in)famous line that connects the 14th Street corridor of Manhattan with its parallel neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bushwick and many other Brooklyn neighborhoods has its stories. For some, it is the public transportation reason why Brooklyn has r ... More >>

Sandhogs Tunneling Under Second Avenue

Veteran sandhogs are finishing tunnels for the future subway, right beneath your feet

MTA Funding Fail? Straphanger Advocates Say Andrew Cuomo's Plan Will Up Fares

Looks like Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York legislature might have just brokered a deal that would fund the remainder of the MTA's five-year capital plan. But straphanger advocates say that Albany's agreement will make riders foot the bill for transit improvements. Cuomo and legislators OKd an a ... More >>

State Senate OKs Budget Resolution That Takes $770 Million from MTA Investment

The New York State Senate on Monday night passed a budget resolution that would bleed $770 million from the MTA's Capital Plan, part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget, if made into law. The Republican-led Senate also voted down a plan to up the MTA's bond cap by $7 billion. While this sound ... More >>

Second Avenue Subway Construction Is Not Bad for You, Says the MTA

Ah, Second Avenue subway. We've had some ups and downs with you in the seemingly interminable time we've been waiting for your completion. You're noisy, some of us had to move because of you, there was that gross thing with the flies, and, of course, a big question has been, how sick are you making ... More >>

80 Arrested Saturday In Occupy Wall Street Protests; Second Avenue Subway Gets Graded; Marathon World Record Set

Nick Pinto​Approximately 80 were arrested Saturday in connection with Occupy Wall Street, according to the NYPD's press office. Throughout yesterday afternoon Occupy Wall Street used Twitter to chronicled arrests and various acts of force being used by the NYPD against protesters. They say at ... More >>

Here Is a New York City Construction Worker Singing Frank Sinatra

Earlier today we mentioned Gary Russo, the Queens construction worker working on the Second Avenue Subway who entertains passersby on his midday break with soothing Sinatra-esque vocalizations a far cry from noisy jackhammers and honking traffic. How can you not love a guy in a hardhat singing his h ... More >>

MTA's New Financial Plan Shows Fare Increases in 2013, 2015

​The MTA Board met this morning to present and discuss its newest financial plan for 2012 through 2015, a plan still in its preliminary stages. To everyone's likely dismay, it projects fare increases, but also promises no service cuts based on the budget. "[The plan] presents at least a fragil ... More >>

Charles Schumer Proposes No-Ride List for Trains

​It's been a busy couple days in train news, what with the PATH and Second Avenue subway tunnel breaches, plus that mishap on the PATH that injured 30. There's also a new call from Senator Charles Schumer to increase rail security, which comes after reports that Osama Bin Laden may have been p ... More >>

First Glimpse of a Hoarder's Horror House on the Upper East Side

312 East 86th Street: What a mess! (Amy Zimmer/dnainfo.com)​New York City officials finally pried their way inside an infamous junk-filled townhouse at 312 East 86th Street this week, thanks to a court order. But still no glimpse of owner Phyllis Battista, one of the city's most cussed and discuss ... More >>

After 115 Years, M. Rohrs' Bites the Dust

afinecompany.blogspot.com​The city has lost yet another edible landmark: M. Rohrs' House of Fine Teas and Coffees has closed its doors after 115 years of business.

World Trade Center Mega-Station Will Cost $3.44 Billion

via WTC.com​The World Trade Center Transportation Hub is set to be one of the City's most massive changes to New York's subway system. The building will have access to PATH trains, 13 subway lines and even the proposed JFK rail link. Sounds awesome, but how much will it cost taxpayers? The New ... More >>

10 Crazy Facts Learned From New York City's Complaint Records

​New Yorkers love to complain. When we walk down the street we get sidewalk rage, and when we're at home, we can't stop complaining about everything around our homes. 311 just released an interactive map that lets you track complaints over the past year in categories from noise to traffic and ... More >>

MTA Still Broke; Will Raise Fares, Again, in 2013

Adrian Fussell​Transit officials said Monday that the heavy snowfall late last year cost the MTA $14 million in lost revenues and $16 million in overtime hours spent clearing roads and subway tracks. (Meanwhile, the Bloomberg administration told the New York Times that they were still counting ... More >>

Open & Closed: Say Hello (Again) to The Rum House; Goodbye to Cabo Rojo

Restaurants and bars, they come and they go. Here are a few making their debuts and bowing out this week. Chilean sandwich shop Barros Luco in Midtown has closed after a little more than a year in operation. [Grub Street] Galaxy Global Eatery, a restaurant specializing in hemp-based cuisine, has c ... More >>

Death of the Newspaper Vs. Birth of Second Ave Subway Line

On the T Train?​Ross Dawson, author and media-thinker, has released a report chronicling the extinction of the newspaper. He predicts that the American newspaper will die out by 2017 (the first in the world!). The MTA also predicts that the 2nd Avenue Subway line will be completed by 2017. So: Whi ... More >>

MTA Now Causing Upper East Side Fly Swarms, Allegedly

​Hey, here's a new thing to blame on the MTA: Owners of businesses near the worksite of the Second Avenue subway are saying that dirty, lunch-leaving construction workers are attracting flies to the Upper East Side, with swarms now everywhere along the path of the subway-to-be, reports the Pos ... More >>

State Comptroller Will Audit MTA for Fradulent Overtime Payments

via the Daily News​The MTA is a bit of a mess lately with upcoming fare hikes, the Second Avenue subway hell-hole, people falling onto the tracks all the time, and, possibly, employees giving themselves overtime for no better reason than "It's Monday!" Now the transit company is really under a ... More >>

Most Optimistic T-Shirt: Second Ave. T Train

​This wardrobe choice is only fit for the city's most fervent glass-half-fullers (fashion sense aside). With the Second Avenue subway's opening repeatedly delayed, it's pretty brazen for the Transit Museum Store to put a T train shirt on the market, but hey, what's life without something to l ... More >>

Who's Worse, Con Ed or the MTA?

​Yesterday, a tipster sent us a photo from the Q/B elevator platform at Brooklyn's Atlantic/Pacific subway station, where, due to an electrical outage, it "sucks to be wheelchair-bound." He says, "I think the MTA is taking advantage, however, to pass the blame to Con Ed. Shit is always broken ... More >>

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 Will Pay You $5,000 to Vacate Your Upper East Side Studio for a Month

via Second Avenue Sagas​According to the New York Times, the MTA will need some Upper East Siders to move in order to complete work on the Second Avenue subway. The residents get their choice: Either stay in a nearby (luxury) hotel for free, or get a rent stipend of $5,000 per month if you wan ... More >>

The MTA Can't Do Much Right Lately: Two Deployed Bus Drivers Laid Off While at War

​Reading about the MTA's decisions is often like swallowing a cactus, especially when news of truly unfortunate cutbacks comes in quick succession with news of huge spending. Earlier this morning, we reported that the MTA is shelling out big bucks for tenants temporarily displaced by Second Av ... More >>

MTA and the Health Department Join Forces against the Pernicious Evils of Subway Rats

via www.dan-stryker.com​You know how sometimes, when there are big problems at hand, it's easier to distract yourself with teensy insignificant problems just to feel as though you're resolving something? The MTA can totally relate. While dealing with service cuts, the removal of the V and Q l ... More >>

I Blog New York: Your Guide to Gotham's Best

18 obsessive, cantankerous, and unstoppable Gotham blogs worth going ape over

Kick Out the Jams

Will a toll booth at the corner of 60th and Fifth solve midtown's traffic nightmare?

Strangeness on a Train

Annoyance over L train shutdowns, anxiety over what they're for

The Hucksters

The people who tried to sell you the world's most expensive stadium

Toussaint's Transit Express

All It Took Was a Little Respect

Close-Up on Yorkville

Sports

Athenian Dreams or Trojan Horse?

New York’s Olympic Bid Could Be Billion-Dollar Boondoggle