MTA

October 5, 2018

72nd Street B, C station outside the Dakota reopens with mosaics by Yoko Ono

The MTA has reopened the 72nd Street B, C station on the Upper West Side after five months of extensive upgrades. In addition to the new digital signs and energy-efficient lighting, the station now features a ceramic mosaic designed by Yoko Ono. Titled "SKY," the design includes six separate mosaics on platforms and mezzanines that show a blue sky with clouds, with hidden messages of hope written throughout. Yoko has lived in the Dakota, the famed co-op building above the subway station, since 1973. Strawberry Fields, the memorial dedicated to her late husband John Lennon in 1985, is located across the street.
See the mosaics

MTA will run a temporary ferry service during L train shutdown

NY Waterway, via Wiki Commons

October 4, 2018

MTA will run a temporary ferry service during L train shutdown

By Dana Schulz

Express buses, shuttle service, electric scooters, Citi Bike--now New Yorkers can add the ferry to their list of alternate transportation modes during the impending L train shutdown. The MTA announced that when the 15-month hiatus hits in April, they'll launch a temporary ferry service that will run express from Williamsburg to Stuyvesant Cove near the East Village. According to the agency, "In response to feedback from customers and elected officials, the temporary service will now include 240-passenger vessels that will provide up to 61% more capacity than originally planned."
All the details

Transit

Electric scooters and more 6 and 7 trains could lessen blow of L train shutdown

Via Wikimedia

September 25, 2018

Electric scooters and more 6 and 7 trains could lessen blow of L train shutdown

By Devin Gannon

Electric scooters are currently illegal in New York City. But with the L train shutdown quickly approaching, Brooklyn officials are pushing to legalize them as a transit alternative to the subway. Council Members Antonio Reynoso and Ydanis Rodriguez announced on Monday plans to introduce legislation that would make e-scooters legal, amNY reported. "The L train shutdown is real. It is going to happen. It is going to be disruptive," Reynoso said. "When that shuts down, they’re all going to need alternate transportation."
More here

Signal problems delayed the subway every weekday morning in August except one

Via Dan Phiffer on Flickr

September 17, 2018

Signal problems delayed the subway every weekday morning in August except one

By Devin Gannon

Signal problems caused subway train delays during morning rush hour every weekday during the month of August except one day, according to a report released last week by the Riders Alliance. Between 6 am and 10 am each weekday morning, except on Thursday, Aug. 23, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority issued a delayed train alert. Every line except the L train experienced signal and/or mechanical problems during one or more of the 23 morning rush hours last month, WNYC reported.
More here

Transit

Delayed train? MTA is on it (within the next 5 to 10 years)

Via rhythmicdiaspora on Flickr

September 14, 2018

Delayed train? MTA is on it (within the next 5 to 10 years)

By Devin Gannon

In August, Twitter users shamed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for vaguely announcing a tunnel closure on Twitter in the middle of Monday morning rush hour. And this month, the MTA is facing backlash after being too honest with its commuters. One straphanger tweeted at the agency, "The @MTA really needs to get its shit together. People got places to go." In response, whoever was running the agency's NYCT Subway Twitter promised they are working on "fixing things within the next 5-10 years with our Fast Forward Plan." That post did not bode well.
Not so Fast Forward

Transit

NYC Council legislation and electric buses may aid L train shutdown agony

Via Wikimedia

September 13, 2018

NYC Council legislation and electric buses may aid L train shutdown agony

By Michelle Cohen

Several bills were passed in New York City Council on Wednesday to help address the inconvenience and traffic chaos expected during the planned 15-month L train tunnel closure for repairs due to damage from Hurricane Sandy, slated to begin in April 2019. The legislation calls for information centers in both Brooklyn and Manhattan, complaint investigation resources, and the fast-tracking of a new electric bus fleet, Curbed reports.
Find out more

Transit

There will be no G-train service between Bed-Stuy and LIC every weekend in September

Via Wikimedia

September 5, 2018

There will be no G-train service between Bed-Stuy and LIC every weekend in September

By Devin Gannon

Making weekend plans in Brooklyn this month will be a bit trickier than normal. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is suspending service between Bed-Stuy's Bedford-Nostrand station and Long Island City's Court Square station every weekend in September for "track maintenance." There will be free shuttle buses available for North Brooklyn-bound straphangers (h/t Brooklyn Paper).
OH G

Transit

The West 35th Street/Hudson Blvd entrance under construction. Image via Wiki Commons.

September 4, 2018

The second entrance at 34th Street-Hudson Yards 7 station is finally open

By Michelle Cohen

The Manhattan 7 subway extension makes it the only line south of 59th Street to offer service west of Ninth Avenue, providing a long-awaited public transit option–with a station at 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue–for the Jacob Javits Convention Center, the High Line, and Hudson River Park and serving as a selling point for Hudson Yards and the many new developments rising on the far west side. Delays plagued the extension overall, with its opening in September of 2015 happening two years behind its original scheduled date. It was announced at the time that the station's second entrance on 35th Street would take longer to complete. Now, two years later, the second entrance is open.
More ways to hit the west side

Transit

Music fan behind ‘Aretha’ signs at Franklin Ave subway aims for permanent tribute mural

Images: Aretha Franklin, Franklin Avenue subway station via Wikimedia.

August 21, 2018

Music fan behind ‘Aretha’ signs at Franklin Ave subway aims for permanent tribute mural

By Michelle Cohen

Upon hearing of the death of Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin last week, music enthusiast and location manager LeRoy McCarthy corralled a street artist friend and got to work on a fitting sendoff–"Aretha," stenciled in magenta sprayable chalk lettering above each sign that identified the Franklin Avenue subway station in Brooklyn. Curbed reports that McCarthy, who was responsible for efforts to name streets for Notorious B.I.G. in Clinton Hill, Phife Dawg in Queens and the Beastie Boys in the Lower East Side, among others, hopes to create a more permanent tribute. The plan is to create the word R-E-S-P-E-C-T in large black letters on a blank wall just south of Fulton Street on the west side of Franklin Avenue.
more than a little respect, hopefully

MTA to host town hall meetings on ambitious Fast Forward plan

Image © 6sqft

August 20, 2018

MTA to host town hall meetings on ambitious Fast Forward plan

By Devin Gannon

Instead of airing grievances about the subway on Twitter, you will soon be able to complain to the boss of the system face-to-face. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Sunday that Andy Byford, president of NYC Transit, will host a series of town hall public meetings about the Fast Forward plan, the ambitious proposal to modernize the subway over the next decade. The first meeting will take place at York College in Queens on Tuesday, Aug. 21 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
Get the details

Transit

MTA postpones select bus service expansion amid funding crisis

By Devin Gannon

Bad news for bus riders. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will not expand select bus service over the next few years as originally planned in order to cut costs amid a looming financial crisis for the agency, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced last year a plan to expand the select, or express, bus routes by upgrading 21 new routes over the next decade. But the MTA said it can save $28 million through 2022 by postponing the program temporarily.
More here

Transit

The L-train will not run between Brooklyn and Manhattan for 15 weekends

L train stop at Bedford; via Roshan Vyas on Flickr

August 7, 2018

The L-train will not run between Brooklyn and Manhattan for 15 weekends

By Devin Gannon

The MTA announced on Saturday that the L train will not run between Manhattan and Brooklyn over 15 weekends. Between this coming weekend and mid-April, the L will only operate between Broadway Junction and Carnasie-Rockaway Parkway during specific weekends. As Gothamist reported, this "pre-shutdown shutdown" will prepare for the 15-month shutdown of the L-train scheduled to begin sometime in April.
More L-shutdown nightmares

MTA ‘deeply apologizes’ for announcing N train tunnel closure via Twitter

Photo via Wiki Commons

August 1, 2018

MTA ‘deeply apologizes’ for announcing N train tunnel closure via Twitter

By Devin Gannon

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday morning began work on the N, R and D line tunnels running in Brooklyn from 36th Street to 59th Street, causing massive delays. But the agency never told rush-hour commuters, who checked the MTA's website to find it labeled it as "good service" on the yellow lines. Only after about an hour of frustrated tweets directed at the MTA did the agency announce the long-term structural project, via Twitter.
More here

Transit

MTA set to hike fares next year, despite poor service and fewer riders

Image by Ged Carroll via Flickr CC

July 26, 2018

MTA set to hike fares next year, despite poor service and fewer riders

By Devin Gannon

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials announced Wednesday it will stick with its plan to increase fares and tolls that net four percent in 2019 and 2021 as the agency faces budget deficits in the coming years, the Daily News reported. The MTA said it expects to lose roughly $376 million over the next four years, or $90 million per year, due to a drop in ridership. Between 2016 and 2017, there was a loss of 69 million rides on the city's subway and buses. The fare hike would be the sixth since 2009 when the state legislature approved a plan that included increasing fares every other year.
More here

MTA says Uber use is the cause of NYC subway and bus ridership drop

Image: Todd Shaffer via Flickr.

July 24, 2018

MTA says Uber use is the cause of NYC subway and bus ridership drop

By Michelle Cohen

According to the Wall Street Journal, the MTA has presented data showing that lower New York City mass transit use numbers matched up with an uptick in taxi and ride-hailing trips. Even as the city's population grows, subway and bus ridership has been declining. New York City Transit Executive Vice President Tim Mulligan explained in a presentation Monday how dips in weekday subway ridership between 2016 and 2017 coincided with increased use of taxi and for-hire vehicles.
An international phenomenon

July 24, 2018

MTA to launch 14th Street Select Bus Service to help move 50K more daily riders during L train shutdown

By Michelle Cohen

Via Wikimedia The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) have announced that Select Bus Service will be available to riders on 14th Street in Manhattan as of January 6, 2019 ahead of the planned April 2019 L train tunnel closure for repairs to due to damage from Hurricane Sandy. The M14 is expected to become the busiest bus route in the nation during the shutdown, with more than 50,000 additional daily riders expected to move above ground along 14th Street. According to NYC Transit President Andy Byford: "Launching Select Bus Service on 14th Street is a critical part of a multi-faceted service plan to keep thousands of customers moving safely and efficiently as they commute crosstown."
Find out more

Transit

July 23, 2018

One year and $300M in repairs later, on-time subway rates are still awful

By Devin Gannon

Photo via rhythmicdiaspora on Flickr Despite spending over $300 million on system repairs over the last year, the New York City subway is showing little improvement, with its on-time rate just around 65 percent during the weekday, the New York Times reported. Last summer, after a train derailed at 125th street and left 30 people injured, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. And while the MTA and its chair, Joseph Lhota, unveiled an $800 million action plan to fix the subway, and new NYC Transit Chief Andy Byford later laid out an aggressive plan to modernize the system, the subway's "summer of hell" seems far from over.
Find out more

62 New York City neighborhoods lack an accessible subway station

Via City Comptroller’s office

July 18, 2018

62 New York City neighborhoods lack an accessible subway station

By Devin Gannon

More than half of the 122 neighborhoods served by New York City's subway system do not have a single accessible station, a new report by City Comptroller Scott Stringer found. And out of the 62 neighborhoods dubbed "ADA transit deserts," 55 are in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. In his report, "Service Denied," Stringer details the gaps in accessibility for seniors and mobility-impaired New Yorkers and calls on the state legislature to create a new funding source dedicated to upgrades compliant with the American with Disabilities Act.
Learn more

28th Street 4, 6 station to close through December, and more weekend subway madness

Photo via Wikipedia

July 13, 2018

28th Street 4, 6 station to close through December, and more weekend subway madness

By Hannah Frishberg

Next week will start with the closure of yet another station for "enhancements." This time, the 28th Street 4, 6 station will be the one to close, through December, while it is "enhanced". Additional bad news this week is that even alternate shuttle buses now have service changes, apparently, with crane operations requiring eastbound 4 shuttle buses to reroute and run via Riverdale Avenue instead of from Livonia Avenue to Thomas S. Boyland Avenue. Also, for those who missed the initial news: the A isn't running to Far Rockaway-Mott Av, and the Rockaway Park Shuttle isn't servicing Broad Channel through September.
The full slate of service changes this way

Transit

July 9, 2018

After years of complaints, MTA removes NYC’s hottest subway car from the 1 line

By Devin Gannon

Photo via Wikimedia Following years of commuter complaints, a subway car without functioning air conditioning on the 1 line is being taken out of service, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Friday. Car #1872 has repeatedly been a source of sweaty problems for straphangers, as well as the subject of many angry tweets sent to the MTA. As the New York Post reported, the authority will remove the car and overhaul its systems, including fixing its air conditioner. Heat-related complaints made via social media have increased, with 714 made between April and June, compared to 380 during the same period last year.
Find out more

Transit

Three Harlem and Bronx subway stations to get upgrades for the first time in 114 years

Image via Wiki Commons

July 5, 2018

Three Harlem and Bronx subway stations to get upgrades for the first time in 114 years

By Michelle Cohen

The MTA Board has approved an $88 million contract to Citnalta/Forte with Urbahn/HAKS for work at three of the city's subway stations in Harlem and the Bronx after nearly a century of wear and tear. The 145 Street, 167 Street and 174-175 Street stations will be getting modernizing, structural and functional repairs beginning in July. MTA New York City Transit will be addressing needed upgrades for the nearly 20,000 subway customers on the Concourse B,D and Lenox 3 lines.
Find out when the stations will be closed for repairs

Transit

Get your NYC subways, buses and ferries sorted for the Fourth of July

Photo via Anthony Quintano/Flickr

July 3, 2018

Get your NYC subways, buses and ferries sorted for the Fourth of July

By Michelle Cohen

It happens on every holiday, but a midweek July 4th promises to add an extra layer of confusion to the tourists, crowds and screwy schedules that will inevitably hit the city's public transit system. We hope we can help you get your itinerary dialed in by giving you the low-down on changes to NYC subway, bus and ferry service on the 4th, so you can get to and from that optimal spot to watch the fireworks. The good news: The MTA will be offering extra rail service on Tuesday, July 3 and Wednesday, July 4. The possibly good/bad/mixed news: The MTA’s railroads, subways and buses will operate on weekend schedules...and then some.
More holiday transit schedules, decoded

MTA launches streamlined app that provides service updates in real time

Via MTA on Flickr

July 2, 2018

MTA launches streamlined app that provides service updates in real time

By Devin Gannon

After a six-month development process, which included working with over 2,000 commuters, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched on Monday a smartphone app that offers real-time updates for the subway, buses and trains, as well as trip planning options and service updates. Because the app, called MyMTA, is a beta version, the MTA is asking for feedback from straphangers about the app's functions and what needs to be added or improved. The authority also gave their website a much-needed upgrade, with a more sleeker web interface.
Find out more

The A train won’t run between Broad Channel and Rockaway this summer

Photo via MTA/Flickr

June 29, 2018

The A train won’t run between Broad Channel and Rockaway this summer

By Hannah Frishberg

The 2 and 3 are finally running between Brooklyn and Manhattan on weekends again, but now two stations are closing (as two others reopen) in Astoria, and the 1 train has a slew of disruptive service changes planned at least for this weekend. Everything pales with the hell set for Rockaway residents this summer, as the A and Rockaway Park Shuttle won't be connecting the beach to the mainland again until September.
Quite the unfortunate timing

Transit

14th Street to become an all-day ‘busway,’ get new bike lanes during L train shutdown

L train photo via Wiki Commons

June 26, 2018

14th Street to become an all-day ‘busway,’ get new bike lanes during L train shutdown

By Michelle Cohen

6sqft previously reported on the city's plans to provide alternatives to the L train during the 2019 shutdown for repairs in the Canarsie Tunnel under the East River and the reaction of community groups affected by the planned changes. A coalition of West Side neighborhood groups fearing disruptions from buses, bike lanes and other changes sued the agencies tasked with implementing the L train alternatives. Now the New York Daily News reports that according to court documents, 14th street will become a "busway" for 17 hours each day–among other strategies–to limit car traffic during the shutdown.
Find out more details

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