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SpawnOfVulcan Mar 10, 2016 3:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnyc (Post 7364418)
i checked out the oculusity last weekend
http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8j0b0oit.jpg

Stunning

mrnyc Mar 15, 2016 9:56 AM

via le post:


The Hudson Yards station is already a disgusting, moldy mess

By Matthew Allan, Reuven Fenton and Danielle Furfaro March 14, 2016 | 10:12pm

Mold (above photos) and leaks are causing major headaches at the just-opened Hudson Yards subway station.

The brand-new Hudson Yards subway station has turned into the city’s largest water park — with the $2.4 billion 7-train terminus plagued by mold, leaks, flooded bathrooms and water damage that has shut nearly half the escalators.

The Hell’s Kitchen terminus has been open for just seven months, but due to flaws in its design and construction, it already has as many problems as much older stops in the MTA’s decaying subway system.

“They f- -ked up,” declared Louie Berkey, a plumber from Staten Island who said he saw right away that the work on the station was shoddy. “They didn’t install the ceiling here right. It’s not waterproof.”

Riders at the station can look up and see brown mold and drops seeping out of the ceiling, including right over the escalators.

The bathrooms are closed until further notice, and two of the five escalators have been out of commission since last month. The working escalators are often covered with water and slippery.

“During rush hour, it’s too much with two of the escalators not working. It’s always dripping, too. They were covered in ice when it was snowing, and people were slipping,” said Mannie Rivera, of The Bronx. “I don’t know how they spent all that money with all these issues.”

A station agent said he had no idea when the bathrooms would be back in service.

“The problem is there’s water leaking from the street, and it’s flooding the bathrooms,” he said.

Yonkers Contracting Co., which performed the excavation and structural work on the station, now has to hire a specialty grouting subcontractor to fix it.

Yonkers Contracting will foot the bill, said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.

He said, though, that he did not know when the work would be completed. Yonkers Contracting did not return calls for comment.

For now, the station will continue to disgust riders.

“It’s an eyesore. It’s like you’re seeing something with a Band-Aid on it. If it’s brand new, why do you need a Band-Aid on it?” asked Carlos Pereira of The Bronx. “Being brand new, it’s like when you buy a new car, you don’t want a recall on it. You can’t recall a station!”

scalziand Mar 16, 2016 6:33 PM

http://www.troll.me/images/facepalm-...kidding-me.jpg

chris08876 Mar 24, 2016 4:57 PM

Plan to change NYC's bridge tolls, reduce traffic hits Albany

Quote:

Gridlock Sam Schwartz's comprehensive plan to shuffle city tolls and alleviate traffic congestion has finally surfaced in Albany.

Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez, D-Manhattan, introduced a bill Wednesday to implement the Move New York Fair Plan. It would create a standard toll, $5.54 with E-ZPass or $8 without, around the central business district, with the charge matching the amount charged at the Queens-Midtown and Brooklyn-Battery tunnels. (The toll for the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge, which carries vehicles to points north of the central business district, will be lower, matching the fee at the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, formally known as the Triboro.)

In addition to the East River bridges, 60th Street in Manhattan would become a tolling point for vehicles passing north or south.

Money would be collected without toll booths, using digital-recording technology so drivers would not have to slow down to pay. Power to set toll prices would rest with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"Our legislation provides a sustainable revenue source, reduces congestion, equalizes our tolling system, and injects $4.5 billion into transit expansion and accessibility projects throughout the five boroughs," Rodriguez said in a statement. "Fundamentally, this plan enhances our transit system and improves the lives of millions of New Yorkers."

The bill also includes a for-hire-vehicle surcharge that would apply in Manhattan south of 96th Street on the East Side and south of 110th Street on the West Side. But taxis and black cars would be able to make more trips into and out of Manhattan, as they would have fewer private vehicles to compete with, supporters say.

The plan would raise revenue for subways, buses, roads and bridges. A little less than $1 billion of the $1.35 billion it would generate annually would go to mass transit, said Alex Matthiessen, campaign director of the Move NY Fair Plan. That includes MTA fare subsidies and a $1 discount on express-bus rides, among other improved service to underserved parts of the city, he said. A piece of the revenue would be controlled by a new Transit Gap Investment Fund board that includes city and state elected officials. The city Department of Transportation would get about $375 million to maintain bridges and roads, primarily the aging East River spans.

The Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensborough bridges have no dedicated funding stream for their upkeep, and their lack of tolls causes thousands of motorists to go out of their way to use them. The premise of the plan is to rationalize tolling to eliminate unnatural routes that clog streets in certain parts of the city, such as avenues feeding the free bridges. Schwartz has warned of an infrastructure failure on the city's bridges.

The Verrazano Bridge toll would drop by half under the legislation, which supporters hope will net the plan support on Staten Island. In fact, it would discount the tolls on seven MTA bridges in all, including the Throggs Neck and Whitestone, which should benefit Queens and Bronx drivers who use them.

Traffic modeling predicts that the Move NY Fair Plan would decrease congestion by disincentivizing unnecessary car traffic on the toll-free bridges, Matthiessen said. The tolls and the taxi vehicle surcharge, which would apply to all for-hire vehicles including taxis and Uber cars, could be adjusted by time of day to help smooth traffic patterns. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey already uses time-of-day pricing at its Hudson River tunnels.

The bill has 14 co-sponsors but is getting a late start in the legislative season and still needs a Republican to introduce it in the GOP-controlled state Senate. It will face opposition from some Queens legislators with constituents who love the free bridges. But mass-transit groups have supported the plan for years, as have business groups, editorial boards, environmental organizations and others. Still, political support has been slow to come, likely because of the demise of a congestion-pricing plan backed by the Bloomberg administration in 2008. That legislation was hampered by its failure to discount any existing tolls, an omission that Schwartz corrected.
========================
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...ic-hits-albany

mrnyc Mar 25, 2016 5:37 PM

pa approves laguardia makeover:


TRANSIT
$4B LaGuardia Airport makeover approved by Port Authority
By Candice Ruud candice.ruud@newsday.com March 24, 2016



http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1..._600/image.JPG
The Port Authority on Thursday, March 24, 2016, Port Authority to vote on $4 billion LaGuardia makeover



After lengthy discussion and some heated back and forth between Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye and Chairman John Degnan about the actual cost of the project, the agency board Thursday approved a resolution to fund the multibillion-dollar redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport.

Before the vote, Degnan read a statement about why he was voting yes on the estimated $4 billion project, even though he said he has misgivings about aspects of the plan, and said he would have preferred to delay committing to parts of the redevelopment until after Delta Air Lines, the airport’s main carrier, agreed to commit to rebuilding its term.

The renovation will replace the aging, outdated Terminal B with a new Central Hall that would unify the airport’s terminals and lend a modern feel while providing greater taxiing space for planes to more efficiently move around LaGuardia’s airfield. The current Terminal B was built in 1964 and was designed to handle 8 million passengers a year. In 2014, it handled 13.5 million, the Port Authority said.

http://www.amny.com/transit/4b-lagua...ity-1.11614747

Arthururban Mar 27, 2016 7:09 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2578830

EXCLUSIVE: Leaking Hudson Yards station caused woman serious injuries after slippery fall on wet escalator: suit

BY SHAYNA JACOBS NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, March 27, 2016, 4:00 AM

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopo...635/hudson.jpg

Quote:

When it leaks, it pours.

A 29-year-old woman who says she fell and injured herself because of a steady stream of water falling from above a mammoth escalator at the new Hudson Yards-34th St. No. 7 train station is suing the city, the Daily News has learned.

The civil claim comes on the heels of recent complaints about chronic dripping at the much-hyped station on Manhattan’s far West Side, which has Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members fired up and looking for answers.

For Meng He, the agency’s attention to the leak dilemma comes too late.

Meng was on a trip back from sightseeing with her mother in Flushing, Queens, to her apartment at W. 37th St. and Eighth Ave. on Feb. 7. It was a leisurely Sunday afternoon and they decided to take a detour to the end of the line to see the new station. Meng said at her attorney’s office Friday.

......Meng He, 29, suffered ligament damage after taking a spill at the station. She was on crutches for weeks and is still wearing a protective boot to walk.

“We both felt it. I felt it on my face and my head but the escalator just felt like a roller coaster without any safety harnesses,” Meng said. “I didn’t care as much but my mom didn’t want to get dripped on.”

Her mother slipped backward, the woman said.

“(It was) the most terrifying thing I can imagine. I was so nervous she was going to break her neck,” Meng said.

But it was Meng who sustained the injuries. In the chaotic moment, Meng said she tried to catch her mom and hold her up. The pair, as a result of the domino effect, took a scary spill down several sets of steps on the escalator.

They stumbled off at the top where the younger woman realized she couldn’t stand or walk. They called for help.

“She fell directly on me … It was difficult to stop,” Meng said. “There was so much

Asked about Meng’s injury, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said he could not comment on pending litigation. Ortiz said that this is the first incident of an injury reported since the leaks became an issue.

“This is the only case so far since the station opened,” Ortiz said.

Meng, who was working as a product manager for a tech startup at the time, was treated at a downtown hospital. She had no broken bones but had ligament damage, was on crutches for weeks and is still wearing a protective boot to walk.

Her lawyer Robert Georges said the woman quickly noticed that “people were tweeting directly at the MTA’s handle since January that there was a problem.”

“I think that’s one of the things that was most frustrating for Meng and for us,” he added. “This was something that could have been avoided and fixed.”

Dac150 Mar 27, 2016 7:15 PM

That's scary. I used the station for the first time yesterday to get to Javits from GCT, and while it's a beautiful station, I did take notice of the leaks while riding up the escalator. It's a shame that after all that time and money spent it's already experiencing an issue like that…

The station is wonderful though. Heard countless comments from others finding it hard to believe they were in an NYC subway station. I thought the murals up top were a really nice touch.

shadowbat2 Mar 28, 2016 11:26 PM

I went through that station back in January, and the leaks were the first thing I noticed ( except it was icicles then).

Nexis4Jersey Mar 29, 2016 3:24 PM

F Train via the G Line Action

Video Link

Randomguy34 Mar 29, 2016 5:24 PM

How much do you want to bet that some of the Second Avenue Subway stations will end up like Hudson Yards station within a year after the line is built?

Busy Bee Mar 29, 2016 5:53 PM

I'm just waiting for a "STATIONGATE" headline claiming "massive-across-the-board-contract-bribery-kickback-substandard-construction-corruption-everything-under-the-sun-you-name-it..." It would be tremendously heartbreaking but I can't say I'd be completely suprised.

BrownTown Mar 29, 2016 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomguy34 (Post 7387460)
How much do you want to bet that some of the Second Avenue Subway stations will end up like Hudson Yards station within a year after the line is built?

At least it will probably have decent ridership.

Arthururban Apr 4, 2016 1:07 AM

http://www.wsj.com/articles/l-train-...tan-1459730738

L Train Pain Could Spread to Manhattan

A full closure of the East River tunnel could lead to a shutdown of the subway line five stops along 14th Street

By Andrew Tangel on April 3, 2016 8:45 p.m. ET

Quote:

A future shutdown of the L train’s East River tunnel for repairs has had Brooklyn residents and businesses on edge, but Manhattan could get its own transit headache.

A full closure of the tunnel—and both of its tracks potentially for more than a year—could lead to a shutdown of the L train stops in Manhattan in addition to halting subway service under the East River, cutting off a key crosstown route.

An L train shutdown in Manhattan has been among the scenarios under consideration by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, people familiar with the matter said.

Transit officials have also examined the possibility of maintaining limited L train service between the line’s five Manhattan stops along 14th Street, between Eighth and First avenues, one of these people said.

The L doesn’t merge with other lines in Manhattan, meaning a full tunnel closure could prevent subway cars from getting to a yard in the East New York area of Brooklyn where they undergo maintenance, repairs if they break down, or routine inspections.

“Those trains could then be trapped,” this person said. “It all depends on the construction schedule and the plan.”

MTA officials say they need to shut down the century-old tunnel—perhaps in both directions at once—for extensive repairs due to age and superstorm Sandy in 2012. Work isn’t expected to begin until late 2018 or 2019.

The plans come as the MTA faces more subway riders and a long list of expensive projects, including the extension of the Second Avenue subway to East Harlem.

The L train runs on the New York City subway’s Canarsie line, spanning 10.3 miles from Manhattan’s West Side to southeastern Brooklyn, near Jamaica Bay. It carries an estimated 400,000 riders each weekday, according to the MTA.

MTA officials have been hammering out closure options and alternative ways for riders to get around, but they declined to offer details.

“All options are still being examined,” said an MTA spokesman, who described planning efforts as “fluid.”

.......Closing down the Manhattan L train stops could offer the MTA a chance to make dramatic improvements at those stations, he said.

Construction projects could make those stations easier to navigate, add platform doors or more track space for trains at the Eighth Avenue terminus to increase capacity on the line.

“If the city wants to grow, if the city wants to be competitive, the city needs a world-class subway system,” Mr. Barone said. “Workers and the MTA need access to make these upgrades, and it’s very hard to do that with a 24/7 system.”

The MTA has plans for upgrades at the L stations at First Avenue in Manhattan and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.

They include constructing additional entrances to accommodate increased ridership and installing elevators to bring the stations into compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

The MTA has also proposed adding new substations along the L line so it can increase the amount of electricity to power more trains, increasing frequency of service.

scalziand Apr 5, 2016 4:46 AM

There’s Still Hope for a New 7 Train Stop on Tenth Avenue
April 4, 2016
By Joe DeLessio


The original plan for the 7 train extension to Hudson Yards included a stop at Tenth Avenue and 41st Street, but the $500 million station was scrapped six years ago because of cost concerns. Crain's reports, however, that the MTA is at least leaving the door open in case plans are ever revived, and will be telling potential developers of the site how much space they’d need to leave to accommodate a future station.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...-at-tenth.html

Good to hear that there will be an easement for a future station.

Busy Bee Apr 5, 2016 5:42 AM

^When the new PABT moves forward I would not be surprised if some sort of PA-MTA split financing is achieved to get the station done. The new bus terminal would practically sit right on top of it and would rightfully be fully integrated between it and a 7 connection.

BrownTown Apr 5, 2016 8:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 7395031)
^When the new PABT moves forward I would not be surprised if some sort of PA-MTA split financing is achieved to get the station done. The new bus terminal would practically sit right on top of it and would rightfully be fully integrated between it and a 7 connection.

It will cost twice as much to build now and cause major disruptions. They will basically have to dig two separate side platforms while the existing line is in operation. Presumably that would require the line to be shutdown for weekends, at night, or possible for even longer stretches of time as they dig into the existing tunnels.

Busy Bee Apr 5, 2016 9:03 PM

Yeah we know why it will be a pain in this ass to construct an infill station. That's why the decision not to build a two station 7 extension was so controversial.

Arthururban Apr 14, 2016 7:43 AM

MTA to solicit proposals for 'New Fare Payment System,' taking first step in finding MetroCard replacement
Tuesday, April 12, 2016,
By Dan Rivoli, Dareh Gregorian



The MetroCard is getting closer to going the way of the token. The MTA has taken its first concrete step into putting the swipe card out to pasture — putting out a solicitation for a "New Fare Payment System."

The agency's request for proposal says it "is seeking a Systems Integrator to design, furnish, install, test, integrate and implement an account-based new fare payment and collection system based on open bank card payment industry standards that will utilize contactless media, including contactless smart cards and mobile devices."

It plans to first test out the technology on its Select Bus Service, the system of fast bus routes that feature off-board payment and bus-only lanes, according to the RFP document.

With the MetroCard set to retire by the end of the decade, the MTA is looking for a new way for riders to pay for subway and bus rides, and is looking into a system where riders would tap a bank card, smartphone or MTA-issued "smart card" that would deduct the fare from an account.

"The New Fare Payment System (NFPS) will replace the current MetroCard fare payment system for both subway and bus operations," the solicitation says.

The MTA plans to spend $419 million through 2019 on the new fare payment system for NYC Transit, according to its still-unapproved capital program. The agency estimates that it'll be nearly six years between the contract being awarded and its "substantial completion."


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2598346

Arthururban Apr 15, 2016 8:26 AM

http://www.mta.info/news-third-track...29/lirr-begins

LIRR Begins Environmental Review, Formal Community Engagement Process for 9.8-mile Project
March 29th, 2016

Quote:

It's a big step forward for the LIRR Main Line Expansion Project. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced the hiring of a consulting firm to assist in the environmental review and formal community engagement process for the work which calls for adding a third track along a critical 9.8-mile section of LIRR’s Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville Stations.

The addition of the third track will increase capacity while allowing trains to pass disabled equipment and avoid track and signal problems, thus greatly improving service reliability along this heavily traveled corridor. It will also allow for reverse-peak service and greater intra-Island travel, and support planned service growth in future years as the LIRR begins service to Grand Central Terminal.

The contract is being awarded by the Long Island Rail Road to a joint venture of Gannett Fleming and AECOM - firms that have vast experience in conducting in-depth and accelerated reviews. The joint venture was selected by the LIRR to conduct public outreach, environmental review and preliminary engineering. The contract is valued at $6.95 million.

.....The contract announced today calls for the development of initial conceptual engineering designs within the existing right-of-way between Floral Park and Hicksville where a third track will be constructed and can be extended to cover preparation of design-build contracts and additional support during the project’s construction. The review will also identify community benefits from the project and ways to mitigate adverse impacts during construction.

Arthururban Apr 15, 2016 8:37 AM

These are a little over two weeks old but still something related to transportation in the city....

http://www.wsj.com/articles/state-au...mes-1459982908

State Audit Hits MTA Over NYC Subway Wait Times
Report says subway riders experienced less reliable service in 2015 compared with the year before

By JOSEPH DE AVILA on April 6, 2016

Quote:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority overstates how frequently subway trains show up on time, according to an audit issued Wednesday by the New York state comptroller’s office.

The report also found that subway riders experienced less reliable service in 2015 compared with the year before.

Wait assessments, a measure of how often subway lines stick to the scheduled wait time between trains arriving at stations, fell for the entire system from 78.8% in 2014 to 78.4% through the first six months of 2015. That was below the MTA’s own goal of 80.7%.

But the report said the MTA’s use of wait assessments gives riders an inaccurate view of how the system is performing and makes it seem that the subway is working better than it actually is.

Thomas DiNapoli, the state comptroller, said the MTA should revise how it calculates the wait times and make a plan to address why performance has fallen off.

A spokesman for the MTA objected to the audit’s conclusions. He said the agency had already begun efforts to analyze and fix the causes of delays, including maintenance and conducting more track surveys.

The audit “includes misunderstandings, misinterpretations and outright misrepresentations of how the MTA is meeting these challenges, and is bereft of any substantive suggestions to make life better for subway customers,” the spokesman said.

The 5 train’s wait assessment of 66.5% was the weakest of all train lines in 2015, according to the audit. The G train performed best, at 81.3%.

Lines that do well under wait assessment measurements are ones with consistent wait times between train arrivals. To get a systemwide average, the wait-assessment percentages for each line are added and then divided by the number of lines.

The method gives equal weight to shorter shuttle lines and lines that run over longer distances such as the 4 train, which travels from the Bronx through Manhattan’s East Side to Brooklyn, the audit said.

(....)


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