Daily News cheerleading congestion pricing

From the Daily News:

Far from curing the congestion crisis on our roads, COVID made matters worse, prompting lots of commuters to get off the commuter rails, subways and buses and into their cars.

The way to solve this problem is also the way to generate $1 billion in new, sustainable, annual funding for public transit that is the region’s lifeblood: charge vehicles when they travel into Manhattan’s central business district.

Okay let's break this down for the News since they don't seem to understand what went on here. More vehicles are congesting Manhattan roads because:

1) Cuomo led us to believe that the NYC subways and buses were COVID superspreaders.
2) The subways are full of maniacs that came from prisons where doors were flung open due to COVID. Hell, even on the street you aren't safe.
3) People were told to isolate and are getting more deliveries at home.
4) The City decided that road space should be geared toward bikes and not trucks so that transplants don't have to ride the subway.

What we have here is the government mindfucking the public so they can turn around and walletfuck them when the public reacts as expected. And the media is cheering them on from the sidelines.

All congestion pricing will do is make the goods the average joe (DN readers) buys more expensive. Instead, institute a Transit Tax on new skyscrapers which lead to more congestion. Problem solved.

Train delays are the longest and happen most frequently on transit lines starting at Eastern And Southern Queens Stations

 Queens Eagle

 If you’ve commuted to or from Queens by subway this year, odds are your train has been delayed, a new report from data-scraping tool ReadyPipe shows. Using data from the MTA’s own website, the web-scraping platform determined that the A, F, N, E trains are among the city’s top-10 most-delayed subway lines.

“A negative surprise was the fact that every morning there are at least five routes that had a delay at some point,” Chad Horner, a data analyst with ReadyPipe, told the Eagle. “The MTA can’t make it through that time without a bunch of things going wrong.”

 

The A train, which takes straphangers from the Rockaways, Howard Beach and Ozone Park into Brooklyn and Manhattan, was delayed more than 11 percent of the time throughout the entire month of January. During the weekday rush hour (between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m), nearly one in every five A trains experienced delays.

The F train, which serves Queens from Jamaica-179 Street to 21 Street-Queensbridge, was delayed more than 10 percent of the time in January. The N and the E trains were delayed over 6.5 percent of the time and three of every 10 trains experienced planned work.

In fact, there wasn't a single weekday morning in January that didn't see at least one delay during the morning rush, according to Horner’s findings — the fewest number of lines delayed in a single morning was five. 

On the bright side, at least we are not getting poisoned during our daily commutes. Yet.

Transportation between Brooklyn and Queens is pretty bad

From CityLab:

One might think that getting from Brooklyn to Queens—or vice versa—would be easy.

For one, they’re physically connected to each other; they share the same landmass—the start of Long Island, but not technically Long Island. Secondly, they’re New York’s two biggest population centers. And finally, of the five boroughs, they’re both major drivers of population and job growth in the city right now.

But unless you own a car—which most New Yorkers do not—it’s strangely hard to get from one borough to the other. By subway, residents must seek out train lines at the ends of each borough, before backtracking. Bus routes are notoriously circuitous and slow. Both systems are a result of the spoke-hub model, designed at a time when Queens was comparatively pastoral and Brooklynites largely headed into Manhattan for work. So much so that even in 2018, it’s a common refrain in New York City mass transit that if you’re going between the two boroughs, you’re either going through Manhattan, or not going at all.

That’s what made The Great Cross-Borough Mobility Mode Challenge (that was my name for it, at least) on this steamy Tuesday morning during rush hour a bit more interesting.

Just after 8:30 a.m, seven participants simultaneously left a starting point in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and hopped onto their assigned means of transportation: subway, bus, Citi Bike, Uber, UberPool, taxi, or electric moped. Their goal? Pass this goofy made-up finish line—which had a sign, green tape, and all—outside of the Court Square Diner in Long Island City, Queens, where myself and a handful of other transit-beat reporters were waiting beneath the shadows of rapidly rising condos and subway tracks.

The race was put on by Revel, a shared electric moped company that recently premiered in north Brooklyn. The point of the stunt, beyond snagging some media attention, was to highlight the fact that traveling during rush hour between Brooklyn and Queens sucks. And it only stands to get worse once the L train goes offline for 15 months in April of 2019, dispersing hundreds of thousands of riders onto overburdened stations and roads. The big question: Which of these shared-mobility services, old and new, performs best under pressure?

And they wonder why we own cars here...

Why the MTA is so bad

From the NY Times:

...the problems plaguing the subway did not suddenly sweep over the city like a tornado or a flood. They were years in the making, and they might have been avoided if decision makers had put the interests of train riders and daily operations ahead of flashy projects and financial gimmicks.

An examination by The New York Times reveals in stark terms how the needs of the aging, overburdened system have grown while city and state politicians have consistently steered money away from addressing them.

Century-old tunnels and track routes are crumbling, but The Times found that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget for subway maintenance has barely changed, when adjusted for inflation, from what it was 25 years ago.

Signal problems and car equipment failures occur twice as frequently as a decade ago, but hundreds of mechanic positions have been cut because there is not enough money to pay them — even though the average total compensation for subway managers has grown to nearly $300,000 a year.

Daily ridership has nearly doubled in the past two decades to 5.7 million, but New York is the only major city in the world with fewer miles of track than it had during World War II. Efforts to add new lines have been hampered by generous agreements with labor unions and private contractors that have inflated construction costs to five times the international average.

New York’s subway now has the worst on-time performance of any major rapid transit system in the world, according to data collected from the 20 biggest. Just 65 percent of weekday trains reach their destinations on time, the lowest rate since the transit crisis of the 1970s, when graffiti-covered cars regularly broke down.

Only one post today, please take the time to read the entire article. It breaks down the issue perfectly.

We spend a lot of time waiting for the subway

From Curbed:

The city’s Independent Budget Office has published yet another study that details how commuters are affected by the ailing subway system. Earlier this month, the IBO revealed that subway delays are costing New Yorkers roughly $864,000 a day in lost work time. If that wasn’t depressing enough, the IBO’s latest study illustrates just how many hours passengers are spending waiting on subway platforms.

The average number of passenger hours lost to delays systemwide during the weekday morning rush has increased by 45 percent from 2012 through May 2017, from just over 24,000 hours to nearly 35,000 hours, says the report. Per the New York Post, this breaks down to 1.1 years worth of wait time each morning.

The MTA cost is way too high!

From AM-NY:

Extraordinarily high construction costs are keeping the MTA from meeting the demands of a growing city, elected officials who rallied for spending reforms charged on Monday.

The politicians from the city and the state — all Democrats — called on the MTA to create an independent commission of experts to study why the agency’s capital projects cost nearly three or four times that of projects in similar cities like London, Paris or Los Angeles.

The focus on costs comes in the wake of rising subway delays, as well as high-profile service failures that continue to plague morning commutes. On Monday morning, signal problems at midtown stations caused delays and service changes on eight lines, leading to the suspension of B and M trains.

“The MTA has the highest construction costs compared to any other city on the planet. The MTA regularly spends three to six to ten times more money for a capital project compared to anywhere else,” said Manhattan City Council member Helen Rosenthal. “New York City cannot afford to keep spending more and getting less as service delays and disruptions have been growing from bad to worse.”

Comptroller notices that 7 train runs poorly

From Jackson Heights Post:

The 7 train is one of four trains deemed the “worst offenders” for subway delays, with delays on this line costing the city between $13.7 million and $29 million annually, according to a recent report from the NYC Comptroller.

The Oct. 1 report breaks down subway lines based on weekday ridership, train schedules, and wait assessments, coming up with a cost analysis based on “best-case”, “mid-range”, and “worst-case” delay scenarios.

The annual economic cost of the 7 train in terms of “best-case” major delays is $13,685,550, based on the more than 117,000 weekday 7 line riders. “Mid-range” major delays on this line result in an annual cost of $18,793,342. The “worst-case” delays on the 7 line cost the city’s economy $29,009,935.

A more fiscally prudent transportation plan

From Crains:

Rather than spend several hundred million dollars to build a light-rail system which could take a decade or more, why not ask the LIRR to resume service on this corridor? It could run a two-car scoot service reconnecting Long Island City, Glendale and Middle Village with other communities including Richmond Hill and other intermediate stops to Jamaica. The LIRR could use existing equipment, which would afford far earlier implementation of service than light rail. This would provide connections east bound to the J/Z and E subway lines, Kennedy Airport via AirTrain and the LIRR's Jamaica Station. Queens residents traveling to jobs and colleges in Nassau and Suffolk counties would have access to all LIRR branches except the Port Washington line. Ditto for those traveling to the Barclay Center and downtown Brooklyn via the LIRR Atlantic Avenue branch. There would also be connections westbound at either the Hunters Point or Long Island City LIRR stations to the 7 subway line.

DeBlasio has tax-the-rich scheme to fix subways

From the NY Times:

Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to push for a tax on wealthy New Yorkers to pay for improvements needed to address the crisis engulfing New York City’s subway, city officials said on Sunday.

The proposal is the latest move in the battle between Mr. de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over who bears responsibility for repairing the deteriorating transit system. The plan would also pay for half-price MetroCards for low-income riders — part of a national movement that has gained momentum in New York.

Mr. de Blasio will announce a so-called millionaires tax on Monday for wealthy New York City residents to pay for subway and bus upgrades and for reduced fares for more riders, an idea that has been successful in Seattle.

His funding push comes as the subway faces a multitude of problems, and leaders at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway, have called on Mr. de Blasio to provide more money for the system.

DeBlasio doesn't want to see the homeless

From the NY Post:

Mayor de Blasio ventured into the city’s decrepit subway system on Sunday — but didn’t have to face the foul-smelling and often crazy vagrants that ordinary New Yorkers are forced to contend with every day.

That’s because police were ordered to roust all the homeless people from two stations ahead of the mayor’s four-stop press event as he rode from his Park Slope gym to his new re-election headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

The rank and file had until 11 a.m. to prepare the Fourth Avenue/Ninth Street and Jay Street/MetroTech F train stations for the mayor’s brief, underground publicity stunt, sources said.

One source characterized the directive — contained in an email from the NYPD’s Transit Bureau — as instructing cops to “make sure nobody’s hanging out” so that the stations “looked nice.”

Another source said the mayor’s office notified police brass of his schedule ahead of time “with the expectation that the subway stations would be free and clear of homeless people.”

“It’s too bad he’s only interested when he’s going to get on the subway,” the source said.

“I wish he had the same attention to detail when he wasn’t on the subway. Too bad he doesn’t care about quality of life for all passengers and not just himself.”

A newsstand manager inside the Jay Street/MetroTech station was shocked by the noticeable absence of derelicts on the uptown A, C and F platform surrounding his kiosk.

“I see a lot of homeless people in a week — up to 25. On average five a day. Today, I have seen only one,” Ali Imtiaz said.

MTA seriously needs to upgrade signals

From the Daily News:

The MTA has got a problem with delays when it comes to repairing critical signal equipment, according to an analysis the city’s Independent Budget Office released Tuesday.

Projects that keep signals in good working order can be months, even years, behind schedule, according to the budget office’s analysis of three Metropolitan Transportation Authority capital plans, from 2004 to 2019.

From 2005 to 2014, 19 out of 33 signal projects were completed late or will wrap up behind schedule. Meanwhile, nearly a third of projects begun over that time are still underway.

Signal malfunctions can be devastating, creating a ripple effect from line to line that can last for hours. The problems the malfunctions cause are complicated by the age of the equipment. Much of the signal work involves painstakingly repairing ancient parts that can date to the 1930s. An upgrade to a signal and track system on the Queens Blvd. lines at 71st. Ave. and Union Turnpike that should have been done in April was pushed back a whopping 14 months.

And this is the problem with our electeds. They like making headlines with splashy proposals for new transit systems, like BQX and light rail while the current system is allowed to go to pot.

Mass transit options are icy

From CBS 2:

Countless commuters were seen hopping and leaping over snow mounds that were piled high at bus stops, while others reached out for a helpful hand.

It was not just bus stops. On social media, people posted pictures of snow and icy subway stops. The steps to the D Train at 179th Street in the Bronx were virtually covered in snow, and the Forest Avenue M Train platform in Ridgewood, Queens was covered in ice.

A commuter tweeted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, “How is this acceptable?” CBS2 wondered the same thing.

The MTA is responsible for subway platforms and stairs. A an agency representative said: “Our snow fighting crews have been working non-stop since the onset of the storm to clear snow and ice.”

L train to pick up M train's slack

From Curbed:

They say when one door closes, another one opens—and in this case, those doors are on the L train. As the MTA prepares to replace damaged viaducts along the M line at the Myrtle Avenue stop in Bushwick, the agency will increase service along the L to offset the effects of construction. According to the MTA, the service change will cost about $1.7 million.

In a letter to New York State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (whose district includes neighborhoods that would be affected by these changes, including Williamsburg), the MTA outlined three key changes to the L schedule, due to begin next spring:

There will be an additional 11 weekday round trips on the L line between 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday service will add an additional 12 L line round trips between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Sundays will gain an additional 27 round trips on the L line between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Queensboro Plaza subway from 1940 to 1960

Jamaica transportation hub getting an upgrade

From the Daily News:

A major transit hub in Jamaica, Queens, is getting nearly $8 million in state money for upgrades that’ll make it easier to catch a ride, State Sen. James Sanders will announce Tuesday.

The money for the Jamaica Transportation Center Station Plaza — one of the city’s busiest transit stations where commuters can catch a Long Island Rail Road, the E, J and Z trains and a host of bus routes — is intended to give more space to pedestrians at the bustling transit and retail center, said Sanders, who got money for the station improvements as part of a transportation funding plan hashed out with his fellow state lawmakers.

Most of Queens has been screwed by the MTA

From the NY Times:

In New York City, about three-quarters of residential units are within a half mile of a subway station, according to a 2015 report by New York University’s Furman Center. The statistics vary widely by borough: In Manhattan, about 94 percent of units are near the subway, compared with about 54 percent of units in Queens.

But we in Queens should not have cars because "you can get everywhere by subway in NYC" (meaning Manhattan).

And let's build a streetcar to connect neighborhoods with subway stops instead of improving bus service.

Overcrowded subways causing delays

From NY1:

If you thought that maybe this year, MTA trains were letting you down more than usual, well, you're not alone — even the MTA agrees that delays increased this year.

In April 2015, there were nearly 49,000 delays. In April of this year, they had slightly more than 50,000 delays.

The transit agency says overcrowding has gotten worse, accounting for 38% of delays in April.

People took nearly 1.8 billion rides on subways last year, setting a new record.

Wow, I wonder what's causing the overcrowding??

Subway service sucks even more than before

From NY1:

Grab a seat, check your phone, get comfortable - the wait for a train could be long.

"They've been having a lot of track, signal problems and stuff like that. So I find that the timing is off," said one subway rider.

So does a new audit from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. It says riders are enduring longer waits for trains on three quarters of the MTA's 21 major lines.

"Service has deteriorated. I don't think it's any big surprise to most of the riders waiting on the platform for a train that hasn't arrived yet," said Matt Sweeney, a spokesperson for the state comptroller's office.

The audit examined wait times, the MTA's targets for the number of minutes between trains.

The comptroller says in the first half of 2015, the MTA met those targets systemwide 78.4 percent of the time, a falloff from the previous year.

But DiNapoli says the MTA's measurement may make subway performance appear better than it is because the agency tallies each line’s average performance, treating puny shuttle service the same as longer lines like the A train.

"When they average in shuttles with something as major as the Lexington Avenue line, it raises the performance of the Lexington Avenue line," Sweeney said.

In all, 16 major lines saw an increase in wait times last year. Just five lines saw an improvement.

Queens subways will be getting shown some love

From the Queens Chronicle:

Subway riders in Western Queens would be among the biggest beneficiaries under a new capital improvement plan being put forth by Gov. Cuomo and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

They are asking that seven stations in Queens be completely renovated and modernized by the end of 2020, including four on the N-Q line in Astoria and Long Island City, as well as the M-R station at Northern Boulevard in Woodside.

The targeted N-Q stations are at 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th and 39th avenues.

The plan also calls for refurbishments at F line station at Parsons Boulevard in Jamaica.

Yet the L line is likely to be closed down for years...

Homeless to be booted from subway

From CBS:

New York City’s top cop has a tough strategy for dealing with the homeless who try to catch some shut-eye on trains, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported.

“Subways are not for sleeping, and I wish we could have people understand that,” Bratton said.

As the mercury plummets and the homeless find it might be just a tad too cold to bathe in the fountains in Columbus Circle — as was seen in photos that surfaced in July — or sleep on the streets, the police commissioner wants the homeless to know they should go to city shelters, not the subway.

“Subways are not homeless shelters, and the homeless will not be allowed to congregate in them,” Bratton said. “The city has more than adequate shelters in other facilities.”

As the NYPD begins training thousands of cops to deal with the homeless, Bratton made it clear he doesn’t even want the homeless on station platforms.

“The homeless will not be allowed to take up residence on the platforms or on the subway cars,” he said.

The city said it’s doing all it can to find places for the homeless who want to take up residence on the city’s mass transit system.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said that since July 2014, the city has “moved 773 chronically homeless individuals from the subway into transitional and permanent housing as well as to shelter and other programs. We continue to add case managers and clinicians to assist those on our streets.”