Results tagged “mta”

The deficit-reduction plan passed by the State Legislature yesterday cut $140 million from the authority's operating budget, which is more than the $110 million that was originally anticipated. Bus and subway fares are already expected to rise 7.5 percent in 2011 and 2013, but after a hearing today on the MTA’s capital plan, Jay Walder, the authority's chief, told reporters that he would not raise fares... at least not next year.

Hundreds of Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers responsible for repairing above-ground subway tracks have been getting paid for eight-hour shifts, even though they actually spend only four hours per day working.

Are the NYPD stepping on the toes of MTA officers? The NY Post reports that the NYPD has started sending some of their officers to police commuter trains as part of their anti-terror efforts — a move that has upset the MTA.

Is leftover change on your Metrocard bumming you out? It's bumming everyone out, according to the Daily News today. Ever since the MTA changed how it formulated the bonuses on pay-per-ride cards, from 20% (buy five trips, get a sixth for free) to 15%, New Yorkers have been accumulating Metrocards with unusable spare change on them, while the MTA has been absorbing that decent chunk of unused change!

While most subway stations rely on sidewalk grates for fresh air, the new stops on the long-awaited Second Avenue line will be cooled with a modern ventilation system. But residents and politicians say the ventilation system, which will be housed in permanent above-ground structures, "many as large as midsize apartment buildings, rising up to nine stories tall," will turn vibrant Upper East Side blocks into "dead corners," blighting the neighborhood and lowering property values, according to the Real Deal.

Yesterday, the NY Times reported on a 13-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome who hid in the subway system nearly two weeks. Francisco Hernandez didn't want to go home, because he had gotten into trouble at school and was afraid of his parents' reaction, so he rode three different subway lines in four boroughs for 11 days in October. His mother says the police didn't do enough to find him, but a conductor told WCBS 2, "Supposedly this kid did not want to be found. It's pretty easy to elude us for quite a while. I'm not surprised."

A 13-year-old boy with Asperger's Syndrome—a form of autism that often causes difficulty with social interaction—spent 11 days in the subway system last month. In a heartbreaking Times article, Francisco Hernandez Jr. tells how he took refuge in the subway for over a week because he got in trouble in class and "didn't want anyone to scream at me" at home. He says nobody spoke to him the entire time he rode the trains, and when the reporter asked him if he "saw any larger meaning in that," Hernandez replied, "Nobody really cares about the world and about people."

Is there anything more horrifying than being locked on the subway with a knife-toting murderer? About two dozen commuters found themselves in that hellish situation early on Saturday, when they were locked on in the first car of an uptown D train with suspect Gerardo Sanchez, who according to witnesses had just stabbed a passenger to death in an argument over a seat.

More details have emerged on the gruesome stabbing on the D train yesterday that left one straphanger dead and another behind bars. Bronx resident Geraldo Sanchez, 37, allegedly stabbed Dwight Johnson, 36, repeatedly in the face and neck in an altercation that started when the victim declined to move his bag from a seat on the crowded train.

A knife-wielding commuter stabbed a passenger to death on the D train early this morning in a fight over a seat. Cops arrested a 37-year-old man suspected of repeatedly stabbing a 36-year-old man in the neck and face when the victim refused to move his bag from a seat on the northbound train at the 7th Avenue and 53rd Street station in Manhattan.

The latest public art project to glean some attention can fit right in your pocket... but it's gonna cost ya. The NY Times reports that seven million MetroCards were distributed starting in September, all containing the word "optimism" on the back. The MTA, perhaps seeing it as a way to brainwash unhappy customers, oversaw the project.

Today, NYPD Chief James P. Hall, who heads the department's Transit Bureau, told the City Council that sexual harassment was the "No. 1 quality of life offense on the subway," according to City Room. Hall added, "This should not be a part of commuting in New York. t's an under-reported crime." (Nothing, unfortunately, new there.)

An MTA-hired subcontractor severed a jet fuel line that was targeted by would-be terrorists in 2007, spilling 500 gallons of gasoline at the corner of Skillman Avenue and 37th Street. The workman was doing maintenance work for the MTA when he drilled into the Buckeye Pipeline, a 12-inch tube that rests four feet below street level and carries eight million gallons of fuel and refined petroleum into New York City every day, according to the Daily News.

The MTA's $200 million plan to install countdown clocks at all numbered train line stations is moving forward, though it's already running slightly behind schedule, the Times reports. By the end of next month, MTA NYC Transit will start the clocks at the Longwood Avenue, Brook Avenue and East 149th Street 6 train stations in the Bronx, but the installation of the timepieces in the remaining 152 numbered stations won't be completed until April 2011 — despite previous reports of a December 2010 finish.

      

Because kids respond to safety pitches only when there is an MC Skat Kat-esque mascot involved, the Department of Buildings is using "Safe-T Rider," the elevator safety cat (courtesy the Alabama-based Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation) to emphasize elevator—and escalator and moving walkway—safety to young New Yorkers during Elevator Safety Week!

The city bus driver who stuck and killed 22-year-old Seth Kahn last week... will be ticketed. The Daily News reports that Jeremy Philhower will only receive a summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian, which is a noncriminal violation. This means he'll pay up to $150 or spend 15 days in jail (the latter is an unlikely outcome).

The NYC Transit bus driver who struck and killed 22-year-old Seth Kahn last week is probably regretting some previous Facebook status updates. Following the accident last Wednesday, it came out that Jeremy Philhower had been suspended previously for texting and updating his Facebook while on the job.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that transit police have been cracking down on musicians and other performers busking in the subway system—even though the MTA's own rules permit low-volume performance under certain conditions. A number of musicians and a busker advocacy group tell amNY that "police harassment has grown to disturbing levels in recent months."

Following the death of 22-year-old Seth Kahn, who was struck by a city bus on West 53rd and 9th last week, there's some talk about bus drivers texting while on the job. The driver in this particular incident was Jeremy Philhower, who had been suspended for texting and updating his Facebook with disparaging comments about his riders while behind the wheel. Last Wednesday, when he hit Kahn, was his first day back on the job — if NYC Transit concludes that he could have prevented the accident, they could file charges and fire him.

Two city buses ran into each other at the corner of Third Avenue and East 41st Street in Midtown, injuring at nine, according to preliminary reports. The collision occurred at around 5:30 pm on an avenue serviced by the M98, M101, M102, and M103 buses.

Last Wednesday morning a 22-year-old Seth Kahn was struck and killed by a bus while crossing the street at West 53rd Street and 9th Avenue. Area residents noted that the intersection was dangerous, one being hit there just two months ago. Now the Daily News reports on the bus driver's history.

This morning the NYC Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives held their big awards show for the worst exemplars of poor bus service. The "top" prize is called the Pokey award; it's a golden snail on a pedestal, and it went to the poor sad crosstown M42, which had the slowest bus speed at 3.7 miles per hour, as clocked at 12 noon on a weekday. According to the award presenters, the M42 would lose a race with a five-year-old riding a motorized tricycle with a speed of 5 mph (as advertised by X-Treme Scooters). But the M42 wasn't the only bus to crawl away with a prize!

It's like white noise at this point — the NY Post's headline reads: "Expect subway service disaster this weekend." Shocking, shocking news. The good news, however, is that the Transit Riders Council, an MTA watchdog group, is finishing up their underground study (results of which will be available in early 2010). For weeks they've "monitored trouble spots and found stations without adequate signs as well as seriously delayed trains."

Yesterday morning a 22-year-old man was killed when an MTA bus struck him at the corner of West 53rd Street and 9th Avenue. He was rushed to Roosevelt hospital but was pronounced dead by 9:11 a.m.

Howard Roberts Jr., president of NYC Transit for the past 2 1/2 years, resigned today, leading many to suspect more resignations will come, as new MTA head Jay Walder wants to leave his own stamp on the agency.

Yesterday a 50-cent surcharge was tacked on to taxi fares as part of the state's MTA bailout, starting a cab ride with a $3 base fee... and no one is happy about it.

Having to cram into a crowded subway car has been one thing these past few weekends as the MTA got to work on station and track renovations decreasing service on 18 of its 20 subway lines. But this weekend should be interesting, what with Halloween and the NYC Marathon in the mix.

New MTA Chairman Jay Walder was given a true New York welcome at his first transit authority board meeting today, when he and fellow board members were referred to as "a bunch of doody-heads" by a frustrated union leader.

Better sit down for this shocking bit from the MTA complaint file: the B61 is too slow. Sure, it's not a new grievance, but one rider wrote us detailing just how painful her commute is. She says: "For the second time in a week, I have waited upwards of a half hour for the arrival of the 61. When it came, after 9 a.m. (I got to the stop at 8:30), I asked the driver why he was late and his reply was: 'I don't know.'"

Subway managers on the No. 4 line have enlisted college interns to pose as subway riders and grade token booth clerks on their courtesy levels. It's unclear why the study, which was called "Operation Courtesy," was restricted to the 4 line, but NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton says, "It's like a mystery shopper program," in which storeowners' send fake shoppers to review staff. It's also unclear why the MTA needs to conduct an undercover sting to verify that workers can be gruff. But to be fair, we've found many of booth clerks to be exceptionally pleasant, considering they spend their days underground in a tiny box.