MTA coming up short on funding the subway from low ridership, but will devote 10 years to make cellphone service accessible in the tunnels.

 

 NY Daily News

 The MTA needs billions in new funding by 2025 to avoid dire cuts to mass transit service in and around New York City, agency officials said Monday.

Before the pandemic, rider fares and driver tolls covered about 40% of the agency’s roughly $18 billion in annual operating expenses. But new ridership projections show that model is no longer sustainable.

New projections now show that the MTA faces a $2.5 billion funding shortfall come 2025, giving lawmakers precious little time to find new funding sources to prevent service cuts and layoffs that would hamper New Yorkers’ ability to move in and around the city.

“The new dedicated funding is necessary to avoid what we’re all trying to avoid,” said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief Financial Officer Kevin Willens. “Large fare increases, service cuts and layoffs.”

The MTA previously estimated ridership on the the agency’s subways, buses and railroads would reach 77% of prepandemic levels in 2022, bumping up to 86% in 2023. But the spread of the omicron variant over the winter halted many companies’ plans to return to in-person work, tanking those estimates.

The MTA now projects just 61% of those riders will be back on trains and buses this year — with just 69% of them returning in 2023.

 Transit officials on Monday did not lay out what new funding sources they seek, but said planned fare hikes for 2023 and 2025 wouldn’t be enough to cover the shortfall.

CBS New York 

Cell service is coming to New York City's subway tunnels. 

On Monday, MTA CEO Janno Lieber told CBS2 the agency is rolling out a 10-year plan to install equipment that will let riders use cellphones in all underground tunnels. 

Lieber said the $1 billion investment also includes installing Wi-Fi service at all above-ground stations. 

Transit Wireless CEO Melinda White said in a statement, "Expansion of the riders' connectivity through the tunnels and across the above ground stations shows the MTA's ongoing commitment to the rider experience."

The upgrade comes as the MTA is strapped for cash. The agency is moving what it calls its "fiscal cliff" up one year sooner, since outside projections of ridership returns fell short. 

The MTA is turning to the federal government for more money, saying the pandemic relief funding will now run out in 2024. 

The agency says a full return to ridership may not come until 2035 or later. No doubt, officials hope advancements, like adding Wi-Fi, get more people underground sooner.

On the first day of Christmas, de Blasio gave to NYC, a 30 foot tall LinkNYC

The Blaz found some new boondoggle to induce on the city during his last days while he's busy slaughtering trees and destroying a park for his donor overlords.

 

Maya Wiley left lower income neighborhoods hanging without free internet

Getting free wifi 2 all is best boss @BilldeBlasio & best partners @colin_odonnell @ScottGoldsmith3 #LinkNYC pic.twitter.com/Xmr5BEahJD

— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) February 18, 2016

 

 

 THE CITY

When Maya Wiley went to work as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s legal counsel shortly after he took office in 2014, he asked her to figure out how to bridge the digital divide by bringing broadband to low-income neighborhoods.

“I thought, ‘Oh, s—t!’ I said we needed it. I didn’t know how to get it,” Wiley recalled on the Technopolis podcast posted in June 2019.

The civil rights attorney had captured de Blasio’s attention after she wrote a piece in The Nation urging him to “build more community broadband” in an effort to forge “stronger, fairer and more resilient communities.”

But nearly eight years later, during a pandemic that has moved much of work and school online, the de Blasio administration is still struggling to make that a reality. City officials say they are now “actively reviewing proposals” from firms that responded to a highly anticipated request for proposals the mayor’s office issued in March. The city has set aside $157 million for the first portion of its ballyhooed Internet Master Plan.

Meanwhile, some 1.5 million New Yorkers, including many living in public housing, lack broadband access or mobile internet connection, according to city estimates.

“We’ve been let down too long,” said Danny Barber, chairperson of Citywide Council of Presidents, NYCHA’s tenant leadership panel.

“There are thousands of homes where kids are failing or have failed thus far with schooling due to lack of accessibility,” added Barber, who has endorsed Ray McGuire

 Now Wiley is running for her old boss’ job, looking to both distance herself from him and tout herself as the candidate primed to deliver on the progressive promises of a mayor who critics say failed on his pledge to rewrite “a tale of two cities.”

Her record as de Blasio’s counsel during his ethics flaps and as his appointee to head the Civilian Complaint Review Board have drawn far more attention than her role as the would-be bridger of the digital divide.

Wiley has long blamed de Blasio and her multiple predecessors for failing to deliver WiFi for the masses. “It’s continuously been delayed due to a lack of urgency, vision and attention,” she told THE CITY in a statement in January.

Julia Savel, a spokesperson for Wiley’s campaign, declined multiple opportunities to offer additional comment.

An examination of Wiley’s role in the LinkNYC kiosk deal that aimed to connect many New Yorkers reveals a more complex accounting of why legions have been left in the digital dust.

The lack of broadband connectivity was highlighted by the pandemic when low-income New Yorkers struggled to get online to do everything from attend school classes to schedule telehealth medical appointments to work remotely.

Some were even seen sitting outside the 207 closed libraries that continued to boost free Wi-Fi outside.

“The political capital behind the idea that we needed to get broadband networks everywhere, and get everyone on them, increased dramatically in March of 2020,” said Blair Levin, who handled broadband expansion at the Federal Communications Commission during the Obama administration.

“COVID demonstrated painfully to people like me how important it was to make sure that there were networks everywhere and everyone was on them,” he added.

Wiley prides herself for launching free internet access to residents at the NYCHA Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing complex in the nation with more than 6,000 people, many of whom are Black and Hispanic.

In her digital role for the de Blasio administration, she also “helped negotiate and supported the launch of the LinkNYC franchise,” according to the bio at The New School, where she teaches.

The plan was to convert landline pay phone locations into sleek kiosks with Wi-Fi hotspots, phone capabilities and a tablet touchscreen that could connect users to city services, such as the information and complaint hotline 311. The kiosks would be paid for by revenue from advertisements while bringing in $500 million for the city over the span of the agreement, which was initially 12 years.

In 2014, a consortium of private companies called CityBridge signed a franchise agreement under which it promised to install 7,500 operational kiosks within a decade. Two years later, Wiley celebrated the arrival of the first kiosks with a tweet declaring de Blasio the “best boss.”

The original deal included an initial 500 kiosks that wouldn’t have offered advertising, but would have provided some internet service for digital deserts. The number of those kiosks would have eventually expanded to 1,500.

“A targeted phase-in schedule provides for an equitable distribution of the new structures across the five boroughs within four years,” de Blasio’s office trumpeted at the time.

But that part of the deal was pulled because, City Hall later said, those kiosks were incompatible with the LinkNYC system.

 

Link NYC kiosks causing problems

From CBS 2:

More than 1,700 kiosks across the city offer free Wi-Fi calls and USB ports to charge devices.

But it turns out those ports are causing concern for some New Yorkers, who say the kiosks have become hangouts for the homeless, CBS2’s Reena Roy reported Wednesday.

Flushing & Jamaica Stations to undergo renovations

From NY1:

As renovations continue at Penn Station, the state announced Wednesday an improvement plan for dozens of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) stations, including two in Queens.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state is investing $5.6 billion to transform 39 LIRR stations.

He said the much-needed improvements will strengthen transportation infrastructure and increase rider capacity by 80 percent.

The Jamaica Station will undergo a major face lift, as it will be upgraded with higher speed switches and new signals.

Aging platforms are expected to be replaced, and some will be expanded to accommodate full-length, 12-car trains.

The station is also projected to be equipped with heated waiting areas and Wi-Fi.

Meantime, Flushing Station is expected to undergo general improvements.

We just can't have nice things

From the Daily News:

The city announced Wednesday it’s pulling the plug on the kiosk’s web browsing capabilities after a slew of complaints about people using them to check out smut sites.

The kiosks, which replaced outdated pay phones, will continue to grant users free phone calls, and access to maps and 311 services. And people can still use the hundreds of kiosks — sprinkled throughout Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens — as a hot spot for Wi-Fi for their own devices.

“There were concerns about loitering and extended use of LinkNYC kiosks, so the mayor is addressing these quality-of-life complaints head on,” said Natalie Grybauskas, a spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio.

Some predicted that they would be a problem even before the first kiosk went up earlier this year.

Raymond Sanchez, the general counsel for Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. who was involved in the franchise deal, said worries about “misconduct” were brought up in the contract talks.

At the time, he said City Bridge, the private company that partnered with the city to turn old pay phones into high-tech kiosks, said they could add firewalls to block inappropriate sites, and would have timers so people couldn’t sit all day and watch videos.

The company did install safeguards to try to block porn, but it appeared that many users found ways to get around them.

You can get a different kind of charge at Wifi kiosks

From DNA Info:

The city installed at least 40 new Link NYC kiosks on the Upper East Side beginning in March, and residents say they've created a nuisance in the neighborhood due to the size and density of the machines.

While the kiosks, which stand 9-feet 6-inches tall, have so far only been installed in spots where public pay phones used to be, more are coming, with the city's goal to bring 4,550 of the machines to the city by July 2019, according to CityBridge, which operates LinkNYC.

The kiosks — which offer free access to Wi-Fi, phones, phone chargers and internet browsers — have also become spots for drug deals, according to some residents.

The NYPD did not respond to requests for more information.

Wifi kiosks attract homeless

From CBS 2:

Superfast, free wi-fi is rolling out across New York City.

Payphones are being replaced with high-tech kiosks that offer internet access and smartphone charging, but some fear they’re becoming hotspots for the homeless.

It’s part of an effort to help the one in four New Yorkers who don’t have high-speed internet access at home.

But people making themselves comfortable at the kiosks – many of them homeless – is already an issue for some New Yorkers who have taken to documenting the problem on social media.

An idea whose time has come?

From Crains:

Virtually every New Yorker over the age of 12 has a cellphone, and the call boxes are no longer a part of the public consciousness. It would not even occur to most people to seek one out in case of an emergency. The 15,000 boxes cost taxpayers more than $6 million a year, and 85% of calls from them are false alarms.

But we cannot rely on common sense to prevail. Ripping out the call boxes and leaving nothing in their place would risk the same hysterical reaction that defeated the plan in 1996 and again in 2011, when a deaf-rights group stopped the Bloomberg administration's attempt. The city would have to offer New Yorkers something better in their place.

Fortunately, it can. The de Blasio administration is in the process of replacing its virtually obsolete pay phones with 7,500 free Wi-Fi hot spots. Anyone will be able to use the new kiosks, called Links, to surf the Web on a provided tablet or their own smartphones, make free domestic phone calls, charge their devices and—yes—call 911. Not only will the project cost taxpayers nothing, but thanks to the advertising space that the city's private partner will sell, the city will reap more than $500 million over 12 years.

Forest Hills subway station to be shut down for 2 months

From the Queens Tribune:

The MTA says that the 67th Avenue station on the Rego Park/Forest Hills border will be shut down completely for as much as two months while it is revamped and brought into the 21st century.

Kevin Ortiz, an MTA Spokesperson, said it is one of the stations that will be renovated as part of the Governor’s Station Enhancement Initiative. He noted that right now, “It is too early to get into the scope and schedule of the project.”

He said that they couldn’t tell when the work will be done, but it will take between 6-12 months to complete and there is a possibility that there will be a full station closure of approximately six to eight weeks.

Some of the updates seen in this initiative will be the installation of Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile payments and ticketing to replace the MetroCard. The new station will also provide USB ports on subway trains, buses and in stations to allow customers to charge their mobile devices.

$10M to bring broadband service to projects

From CBS:

Free broadband Internet service is coming to public housing in New York City.

The city will invest $10 million at five New York City Housing Authority developments in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx to provide high-speed broadband service.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials announced the initiative Thursday at the Mott Haven Houses in the Bronx, 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera reported.

U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro said the federal government will help the city with the initiative. Also, private companies are donating technology, including Sprint, which will make mobile Wi-Fi devices available to NYCHA households in the Bronx with school-aged children.

So the projects are literally falling apart, but at least the residents can sign into Facebook. Great priorities here.

All Queens subway stations to get wifi this year

From DNA Info:

Straphangers in Queens soon won't have to hang up when they go underground.

Wireless cellphone service and Wi-Fi are being installed at all of the borough's 29 underground subway stations in the coming months, officials announced Wednesday, part of the second phase of the MTA's plan to connect the city's transit system.

Transit Wireless, the company handling the project, said it will also bring service to 11 more stations in Midtown Manhattan, including Grand Central Terminal, 34th St. Herald Square and Bryant Park.

Those stations and the Queens stations should all be equipped by June, the company said. They'll join the 36 Manhattan stations that have already gone wireless.

Watch yourself on WiFi

From NBC:

Subway stations used to be a communications black hole, but that's changing quickly and while staying connected is a boon for many, it also brings new security concerns. Andrew Siff reports.

Wi-Fi to be installed in Queens subway stations

From the NY Post:

The next stop for underground subway cellphone and Wi-Fi service will be Queens.

The MTA announced yesterday it will add the perk in 40 stations in Queens sometime in 2013, part of a seven-year plan to outfit the entire system.

The only stops currently wired for cellphone and computer access are in Manhattan at stations along 14th Street and the C/E station at 23rd Street on Eighth Avenue.

Only T-Mobile and AT&T users will have cellphone service, but the wireless service is free.

Transit Wireless also plans to add service to 30 more stations in Manhattan in 2013, including Times Square, Rockefeller Center and 59th Street-Columbus Circle.

Officials did not reveal where in Queens would be next to get service.

Rufus King Park gets wi-fi

Rufus King Park was dangerous when there was an open hospital across the street. Now that it's shuttered, I'm sure it hasn't improved any.

Tote your laptop at your own risk...

Wifi comes to 2 Queens parks

From NY1:

As of Friday (March 26), Time Warner Cable Road Runner high speed online customers can get unlimited free Internet access in Queens, Manhattan and parts of Long Island. The Queens spots include Kissena Park and Baisley Park.

WiFi may come back to the parks

From the NY Post:

...[Wednesday] the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications asked companies for ideas about providing free WiFi service at 40 hot spots in 32 parks and public spaces in all five boroughs.

The city wants companies to suggest ways they could turn a profit while still offering the service free to users.