Overhaul of dollar van industry proposed

WNYC

From AM-NY:

The City Council is considering three bills that would remake the commuter van industry, officials said during a hearing on Thursday.

The vans often work in transit-starved areas in Brooklyn and Queens. Some work legally, others illegally. Many connect immigrant communities via routes that are quicker and cheaper than taking the subway.

"Commuter vans provide true affordable transportation to New Yorkers, mostly in the outer boroughs, but also in Manhattan," said Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi during the hearing.

"This is especially true in neighborhoods that have less access to public transit, where commuter vans allow passengers to share rides at minimal costs -- as little as two dollars."

For instance, vans connect riders between Manhattan's Chinatown and Flushing in 35 minutes, when it would be a 70-minute subway ride, she said.

Almost 600 vans are working legally in the city.

The proposed City Council legislation includes a study of safety issues in the industry that would suspend new licenses until the analysis was complete -- such as data on safety violations and illegal vans.

Other bills would let vans operate on routes rather than just do prearranged trips, and raise the civil penalties on vans not licensed by the city.

Crackdown on illegal Main Street buses

From the NY Times:

More than two weeks after large buses started competing with vans for passengers traveling between Chinatown and Flushing, Queens, city enforcement officials began a crackdown this week that resulted in the towing of several buses and the levying of fines.

The departure of the big buses was as abrupt and dramatic as their arrival, 18 days ago, which touched off tensions along the commuter van route, including a price war, screaming matches and a smattering of violence.

City officials and the police arrived Thursday at the two main stops – 41st Avenue in Flushing and Division Street in downtown Manhattan – and shut down the operations of the large buses, which were charging $1 for a one-way ride between the Chinatowns in Queens and Manhattan, compared with $2.75 that the smaller vehicles had been charging.

Faced with losing riders, many vans, which typically have less than half of the 57-passenger capacity of the buses, dropped their prices to $1 as well. Other drivers simply stopped operating.

Dollar vans not policed enough

If at first you don't succeed...

From the Daily News:

For the pilot program that replaced axed MTA buses with commuter vans the logic is: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission's deadline is today for applications to place a new operator on the former Q79 bus line.

The notice, posted on the TLC website, is a second attempt at the Group Ride Vehicle Program that puts commuter vans on defunct bus line routes in Queens.

A new van company was needed along the Q79 after the van owner, Vivian Barnes of Alpha Van Lines, terminated service nine months early.

Barnes made the final trip from the Little Neck LIRR station on Dec. 17, citing dismal ridership and daily revenue loses.

The other pilot route, the Q74, was not tapped for a second try.

"We leave it up to the marketplace to see what works and what doesn't," said TLC Commissioner David Yassky.

Yassky said that he heard from "community folks" in the Q79 service area, giving hope that a second attempt might yield different results.

"We had some reason to think there might be interest," he said.

Civic group officials in the area said despite its shortcomings, the pilot program is vital due to limited public transportation options.

Van service not working out as planned

From the Daily News:

FRUSTRATED riders and hamstrung van owners say the pilot program that replaced axed Queens bus lines with private commuter vans is spinning its wheels.

The Group Ride Vehicle Program was introduced last month by the city Taxi and Limousine Commission, allowing Community Transportation Systems Inc. and Alpha Van Lines to take over the discontinued Q74 and Q79 routes, respectively.

Both companies have reported losing money each day due to extremely low ridership - sometimes only 20 passengers in a 12-hour span - forcing them to scale back the frequency of service.

Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky described the service as "spotty" thus far at a Community Board 6 meeting in Kew Gardens last week.

"The agreement with the operators obligates them to maintain a decent frequency of service. It's not clear that they're doing that," Yassky said.

The sporadic service in both areas has irritated many locals who were excited about what the van service could bring to the area.

Jim Trent, 64, a former city employee, was dismayed when he waited more than an hour to be picked up on a recent Sunday afternoon on the old Q79 route.

"I'm annoyed that we don't have the service we were promised. But I feel bad for the [van operators] - you can lose your shirt for this," Trent said.

MTA news roundup

From the Daily News:

Three months after imposing service cuts, the MTA moved closer to near-certain fare hikes on Monday night at the first of its two legally mandated public hearings.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder said he didn't see any way the January hikes to bus, subway and commuter fares would be averted.

Walder said there are no ongoing discussions between the MTA and Albany officials about increasing state subsidies for operations. Indeed, Gov. Paterson and the Legislature agreed to the January hikes to generate about $410 million - 7.5% of fare revenues - when enacting new transit-dedicated taxes last year.

It would be the third increase since 2008, an unprecedented one-two-three punch to riders. The Manhattan hearing drew a much smaller crowd than others in the past - about 150 people.

"People have gotten hip to the fact that these hearings are a sham," one woman shouted, calling for a straphanger revolution.

From the Daily News:

The MTA will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars training new bus drivers instead of bringing back some who were recently laid off, the Daily News has learned.

About 125 recruits are being hired from a list of job applicants, while some 185 drivers pink-slipped in June remain out of work, according to NYC Transit and union officials.

And one more from the Daily News:

AS PRIVATE van companies took over axed Queens bus lines starting this week, riders greeted the change with skepticism and some confusion.

The Q74 bus line that ran between Kew Gardens and the Queens College area was taken over by Commuter Transportation Systems on Monday.

On its inaugural day, only 20 people boarded the vans, said company owner Hector Ricketts.

The main problem is riders don't know the program exists, said David Yassky, head of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which launched the pilot program to fill the service gap created by Metropolitan Transit Authority budget cuts.

"The biggest hurdle will be customer awareness and getting potential passengers to know the service is available," Yassky said.

Reining in out-of-control illegal vans

From the Daily News:

Queens lawmakers are calling for a crackdown on illegal commuter vans, blasting them as dangers to public safety for riders and pedestrians.

The vans are especially popular in far-flung neighborhoods where subways don't reach and bus lines were recently reduced or eliminated.

"These are vehicles that haven't been inspected for safety and are operating without proper licenses," City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) said during a press conference in Maspeth yesterday. "It's a growing problem."

Crowley recently introduced a bill that would require the Taxi and Limousine Commission to train NYPD officers so they could more easily spot illegal commuter vans. The commission would also have to create a comprehensive book of operating guidelines for commuter vans.

The city has sanctioned the use of licensed commuter vans in some sections of Brooklyn and Queens as part of a pilot project, but that hasn't stopped other operators from swooping into neighborhoods and targeting bus stops.

"People need to know that when they get into these vans, they are safe," said Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone).

More from the NY Times.

Bloomberg announces commuter van program

From the NY Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced a yearlong pilot program Tuesday that will allow commuter vans to pick up passengers in parts of Brooklyn and Queens with limited access to public transportation or where bus service cuts will take effect next week.

To commuters, there are advantages and disadvantages. The vans will provide them with a means of reaching transportation hubs or other parts of the borough. But because the vans are privately operated, passengers who are connecting to a subway or bus will have to pay $2 to ride the vans as well as public transportation fare, which is $2.25 for a single trip.

“The issue here is not whether it’s more expensive or less expensive; it’s whether the service exists or not,” Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference near Queens College in Flushing, by a stop for the Q74 bus, one of the lines that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will eliminate on Sunday.

The pilot program will establish three to six new commuter van routes in Brooklyn and Queens. The routes will be determined in the coming weeks, said David Yassky, the city’s taxi and limousine commissioner. It is scheduled to last a year, but it could be expanded depending on the results, he said.

Mr. Yassky said that enforcement would be a key to the pilot program, as well as to all of the industry, which carries an estimated 15,000 passengers daily from outlying areas of Queens and Brooklyn to transportation hubs, the financial center of Manhattan, a mall in Nassau County and other locations.

Last week, during a few hours in central and southern Brooklyn, taxi inspectors and officers from four police precincts seized 35 illegal vans and issued 73 summonses to unregulated drivers. Similar operations are planned with more frequency than in the past, Mr. Yassky said.

If there's such a big problem already documented, is it wise to introduce this program before the problem is resolved?

Battle of the dollar vans

From the NY Times:

Commuter vans are a familiar sight in many city neighborhoods, linking parts of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx not served by subway lines to subway stations and also to the financial district in Manhattan and to a large mall in Nassau County. The routes, which are defined by the city’s Transportation Department, are meant to supplement the public transit system, not compete with it, though that is not always the case.

There are nearly 300 van drivers in New York who abide by the rules, paying thousands of dollars a year in licensing fees and insurance. They are outnumbered by hundreds of drivers who work the same routes, but have no permits and no insurance, and whose numbers have increased as the economy has soured.

Beyond a financial threat, their legal competitors say the unlicensed van drivers are a growing safety menace. “They’ll run red lights, they’ll drive against traffic, they’ll cut you off,” said Gregory McDonald, 43, who has been a licensed van driver in Queens for 12 years.

TLC Continues to Ignore Unauthorized Commuter Van Activity in Western Queens

From C.O.M.E.T.:

FOIL request uncovers shocking reality

C.O.M.E.T. President Roe Daraio and members of the group are livid over the inaction of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) to crack down on the unauthorized commuter van activity in Maspeth, South Elmhurst and Woodside. Daraio stated, “The lack of enforcement by TLC in our area is basically giving the green light to commuter van companies to operate outside of their authorized zones.”

Every day commuter vans prowl residential streets, pick up passengers along bus routes (currently prohibited under TLC regulations) and block intersections and residents’ driveways. According to Daraio, numerous requests to the agency to enforce their regulations have fallen upon deaf ears. She said the local precincts are sympathetic to the problem but are not trained to write many of the summonses necessary to curtail the activity. Since crime is up and the officers are needed for patrol, it is unlikely that they will be trained in the near future. What many folks find interesting is that the City has no problem summonsing a motorist who is parked at an expired parking meter, is double-parked or is dropping someone off at a bus stop, but does no enforcement of commuter van companies blatantly disobeying regulations. A crackdown would likely collect tens of thousands of dollars in revenue that the City could use during this budget crisis, not to mention improve the quality of life of the people living in neighborhoods plagued by illegally operating commuter vans.

In April 2009, C.O.M.E.T. met with TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus to discuss the lack of enforcement of commuter van regulations. Issues brought up included: companies discriminating as to whom is picked up, the lack of information about routes and destinations, why a particular route was approved or even phone numbers to contact companies to schedule rides. The meeting resulted in a few summonses being written but with no follow up. To obtain the route information, C.O.M.E.T. was told they needed to make a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request, and at the time of the meeting TLC claimed they didn’t even know where the authorized routes were in the area. Other complaints about the commuter vans - including reporting a licensed van that did not have any name or markings on it - went unaddressed and the activity continues today.

After FOILing the commuter van routes, C.O.M.E.T. made a startling discovery: only one commuter van company is authorized in the Community Board 4 area and that route does not encompass Elmhurst south of Queens Boulevard and does not extend into Woodside or Maspeth. That means every single commuter van operating in these areas is doing so illegally.

Daraio said, “Apparently rules were not made for everyone and the City is just allowing these companies to get away with their illegal practices with no enforcement. Instead of collecting revenue by summonsing rogue companies, it’s probably easier to just raise residents’ taxes.”