Transit

Image by Ged Carroll on Flickr Reduced-fare MetroCards may soon become a reality for low-income straphangers, as Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council have reached a deal Wednesday to provide roughly $100 million in funding to the program. The mayor's agreement with Speaker Corey Johnson, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of a Fair Fares program, means the city would fully subsidize the cost of providing half-price MetroCards to New Yorkers who fall below the federal poverty line, or a household income of $25,000 for a family of four. Nearly 800,000 New Yorkers could benefit from the discounted fares. Under the tentative deal, the city would allocate $106 million in its upcoming budget, which would pay for six months of the program beginning in January, according to the New York Times.
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Late night weekday subway changes once again rival the weekend in terms of disruption

Photo via Christina McCartey/Flickr

June 8, 2018

Late night weekday subway changes once again rival the weekend in terms of disruption

For the second week in the row, the incumbent late night weekday service changes are arguably worse than those on the weekend. The Q and S alone are the only lines without set service changes, and who knows what kind of signal delays might change even that small bit of reassurance.
In terms of service changes, the weekdays are beginning to meld with the weekends

Transit

June 7, 2018

Anti-bigotry ‘service’ posters hit NYC subway stations for Pride Month

The normally drab service posters found across the city's subway stations got a burst of color this month. Instead of detailing changes to late-night train service, these rainbow-adorned signs remind commuters that no "bigotry, hatred or prejudice" is allowed at any time, as Pride Month, a celebration of LGBTQ love, kicks off. Originally created by School of Visual Arts faculty member Thomas Shim and alumni Ezequiel Consoli and Jack Welles (Kyle Harrison was added to the core team this year), the posters will remain fastened to the station walls throughout the month of June.
More details here

June 7, 2018

Study: A former freight line on the Lower Montauk branch could help a Queens transportation desert

By Michelle Cohen

How do you connect the fastest-growing census tract in the U.S. to New York City’s public transportation hubs? Architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), whose New York City work includes the master plan for Hudson Yards, One Vanderbilt and Two Waterline Square, has released a "visioning study" that explores how the repurposing of the QNS, an 8.5 mile Lower Montauk Branch rail line, into a new transit line in Queens that could revitalize neighborhoods, provide affordable housing, create jobs and add transit service to the over nine square miles of New York City that contain three of the city’s largest and most successful Industrial Business Zones (Maspeth, Long Island City, and North Brooklyn) and two of Queens’ largest central business districts (Long Island City and Jamaica Center), adding to the long-term growth of those districts and creating thousands of potential new jobs.
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The West Side Cowboys and the railway cars that killed 436 people before 1906

West Side Cowboy on Death Avenue, via Kalmbach Publishing Co.

June 5, 2018

The West Side Cowboys and the railway cars that killed 436 people before 1906

By Rebecca Paul

The now-defunct elevated train lines of Manhattan are well known today thanks to their reincarnation as the High Line. But before this raised structure was put in place, the west side was home to a deadly train system appropriately referred to by locals as "The Butcher." The full-size railway line ran from 1846 to 1941 between 10th and 11th Avenues without barriers, fences or platforms, earning the route the nickname "Death Avenue" before it was taken out of operation for causing more than 430 fatalities--deaths that not even true western cowboys could stop.
The whole history right this way

Cynthia Nixon calls for congestion pricing and millionaires’ tax to fund subway repairs

Photo via Wikimedia

June 4, 2018

Cynthia Nixon calls for congestion pricing and millionaires’ tax to fund subway repairs

Actress and candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon released last week her plan to fix New York City's transit system and many of the ideas look pretty familiar. To pay for much-needed subway repairs, Nixon's plan calls for congestion pricing, a concept supported by her opponent Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and a millionaires' tax, an idea backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio (h/t NY Post). Her campaign also details imposing a polluter fee on fossil fuel companies to "generate billions of dollars to be used to fund New York’s transition to green energy." And while disparaging the MTA remains one of the focal points of her campaign, Nixon's plan to upgrade the subways is nearly identical to the Fast Forward plan released by NYC Transit Authority President Andy Byford last month. Jon Weinstein, a spokesperson for the MTA, said in a statement: "After three months of slamming the MTA in the press, Ms. Nixon released a plan to fix the subways and it was the MTA’s plan. Thanks."
More details here

Delayed feasibility study for proposed BQX streetcar costing taxpayers at least $7M

Photo via Friends of the BQX

June 1, 2018

Delayed feasibility study for proposed BQX streetcar costing taxpayers at least $7M

The plan to bring a 16-mile light-rail trolley between Brooklyn and Queens has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars, even before the feasibility of the project has been determined. The study has cost the city $7 million in taxpayer money so far, according to the New York Post. And while the city's Economic Development Corporation promised to have the study completed last fall, this week the agency said they would not put a timeline on its release. Mayor Bill de Blasio first backed the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) project in February 2016, but a series of delays and funding concerns have put the trolley on hold. The proposed streetcar was left out of the city's budget proposal last month, further delaying studies into the project's plausibility.
More this way

Next week’s subway service changes to be nearly as extensive as this weekend’s

Photo by Rashaad Jorden via Flickr

June 1, 2018

Next week’s subway service changes to be nearly as extensive as this weekend’s

The weekend will be extending into the week in the worst way possible this Monday, with the kind of service changes usually reserved for Saturday and Sunday spilling into workdays. While the A and C trains win this week for most convoluted service changes, the 4 also deserves a nod, and the vast majority of lines have far more than average changes.
All the disruptions

Transit

Many Memorial Day weekend subway service changes will continue into the week

Photo by Hannah Frishberg

May 25, 2018

Many Memorial Day weekend subway service changes will continue into the week

This week was a big one for the MTA, with NYC Transit President Andy Byford releasing the Fast Forward plan, with 10 years worth of road map for necessary modernizations to be made to the subway system, as well as an announcement that subway service will possibly be increased during off-peak, weekday hours beginning in November along the A, D, E and F lines. Much more immediately, many of this weekend's subway service changes will extend into Monday and early Tuesday due to Memorial Day and the long weekend.
Read on for the service change specifics

Transit

MTA releases aggressive plan to modernize New York City’s subway within a decade

Within 10 years, the subway system will feature a state-of-the-art signal system, become more accessible, have a new fare payment system and boast thousands of new subway cars and buses. These ambitious improvements are all part of a plan released Wednesday by New York City Transit Chief Andy Byford and the MTA, called "Fast Forward: The Plan to Modernize New York City Transit." And the plan does intend to move very quickly. Byford expects work previously estimated to take nearly 50 years to be completed within the next decade. The top-to-bottom modernization of the system will no doubt inconvenience commuters, with possible changes to bus stop locations, as well as station closures and service disruptions. "Fast Forward" breaks down into two five-year plans, with the first half estimated to cost $19 billion and the next five years to cost $18 billion according to the New York Times. However, a cost estimate of the plan has not yet been officially released by the MTA.
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Get ready for more debilitating than usual weekend subway service changes

Photo by Hannah Frishberg

May 18, 2018

Get ready for more debilitating than usual weekend subway service changes

The MTA has finally announced when normal weekend service will resume along the 2 and 3 lines, which have not been running between Brooklyn and Manhattan on Saturdays and Sundays for months: Sunday, June 24 at 12:01 a.m. Until then, though, it's tough luck if you need to get to the Park Place, Wall Street, Clark Street, and/or Hoyt Street stops on the weekend. In other news, the MTA has begun inexplicably including borough names in service change descriptions to offer unnecessary specificity even when the station, such as Howard Beach-JFK, only exists in one borough and is well-known.
All this weekend's madness

Transit

May 17, 2018

MTA documents reveal that 4,000 L train riders will be displaced during shutdown

By Michelle Cohen

The latest fear to raise its ugly head in what will admittedly be a major inconvenience–that is, the 15-month shutdown of the L line starting in April of 2019–is the very limited number of trains that will be able to pick up the slack heading across the Williamsburg bridge. The topic surfaced at last night's Town Hall meeting, when, according to the Village Voice, a concerned citizen by the name of Sunny Ng voiced his concerns about how many more trains could fit on the bridge.
Can of worms: Open!

May 16, 2018

The new voice of the MTA sounds like a New Yorker, but enunciates well

Photo via Richard Yeh / WNYC Queens native and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Rail Control Center announcer Velina Mitchell is the new official voice of the transit authority. The 25-year MTA “insider” was chosen when Sarah Meyer, the NYC Transit chief customer officer, first heard Mitchell read a public service announcement. Little did Mitchell know she was auditioning for a much bigger role. Meyer told the Daily News: "She sounded like a New Yorker, but she was also warm and she enunciated very well." The MTA is making an effort to improve communications with their riders by playing Mitchell’s announcements in stations as well as in four new train cars.
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N, Q, F, A and E all masquerading as one another and other weekend service changes

Photo by smallcurio/Flickr

May 11, 2018

N, Q, F, A and E all masquerading as one another and other weekend service changes

Many subway trains are masquerading as one another this weekend. The 2 and the 5 will be performing their usual swapped responsibilities, and this weekend the N and Q as well as the F, A and E are also joining in on the game-like service changes. Additionally, getting to Coney Island is going to be frustrating for many if not most straphangers due to a lack of service across lines servicing the area. Rockaway has had the same problem for some time now.
Here's the full lineup of changes

Transit

May 10, 2018

Six futuristic Skyport concepts revealed for flying Ubers

Uber has lofty goals- literally. 6sqft previously reported on the ride-sharing company's partnership with NASA to develop software to operate their “flying Ubers” for uberAIR by 2023. Clearly, flying Ubers need somewhere to takeoff and land, so yesterday, at their second annual elevate conference in Los Angeles, the company revealed the top six Skyport conceptual designs that are just as futuristic as the flying taxi concept itself.
Could these land in NYC?

72nd Street B, C station to close through the fall and other weekend service changes

Photo by eric molina/Flickr

May 4, 2018

72nd Street B, C station to close through the fall and other weekend service changes

This weekend, the MTA is closing the first of what it specifies are "two non-adjacent subway stations" (a desperate grovel for mercy from public critique, that specification), 72nd Street and 86th Street on the B, C line. The 86th Street station will not close until June 4, and neither station will reopen until late October. Meanwhile, the usual slew of weekend service changes also awaits straphangers. Read on for the details.
A number of stations are, unsurprisingly, closed for repairs

Transit

Via NYC Ferry

May 3, 2018

De Blasio will spend an additional $300M on NYC Ferry as ridership doubles

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” commented Mayor Bill de Blasio at a press conference in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, this morning touting the surge in popularity of ferries. NYC’s ferry service is expected to carry as many as 9 million passengers by 2023, twice the original projections. And to accommodate this, Mayor de Blasio said he was increasing spending on ferries, including a $300 million investment for three new, larger 350-passenger capacity boats, news docks and piers and an additional port for maintenance. The current NYC Ferry fleet contains 20 150-passenger capacity vessels.
There's more coming

Transit

Plan to upgrade signals on 7-line delayed again, more service outages possible

Photo via Tim Adams on Flickr

May 2, 2018

Plan to upgrade signals on 7-line delayed again, more service outages possible

Another day, another missed deadline for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The plan to modernize the 7-line's ancient signals has been delayed yet again, according to the Wall Street Journal. The MTA said the new system would be implemented by June 30, but the contractor installing the signals, Thales Transport and Security, told officials they won't be able to finish until November. Andy Byford, the new chief of NYC Transit, said he refuses to accept the rescheduled deadline and has hinted at more outages on the 7, as a way to accelerate installation of the system. "I think customers would prefer to rip the band aid off and get on with it rather than have this slow creeping limp to the finish line," Byford said on Wednesday.
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Transit

The city wants you to bike to work to celebrate National Bike Month

Photo via NYC DOT/Flickr

May 1, 2018

The city wants you to bike to work to celebrate National Bike Month

May is National Bike Month and Transportation Alternatives (TransAlt) is hosting its Bike Commuter Challenge. TransAlt and the city are challenging New Yorkers to swap their normal commuting routine and cycle to work. With Citi Bikes on almost every block, over 250 miles of new bicycle lanes, and the hellacious winter behind us, there is no excuse not to “man up.” Especially since, according to NYC DOT, more than 800,000 New Yorkers ride a bike regularly, which is 140,000 more than rode five years ago and means that NYC commuters already bike to work more than any other U.S. city.
There's more bike-related fun to be had in May

Agencies announce May town hall meetings to discuss impending L train shutdown

Photo of the L-train via Wiki Commons

May 1, 2018

Agencies announce May town hall meetings to discuss impending L train shutdown

By Michelle Cohen

If you've got some choice words to say about the impending L train shutdown, you'll soon get a chance to make them public. The MTA and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) have announced two town hall meetings that will be held this month to discuss the Canarsie Tunnel Reconstruction project–aka the L train shutdown–with members of the community who will be affected by the April 2019 service interruption that will knock the line out of commission for 15 months. The meetings, which will be held in Manhattan and Brooklyn, are the latest in a series of public meetings and workshops intended to quell public trepidation about the impending shutdown.
When, where, what to expect

M train not running this weekend and other service changes

Photo via Travis Wise/Flickr

April 27, 2018

M train not running this weekend and other service changes

While the usual slew of service changes will be impacting straphangers this weekend, there are some silver linings. The D, F, N and R have abandoned their masquerade as one another and once again assumed their usual identities and track routes. Unfortunately, this weekend the M is totally offline, with free shuttle buses and the J train picking up some of the slack. Read on for the rest:
M train riders hopefully don't have any important plans

Transit

April 26, 2018

Cost of East Side Access project jumps again, now over $11B

Workers at East Side Access project in 2016 via MTA's Flickr The Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved on Wednesday an amendment to its capital plan that allows for more than $400 million to be invested in the East Side Access, a project that began more than a decade ago. In addition to exceptional construction delays, the project's price tag has jumped dramatically, from early estimates of roughly $2.2 billion to now over $11 billion (h/t NY Times). As a way to reduce crowds at Penn Station, East Side Access will connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal.
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April 25, 2018

De Blasio pens letter to MTA seeking transparency in spending of $836M subway action plan