Transportation

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 >>

The MTA Can Text...Sort of

​If you're a Metro-North commuter, the MTA will now text you train schedules and other important information as to the status of your ride. Well, not the MTA, exactly: A technology company named CooCoo is providing the service updates, which are already available for Long Island Rail Road cust ... More >>

Subway Rider Mutiny Involves Taking Over N Train for Warmth

​New York subway riders will not be stopped! Well, technically, they will be stopped. But when they are stopped on a D train at Coney Island because it's freakin' blizzards outside, they will COMMANDEER another train regardless of what the MTA and NYPD say! (This is good, because we really don ... More >>

Will Staten Islanders Finally Be Able To Leave the Island Easily?

​Jersey Shore's Angelina and other trapped Staten Islanders may be able to break out from their homes and travel the world soon. Right now, Staten Island residents have two ways to leave via public transportation: the Staten Island Ferry and express buses. Rumors of a Staten Island railway hav ... More >>

Central Park Gets 9 Inches of Snow; There's Snow on the Ground in 49 of 50 States

via @DevonGrandy/Twitpic​The snow count is in. We got 9.1 inches last night (according to numbers in Central Park, via NY1). That does not a blizzard make, but it's pretty, for the moment! No major public transport delays, though the MTA has issued a Winter Weather Service Advisory. In related ... More >>

F Train: Now Slightly Less F'ed Up, Officially

​We profess a fondness for the F-train, despite its assorted problems. It's OUR train, and thus, while we can talk shit about it, no one else can. But every train has problems, right? At least the F's not the G. And, via the latest New York City Transit report, our little F train has finally a ... More >>

Someday You Really Will Talk on Your Cell Phone in the Subway...Probably

​The MTA didn't forget about that cell service on subways that they've been talking about for so long. Yes, true, even though July brought the "green light" for Transit Wireless to proceed with making the networks happen, lack of funding kind of stagnated things. But it's on...again! AT&T and ... More >>

MTA to Put Fancy-ChiChi Stores in Subway Stations

​Now, here's an MTA scheme we can get behind! The transit authority is trying to get high-end retail stores to open up locations in subway stations, which could provide the double whammy of bringing in more rent money and making it easier to buy trinkets during your commute.

The MTA: Now Busting Even More of You for Tardies

​Well, this is awkward. Back in June, the MTA introduced the NYC Transit Delay Verification System, an Internet memo of sorts into which you enter in your subway information and time; the program will confirm whether you were legitimately late, or just faking it because you overslept after a n ... More >>

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: City Serves Temporary Restraining Order to Bus Man Running Charters along MTA-Cut Lines

​A week and a half ago, we spoke to Joel Azumah, the 27-year-old who began running charter buses along the X25, X29, X90, QM22 lines recently cut by the MTA. The city Department of Transportation sent him a cease and desist letter at the end of June, when he started his service, but he kept hi ... More >>

Brooklyn Man Picks Up MTA-Cut Bus Routes, but Business is a Bust

​Joel Azumah, 27, who runs a small charter bus company, TransportAzumah, replaced recently cut public bus routes (X25, X29, X90, QM22) with his own private routes today in an attempt to turn a profit while helping people get to work. "Some of these routes are in very good locations with very l ... 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 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 >>

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

Commuting Report: Subway Ridership Down, Bikes on the Up

​Over the weekend New York City Transit released a whole bunch of data about how we ride the subway. It turns out, ridership for 2009 was down slightly from 2008 (blame the economy and the fact that a bunch of us were unemployed; if you're the MTA, blame construction).

April Fool's Prank Still on Subway Wall

​ Reader Rick Shur notes that an April 1st prank poster about extreme subway security measures, put up on the 110th Street downtown #1 subway wall, is still there! And the satirical poster involves all kinds of intrusive, invasive body searches that Homeland Security is allowed to do on passe ... More >>

Fred Harvey, the British Businessman Who Tamed America's West, Turns Out to Be a Fine Read, Too

​We're heading up to Columbia U tonight to hear from professor Stephen Fried as he offers a public talk about his newest book, Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West. We've hardly been able to put the thing ... More >>

MTA Wants High-Speed Wireless Internet on Metro-North and LIRR Trains

​According to the Post, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is asking for bids from service providers to make high-speed wireless internet available to riders on Metro-North and LIRR commuter trains serving Westchester, Connecticut and Long Island. The final plan may or may not be free to non- ... More >>

MTA Passes New Doomsday Budget (Updated)

The MTA board just voted to pass that new budget with service cuts. MTA Chairman Jay Walder "stressed the preliminary nature of this proposal," says Second Avenue Sagas, which live-tweeted the meeting. SAS says board members stressed their "legal obligation to pass a balanced budget for 2010" befor ... More >>

MTA Stocking Stuffer? May Shut M and Z Trains, "Dozens" of Bus Routes

This Christmas season, the MTA is planning a treat for all of us: service cuts! These were threatened during the last "Doomsday Budget" tsimmis, but relinquished when the fares went up. Now MTA is out of money again, and is considering the removal of "dozens of bus routes," and the W and Z subway l ... More >>

THERE SHE IS . . .

Who will be the first ever Miss G Train?

We Pay More for Trains Even If We Take Cabs, But At Least They're Not on Fire

​You think your commute is bad: In Philly SEPTA is on strike, which has screwed up transit especially much for the poorer folks who live furthest from their workplaces. Such trains as there are, are overcrowded, and this morning one of them caught fire; passengers panicked and kicked out the w ... More >>

MTA Chief Considers Off-Peak Pricing for Subways, Buses

Ride the whole system, all for the low price of [insert current fare here]! That's been the beauty of New York City transit. But the variable pricing afforded by unlimited-ride cards has blurred that distinction, and new MTA chairman, Jay Walder, may erase it: he is looking at "time-of-day pricing" ... More >>

Train service is going to be really, really bad this weekend, and other bad transit news

​The MTA has chosen this weekend to start needed repairs on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, A, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, N, Q, and R lines (a full list of service advisories is here). Some stops will be skipped, and parts of routes replaced with shuttle bus service. Note: there will be handicapped-accessibl ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Vanguard of the Senate Revolution

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

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 >>

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 >>

Sully Fever! Flight 1549 Pilots, Crew Get Keys to the City

Mayor Bloomberg introduced "five real American heroes, the crew of US Airways Flight 1549" at City Hall today in a Key to the City ceremony. Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles, and flight attendants Donna Dent, Sheila Dail and Doreen Walsh received their honors for their d ... More >>

Lousier Subways Predicted; Panic Ensues

State Comptroller: MTA Fucked; You, Too

Google Introduces NYC Transit Mapping Feature

MTA Brains Propose New Congestion Plan: Sell the Bridges

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

Life's Unfare: The MTA's Fare Hikes Cause Outrage

What Will Bike Racks Become in NYC?

NYC Subway Cars Falling Into Ocean

MTA Bigwig Likes His Perks

Bloomberg on Congestion Pricing Failure: 'A Special Kind of Cowardice'

Bloomberg Administration, Council Speaker Quinn on Congestion Pricing's Defeat

The Congestion Pricing Bill

Ad Campaign to Push Congestion Pricing

New Congestion Pricing Options as the Debate Continues

Congestion Pricing Questions

Who's skeptical about the mayor's traffic plan? The companies bidding to run it.