>Baltimore's Metro Subway and Miami's Metrorail use the same equipment, and have ordered railcars together in the past (Budd).  This equipment is not the same as WMATA's equipment, though, which consists of cars from Rohr, Breda, and CAF.  WMATA typically orders rail cars at 150-200 or so at a time, and does not need to have compatibility with other systems to meet minimum order numbers.

 

Could have sworn I read that, probably on a Baltimore subway site, since it was in planning at the same time as Washington's.  Atlanta's equipment is similar if not identical. 

 

 

>I think Boston's varying vehicles among each rail line are due to the way the system developed over time.  For example, the Green Line has always been a streetcar line, the Red Line was built by Cambridge, and so on.  It would be worth investigating this, though.

 

To a greater extent than in other cities, there is a conspicuous hierarchy in the MBTA's lines, ordered Red, Green, Orange, Blue.  The Red Line is big-time and is well-maintained with the Orange Line and especially Blue Line in states of perpetual disrepair.  This is all a symptom of how spectacularly state and federal funding was diverted from mass transit in Boston to the Big Dig.  There have been some station-by-station improvements to the subway system and one or two minor projects tied in with the highway project, but for the most part the subway and commuter rail systems have changed little in 20 years.  It goes without saying that the $10+ billion spent on the Big Dig could have gone a very long way in properly maintaining and improving the city's subway and commuter rail service.  I haven't been up there since the Big Dig opened but to have seen it at its height, with custom after custom after custom piece of machinery and all the temporary bracing and ramps and signage and all else and thousands of union guys flown in from all over the country put up in hotels making $450/day for work they'd get half that for back home, it was disgusting.     

 

 

One fo the big misses during the "Big Dig" was the blown opportunity to connect Boston's North and South Stations with a rail link for both transit and intercity passenger service.  It would have greatly improved local transit and effectively extended the Northeast Corridor further up the East Coast to Portland, Maine.

 

 

Realized I had a scanned photo I took of the highway on my computer, so here it is.  I took a lot of photos of the project 2001-2002, but they are all on film so scanning them is a chore, aside from the fact I don't have a scanner. 

 

I too read about the lost opportunity to connect the two stations, I remember the amount of money was relatively small to have at the very least created the provisions so that it could be done in the future.  It was something like $50 million to build the provisions, after all the big dig tunnel more or less runs directly between the two stations and the distance is only about 6,000ft.  But from what I remember since the provisions were not made it's now impossible for the connecting tunnel to be built. 

 

Perhaps someone has put a few years of scholarly work into the Big Dig, I would really like to read a comprehensive account of the project from beginning to end.  What's always struck me odd about it is that it took Reagan's signature to get this thing underway, and he signed off on it at roughly the same time he was breaking the air traffic controllers union.  So on one hand a union was being challenged on on the other hand a 20 year christmas gift was given to other labor unions. 

 

The other thing which is lost is that the downtown tunnel is actually just a fraction of the project, the mile-long tunnel under the Ft. Point Channel and south Boston have always mystified me.  Why couldn't the Ft. Point Channel just be filled in?   And why couldn't a new surface street or at least "local" tunnel connect to the new harbor tunnel?  Why did that have to be a full-fledged subterranean expressway?  There was also that ridiculous refridgeration project where they had to freeze solid the material under the South Station approach tracks for something like 18 months while the approach to the Ft. Point channel was built.  I remember the area looked like a refinery with all this tubing and generators.  And what's so silly about this is that it's only for the I-90 drivers, I don't think I-93 has a full interchange with the Ted Williams Tunnel, and it shouldn't, considering they spent $500 million to directly connect with the existing harbor tunnels downtown. 

 

LIGHT RAIL | Chastain prevails

Transit plan wins a startling thumbs-up

Political establishment insists that plan has no basis in reality.[/b]

By LYNN HORSLEY

The Kansas City Star

 

In a stunning upset, Clay Chastain’s one-man crusade for light rail and a gondola tram won Kansas City voter approval Tuesday with nearly all returns in.

 

With final unofficial results from Clay and Platte counties, and 99 percent of precincts reporting from Kansas City south of the Missouri River, the measure passed 53 percent to 47 percent. It was Chastain’s seventh ballot attempt in nine years.

 

More at;

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/elections/15956279.htm

 

Politics: Red and Blue; Transit: Red, White, and Blue

Victories for transit referendum on November 7 illustrate bi-partisan support across United States

 

Release #06-19—November 10, 2006

 

Contact NARP

 

Washington, D.C.—While America is divided along the lines of political ideologies, it is united in its support for mass transit.  Continuing a trend, transit initiatives passed in overwhelming numbers in Tuesday’s election.

 

“The success of these ballot initiatives shows that Americans want transit,” said Ross Capon, Executive Director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.  “In what many consider an anti-tax climate, citizens are voting for measures that increase their taxes to fund local transportation improvements.  The American public realizes that our dependency on foreign oil cannot continue and that gas prices, while abated slightly, will only continue to rise.”

 

According to Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Transportation Energy Data Book (Edition 25, tables 2.11, 2.12 and 2.14), commuter rail is 22% more energy efficient than automobiles.  The United States alone accounts for 25% of the world’s greenhouse emissions, with transportation contributing one-third of the nation’s emissions (rising to 36% by 2010), and highway vehicles accounting for 72% of total U.S. transportation emissions.

 

The successes Tuesday (see below for highlights) mirror trends from the last two elections, despite intense partisan rancor on other political issues.  According to the Center for Transportation Excellence in 2004, 79% and in 2005, 84% of transit ballot initiatives passed.

 

“Inclusion of transit and passenger rail in the national transportation dialogue is critical to the future stability of our nation, and in fact, our planet,” Capon said.  “The American public ‘gets it’ and has shown that they want to pay for and use transit.”

 

Summary of transit initiatives passed by voters on November 7, 2006:

 

Kansas City: In what was perhaps the biggest and most unexpected victory of the day, voters approved a sales tax increase to fund a 27 mile light rail line, despite the opposition of many local elected officials.  This was the seventh attempt at this ballot initiative.

 

California: $40 billion in public works bonds were approved by voters.  Of those funds $20 billion are for transportation, and $4 billion for public transportation.  Voters also approved a proposition that makes it harder to divert gasoline sales tax from transportation projects. Several local initiatives also passed (namely San Joaquin and Orange Counties)

 

 

Minnesota: Voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that requires the state government to spend sales tax collected on the sale of motor vehicles for transportation projects. 40% of the revenues must be spent on transit.

 

 

Seattle: Voters approved a property tax increase (Proposition 1) and sales tax increase (Proposition 2), both of which will fund transportation infrastructure improvement and transit construction.

 

 

Salt Lake City: Voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase (Proposition 3) to pay for public transit construction and highway projects.

 

 

Fort Worth (Grapevine): Voters approved a one-half percent sales tax to fund commuter rail projects, including a link to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

 

 

Honolulu: While not a ballot initiative, the City Council approved (on November 3) light rail as the mode of choice for a rapid transit line on the island of Oahu.

 

 

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/news_releases/more/nr06_19/

November 2006 Transit Ballot Measures

(fron the American Public Transit Association)

 

Voters in 14 states considered 33 transit-related ballot measures on November 7. Preliminary results indicate that approximately 72% of the measures passed (23 of 32, with one measure still outstanding). Approximately $40 billion in investment was approved by voters. Overall this year, almost 70% of measures (34 of 50) have been approved.  See chart at the link below:

 

http://www.apta.com/media/releases/061108_election_results.cfm

 

Virginia Miller

(202) 496-4816

[email protected]

fallout of the upcoming #7 train extension:

 

 

7 Train Construction Causes Businesses To Close Doors

 

November 10, 2006

 

One of Manhattan's most celebrated nightclubs is being forced to close its doors, and the subway is to blame. NY1 Transit reporter Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

 

The Copacabana has seen many homes. It opened in 1940 on East 60th Street, and has since moved twice, most recently in 2002 to its current location on West 34th Street. Now, it is being forced to move again.

 

"We had a 27-year lease, which right now is meaningless,” said John Juliano, owner of the Copacabana. “We spent many, many millions of dollars to put this place together. And they're just throwing us out. We have nothing to say about it."

 

The reason is the planned extension of the Number 7 line, which when complete will run to Eleventh Avenue and down to a new terminal at 34th Street, right where the club now stands. Other businesses being forced to close shop include a three-story FedEx distribution center on the same block, a Verizon building across the street, plus several parking lots and a car rental facility elsewhere in the subway's path.

 

The Copacabana is not closing its doors for good. Juliano hopes to relocate the club, but he does not have much time. He says he expects to be forced out of this location around July of next year. In the meantime, Juliano says, he is already losing money.

 

"Our nightclub business is still very good,” said Juliano. “But our long-term banquet business is being affected. So people who are booking a bar mitzvah two or three years from now, know that we're closing, and they're just not gonna be booking. So our income has substantially been reduced."

 

Businesses in this area thought they had won a reprieve when Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan for a new Jets stadium nearby fell through. But last month, the MTA agreed to a deal whereby the city will steer development over its West Side rail yards, the site of the planned stadium, and pay $2.1 billion to build the Number 7 line.

 

"When, in fact, we start to take properties, it will certainly have to be before construction of the Number 7 line begins,” said Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff. “And we expect the actual tunneling to begin by very early next year."

 

That means for the Copa and others, the end of the line is coming soon.

 

 

 

“The success of these ballot initiatives shows that Americans want transit,” said Ross Capon, Executive Director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.  “In what many consider an anti-tax climate, citizens are voting for measures that increase their taxes to fund local transportation improvements.  The American public realizes that our dependency on foreign oil cannot continue and that gas prices, while abated slightly, will only continue to rise.”

 

American's should be more concerned of getting more from their tax dollars, than raising their own taxes to pay for transit

 

See also: Road to Transit Funding Ratio, Airport to transit funding ratio, Gasoline tax returns share.

So what programs are we going take money from to pay for transit? And if our elected leaders aren't going to provide more money for transit, voters have to take matter into their own hands. The ballot box is the only way for the people to make the decisions which our so-called leaders won't.

So what programs are we going take money from to pay for transit? And if our elected leaders aren't going to provide more money for transit, voters have to take matter into their own hands. The ballot box is the only way for the people to make the decisions which our so-called leaders won't.

 

I totally understand it, I was just making a point of how truly f-ed up our system really is.

Bypass the roadblock

Transportation officials' love affair with highways has gone far enough; it's time to explore alternatives

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editorial

Published on: 11/10/06

 

With the campaign season and its distractions behind us, elected officials can finally turn their attention to one of metro Atlanta's most intractable problems: transportation.

 

The region typically ranks among the most traffic-clogged in the nation. Business leaders cite worsening conditions on our highways and local roads as an obstacle to high-quality growth. And with the region expected to add 2 million residents in the next two decades, controlling air pollution and preserving green space will become increasingly difficult.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2006/11/10/1110edtransit.html 

 

Amtrak Downeaster expands rail schedule

 

 

PORTSMOUTH -- The Amtrak Downeaster passenger rail service between Portland, Maine, and Boston, which stops in Exeter, Dover and Durham, began operating on an expanded schedule at the beginning of November.

 

The new schedule mans more peak-hour arrivals and departures for business and leisure travelers alike.

 

Morning trains will now arrive in North Station at 8:25 and 10:30 a.m. on weekdays.

 

This page has been printed from the following URL:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/11112006/nhnews-ph-por-downeaster.sched.html

 

*******************************************************************

November 16, 2006

 

 

John Ketzenberger

Bill may put Indiana on right track for light rail

November 16, 2006

Indianapolis Star Column

 

The proposed toll road from Pendleton to Mooresville reawakened talk of mass transit that, in turn, has led many to wonder: Would Hoosiers use a comprehensive mass transit system that was on time and environmentally friendly?

 

We used to. Indiana had 3,000 miles of light rail for electric trains between cities. For 50 years beginning in the 1880s a lot of Hoosiers rode the efficient and cheap interurban system.

Then the business proposition changed. The automobile offered affordable independence. The government changed utility regulations and shifted subsidies to build roads. Before long the interurban system was derailed.

 

 

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061116/COLUMNISTS21/611160412/1003/BUSINESS

Yes, there can be a profit in mass transit, even in Central Indiana where IndyGo is viewed only as transportation of last resort or for the poor.

 

Typical American thinking about mass transit, but maybe a-changing, at least on some levels.  Los Angelenos, for example, scoffed at rail a mere 2 decades ago, now they have a large 3-mode network and are itching for more...

 

... It seems writer didn't do his homework in waxing poetic about the interurban of yesteryear, while if he'd only traveled to the NW/North Central part of his own state he'd see one of America's last running interurban services: the famed South Shore line out of Chicago.  A line that not only is surviving but expanding significantly, thank you very much.

Michigan train ridership reaches all-time high

Midday update

By Derek Wallbank

Lansing State Journal

 

More people than ever before rode passenger trains in Michigan, the Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

 

The Blue Water Line, which runs from Port Huron, through Lansing/East Lansing to Chicago, had ridership gains of almost 11 percent, with ticket revenues up more than 21 percent.

 

The Blue Water Line formerly connected Chicago, through Port Huron to Toronto, but was reorganized in 2004 without the border crossing. Former Amtrak Director David Gunn said in 2004 that the international crossing added too many delays to the route.

 

Both of the other two train lines, the Pere Marquette (Grand Rapids to Chicago) and the Wolverine (Detroit to Chicago) saw more than 5 percent increases in ridership as well.

 

MDOT Director Kirk Steudle attributed the gains to higher gas prices and better marketing of the three lines.

 

Contact Derek Wallbank at 267-1301 or [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

 

Has this been posted here?  Sorry if it has:

 

http://www.gazette.com/interactives/back_on_track/lightrail/

 

It's a two minute video on Denver's light rail system.

 

36,000 passengers per day...

 

www.telegram.com

 

Article published Nov 17, 2006

 

Investment in commuter rail pays off when done wisely

 

AS I SEE IT

By Paul A. Lundberg

 

The best way to measure the effectiveness and relevance of public transportation, and particularly commuter rail, is the level of ridership.

 

Ridership is influenced by convenience, on-time performance and comparative travel value. Annual commuter rail ridership in Eastern Massachusetts has grown from 25.5 million in 1995 to nearly 41 million in 2005. The investments made in commuter rail — both the large projects such as the Old Colony restorations, and the small — have paid off. The question for elected officials, public transportation planners and providers today is how to invest wisely for the future.

 

Smart investment choices in commuter rail are particularly important as competition for state and federal dollars increases. But as the increase in ridership shows, a good and growing system contributes to the economic vitality, environmental quality and increased housing options in the commonwealth.

 

While some commuter rail expansion investments can be costly because of the restoration of abandoned infrastructure — such as the Greenbush project at approximately $500 million — not all commuter rail improvements need to be accompanied by high price tags. Using incremental capital planning, important service and reliability improvements can be accomplished with smart, targeted, modest investment.

 

While I was general manager at Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, we instituted a planning program to help the MBTA identify these smart investments. Incremental capital planning has been used by the freight railroads for years with impressive results. This planning process analyzes which component parts of large projects can be done in a sequenced, priority order to enhance the two most important service attributes — increased frequency and improved on-time performance.

 

MBCR’s planning group focused on approximately two dozen projects. Two of those were improvements to the Fitchburg and the Haverhill lines. In the case of Fitchburg, MBTA has a comprehensive capital plan for improvements on that line of $300 million. While all of the elements would improve service, frequency and on-time performance can be improved for significantly less.

 

What MBCR proposed was a limited track and signal renovation for $16.9 million ($13.5 million for track improvements at South Acton and Shirley, and $3.4 million for upgrading the signal system). These targeted projects would allow improved train operations and provide additional capacity that would increase on-time performance on the Fitchburg line from 89 percent to 97 percent, and would allow for one additional express train during the morning and evening rush hours. And this project could be completed within 12 months of approval.

 

Similarly on the Haverhill line, the MBTA’s comprehensive capital plan calls for completing the double track from Reading to Andover, and installing a state-of-the-art signal system for an estimated $57 million. MBCR proposed an automatic interlocking at Reading, a two-mile passing siding between Wilmington Junction and Lowell Junction, and an upgrade of the existing signal system for a total of $12 million.

 

As with the Fitchburg project, this smart, targeted investment would increase on-time performance to Haverhill by 4 percent and would permit additional express trains during the morning and evening rush hours.

 

Finally, the two projects receiving considerable political discussion this season — the restoration of service to Fall River/New Bedford and increased service to Worcester — can also benefit from this type of incremental capital planning. The current plan for restoring the Fall River/New Bedford route through Stoughton at approximately $700 million can also be accomplished through Attleboro for about $450 million at acceptable service levels.

 

Frequency of service, on-time performance and affordable fares are the components of a successful and growing commuter rail system that serves the commuters and the taxpayers of the commonwealth. By investing smartly in commuter rail projects that can bring immediate improvement, the new governor, the Legislature and the transportation planners and operators have the opportunity to reach more riders with less investment of public funds.

 

Paul A. Lundberg, general manager of Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad through August 2006, has been a railroad transportation professional for 30 years.

Check this out.... Denver goes from "worst" to "best" in 16 years as a place for TOD investment....and all because they had the determination to pursue and invest in light rail.

 

Convention Praises Denver's Prospects

Rocky Mountain News

October 20, 2006

John Rebchook

 

The Urban Land Institute on Thursday released its influential "Emerging Trends" report and praised the metro area for the $4.7 billion FasTracks project, which it calls the "nation's largest comprehensive mass transit development."

 

The report, also sponsored by the accounting firm of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said that developers "lick their chops at prime infill sites along transit corridors" and "Denver enjoys a big advantage over other more built-out Sunbelt agglomerations - namely, plenty of wide-open space in which to build lines and new mixed-use projects."

 

http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Fall_Meeting_Roundup&CONTENTID=73381&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

Is anyone sending this to our elected officials, the mayor?  Gov. Elect?  Elected officials?  or directing them here?

Yes. While some raise their eyebrows, other say "but we don't have the traffic congestion" or "Ohioans won't ride trains" or "we're not a New York or Los Angeles" ....the same kinds of things that we're said in Denver, Portland, St. Louis, Albuquerque, Nashville, Salt Lake City etc.

 

Transportation that is built as a reaction to a certain transportation condition or problem is merely a form of maintenance ("More hair of the dog that bit me" philosophy). But building transportation to create a better quality of life is what causes innovation and growth.

 

We didn't build the canals because of traffic congestion on other canals, but because stagecoach transport was too expensive and unreliable. We didn't build railroads because the canals were congested, but because trains were exponentially faster than anything that had ever traveled before. We didn't build interstate highways to remove traffic congestion on the railroads, but to take advantage of a technology that offered travelers great flexibility.

 

So why do we offer rail and transit?

 

Because Americans don't earn as much much as we once did, and often cannot afford to own more than one car per household. Few appreciate that owning a car is the second-largest expense Americans have -- trailing only housing.

 

Because we let the transportation pendulum swing too far from one extreme, when the railroads were monopolies to where the highways now have an 85-90 percent market share.

 

Because our urbanized areas have become so sprawled out that it requires many times more public infrastructures and taxes to support them compared to the cities American had only a few decades ago.

 

Because we are playing a risky game with our economy so dependent on cars and unstable oil supplies.

 

Because if you are poor, disabled or old, you cannot fully participate in the economy since, as a Russian immigrant in Akron recently noted, "there is no freedom in America without a car."

If this isn't grassroots support, then I don't know what is!

___________________

 

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

 

November 19, 2006 Sunday

FIRST EDITION 

SECTION: POINTS; EDITORIALS; Pg. 2P 

 

 

All Aboard Support massing for local-option vote on transit

 

 

State lawmakers from North Texas have asked for clear instructions on how they can help their communities with the job of building out the region's transit system.

 

They have those instructions now. Things couldn't be clearer.

 

More than 50 North Texas city councils, regional and civic organizations, and business groups have voted to issue a joint imperative to the legislative delegation.

 

That message: Go down to Austin next year and secure the opportunity for North Texas communities to hold local-option elections for transit.

 

A more important set of instructions is hard to imagine. It has implications for the economic and environmental health - and future - of the entire region.

 

Success in the Capitol would mean dozens of communities now outside transit-agency boundaries could vote to bump up their sales taxes to attract vital rail service for commuters.

 

The instructions to lawmakers are contained in a resolution drafted by the three local transit agencies - Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Fort Worth's "T" and the Denton County Transportation Authority - and circulated to local city halls and governing boards for a vote.

 

The joint initiative is unprecedented. And that reflects how the region has been coming together on the need for mass transit since a watershed regional summit on the issue in 2004.

 

Hundreds of representatives at that session voted to support an additional half-cent in taxing authority for cities that want to link up to the rail network.

 

By signing the current resolution, local communities are saying they want the right to make an even bigger investment in mass transit - up to 1 cent on the dollar - and attract fuller transportation services and a sleeker variation of rail transit.

 

We support the right of voters in North Texas communities to make the higher-level investment in mass transit. We commend and support those involved in the effort to clarify the region's expectations of lawmakers for the 2007 legislative session. It has provided fresh energy at a crucial time.

 

Where to from here?

 

The next step in the process is a critical meeting in 22 days - on Dec. 11 - involving members of the legislative delegation, plus local elected and transit officials. They will try to hammer out an approach for advancing the region's transit agenda in Austin next year.

 

In pre-election interviews with this newspaper's editorial board, nearly all candidates for the Texas House and Senate said they supported the regional transit initiative.

 

Their energy and support at the Dec. 11 meeting will be important to keeping momentum going.

 

Lawmakers who remain unconvinced - despite the clear sentiments of their constituents - also have a responsibility to play a constructive role.

 

We invite reluctant lawmakers to review the results of a regional survey this year that polled residents of nontransit cities on a new tax to attract rail. More than 70 percent in each North Texas state Senate district supported a half-cent increase for transit. Support across the region still was considerable- about 45 percent - for a full cent.

 

Many transit supporters no doubt have purely practical reasons: the ability to get to work or shopping without traffic tie-ups. Or maybe it's the cost of the next fill-up or the ability to cut household expenses by becoming a one-car - instead of two or three - family.

 

Businesses in hot-growth, high-end bedroom communities are discovering their own practical reasons to support transit: ensuring a sufficient supply of workers to meet the needs of the suburban economy

 

There's a greater good, too. Fewer cars on the road means cleaner air and a healthier environment. It's just not acceptable to have to tell school kids that outdoor recess has been cancelled because the air is too unhealthy to breathe.

 

Finally, there's the question of sprawl. The metro area continues to push out onto the prairie to accommodate galloping growth, putting a greater distance between home and work for tens of thousands every year.

 

Without transit options, the cost is unsustainable: countless miles of more roads, more cars, more fumes.

 

We are capable of a better blueprint for the future.

 

TRANSIT TAX PRIMER

 

The state now levies a 6 1/4-cent sales tax; cities can add up to 2 cents more.

 

-Most cities use a penny from that 2 cents for general revenue.

 

-Dallas and other DART cities levy the remaining penny for mass transit. Many nontransit cities use the remaining penny for economic or community development.

 

What communities want: To allow voters in nontransit cities to decide whether to levy as much as 1 cent more for transit. Cities already in transit systems could decide to use an extra cent for other purposes.

 

Transit supporters

 

The following have approved a joint resolution backing local-option elections for transit:

 

Commissioners courts:

 

Collin County

Denton County

Tarrant County

 

DART member city councils:

 

Addison

Carrollton

Dallas

Farmers Branch

Garland

Highland Park

Irving

Plano

Richardson

Rowlett

University Park

 

"T" member city councils:

 

Fort Worth

Richland Hills

 

DCTA member city councils:

 

Denton

Highland Village

Lewisville

 

Nontransit city councils:

 

Allen

Anna

Arlington

Benbrook

Burleson

Cedar Hill

Coppell

DeSoto

Duncanville

Euless

Fairview

Frisco

Grand Prairie

Haltom City

Lancaster

McKinney

Melissa

Mesquite

Murphy

North Richland Hills

Watauga

 

Regional organizations:

 

Regional Transportation Council

Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition

Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition

Region 13 Texas Municipal League chapter

Tarrant County Mayors' Council

North Texas Commission

 

Chambers of commerce:

 

Greater Dallas Chamber

Fort Worth Chamber

Burleson Chamber

Southeast Dallas Chamber

Northeast Dallas Chamber

Metrocrest Chamber

Richardson Chamber

Lancaster Chamber 

 

 

GRAPHIC: PHOTO(S): (FILE) DART currently provides transportation to Dallas and 12 other cities in North Texas.

 

LOAD-DATE: November 20, 2006

 

 

New route for commuter rail

Proposal requires more money, more trains and Kenosha terminus

By LARRY SANDLER

[email protected]

Nov. 25, 2006

 

As soon as next month, regional leaders could start discussing whether to get aboard a $237 million plan to link Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and the southern suburbs with commuter trains.

 

Rail backers are touting the plan's expected economic benefits, while the new Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority is wrestling with how to pay for the service.

 

If the effort succeeds, it would bring back a mode of transportation that disappeared from Milwaukee about 40 years ago. Commuter rail lines run on existing freight tracks, connecting a major city and its suburbs. They're designed for local trips, unlike intercity Amtrak trains such as the Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line.

 

In its latest form, the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line, or KRM Commuter Link, would offer more frequent service and more stops - but at a higher cost - than the version that emerged from a previous study in 2003. Passengers would have to change trains to continue into Illinois.

 

The project's steering committee is recommending KRM trains run 14 round trips each weekday, and seven on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. With the aid of connecting buses and shuttles, workers could ride trains to and from their jobs, while others could use trains to reach colleges, shops, entertainment and festivals.

 

Trains would stop at downtown Milwaukee's Amtrak station; new stations on the south side (probably Bay View), Cudahy, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek, Caledonia and the Town of Somers; Racine's renovated train station; and Kenosha's Metra commuter train station. Some trains could continue to Waukegan, Ill.

 

Shuttle buses would run from the downtown Milwaukee station to other downtown destinations; from the Cudahy station to Mitchell International Airport; and from the Somers station to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

 

Fares would be similar to Chicago's Metra trains, at less than $10 one-way between Milwaukee and Kenosha.

 

Separate from Metra

 

For years, the proposed rail line has been described as a Metra extension. But the new version would be a separate system connecting with Metra at Kenosha or Waukegan.

 

Metra, an Illinois governmental agency, has said it could not provide service to another state. The Union Pacific railroad pays for service between the state line and Kenosha because that is less expensive than building a new facility for trains to turn around at the border. And the South Shore line, from Chicago to South Bend, Ind., is largely funded by Indiana taxpayers and run as a separate system, in coordination with Metra.

 

Wisconsin planners also found the KRM line would have more flexibility if it wasn't directly tied to Metra, said Fred Patrie, chairman of the KRM steering committee.

 

The 2003 study called for a $152 million line with seven round trips on weekdays and three on weekends and holidays. Patrie said closer study found a 14-train schedule would be more cost-effective, drawing 1.43 million rides a year. The price tag rose because of the increased service, inflation and the need to build a rail yard and shops instead of using Metra facilities, said Ken Yunker, deputy director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

 

Also, the 2003 study didn't include the Bay View stop, which was pushed by Milwaukee city officials and neighbors.

 

If authorities move quickly enough, service could start by 2010, providing an alternative to driving on I-94 when freeway reconstruction moves into high gear between Milwaukee and the state line, Patrie said.

 

Consultants also found that the rail line would spur development near stations; provide better access to jobs, colleges, cultural events and Mitchell International Airport; and help reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and urban sprawl, Yunker said.

 

But officials still don't know how they'd pay for the service. At a regional transit authority meeting Monday, Yunker suggested the federal government could pick up as much as 90% of the capital cost. Kenosha Transit chief Len Brandrup, an authority member, called that estimate unrealistic. Congress has authorized $80 million for the line to date.

 

Operating costs would run $14.7 million a year, with fares covering $3.8 million. The Virchow Krause & Co. consulting firm is studying nearly 20 options to pick up the remaining $10.9 million, ranging from sales, gas and property taxes to tax-incremental financing districts that would use tax growth from rising property values near stations.

 

Brandrup said new property taxes would be "dead on arrival." Milwaukee County public works chief George Torres, another authority member, and state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) said they were intrigued by the tax-district idea. Brandrup said it would take years for property values to grow enough to produce a revenue stream.

 

It will be up to the regional transit authority to push the process forward for federal approval and to recommend how to finance it. New or increased taxes would need the approval of the state Legislature or local governments. Public hearings are expected in late December or early January.

 

Before that happens, the idea will be discussed by the Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha mayors and county executives. Leaders of the Milwaukee 7 regional development group will discuss it Wednesday.

 

From the Nov. 25, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MTA reverses course on Fulton hub connector

By Chuck Bennett

amNewYork Staff Writer

 

 

November 30, 2006

 

Take it E-asy -- the new $850 million Fulton Street Transit Center will be connected to the E, R and W trains, MTA chairman Peter Kalikow assured Wednesday.

 

"That will be back in the project," Kalikow said at the MTA's monthly board meeting Wednesday. "The E connector is going to get done and we are going to find the money."

 

 

 

 

There was an almost open revolt by Kalikow's fellow board members on Monday after it emerged that the new transit hub -- that will connect 12 downtown subway lines to the new World Trade Center -- will forgo a connection to the E, R, W lines for a lack of $15 million.

 

"Fifteen million in the scheme of $850 million is a joke," MTA board member Barry Feinstein, chairman of the New York City Transit committee, said Monday. "It's unconscionable to me to have a project of this dimension that leaves thousands of riders with the requirement to go into the street to move into one part of the system to another."

 

Kalikow quipped that Feinstein "questioned my sanity" when he brought the lost connection was brought to his attention.

 

The transit hub was first proposed as a downtown Grand Central Terminal -- a bright and airy transit station that featured an oculus, a large glass dome, that would allow natural light to fall on the subway tracks.

 

That oculus, which is estimated to cost $15 million, has already been scaled back from 50 feet high to twenty feet high, according to Mysore Nagaraja, president of MTA Capital Construction.

 

The station is scheduled for completion in October 2009.

 

 

Record ridership for AirTrain

By Chuck Bennett

amNewYork Staff Writer

 

 

November 29, 2006

 

They may have faced hours-long delays when they arrived, but a record number of people used the AirTrain at Kennedy and Newark airports during the Thanksgiving travel season.

 

Between last Wednesday and Sunday, more than 64,000 people got to Kennedy Airport via AirTrain, including a record 19,519 last Wednesday alone, according to figures released by the Port Authority. The previous record was 17,089 on March 29.

 

 

 

 

At Newark Liberty International Airport, 34,500 people took the AirTrain during the same period, a record 11,645 paid passengers alone last Wednesday.

 

At JFK on average, about 11,000 people use the AirTrain on a typical day.

 

Opened in December 2003, the $1.9 billion elevated rail ferries travelers between the Jamaica and Howard Beach stops to and from the airport for $5 each way.

 

I read "AirTran" and I think that budget airline down in Akron, which gets me to LGA for super-cheap.

Record ridership for AirTrain

By Chuck Bennett

amNewYork Staff Writer

 

 

Nice to see so many people using AirTrain.  It still blows my mind that $1.9B only bought a second rate airport connection.

Connecting the tracks

Transit for a Front Range "megalopolis"[/b]

By James van Hemert and Peter Pollack

DenverPost.com

 

Imagine a future where any citizen can take a 15-minute or shorter walk to the nearest bus or rail stop and be on her way to ski in Vail, to do business in Cheyenne, to DIA for a flight to Paris or to visit relatives in Albuquerque. The plans for developing Denver's Union Station, and the recent opening of RTD's southeast light rail line, offers us a glimpse of this future, one that preserves the natural amenities we love while steering us away from mind-numbing traffic congestion.

 

The Front Range region of Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico is emerging as a "megapolitan area," with an anticipated population growth of more than 50 percent by 2035, compared to 5.3 million people today. Megapolitan areas are integrated networks of larger and smaller cities, linked together by transportation networks and sharing a distinct cultural history and identity. Such areas are projected to have a population of 10 million or more residents each by the year 2040. There are 10 such regions in the country, six in the East and four in the West.

 

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_4713187

Try this on for size... Here's a gallery of construction photos of the new Sound Transit light-rail line in Seattle. The extent of construction is pretty impressive!

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews1375/1.html

Impressive.  Seattle's a great city, already, and will be even greater with LRT.  It's interesting that there appears to be much elevated track in that attractive city; meanwhile, here in Cleveland, people get bent out of shape with any talk of els... Also interesting that the LRT will share the Metro bus tunnel with the trolley buses.  I'm glad.  I really hate seeing rapid transit cities punk out with those street level "transit malls" downtown when grade-separated subways in the city center is, by far, the most efficient way to move trains through the CBD grid... One city that punked out is Dallas.  Now, there's rumblings they want to drop their downtown street trackage into a subway given the great success and popularity of their 10-year-old system.

well, among others we've already had the atlanta's, wash dc's, san diego's, dallas's, st. louis's and denver's blow by us in terms of all new rail. why not the charlotte's, kc's and seattle's too? ugh.

^I hear you, mrnyc. I'm supporting ECP but you & both know that should have been rail with, at least, a downtown subway portion as far east as CSU.  It's what happens when you have leaders who don't really believe in Cleveland; not willing to take a chance and do the right thing.  Ugh!

>... Also interesting that the LRT will share the Metro bus tunnel with the trolley buses.

 

It remains to be seen how well it will work.  Some bus routes will no longer run through the tunnel meaning some riders will have worse transit thanks to the LRT line.  And when rail traffic soars after the north LRT segment opens in ten or so years, no doubt buses will be kicked out entirely.  Seattle's downtown is small, with an old freight rail tunnel running diagonally under it which dictated the location of the bus tunnel and greatly complicates construction of a potential subway-only third tunnel, which would have to cross underneath one or both of the other tunnels, meaning stations would be very deep and expensive.  And Seattle's future subway stations will mostly be very deep due to topographical conditions.     

 

>by far, the most efficient way to move trains through the CBD grid... One city that punked out is Dallas.  Now, there's rumblings they want to drop their downtown street trackage into a subway given the great success and popularity of their 10-year-old system.

 

A big problem too are cities like Cincinnati planning tracks divided between two parallel one-way streets, meaning if a subway is ever built, it has to either be built on a third parallel street or a second track built on one of the two streets.  This creates a simultaneous disruption on two parallel streets during construction.

 

Also Buffalo, Portland, and Dallas all have street running downtown but substantial tunnels just outside of them.  Cincinnati would also have a bored tunnel of at least a mile in length just north of downtown. 

 

 

^ i dk jmeck those new boring machines mean you don't have to do cut and cover, which would help hilly cinci & seattle out a lot. thats what the new nyc 2nd ave subway is using too. still hellishly expensive tho.

 

here's a few more recent nyc transit news items:

 

gridlock costs nyc $13B per year

http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-cong1205,0,123946.story?coll=am-topheadlines

 

Average Weekday Subway use passed 5 million on the subway

Average weekday subway ridership rose to 5.076 million in September, the highest level since transit officials began making monthly calculations in 1970, New York City Transit said yesterday.  That was the highest combined figure since December 1970, when it was 7.627 million.

 

2nd ave subway news -- work set to start:

http://www.urbandigs.com/2006/11/2nd_avenue_subw_1.html

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11152006/news/regionalnews/second_ave__subway_jitters_regionalnews_ed_robinson.htm

 

bonus from halloween  :laugh:

 

 

Michael Richards?

Chicago Q:   The new/old section of CTA's newly christened 'Pink Line' goes w/in a block of the busy United Center (home to the Blackhawks and Bulls) in a steadily transitioning/gentrifying nabe.  Why wasn't a station built here?  -- even a 'special events' one?

 

I don't know enough background about this, but I suspect it was a matter of expediency. The Pink Line already existed as a non-revenue track to move dead-head CTS trains. The CTS saw activating it for the public as a way of simply linking up two existing rail lines outside of the Loop but without spending much, if any money. Adding a station may come later for CTS, which like many other transit agencies, is facing tight finances.

 

12/6/2006    Light Rail

Sacramento agency set to open half-mile Amtrak/Folsom Corridor extension

 

On Friday, the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) will open the final leg of the Amtrak/Folsom Corridor — a half-mile extension to the Sacramento Valley Station.

 

Expected to serve 2,000 passengers daily, the extension connects the Sacramento region to the Capitol Corridor regional rail system and Amtrak.

 

In October 2005, SacRT opened a 7.4-mile Amtrak/Folsom extension from Sunrise Boulevard to the city of Folsom. 

 

###

Metro to Extend Yellow Line, Expand Service to Shady Grove

 

By Lena H. Sun

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, April 21, 2006; Page B01

 

Metro officials agreed yesterday to experiment with extending the Yellow Line through revitalizing neighborhoods in the District to Fort Totten, and with increasing service on the Red Line from Grosvenor to Shady Grove in suburban Maryland.

 

The 18-month pilot program would begin in January and would affect service on the two lines during weekday off-peak hours and on weekends. The Yellow Line would serve what are now exclusively Green Line stations in the U Street, Columbia Heights and Petworth neighborhoods, where new shops and condominiums and renovated rowhouses are increasing the demand for subway service. Groundbreaking is set for next month for a Target store that will be the anchor of a large urban shopping center in Columbia Heights.

 

If the transit agency decides to make the changes permanent, it will be the biggest rail service increase since Metro added the Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center stations, extending the Blue Line, in December 2004.

 

The Yellow Line runs from Huntington to the Washington Convention Center at Mount Vernon Square, where Metro riders wanting to continue must transfer to the Green Line. Under the proposal, Yellow Line trains would keep going north on the Green Line tracks to Fort Totten, the last station in the District on the Green Line.

 

"This is a very important expansion of our service to the mid-city stations," said Metro board member Jim Graham, also a D.C. Council member who represents Ward 1 and has lobbied vigorously for the proposal. Graham noted that mid-city neighborhoods would now have a direct line to Reagan National Airport.

 

The proposal to increase Red Line service came after suburban members of the Metro board last month nixed a plan to extend service only on the Yellow Line.

 

On the Red Line, some trains reverse direction at the Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring stations to accommodate the majority of riders who get off at or before those stops. Commuters wanting to continue north must wait for trains that go to the ends of the lines.

 

Under the pilot plan adopted yesterday, the board chose to test ending "turnbacks" only on the Grosvenor side of the Red Line. Ridership is expected to grow faster there because of development at the White Flint, Twinbrook, Rockville and Shady Grove stations, said Robert J. Smith, who represents Maryland on the Metro board.

 

Service on the affected parts of the two subway lines will operate every six minutes instead of every 12 minutes during off-peak hours weekdays. On weekends, when trains operate every 15 minutes, service will increase to every 7 1/2 to 10 minutes.

 

The additional off-peak service on the Yellow Line will cost $5.75 million and be paid for by the District; Maryland will pay the $2.5 million for added service on the Red Line.

 

Officials will weigh several factors, including ridership, to determine whether to make the changes permanent. An initial estimate for the service is $3 million a year, but that does not include projected revenue from additional riders.

 

In other action, the board approved spending $50 million over the next six years to rehabilitate 206 escalators, all of them inside stations. The system has 588 escalators. On a typical day, 41 are out of service, officials said, forcing thousands of riders to climb into and out of stations. Outside escalators allow rain, snow and debris to pour into the electrical systems and cause problems. Nonfunctioning escalators trigger more complaints from Metro customers than almost any other problem.

 

In 2000, Metro began a 10-year comprehensive maintenance and rehabilitation plan for all of its escalators. To date, 181 have been overhauled; the process costs $240,000 per escalator, takes three to four months and involves stripping the unit down to bare steel.

 

Contractors are responsible for maintaining 287 escalators, with Metro personnel responsible for the remainder. But in four years, Metro intends to phase out the contractors and rely solely on in-house personnel for escalator and elevator maintenance, though a 2002 task force convened by Metro found that private contractors were doing a better job of keeping the equipment running.

 

A Washington Post analysis last summer of two years of maintenance records found that, on average, escalators serviced by Metro mechanics broke down more often and took longer to repair than those serviced by private firms. Metro officials and union executives have said they are confident in-house mechanics will improve as they gain experience.

 

In other action, the board, as expected, formally approved the creation of an independent inspector general post, part of an effort by transit officials to improve accountability and restore public trust.

 

The inspector general will report directly to the board, will have subpoena power and a staff of 27 and will "enjoy the greatest possible independence." The position is to be filled by October, board Chairman Gladys W. Mack said.

Old rail cars may ride again

1949 model could be a cheaper way to restore commuter service  

 

By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor

Click byline for more stories by writer.

First published: Friday, December 1, 2006

 

ALBANY -- The Senate High-Speed Rail Task Force may turn back the clock as it considers inexpensive ways of improving passenger rail service regionally.

 

Task force Chairman John Egan said one of the ways the group might restore commuter rail service between Saratoga Springs and Rensselaer would be to acquire a fleet of Budd Co. Rail Diesel Cars, self-propelled rail cars that were introduced in 1949.

 

Industrial Rail Services Inc., a company in Moncton, New Brunswick, has in stock a fleet of 27 Budd RDCs, as they're called, from VIA Rail, the Canadian passenger rail operator, and is seeking customers for the refurbished cars.

 

More at:

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=540427&category=BUSINESS&newsdate=12/1/2006[/b][/i]

It's not clear how much each of the cars would cost. But a study for the state of Vermont put the cost of a "fully loaded" Budd car at $1.6 million.

 

By comparison, a typical city bus of the type used by the Capital District Transportation Authority costs about $250,000.

 

By comparison, Nashville spent a grand total of $300,000 to refurbish the double-decker commuter rail cars they bought from Chicago's Metra for $1 each. The shipping costs were in the thousands of dollars, however.

Metro to Extend Yellow Line, Expand Service to Shady Grove

 

Makes sense.  Dan, how well is the great neighborhood of Adams Morgan served by the Green (soon-to-be Green/Yellow) Line?  Is Columbia Heights the A-M station?

This is a good reason why I sure wish Cleveland would get going with commuter rail proposals -- how could it ever be cheaper to enter? ... I fear that despite a lot of good front-work/research (like by KJP) we're drifting again; allowing rail plans to fade behind highway and sprawl plans.  We've got to keep the heat up esp as the price of gasoline continues its generally upward spiral.

I don't know enough background about this, but I suspect it was a matter of expediency. The Pink Line already existed as a non-revenue track to move dead-head CTS trains. The CTS saw activating it for the public as a way of simply linking up two existing rail lines outside of the Loop but without spending much, if any money. Adding a station may come later for CTS, which like many other transit agencies, is facing tight finances.

 

Actually, the Pink Line was a long time coming.  CTA long used the 1890s era decommissioned, reduced single-track Paulina connector (btw the Blue and Green Lines) as the only (non-revenue) connection between the Blue Lines and the rest of the L network, which was needed when CTA removed the Blue Lines from the Loop and placed in the Milwaukee-Dearborn subways in the late 40s/early 50s ... Also, most of the old steel 'n girder Paulina connector was demolished and replaced with a new mile-long concrete viaduct... For reasons unknown, though, a United Center stop was not built ... meaning it'll cost several extra millions to retrofit a new one onto the present Pink Line.

This is a good reason why I sure wish Cleveland would get going with commuter rail proposals -- how could it ever be cheaper to enter? ... I fear that despite a lot of good front-work/research (like by KJP) we're drifting again; allowing rail plans to fade behind highway and sprawl plans. 

 

Do not fear and please be patient. The West Shore Corridor group continues to meet regularly, is getting more detailed in their subcommittee tasks, and working on addressing longstanding concerns. In fact, the next stakeholders' meeting is this Wednesday, a day after several West Shore law directors will meet with NS, to make sure the agreement on limiting freight train traffic isn't impacted from running commuter trains on the West Shore Corridor.

 

This is a good reason why I sure wish Cleveland would get going with commuter rail proposals -- how could it ever be cheaper to enter? ... I fear that despite a lot of good front-work/research (like by KJP) we're drifting again; allowing rail plans to fade behind highway and sprawl plans. 

 

Do not fear and please be patient. The West Shore Corridor group continues to meet regularly, is getting more detailed in their subcommittee tasks, and working on addressing longstanding concerns. In fact, the next stakeholders' meeting is this Wednesday, a day after several West Shore law directors will meet with NS, to make sure the agreement on limiting freight train traffic isn't impacted from running commuter trains on the West Shore Corridor.

 

 

I'll do my best... at least, officials are talking, and that's a good thing.

Metro to Extend Yellow Line, Expand Service to Shady Grove

 

Makes sense.  Dan, how well is the great neighborhood of Adams Morgan served by the Green (soon-to-be Green/Yellow) Line?  Is Columbia Heights the A-M station?

 

Columbia Heights station is about four blocks east of Adams-Morgan.  There is a crossing of 16th Street in there.  The blocks in between, however, are a bit dicey, and anyone familiar with Hispanic machismo shouldn't let his female friends walk in that area at night.  There have been a few gang scuffles as well.  There is a station at Connecticut Avenue and Calvert Street (Woodley Park, on the Red Line) that is also about a 10-minute (much safer) walk from A-M.  I've also walked to Adams-Morgan from the U Street and Dupont Circle stations.  And then there's the 90 series buses that run the gauntlet on 18th Street....

 

Extending the Yellow Line is going to make it much more convenient to get to Target when it opens in Columbia Heights!

 

.....and anyone familiar with Hispanic machismo shouldn't let his female friends walk in that area at night.  There have been a few gang scuffles as well. 

 

:wtf:

the city pulls the trigger on the 7 subway extension. it's as good as done now:

 

 

City Raises $2 Billion In Bonds For No. 7 Line Extension

 

December 07, 2006

 

It took the city just one day to raise the funds needed to extend the Number 7 subway line up the West Side of Manhattan. NY1 Transit reporter Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

 

There is no turning back now for the Number 7 line. Wednesday, the project got all the funding it will need to move forward, when the city sold $2 billion worth of bonds.

 

"We're now committed,” said Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff. “We're committed to bondholders to get this subway built."

 

About $1.4 billion of the money raised will go toward the 7 line extension, with the rest going to other infrastructures in the so-called Hudson Yards area. Altogether, the project will cost $2 billion, and extend the line from Times Square over to 11th Avenue and down to 34th Street. Tunnel work is expected to begin in late spring, with the extension to open in 2013.

 

"We're moving forward,” said Doctoroff. “It is irrevocable now. The train literally has left the station."

 

The 7 line project is unique in that the city, and not the MTA, is financing it. The idea is not for city taxpayers to foot the bill, but for the bonds to be paid off with tax revenue from development in the area, that the 7 line is expected to help generate. Such a financing scheme has never been tried before, and there were doubters. But as it turned out, demand for the bonds was so high, the city issued half a billion dollars more in bonds than it had planned.

 

Some concerns about the project remain, like the fact that a station planned for Tenth Avenue and 41st Street, partway along the new line, may not be built until later, even though the MTA has said delaying construction could increase the cost by $200 million.

 

"From my point of view, you should figure out a way to get it funded, and build it today," said MTA Board Member Barry Feinstein.

 

But the city says that getting it built now does not fit into its financing scheme.

 

"It's not that there's no need,” explained Doctoroff. “It's that because most of the development around it is likely to be residential, and most residential doesn't pay taxes. The development around it doesn't contribute to paying back the bonds."

 

How the Tenth Avenue station will eventually get paid for remains to be seen.

 

video here too:

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=5&aid=64913

 

hide your eyes kjp. can you believe this is the screaming headline story of today's daily news? "euro trash" lol!

 

 

ahh ny tabloid journalism - loves it!  :roll:

 

 

Eurotrash making marks on subways

 

 

 

BY PETE DONOHUE

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

 

 

Most guests enjoy city's landmarks, but cops say European groups like MOAS are sullying our subways. 

 

 

And taggers like Biser, responsible for 70% of graffiti, cops say, are just doing it for pix to boost Euro-reps. 

 

Subway graffiti is back - and Europeans are to blame.

Most of the major graffiti attacks on trains are being carried out by twentysomething Europeans who want to leave their marks where the graffiti culture was born, experts said.

 

They come from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway to spray-paint their murals and elaborate tags - called "pieces" - on trains, fully aware that the Transit Authority will scrub them clean within hours.

 

The Euro-taggers don't care that New Yorkers won't see their work on the rails: their main goal is to take photographs and videos of their handiwork to bolster their reputations on the other side of the Atlantic.

 

"The majority of the heavy graffiti is being done by foreigners," said recently retired NYPD Transit Bureau Lt. Steven Mona, who until September 2005 was the commanding officer of the Citywide Vandals Task Force.

 

"We've always had foreigners, but in the last five years we've seen an increase."

 

When Mona and his team reviewed last year's graffiti hits, they estimated that 70% were carried out by Europeans.

 

That includes the graffiti group "MOAS," or Monsters of Art Scandinavia, which painted its initials on trains stored on "layup" tracks on Utica Ave. in Brooklyn.

 

Another tag spotted on a train hit on Utica Ave., "Biser," is identified on the Internet as being from Germany.

 

The NYPD wouldn't reveal the nationalities of arrested graffiti vandals. But another expert said the phenomenon is well-known.

 

Sgt. Bobby Barrow, who retired from the squad last year after nearly two decades in the Transit Bureau, agreed the bulk of the big hits are being done by tourists whose idea of a vacation is slinking around the city's tunnels and desolate railyards.

 

"There's a huge subculture to this," Barrow said.

 

Lady Pink, who started spray-painting trains in the 1980s and became the city's most famous female graffiti writer, said New Yorkers are bored with tagging trains.

 

"Painting to take a photograph, for us who live here, is kind of the wussy way out," she said. "The point is to have it run [on the tracks and be seen]."

 

In 2002, a 24-year-old man from Poland and a 25-year-old German were caught with cans of spray paint and a videotape showing each defacing subway cars.

 

The two men spent short stints in jail but were released. They never showed up at their next court appearance.

 

"New York City is not a Disneyland for vacationing Euro-vandals," said Queens City Councilman Peter Vallone, chairman of the Public Safety Committee. "Judges need to send a message by setting bail at arraignment."

 

The Daily News reported last week that subway graffiti has taken off this year, with vandals heavily tagging and scratching 162 cars - more than triple the number defiled in 2004.

 

The 162 subway cars each required at least eight hours of cleaning or repairs, according to the TA, which classifies each incident as a "major hit," including spray-painting train exteriors or scratching drivel onto train windows.

 

Originally published on December 10, 2006

Lady Pink, who started spray-painting trains in the 1980s and became the city's most famous female graffiti writer, said New Yorkers are bored with tagging trains.

 

 

god, europeans are always 20 years behind the the US' culture.....they were probably listening to sly fox while doing it.

I want to hire some of them....shhhhhhhhhh