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I skimmed through the current topics on the Mass Transit board and didn't see a similar thread, so I thought I'd create a catch-all thread for news and discussion regarding transit in the New York City area. Topics of discussion include news regarding:

 

  • Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA): NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Railroad, and MTA bus service
  • The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: PATH, AirTrain, NYC-area airports, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal
  • NJ Transit: Commuter rail, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Newark City Subway, local bus service in New Jersey
  • Amtrak news specific to the NYC region.

 

Have at it...

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  • pretty cool look at where the rail lines really are --     via SimonKeuestenmacher  

  • Huh, a correlation between housing/healthcare and a perception of safety on the subway. Ditto for opinions by people who don't ride it often. Who'da thought that...    

  • Good. I hated this plan. Instead, extend the N/Q train from Astoria/Ditmars through LaGuardia over to the #7 train line and become the new #7 express into Manhattan with a stop added at 74th/Broadway

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To start things off with a bang, the MTA has posted some incredible photos of the excavation work for the East Side Access Project, which involves the creation of new commuter rail tunnels from Long Island to Midtown Manhattan, and a new station directly underneath Grand Central Terminal. This will allow LIRR trains to access GCT for the first time. The photos are by the MTA's Patrick Cashin.

 

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Full gallery on the MTA's Facebook page

 

 

  • 1 year later...

I can't top the East Side Access photos posted above, but I thought this one was pretty cool. It's the abandoned but still beautiful City Hall subway station on the #6 line. The station was opened for tours this past weekend, and some photos were shared via Twitter. Unfortunately the lack of ridership, the nearby Brooklyn Bridge station, and a short platform forced the station's closure in 1956. It will probably never reopen owing to the tight curve which makes it impossible for people to safely "mind the gap" between platform and train, let alone be ADA compliant! So here it sits.....

 

BqwzzkGIQAABL3-.jpg:large

 

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That's the station on the loop, at upper-left.....

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"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

I can't top the East Side Access photos posted above, but I thought this one was pretty cool. It's the abandoned but still beautiful City Hall subway station on the #6 line. The station was opened for tours this past weekend, and some photos were shared via Twitter. Unfortunately the lack of ridership, the nearby Brooklyn Bridge station, and a short platform forced the station's closure in 1956. It will probably never reopen owing to the tight curve which makes it impossible for people to safely "mind the gap" between platform and train, let alone be ADA compliant! So here it sits.....

 

 

Well when the IRT, extended station platforms they had to close some stations.  The Brooklyn Bridge Station is shoe horned between IRT (4/5/6) City Hall station and the BMT (N/R/Q) City Hall Station.  The IRT BB and City Hall Stations are closer together Than Shaker Square and Drexmore.  Imagine if there was another entrance to the Shaker Rapid at the SS Cinemas. Thats how close these two stations are to one another.  You can actually see down into the station from City Hall Park.  The City Hall Station like the IRT (1) original South Ferry Station is a loop.  These stations don't fit the IRT 8 or 10 car trains.  There are a few other IRT stations that cannot handle full cars, like 145 St./Lenox.  In addtion, the IRT Worth Station was closed when Brooklyn Bridge was extended and connected to the BMT (N/M/R) City Hall Station.

 

We've done some commercials and PSA sin this station as it's not a revenue station and it's now gorgeous.  First time I was in there it was a graffiti filled rat infested homeless nest!

  • 4 months later...

from mta:

 

More Than 6 Million Customers Ride Subways on Five Separate Days in September

 

October 22nd, 2014

 

Ridership is breaking records on our subways. The system reached unprecedented milestones in September, breaking the previous single-day ridership record five times in a single month.

 

Newly available figures show 6,106,694 customers rode the subway on Tuesday, Sept. 23, making it the highest ridership ever since daily figures were first recorded in 1985. Four other September days also saw more than 6 million customers, and the 149 million customers over the month were more than in any other September in more than 60 years.

 

“New Yorkers and visitors alike continue to vote with their feet, recognizing that riding the subway is the most efficient way to get around town,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “This is a phenomenal achievement for a system that carried 3.6 million daily customers just 20 years ago. As ridership increases, the MTA Capital Program is vital to fund new subway cars, higher-capacity signal systems and improved stations to meet our customers’ growing needs and rising expectations.”

 

Subway ridership has grown steadily in recent years, approaching levels last seen during the World War II era when the subway network included more elevated lines, many customers were counted twice as they transferred between different systems, and far fewer New Yorkers owned cars. The previous ridership record of 5,987,595 was set Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. The five record-breaking dates in September were:

 

• Sept. 23, 2014 6,106,694

• Sept. 18, 2014 6,094,684

• Sept. 19, 2014 6,073,580

• Sept. 17, 2014 6,051,863

• Sept. 10, 2014 6,012,270

 

Record-breaking ridership was recorded on September weekends as well. Fueled by ridership generated by the People’s Climate March, 2,953,948 customers rode the subway on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. This was the highest Sunday ridership since daily records began in 1985 and likely the highest since the late 1940s.

 

“The trend towards increasing ridership is not expected to slow down. Improved transit services, combined with a growing population and an improved economy, have resulted in the strongest subway ridership growth occurring among discretionary riders and during off-peak times,” said MTA New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco. “This presents new challenges for maintaining and improving a system that operates around the clock, while introducing important innovations for our customers such as countdown clocks, Help Point intercoms and a new fare payment system.”

more from mta:

 

 

MTA New York City Transit’s Subway System Enjoys New Vigor at 110

 

October 24th, 2014

 

 

October 27th, 2014 marks the 110th anniversary of the subway system. The first train ran north from City Hall to 145th Street and Broadway. The system that now benefits 5.8 million daily customers sprang from a single line that didn’t leave the confines of Manhattan.

 

The system has grown into a four-borough operation that each day moves more than double the population of Chicago. Trains running along 24 lines feed the City’s schools, businesses and recreational venues. New York could not be the 24/7 City it is today without the MTA New York City subway and the system will continue to nurture the City’s growth far into the future.

 

For a period in the 1970s and 1980s, however, the subway slipped into a state of decay. A prolonged lack of investment caused an historic level of deterioration. Track fires, train derailments and equipment breakdowns were daily events and the engine that drove New York sputtered and turned into a graffiti-scarred mess. A fresh leadership team, however, demonstrated a commitment to improving the moribund system. The resulting resurgence was funded by the first of the MTA’s Capital Plans. The combination of vision and cash, $100 million so far, managed to reverse the downward trend and breathe new life into the transit system.

 

Today, the MTA is working on future improvements and expansion projects that will carry us through the next 100 plus years. The City’s population is growing and transit ridership is rising right along with it. In fact, there were five days in September, 2014 when ridership broke the six-million customer mark.

 

Currently, there are several projects to push the system forward, either in progress, nearing completion or in the planning stages. The extension of the 7 to the West Side of Manhattan, Fulton Center Complex, the installation of new signaling systems and the ongoing Superstorm Sandy Fix & Fortify program work all combine to further strengthen the system so that it will support the City’s future needs.

 

A new generation subway car is now on the drawing board. This fleet will introduce vehicles with greater capacity, higher levels of reliability and increased levels of customer comfort over current trains. Their durability will insure that they offer dependable service for many decades into the future.

 

As the City grows, we will continue to grow with it. The subway and the City is a symbiotic relationship that benefits the entire region, and keeps us a world leader.

 

 

  • 3 years later...

Longform article on the subway today in NYT Magazine. I've only skimmed it so far but it gets into the history and future of the system and some great photos as well.

 

The Case for the Subway

It built the city. Now, no matter the cost — at least $100 billion — the city must rebuild it to survive.

By JONATHAN MAHLER

AN. 3, 2018

 

Long before it became an archaic, filthy, profligate symbol of everything wrong with our broken cities, New York’s subway was a marvel — a mad feat of engineering and an audacious gamble on a preposterously ambitious vision. “The effect it is to have on the city of New York is something larger than any mind can realize,” said William Gaynor, the New York mayor who set in motion the primary phase of its construction. A public-works project of this scale had never before been undertaken in the United States, and even now, more than a century later, it is hard to fully appreciate what it did for the city and, really, the nation.

 

Read more

  • 3 months later...

I don't see a key for the map below....

 

Metro-North: Could three trains an hour in Lower Hudson Valley become reality?

The Regional Plan Association is calling for an overhaul of the region's rail to better connect the New York metropolitan area.

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/transit/2018/04/23/metro-north-rpa-train-plan/541608002/?platform=hootsuite

 

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"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

  • 11 months later...

For all the crap MTA has gotten in planning circles recently I was still really impressed when I was in the city a couple weeks ago. I mean, I guess I have a low bar coming from Ohio, but the trains seemed efficient enough and the newer buses in the fleet were incredibly nice. 

“To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”

2 hours ago, mrnyc said:

mta allegedly figures out a way to shave $1B off the $6B second ave subway phase two — by using the old tunnels and cutting back at 125th st:

 

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-second-avenue-subway-tunnel-reuse-savings-20190416-ewnrkgj7xjcvlpxx6iua45sgka-story.html

 

 

Interesting.  If built in this fashion, the 116th St. station is going to be an anomaly not just on the Second Ave. line but for the entire system.  It's unclear to me, looking at these images, if they're going to be able to keep the walls between the center and outer tracks intact or if there won't be enough space to enable efficient boarding. 

 

It looks to me like they're going to have to take the roof you see here off in order to build a mez:

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Yeah, those openings look a little too short, aside from being too close together.  Add 50" to where these guys are standing and they'd be hitting their heads to board trains. 

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They would retro fit the station and reduce from 3 tracks to two.  So one of the outer tracks would be platforms on this already complete 10 block section.  This section runs from E 110-120.

  • 4 weeks later...

That was an interesting article. The costs are just beyond the pale these days (for instance, the Long Island Rail Road project was almost $4 billion a mile of track). Someone, many someones, should have been locked up for that.

Edited by TBideon

  • 2 months later...

so all that hand wringing and hoo ha and no l-pocalypse.

basically, hanging the wires and bondo-ing up the tunnel bench wall is fine.
 

 

Speedy cable installation latest step forward in fast-moving L-train East River tunnel repair job Brooklynites once dreaded

By CLAYTON GUSE

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |

JUL 28, 2019 

 

It took a contractor just two weekends to finish a big chunk of the L-train East River tunnel repair project, which the MTA says is moving along swiftly.

 

Workers hung 40,000 feet of cable along a wall of the Canarsie Tunnel’s northern tube during the two weekends over the last month. Construction crews will install cable racks on the other half of the tunnel in the coming months.

 

 

more:

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-l-train-snake-tray-cable-racking-work-20190728-lg3finx3v5eurhtlcczg6obpiq-story.html

  • 1 month later...

mta just released its $51.5B capital budget for 2020-24:

 

https://new.mta.info/sites/default/files/2019-09/20-24 Capital Plan Overview.pdf

 

 

highlight stuff:


The Program will deliver major benefits, including:

• More frequent and reliable service on 6 line segments,
including the Lexington Avenue Line, serving over 50%
of riders through modernized signaling

• 70 new ADA-accessible stations, beginning now.
Stations serving over 60% of passengers will be ADA accessible.

• Over 1,900 new subway cars, more than 2,400 new
buses and hundreds of new commuter rail cars

• Full funding for Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 and
construction of four new Metro-North stations in the
Bronx

 

 

 

  • 4 weeks later...
10 hours ago, MyTwoSense said:

If we could get this on Central Park North, 116 and 125 streets, it would make cross town travel bearable.

 

it's so weird when you walk down 14th St. now. It's so empty half the time you could roll a bowling ball down the middle and not hit anything. 

3 hours ago, eastvillagedon said:

 

it's so weird when you walk down 14th St. now. It's so empty half the time you could roll a bowling ball down the middle and not hit anything. 

I look at this as a "Win"

^ haha yeah -- i love how evd cannot bring himself to call it a positive, it's just weird -- lol.

 

 

On 10/19/2019 at 12:23 AM, MyTwoSense said:

If we could get this on Central Park North, 116 and 125 streets, it would make cross town travel bearable.

 

yes  the mta was clear on wanting more and i would guess 110st or 116st would be next, so i bet you do not have long to wait.

 

or at least something, somewhere up there will probably be the next busway when they get around to it.

 

i doubt it would be 125th though, unfortunately, but its probably for the best anyway that they try again on a less hectic street so people can get used to busway streets. 

 

i really hope we get a lot more of them -- it is just amazing how quiet it is out front of our place now -- and also instantly there is much less schmutz too.

On 10/22/2019 at 12:47 PM, mrnyc said:

^ haha yeah -- i love how evd cannot bring himself to call it a positive, it's just weird -- lol.

 

 

 

yes  the mta was clear on wanting more and i would guess 110st or 116st would be next, so i bet you do not have long to wait.

 

or at least something, somewhere up there will probably be the next busway when they get around to it.

 

i doubt it would be 125th though, unfortunately, but its probably for the best anyway that they try again on a less hectic street so people can get used to busway streets. 

 

i really hope we get a lot more of them -- it is just amazing how quiet it is out front of our place now -- and also instantly there is much less schmutz too.

There is already a bus lane on 125, but cars double park in it constantly.  The SBS m60 service is horrible because of this.  If they could reduce traffic between 2nd Ave and Amster Ave. Bus Service would greatly improve in Manhattan, The BX and Qns.

  • 1 month later...

more about the new nyc busway today -- the manhattan boro pres wants more of them -- starting with uptown:

 

 


Manhattan beep wants to bring ’busway’ to Harlem and Washington Heights

 

By CLAYTON GUSE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
NOV 24, 2019 | 6:49 PM

 


Manhattan’s first-ever “busway” on 14th St. is such a success that Borough President Gale Brewer is pushing to give two uptown streets the same treatment.

 

Brewer last week sent a letter to city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to request the agency study the possibility of kicking cars to the curb on 125th and W. 181st Sts. to make way for buses.

 

Brewer says traffic restrictions on 14th St. that took effect in early October have been “transformational," and Trottenberg should look uptown to repeat their success.

 


more:
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-busway-gale-brewer-letter-dot-20191124-qmj5mh6yare2dkd4drjyzqnd6i-story.html

  • ColDayMan changed the title to New York City: Transit News

open gangway trains are finally on the way for ny subways.

 

 

Open-gangway subway trains a ‘departure’ from traditional NYC rolling-stock
 Mark Hallum


The MTA is preparing to introduce a whole new breed of subway trains the agency says will make alleviate some crowding for New Yorkers.

After awarding a $1.4 billion contract to Kawasaki Rail Car Inc., New York City Transit announced that 535 of the R211 cars will be brought into service in 2020 and 2021.

Next year, commuters will get wider doors and open-gangways on trains, which the MTA says will give people more room to get on and off the car as well as more room to stand. The open-gangways will be in service in 2021, according to the MTA.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/open-gangway-subway-trains-a-departure-from-traditional-nyc-rolling-stock/


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good news for the boroughs --- the triboro rx is back in play.


MTA pushes for transit expansions from Bay Ridge to Astoria
 Mark Hallum


The 16 miles of track could potentially link riders to intersecting subway lines and the LIRR; one can imagine the likelihood of this with the track crossing 19 subway lines, according to the MTA.

The Bay Ridge Branch crosses from New York Harbor waterfront to the south through Midwood, East New York, Brownsville, Bushwick, Glendale, Middle Village and Elmhurst before reaching Astoria.

The MTA has given the $1.3 million contract to engineering firm AECOM, who will work with a subcontractor referred to by the agency as WSP.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-pushes-for-transit-expansions-from-bay-ridge-to-astoria/

triboro rx plan:
http://library.rpa.org/interactive/the-triboro/

 

 

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1 hour ago, mrnyc said:

here is more commentary on the new triboro rx study:

 

I'm skeptical that this project in a minimal form offers much promise.  The whole thing is going to be so limited by the fact that they're going to have to maintain freight service, meaning the new passenger service has to be heavy rail.  And it's unlikely that there is a consistent need for the passenger capacity of heavy rail in some of the areas.  

 

thats why they are doing an official feasibility study.

 

there is no way it could be done other than incrementaly in 3 parts. first brooklyn, then queens. then finally the bronx whenever amtrak and east side access sort themselves out.

 

nyc is dying for crosstown services. riders have wanted triboro rx forever, but there is little political will unfortunately.

 

the good news its a gimmee of a project if itgers backed. keep in mind the scale of it — if they can get 100k riders as suspected thats as much daily ridership as the whole of the denver or the dallas dart services.

 

 

  • 2 months later...

it got cut off — now it should

the city that never sleeps will be taking a power nap --

gov cuomo and the mayor announce that starting in may they are going to shut down nyc transit every night to power clean the vehicles. 

they will make up for and pay for any essential night worker travel costs with shuttle busses, uber, lyft and the like, which is only around 10k people overnight these days.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/30/nyc-subways-will-close-overnight-for-coronavirus-cleanings/

wow first time ever — this was very sad to see in the morning, but its necessary:

 

 

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Edited by mrnyc

  • 4 weeks later...

mta chair pat foye puts trump's cdc on blast:

 

 

Foye also went on to blast the “latest guidance” from the Centers for Disease Control, which advised residents not to take public transportation during the pandemic.

 

“Encouraging people, especially those without cars and in congested areas like New York, not to take public transit is misguided,” Foye stated. “Transit is, and has long been, the safest way to move around any city. Our transit and bus system is cleaner and safer than it has been in history, as we clean and disinfect around the clock.

 

Everyone who rides the MTA is required to wear a mask, a uniform policy we adopted for our workforce before the CDC reversed its previous guideline and recommended all Americans wear masks. We will continue to take every possible action to protect public health and safety, and the federal government telling people not to ride mass transit sets us back decades.”

  • 1 month later...

mta fiscal tsunami:

 

 

MTA officials say $16.2B in relief needed as COVID crisis hit’s NYC’s mass transit with ‘fiscal tsunami'

 

By CLAYTON GUSE

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |

JUL 22, 2020 AT 12:44 PM

 

 

MTA officials on Wednesday announced the coronavirus pandemic has sparked the worst financial crisis in the agency’s history, one that its chairman Pat Foye described as a “fiscal tsunami.”

 

The agency faces a deficit of $16.2 billion through 2024 without any federal relief from Congress. The MTA in March received approximately $4 billion through the the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, but transit officials have since requested an additional $3.9 billion to carry them through the year.

 

Even if the funding comes through, it won’t be nearly enough to cover the financial hit the MTA has taken due to plummeting transit ridership and tax revenues.

 

Agency officials also project they’ll need to find another $5.1 billion to stay afloat in 2021, another $3.4 billion in 2022, $1.7 billion in 2023 and $1.9 billion in 2024.

 

 

more:

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-mta-financial-crisis-funding-20200722-nx53shkl5rdbznizcfcbsydyle-story.html

On 7/22/2020 at 6:41 PM, eastvillagedon said:

^I'm going to miss the free buses. There's nothing like a joy ride on the M20 ?

 

aah the ‘ol m20 aka the bus that never comes. it’s like a watched pot, won’t happen if you are looking for it.

4 hours ago, mrnyc said:

 

aah the ‘ol m20 aka the bus that never comes. it’s like a watched pot, won’t happen if you are looking for it.

and just as I decide to start walking I see it coming but I'm invariably between stops so there's not enough time to make it to the next one before it speeds off?

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

fwiw the trashy ny post is mysteriously resurrecting this expensive bury the port authority bus station plan.

 

 

Proposal could put the Port Authority Bus Terminal underground

 

By Steve Cuozzo

September 6, 2020 | 10:13pm

 

 

It’s a bury good way to get rid of the city’s most hated transit hub.

 

Many of the 250,000 commuters who use the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Eighth Avenue daily would love to see the ugly, inefficient facility disappear. An audacious replacement proposal submitted by a major engineering and design firm would give them their wish by moving it underground.

 

 

more:

https://nypost.com/2020/09/06/proposal-could-put-the-port-authority-bus-terminal-underground/

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

a bit of progress on second avenue subway if you can believe it:

 

 

MTA Inches Forward on Plan to Grab Property for Second Avenue Subway 

BY JOSE MARTINEZ AND RACHEL HOLLIDAY SMITH  SEP 20, 2020, 7:14PM EDT

 

 

The MTA is still moving to someday stretch the Second Avenue Subway into East Harlem — but the pandemic-spurred economic crisis has put the project back on the local track.

 

The agency has started taking steps mandated by state law toward eventually securing buildings and land along the proposed route of the Q line’s extension from 96th Street to 125th Street — with eminent domain a last resort.

 

At its July board meeting, the MTA said it has begun the process of acquiring over a dozen properties along Second Avenue and 125th Street through “negotiated voluntary agreements,” according to agency records. 

 

If agreements can’t be reached “in a timely manner,” documents show, the MTA must take preliminary steps under the state’s Eminent Domain Procedure Lawto lessen the potential for future delays to the project.

 

 

more:

https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/9/20/21446021/mta-property-second-avenue-subway-eminent-domain-transit

 

 

big-map-Artboard_1.jpg

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

all the money ny pays in taxes, but now that mta is in dire need trump refuses to give back. just borrow your way out they say. meanwhile they shovel that money over to his red meat welfare states. very trumpy of them!

https://www.amny.com/news/137524951/

 

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