Second Ave. Sagas

Jun

The Yorkshire Towers Edition of Great Moments in MTA Statements

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (6) ·

The staircases at Entrance 2 have been designed to minimize passenger flow in front Yorkshire Towers by siphoning riders away from the active driveway.

Despite losing one law suit over the 86th St. station entrance locations and getting threatened with legal sanctions over a second, the Yorkshire Towers Tenants Association is at it again. This time, the Tenants Association has proposed a sidewalk bump-out and entrance at the corner of 2nd Ave. and 86th St. rather than a mid-block entrance that will better serve the entire neighborhood. “This will be the 86th Street lemon,” Doron Gopstein, head of the association, said.

The MTA, which recently announced the winning bid for the final contract for the 86th St. station, is fed up with these machinations, and in a statement to DNA Info, a spokesman expressed the agency’s frustration. “Enough,” the MTA said in a statement. “There is a reason why their first lawsuit was dismissed and why a judge threatened sanctions against their attorney for filing a similar, frivolous lawsuit. The MTA has no interest in delaying a project that will benefit hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in order to appease the parochial self-interests of a select few.”

Remember: Some residents of Yorkshire Towers are protesting station entrances that direct passengers away from the building’s curb-cut driveway that fronts East 86th St. They’re protesting a subway station that will finally serve thousands of Upper East Side residents. They’re bringing up legal costs and engaging in maneuvers that could further delay construction. Parochial self-interests indeed.

Categories : Second Avenue Subway

Comments (6)

Post-Sandy, NJ Transit IDs two dry train storage areas · After months of taking hits for its non-response to the threat of Sandy, New Jersey Transit announced storm-preparedness plans that will better protect its rolling stock. As The Star-Ledger recently reported, the rail agency has identified two new locations to house trains in the event of a flood threat. “We have an agreement with Conrail. It’s a lease agreement, basically, for that property,” NJ Transit Executive Director Jim Weinstein said of storage yards in Linden. “We also have made improvements at our facility in Garwood, which will be able to house a couple of hundred of the rail cars. Between Linden and Garwood, we can do 450 vehicles.”

During Sandy, New Jersey Transit saw damage to nearly 350 rail cars, and the agency has vowed to remove trains from vulnerable areas, including the Meadows Maintenance Complex, if forecasts dictate. As of last week, 46 of the 70 locomotives and 141 of the 272 rail cars had been repaired and placed back in service.

By identifying new storage facilities that are on higher ground, New Jersey Transit is hoping to keep its rail cars both protected and available. Numerous car sets were stranded after Irene when storage areas were cut off by flooding and track wash-outs, and Sandy swamped other storage yards. The agency can’t store trains along the right-of-way due to concerns over downed trees. Perhaps the next discussion should focus around clearing trees from the ROWs. · (4)

Jun

Report: Bike share may rescue straphangers stranded by Sandy repairs

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (44) ·

A full rack of CitiBikes in Fort Greene. The program could help areas that have to suffer through Sandy-related subway repairs. (Photo via Second Ave. Sagas on Instagram)

For New Yorkers and the MTA, an inconvenient truth is looming ever larger. On August 3, the R train’s Montague Tube will close for 14 months as MTA contractors rebuild the tunnel from the ground up in order to repair damage from Sandy. Meanwhile, in three weeks, the G train tunnel will begin its summer of shutdowns, and that work is set to stretch into next year. We’re only just getting started.

Ultimately, there’s an end in sight for this inconvenience, but it’s years into the future. The L train’s Canarsie Tube has run into problems lately, and other East River crossings are not well off. It’s easy to close the R train as nearby stations and more reliable subway lines provide redundancies, but as we’ll see in a few weeks, nearly every other train line is tougher to replace. The G train, in particular, poses some problems as it is the only subway link between Long Island City and Brooklyn that doesn’t involve a circuitous trip through Manhattan.

As the MTA gears up for the G train shutdowns and extended service changes, the agency is trying to assess alternate service. Greenpointers are resigned to the fate of a shuttle bus, but politicians are already angling for a different solution. As ridership north of Nassau Ave. isn’t overwhelming, the latest craze sweeping the city’s transportation system could help. The solution may lie in bike share.

I haven’t written too much about Citi Bike since the program started a few weeks ago, but last May, I examined how it can solve the first mile/last mile problem. With the successful launch of Citi Bikes, New York’s officials have called upon anyone listening to fund an expansion into areas impacted by Sandy, and the Daily News reports that the MTA may oblige. We could have MTA bikes soon enough.

Pete Donohue has the story:

The first expansion of Citi Bike could be to Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods that are facing extensive subway outages to allow post-Sandy repairs on the G train.

MTA and Bloomberg administration officials are exploring an accelerated Citi Bike expansion to Long Island City, Queens, and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, sources said. The possibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority picking up some or all of the cost is one focus of the talks, sources said.

“It’s an active discussion,” a transit source said. “We recognize the G train serves an area without other subway options.”

Details are, of course, scarce at this early stage, but Donohue notes that Greenpoint and Long Island City were originally part of the initial bike share roll out before Sandy destroyed some of the equipment. Still, this is a nearly ideal situation for the area. Since ridership at these G train stations isn’t overwhelming, bike share could make a significant dent in bridging the gap between Court Sq. and Nassau Ave. It is, in fact, that first mile/last mile problem laid bare for all to see.

A MTA-funded portion of bike share would raise a number of questions — including those surrounding its future once the Greenpoint Tube is repaired and branding discussions — but these are problems that can be overcome. Already areas of the city without bike share are clamoring for it, and with numerous transit shutdowns on tap, it’s time to ramp up expansion.

Categories : Public Transit Policy

Comments (44)

Link: On the L train’s morning woes and knowing the way around · Apparently, the L train today was as keen to get going on a Monday morning as the rest of New York often is, and BMT Canarsie riders were left stranded for a while as signal problems halted service underneath the East River. WNYC’s Jim O’Grady asked the MTA about the problems, and although the agency says it’s still investigation, O’Grady notes that signal problems are a hallmark of post-Sandy damage. Floodwaters sat in the L train’s tunnel for 11 days after the storm, and it’s expected that the MTA will have to do some major repair work on that tube in the future.

While an outage of that magnitude is significant and annoying, through high-volume area,s the L is never too far away from the J and Z trains, but from some accounts, many regular L train riders have no idea what to do when their train stops running. My friend Caryn Rose penned a humorous and on-point piece on living in New York, and her takeaway is an obvious one: Know your alternate routes.

Rose, a Greenpoint resident, heard many of her fellow travelers stranded this morning decrying the bus. They didn’t know where the bus went or which one to take. It’s both shocking and not, but anyone who wants to be mobile should know the bus system at least in a home neighborhood. As Rose wrote, “You live here. Not knowing how to ride the buses isn’t a badge of honor, it’s a badge of STUPIDITY. Not knowing your part of town is foolish. Not being able to navigate public transit in your immediate area is short sighted.” · (27)

Jun

A third round of FASTRACK for the Broadway line

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (2) ·

Click to enlarge.

FASTRACK returned to the Broadway Line tonight at 10 p.m., and the service changes are the same as last time.

The N will run between Ditmars Boulevard and Queensboro Plaza and between Stillwell Ave. and Jay St.-Metrotech, making local stops north of 36th St.
The Q will run from 57th St./6th Ave. over the Manhattan Bridge via the 6th Ave. line. Q trains will make express stops along the D in Manhattan.
R service in Manhattan ends early, and the R shuttle between Bay Ridge and 36th St. will start earlier than normal.

That’s all she wrote until mid-July when FASTRACK will shutter the D line north of 161st Street. That one conveniently coincides with Major League Baseball’s All Star Break.

Categories : Service Advisories

Comments (2)

Jun

Thoughts on New York City’s boring street fairs

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (42) ·

Without street fairs, how would New Yorkers get their MozzArepa fix? (Photo by flickr user Joe Shlabotnik)

When I was a little kid, I used to love the street fairs on the Upper West Side. In the early spring, the Daily News would hand out printed one-sheeters featuring the Yankee schedule, and I’d follow along for the season. Plus, those funnel cakes were great. My parents and I — sometimes with my aunt and uncle along as well — would stroll the fairs and soaking in the street life.

Somewhere along the way, though, over the past three decades, New York City’s street fairs have grown to be intolerably repetitive events with no relationship to the neighborhood and little in the way of overall utility. On Sunday afternoon, the street fair came to me, and I obliged. I awoke to the sights of merchants constructing their white tents along Park Slope’s 7th Ave., and I ended up spending about an hour walking the gathering called, for some reason, the Seventh Heaven Festival.

My girlfriend and I did our best to make the most of it. We ate only from local restaurants and skipped past the sausage stands, zeppole booths and mozzarepa dealers that have become the hallmarks of these city-wide fairs. Still, we were hard-pressed to find anything of value. Outside our apartment were stands hawking allegedly hand-made baskets, $5 dresses, cut-rate sunglasses with designer names attached, tube socks and sheets. Down the block were people also selling allegedly hand-made baskets, $5 dresses, cut-rate sunglasses with designer names attached, tube socks and sheets. The crowning moment came when a booth bearing the sign “Interesting Items” promised to sell us scissors, tweezers, and magnifying glasses. Never have I been less interested.

My not-so-newfound boredom with street fairs isn’t something that has come with age and experience. The city over, these things are the same, and even those street fairs with a modicum of individuality — the Atlantic Antic comes to mind — have seen booth space taken over by discount merchants selling a bunch of junk no one needs or wants. As I surveyed the scene (and later spotted a B67 bus trying to wind its way down 6th Ave.), I marveled at the street fair’s complete takeover of normal New York City life. Local businesses are literally crowded out by tents of remainder goods too cheap for Target; pedestrian life is interrupted; and transit services are diverted to less optimal routes. Why exactly do we put up with these things?

Over the past few years, New Yorkers have lived through a remarkable transformation in public space. As Clyde Haberman profiles in today’s Times, NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has led an effort to restore street space to people. After decades of prioritizing cars and eliminating sidewalk space and room for people, New York planners have tried to make it work for everyone. We’ve seen pedestrian plazas grow in popularity, and a new City Bench program brings seats to areas where a fire hydrant or curb were the best options around. And yet street fairs persevere.

The problems with street fairs are well documented. Seven years ago, the Center for an Urban Future called upon the city to rethink street fairs, and in subsequent testimony before City Council, Center officials blamed the monopolistic set-up of the street fair structure. One company runs nearly every single street fair in the city, and the choices they make are mind-numbingly repetitive and boring. Three years ago, the Center followed up with a series of suggestions for improving street fairs that would have them look more like a greenmarket/holiday market/Brooklyn Flea/Red Hook Food vendor set-up than the current iteration. The plans sound good, but policy changes remain few and far between.

I don’t have any great answer for the street fair problem. Yet, as I strolled down 7th Ave. today, I wondered what the point of it all was. If street views disappeared tomorrow, would anyone in New York City miss them? I don’t think so.

Categories : View from Underground

Comments (42)

Jun

Weekend work impacting 13 subway lines

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (0) ·

I’m not quite sure where the image above originated; it’s been passed around the Internet a bit this week. Still, I found it amusing. Anyway, service advisories:

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, there are no 1 trains between 14th Street and South Ferry due to Cortlandt Street Reconstruction. Customers should use the 2 and 3 trains and free shuttle buses.

Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Chambers Street and South Ferry.
1 trains run express in both directions between 34th Street-Penn Station and 14th Street.
2 and 3 trains run local in both directions between 34th Street-Penn Station and Chambers Street

Overnight Note: Downtown 1 trains run local from Times Square-42nd Street to 14th Street.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, downtown 2 trains skip 149th Street-Grand Concourse due to station rehabilitation. For service to/from this station, customers may take the Bx2/Bx19 bus or walk to/from 3rd Avenue-149th Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, 4 trains run local in both directions between 125th Street and Grand Central-42nd Street due to signal work between 42nd Street-Grand Central and 125th Street.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, 5 service operates between Dyre Avenue and Bowling Green all weekend due to station rehabilitation at 149th Street-Grand Concourse. In addition, 5 trains run local in both directions between 125th Street and Brooklyn Bridge due to signal work between 42nd Street-Grand Central and 125th Street.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, downtown 5 trains skip 149th Street-Grand Concourse due to station rehabilitation. For service to/from this station, customers may take the Bx2/Bx19 bus or walk to/from 3rd Avenue-149th Street. From this station, take a downtown 4 instead.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, 207th Street-bound A trains are rerouted via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street, then run local to 168th Street due to asbestos removal in the tube north of Jay Street-MetroTech and track maintenance north of 125th Street.

From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16, 168th Street-bound C trains are rerouted via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street due to asbestos removal in the tube north of Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, June 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, 205th Street-bound D trains run local from 59th Street-Columbus Circle to 145th Street due to track maintenance north of 125th Street.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, Manhattan-bound E trains are rerouted via the F line after 36th Street in Queens to West 4th Street due to track tie renewal in the 53rd Street tube.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, Jamaica Center-bound E trains run express from Canal Street to 34th Street-Penn Station due to asbestos removal in the tube north of Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, Jamaica-bound F trains run express from West 4th Street to 34th Street-Herald Square due to track tie renewal at 23rd Street, 34th Street-Herald Square and 42nd Street-Bryant Park.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, M service is suspended due to station renewal at Fresh Pond Road, Forest, Seneca, Knickerbocker and Central Avenues. Free shuttle buses operate between Metropolitan Av and Myrtle Av, making all station stops.

(Nights)
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, June 15, from 11:30 p.m. Saturday, June 15 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, June 16, and from 11:30 p.m. Sunday, June 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, N trains are rerouted via the Q in both directions between Canal Street and DeKalb Avenue due to station painting and asbestos abatement in the Montague tube. (See R entry.)

From 10:45 p.m. Friday, June 14 to 5 a.m. Monday, June 17, Queens-bound Q trains run express from Sheepshead Bay to Kings Highway due to track panel work at Sheepshead Bay.

From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16, R trains are rerouted via the Q line in both directions between Canal Street and DeKalb Avenue due to station painting and asbestos abatement in the Montague tube. There are no N or R trains in either direction at Jay Street-MetroTech, Court Street, Whitehall Street, Rector Street, Cortlandt Street and City Hall. Customers may use the 4 at nearby stations.

Categories : Service Advisories

Comments (0)

Jun

Updates from Albany: A lockbox bill and purple SBS lights

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (17) ·

As the legislative session in Albany winds down for the summer, there’s been a flurry of activity relating to the MTA. Unfortunately, that activity, despite a stridently-worded editorial from the Daily News, hasn’t yet involved a confirmation vote from the Senate for Tom Prendergast, but a recent Newsday story says that Senators are pushing for action on the nomination before next week is out. Still, there’s transit news aplenty so let’s dive in.

Transit Lockbox (S3837)

The transit lockbox is back. Since the late-2000s raid on the MTA budget, transit advocates in Albany have been pushing for legislation that would make it hardly and politically inconvenient for the state’s executive and legislative branches to reappropriate money that’s supposed to go to transit. The Senate first passed the lockbox concept in 2011, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo later stripped the bill of most protection.

The Senate is at again. With only three votes against — including one from the same Bill Perkins working to roll back the 125th St. bus lane — the lockbox bill moved out of the Transportation Committee on Tuesday and was approved by the full Senate on Wednesday. If passed by the Assembly and signed by Cuomo, the bill would require a memo with every mass transit funding diversion outlining the total amount taken, that amount as the volume of current fare revenue, the cumulative amount taken over the previous five years, and a detailed statement of impact on service, maintenance, security and the capital program.

Streetsblog penned a piece yesterday on this legislation, and its supporters are guardedly optimistic. The Assembly should take it up early next week, and then Cuomo will have to make a decision. “I don’t think the Governor can water the bill down this time,” Gene Russianoff said to Stephen Miller. “For Cuomo, the option is only yes or no.”

Purple Lights for Select Bus Service (S5703)

It’s been nearly five months since a bunch of Staten Island politicians threw a fit over the MTA’s Select Bus Services’ flashing blue lights. The buses are no longer easily identifiable from great distances, and riders have called upon action from Albany to permit the MTA to employ some form of flashing lights. Slowly, legislation is winding its way through the halls of government that would allow for colored lights on Select Bus Service vehicles.

This new bill would amend the state’s vehicle and traffic law to permit buses owned and operated by the MTA or New York City Transit as part of the Select Bus Service to use flashing purple lights to indicate such service. The bill has the support of Jeffrey Klein in the Senate and Micah Kellner in the Assembly and so far has been referred to committee by each chamber. I’ll keep an eye on this one. Hopefully it can move forward.

Assessing the Impact of Service Cuts (A6249)

Finally, we have another intrigued bit of policy: The Senate and Assembly have both passed a bill requiring the MTA to issue a report detailing service cuts. The bill would require the agency to report detailed information on all services eliminated since 2008 and would be due by December 31. The report would require info on the following:

The number and geographic breakout of all customers impacted by such service reductions and eliminations, for each route;
The actual revenue savings versus the anticipated savings from such service reductions and eliminations, for each route;
The costs to fully restore such service reductions and eliminations, for each route; and
A detailed plan for full restoration of services that have been eliminated or reduced since January 1, 2008; or, alternatively, a detailed plan for equitable restoration of subways, buses, and commuter rails that substantially mitigates the negative impacts of such service reductions and eliminations and fairly restores the services across all impacted neighborhoods and regions.

Most, if not all, of this information is available piecemeal in MTA budget and board documents, but this report would be a cohesive summary of the past five years’ worth of transit rollbacks and a way forward. It’s unclear if Gov. Cuomo will sign this bill into law.

Categories : Buses, MTA Economics, MTA Politics

Comments (17)

Jun

NJ Transit approves WiFi deal with Cablevision

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (8) ·

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to take the Acela from New York to Boston, and after years of hearing about Amtrak’s terrible WiFi service, I was pleasantly surprised by the Internet connection. I could stream audio for the entire duration of the trip and saw my connection drop just once. Were I trying to do productive work that required web access, Amtrak’s service was more than sufficient.

More recently, I had the chance to compare Amtrak’s service with the cell signal available on Metro-North’s Hudson Line up to Beacon. It was abysmal. Despite the dramatic views of the river, I could barely get my phone to send text messages, let alone load web-based services. For anyone trying to be productive, the Hudson Line seems out of time and out of place, and I’ve run into similar problems along the Northeast Corridor route through New Jersey. The city’s underground subway stations, as we know, are slowly becoming WiFi equipped.

I’ve long been a believer that reliable WiFi can be a big driver of transit adoption. If daily commuters have the opportunity to be online and can hammer out an extra hour’s worth of work during their ride, such access can incentivize them to leave the car at home and hop on the train instead. Amtrak’s service is a good first step, and Metro-North has been threatening to equip their cars with wireless access as well. Now, New Jersey Transit is set to leap-frog them.

Earlier this week, the NJ Transit Board of Directors announced a public-private partnership with Cablevision to provide high-speed wireless internet access at stations and onboard trains. Cablevision will make this network available to NJ Transit riders via a dedicated, trackside Wi-Fi network, and the two companies say this is a first-in-the-nation arrangement.

“Through customer forums and surveys conducted as part of NJ Transit’s Scorecard initiative, we know that wireless internet service will be a welcome amenity for NJ Transit customers, enabling those who wish to remain connected during their commute to do so continuously,” New Jersey’s Transportation Commissioner and NJT Board Chairman James Simpson said in a statement.

Cablevision will shoulder the capital costs of installing new fiber-optics and getting the network up and running. The cable provider will also run the service for 20 years, and the parties believe a full system roll-out will be completed by the end of 2016. The initial phase will involve bringing service to Newark Penn Station, Secaucus Junction and Hoboken Terminal, three of the more heavily-used stations in the Garden State. Stations and rail cars will follow.

While Amtrak’s offerings and the subway’s new system are provided free of charge, according to other reports, only Cablevision customers will avoid a fee. Others will have to pony up if they want to surf while riding the rails. Still, for a modest fee, a reliable connection is well worth it for those seeking out the Internet.

Categories : New Jersey Transit

Comments (8)

MTA announces final contract award for SAS Phase 1 · It’s hard to believe — and most long-time New Yorkers still won’t believe it until the revenue service date — that the Second Ave. Subway is finally on the horizon, but it is. Today, the MTA reached a milestone as it awarded the final contract for Phase 1 of the project. For a cool $208,376,000, the 86th Street Constructors Joint Venture will complete the station finishes, mechanical, electrical and plumbing work, ancillary buildings and entrances for the 86th Street Station.

This award is in line with a similar one awarded for the 72nd St. station site earlier this year, and MTA officials are pleased as punch. “We’ve reached the final mile marker for this legendary project and can now see the finish line for Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway. This is a great milestone for the MTA and for all New Yorkers,” Michael Horodniceanu, President of MTA Capital Construction, said in a statement.

With the $4.45 billion project now approximately 42 months away, the only questions surrounding it involve the future of the entire Second Ave. Subway line. Phase 1 is priced out, awarded and well under way. When do we get started on Phase 2? · (71)

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The Yorkshire Towers Edition of Great Moments in MTA Statements

Report: Bike share may rescue straphangers stranded by Sandy repairs

A third round of FASTRACK for the Broadway line

Thoughts on New York City’s boring street fairs

Weekend work impacting 13 subway lines

Updates from Albany: A lockbox bill and purple SBS lights

NJ Transit approves WiFi deal with Cablevision

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