grand central madison is supposed to be fully open as of today:


Grand Central Madison finally opens for full LIRR service on Monday

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on February 26, 2023


Full Long Island Rail Road service into Grand Central Terminal is finally set to begin on Monday, significantly increasing service capacity on the railroad and bringing a new, augmented schedule for riders.

Grand Central Madison, the brand-new 714,000-square-foot terminal situated deep underneath Manhattan’s east side, will host 296 LIRR trains per day starting Feb. 27, out of a new total of 936 LIRR trains going in-and-out of Grand Central and Penn Station.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/grand-c...ervice-monday/

Looking forward to hearing how smooth the first day goes.

^ lol well heeeere we go!


Brooklyn riders not feeling the love from new LIRR schedules

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on February 27, 2023


While the Metropolitan Transportation Authority touts 30% more weekday trains at Atlantic Terminal under the new schedules, almost all Brooklyn service is now operating as a shuttle, requiring riders to transfer at Jamaica. Those from Long Island who had gotten used to a one-seat ride to Kings County say they’re not pleased.

“It’s certainly a lot different, and a little confusing,” said Ed Friedman, a resident of Merrick, Nassau County who arrived at Atlantic Terminal at 10 a.m. on Feb. 27. “Now there are no more direct trains here, so you have to change to another track all the way at the other end of the Jamaica station. So it’s very difficult, but it takes some getting used to.”


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/brookly...irr-schedules/

aaaand:


Not so Grand: NYC riders fume as MTA launches LIRR ‘Madison’ changes

By Nolan Hicks and Desheania Andrews
February 27, 2023


some riders making their first trip into the gargantuan $11 billion LIRR train hall beneath Grand Central complained that poor signage made it difficult to navigate and that it takes so long to get down to the platforms — which are 150 feet deep — that much of the time savings from getting dropped off in Midtown was eaten up.

“It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to get down here. I could’ve walked to Penn Station in the same time with how long it took me to get down here,” said commuter Prudence.

“The schedule is pretty bad too. I’m sure it will get better —- (the station) is very pretty though.”


more:
https://nypost.com/2023/02/27/brookl...tral-schedule/

Seems like her name should be Patience.


As for those other complaints... What did Lincoln say about pleasing people? Plus some people are just dumb. No amount of signage can prevent that.

Why only post the negative responses though, also from the article:


“This makes my commute about an hour less,” said 21-year-old Nick Jablonski. “Comparing the 20 minute time to get here versus the 45 minute time to Penn Station, it can actually be different if I do this a lot.”

If this is true, then it really sucks that most can't get a one-seat ride into Brooklyn anymore:

"Passengers heading to Lower Manhattan, the Financial District and Brooklyn accounted for 28 percent of the LIRR’s ridership, according to a 2016 study. That’s a larger percentage than those heading to Midtown East or the Upper East Side."

Also, another stat:

"Officials said that roughly 30 percent of the Monday morning rush hour to Manhattan opted to head to Grand Central Madison."

i didn’t post only the negative remarks, look again. ;) :D

funding the beast —



Transit
Feds not coming to MTA’s rescue under GOP House, Schumer says

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on February 27, 2023


Amid all the talk over the dire financial situation befalling the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and what to do about it, there’s been one glaringly missing component: the federal government.

In her executive budget this month, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a slight increase in the payroll mobility tax, an enlarged annual city subsidy, and future casino revenues to shore up the MTA’s shaky finances. The transit agency for months had said it would hurtle over a “fiscal cliff” without new dedicated funds from government partners, with lagging post-pandemic ridership decimating farebox revenue and emergency federal COVID aid drying up, leaving a gaping hole in the MTA budget.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/feds-no...mer-gop-house/

here is something about the new jfk terminal one work now underway w/nice renders --



Ferrovial Airports is appointed to design, build, and operate the new Terminal One at JFK International Airport in New York, USA. The project includes replacing Terminals 1 and 2 and former Terminal 3 of the airport. The lease will run through 2060.

The Terminal will offer an enhanced user experience of over 2.5 million square feet upon completion, being the largest terminal at New York’s JFK Airport. T1 will offer the highest levels of passenger experience at JFK through a completely new state-of-the-art terminal building, creating a compelling proposition for airlines and users. The Terminal will be built in phases, with plans for full completion in approximately 2030. It will feature natural-lit public spaces with cutting-edge technology to enhance the customer experience. The terminal will offer passengers more than 300,000 square feet of recreational, dining, retail, and lounge space.

With this project and further operations, Ferrovial and The New Terminal One equity partners will strive to comply with all NTO’s project commitments and achieve its community goals. These include delivering the agreed project concept and design, creating more than 10,000 jobs (including 6,000 construction jobs), and the goal of 30% participation of Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBEs), with a strong focus on developing local businesses.


more:
https://www.ferrovial.com/en-us/busi...ional-airport/

Many NYC students being coddled by Uber rather than riding the subway to school: https://www.curbed.com/2023/02/upper...=pocket-newtab

Opening days of full GCM schedules getting a 30/70 ridership split with Penn. Apparently overcrowded Penn trains due to GCM service and a whole lot of angry Brooklyn riders.

Schedules and equipment availability/balancing will dictate customer satisfaction but unfortunately these are not exactly LIRR's strong suits. I think untimed transfers at Jamaica only really work (without thousands of pissed riders) if the Atlantic shuttle is significantly more frequent that it is now.

Shouldn't people in Brooklyn be using the subway instead of LIRR anyway?

the terraces, the lookout, the stoop … bqe rebuild deets presented:



As DOT Presents Refined Concepts for BQE, Locals Question Cost, Climate Impact, Two-Lane Study

Mar 1, 2023 • 11:05am
by Anna Bradley-Smith


More than 100 people filled a gymnasium in Brooklyn Friends School in Downtown Brooklyn Tuesday night to review the Department of Transportation’s refined concepts for the future of the city-owned section of the beleaguered Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which includes the crumbling triple cantilever.


more:
https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn...eview-dot-bha/

https://www.brownstoner.com/wp-conte...t-1536x992.png

uber? thats for casuals.

you want coddling you should see the lineup outside the avenues school in chelsea. i think it got press for a bit when katie holmes sent her kid suri there after she divorced tom cruise.

anyway, tricked out suv limos, rapper maybachs and armys of drivers, security, butlers and nannys before and after school. its quite a sight.

edit — i see current tuition is $65,850 a year for ps-12 (nyu is $26,885).

i mean over $65k for a pre schooler? what the heckkers is wrong with this world? :shrug:

Uh lots of people are Brooklyn bound from father out in the LIRR system or reverse commute to work. If the attitude is "take the subway" then why not abandon Atlantic entirely and just tell riders to go enjoy the three times longer leg to/from Jamaica with an extra transfer at Broadway Junction.

bqe alt route considerations during reconstruction -- :shrug:



BQE’s crumbling cantilever: City again considering ‘temporary highway’ to redirect traffic during reconstruction

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on March 1, 2023


In a fit of deja vu, the city is once again considering building a “temporary highway” through Brooklyn Heights to redirect traffic snagged by the eventual reconstruction of the crumbling Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE).

Planning and community engagement remain underway with nothing finalized, but the Department of Transportation told reporters on Tuesday that when reconstruction finally begins on the BQE’s teetering city-owned triple cantilever, two options are on the table for redirecting the considerable car and truck traffic that use the freeway, neither of which are particularly palatable.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/bqe-can...ion-idea-2023/

https://www.amny.com/wp-content/uplo...-2048x1365.jpg
Cars and trucks travel down the BQE in Brooklyn Heights.
File Photo by Kevin Duggan

interesting --- sure, why not?



Port Authority to host second autonomous vehicle demonstration at JFK Airport as it looks to the future of public transit

By Bill Parry
Posted on March 2, 2023

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will take a second look into the future of ground transportation at JFK Airport in June.

The bi-state agency and Ohmio, a leading New Zealand-based autonomous mobility company, announced on Feb. 28 that they will host the country’s first three-vehicle platooning demonstration at a U.S. airport. The Port Authority also hosted a demonstration of two eight-passenger electric autonomous shuttles in a platoon at JFK in October to simulate how such technology could serve passengers in the future.

The Ohmio demonstration will focus on using eight-passenger driverless shuttles in a three-vehicle platoon on a closed road segment at the JFK Long Term Parking Lot. They will travel very closely together without any physical connection.


more:
https://qns.com/2023/03/port-authori...ublic-transit/

https://qns.com/wp-content/uploads/2...unnamed-46.jpg
The Port Authority will test these new autonomous vehicles from New Zealand at JFK Airport in June to see how the new technology can be used in the future. (Courtesy of Ohmio)

How long has hit been since NYU base tuition was only $27k? I'm not even sure that was the case for my brother when he went to Stern undergrad, and that was around 20+ years ago.

NYU is roughly $75k a year. Source: I went there.

NYU at $27K for books only maybe...

Pretty much all the fancy NYC private schools have been 60k+ for a couple of years now. Avenues isn't even the most expensive school.

Also, you're expected to donate to the annual fund. Pay up.

And yeah, NYU, Columbia and the like are probably a bit more expensive, but that's including housing and incidentals. Straight tuition comparison, the K-12 schools are more expensive.

Arguably the best K-12 school in NYC (and perhaps the U.S.) is absolutely free, however. Hunter College Schools. But you have to be in the top quarter of 1% of students to qualify for admission.

^ no doubt, but links fellas, links.

little wary of this, but looks like good news ...


METRO-NORTH
Amtrak Pact Puts MTA’s Penn Station Access Megaproject Back on Schedule

MTA crews will get needed access to Amtrak’s tracks crossing the Hell Gate Bridge, but Amtrak passengers potentially face months of service impacts.

BY JOSE MARTINEZ MAR 3, 2023


Amtrak has agreed to add what MTA officials called “the missing ingredient” in their plan to connect Metro-North commuters to Penn Station — a project facing delays and cost overruns because of a lack of coordination between the two sides.

The federally funded passenger railroad this week pledged to open the tracks along the Hell Gate Line to MTA construction crews and contractors working on the Penn Station Access project. It aims to add four new Metro-North stations in The Bronx by 2027 and create a terminal on Manhattan’s West Side for a commuter railroad that serves the northern suburbs.


more:
https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/3/3/236...station-access

Read that last nite. Frustrating it took this long just to get Amtrak to cooperate. The kind of absurd lack of coordination in this country is maddening. Same thing happened at Harold causing tons of $$$ and ESA delays.

What are you wary about? This is good news.

According to their website, the "general" tuition & fees for NYU is about $60k. It is $61K for Stern, and an astounding $66K for Tisch:

https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/finan...ttendance.html

R211's entered revenue service today. I do hope some tweaks are made before the rest of production proceeds. IMO these include: (more of a good design wish list)

- For the love of all things holy please quietly drop the Cuomo stripes. They look stupid and they're tackyy as hell. If you want a splash of blue put it on the doors like the R-32's had when they were new. That said I'd rather the cab bonnet be black instead of thee blue which shows off the window profiles and headlight shoddiness. I think that looks better.

- Tone down the LED's. Between the door markers, the destination boards and the bullet it looks like a bodega. Those elements should glow not punch you in the face with garish light. And the color of the light they emit is cold colored and aesthetically unpleasant. The resolution is also too low to smoothly display the letterforms.

- Redo the destination boards and bullet. The mockup shown before production showed these elements done tastefully in backlit/LCD system standard Helvetica. These bullets and the design standard breaking typography look terrible. A big step back for NYCT design standards. And on top of that the LED's burn your corneas.

The rest is what it is. Its basically like every other B Division car of the last 20 years just with sinister looking headlights and wider doors. No leaps in styling by any means. At least we'll likely get the majority of the order with open gangway as those will prove to be popular.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...199d92_c_d.jpg
___

^ did you get to ride on one? i assume they are only to be found on the A and C lines? i am looking forward to it, especially an open gangway trainset.

https://cdn.abcotvs.com/dip/images/1...img.jpg?w=1600

They're only on the A right now I believe. I'm not sure when the open gangway start revenue trials. Its going to be very interesting to see how riders react to them. I predict a mixed bag with a majority in favor. The negatives are going to be driven by concerns and or experiences of beggars and performers travelling up and down the train being more of a nuisance they currently are. I also wouldn't be surprised some mentioning woozyness and motion sickness from looking down the lenghth of the train. It will be a tad anxiety inducing considering how wavy gravy turny curvy the NY subway system is. A modern metro the original system it is not.

new rail car news —



Latest subway cars roll into service, start their journey on the A line

By Sarah Belle Lin
Posted on March 10, 2023


Welcome the new, long-awaited R211 subway cars to the MTA family!

The MTA held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the arrival of its latest subway cars, the first to enter the system in more than five years. The glistening and unspoiled R211 cars with signature blue-and-gold seats started their journey on the A line at the northernmost tip of the line at 207th Street station in upper Manhattan’s Inwood. The event was live-streamed and lucky members of the public jumped on board long before the train pulled out of the station.


more:
https://www.amny.com/news/new-mta-su...on-the-a-line/

https://www.amny.com/wp-content/uplo...o-1200x848.jpg
The inaugural ride of the first R211A subway train from 207th Street on the A Line on Friday, March 10, 2023. Photo taken by Marc A. Hermann/MTA.

LGA AirTrain finally kaput. Looks like bus improvements most likely.

Plans to Build AirTrain to La Guardia Are Officially Scrapped

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/n...-airtrain.html

I believe the back-burner plug-the-holes approach is the best approach right now. Wait until there is obvious consensus and a shift in leadership culture for the obvious subway and/or regional rail connection.

Unlike the commonplace sentiment on this forum in the context of a scrapped development or scaled backed ambitions, where the idea of tolerating an empty lot is somehow worse than seeing the wrong solution built and being stuck with it for half a century like. That's what JFK AirTrain is and would have been for LGA.

Also if you're going to dump a lot of airport travelers into Ditmars probably time to fix the terminal issues there, which would benefit everyone.

hmm …


LaGuardia AirTrain proposal officially canned by Port Authority, suggests airport shuttle bus instead

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on March 13, 2023


The Port Authority on Monday hammered the final nail in the coffin of the controversial proposal to build an AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport.

The move comes more than a year after Gov. Kathy Hochul halted the plan, a pet project of her disgraced predecessor Andrew Cuomo, and commissioned a study for alternatives. On Monday, the Port Authority’s “expert panel” released its final report, shunning the long-contentious AirTrain and declaring the best option to be a new shuttle bus between the airport and the end of the N/W subway line in Astoria, Queens.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/laguard...e-bus-instead/

N Train Extension or a spur off of the IBX are the only good options for LaGuardia.

there is no consensus for what to do, so improved bus service is fine for now.

eventually they will probably extend the astoria subway or bring an airtrain from lga to astoria.

i would rather they get crackin on the ibx, second ave phase 2 and the bx mnrr stations for now.

Albany legislators dismiss Hochul’s MTA rescue plan, present their own

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on March 14, 2023


The State Assembly and Senate have released their long-awaited responses to Governor Kathy Hochul’s executive budget, pointedly rejecting her plan to rescue the fiscally-beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority and putting forth their own.

Virtually all the central planks of Hochul’s fiscal lifeboat for the MTA — increasing the payroll mobility tax, shifting the $500 million bill for paratransit and student MetroCards to the city, directing future casino revenue to the authority, and raising fares this year and in 2025 — were cast to the wayside by the State Senate in its one-house budget resolution, after being blasted by virtually every stakeholder except the governor and MTA.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/albany-...ent-their-own/

IMO, the Airtrain should connect LGA with JFK and to major hubs between Astoria via the Grand central in the north and Stillwell in the south along the Belt. Dont ask me how to pay for it though, lol.

abso-freakin-lootly. thats why i was never against cuomo’s airtrain plan. it was angled toward jamaica.

MTA NYC Subway Kawasaki R211 Alstom OPTONIX IGBT-VVVF AC Traction Motor Inverter Audio Recording

• Video Link

good news today —


NYC subway riderships hits pre-pandemic ridership numbers for first time since 2020

Published: Mar. 18, 2023
By David Luces | DLuces@siadvance.com


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New York City subway ridership numbers recently broke a record with ridership numbers not seen since before the pandemic. 
Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Thursday, March 16, there were 3,946,310 paid rides on the subway -- numbers not seen since March 2020 when 4.1 million New Yorkers rode the subway. 

March 16h’s ridership broke the previous record set on December 8, 2022 by 11,000 rides, according to Hochul’s office.


more:
https://www.silive.com/news/2023/03/...ince-2020.html

Good news, but "March 2020" is an interesting definition of pre-pandemic.

ok good —



13,000 Solar Panels Will Help Power JFK Airport’s ‘New Terminal One’

By Jessica Stewart on March 18, 2023


New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport is getting an upgrade. Its New Terminal One, which started construction in 2022, was designed with both beauty and sustainability in mind. The $9.5 billion project includes a microgrid to power the terminal. This new power system is an innovative answer to the energy crisis and would allow the New Terminal One to operate without the city's power grid during emergencies.

The microgrid will produce 11.34 megawatts of electricity from rooftop solar, gas fuel cells, and battery storage. On the roof, 13,000 solar panels will set a record as the largest solar array in New York City and at any U.S. airport terminal. To put things into perspective, the microgrid will produce enough electricity to power 3,570 American homes for an entire year.


more:
https://mymodernmet.com/solar-panels-jfk-terminal-one/


https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-conten...dering-06.jpeg

The new JFK is going to be mighty impressive on the heels of our gorgeous new LGA.

^ and for now lga is taking some hard earned bragging rights:


Survey says: LaGuardia’s new Terminal B named world’s best new airport terminal

By Bill Parry


It may not be getting an AirTrain, but LaGuardia Airport’s new $4 billion Terminal B was named the world’s best new terminal based on a global passenger survey, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Wednesday, March 15.

The survey was conducted by the airport rating firm Skytrax and is based on multiple factors including check-in, shopping, security, terminal comfort and ambiance and choice of bars and restaurants. Presentations for a range of honors, including the world’s best airport as well as best terminal, were announced at the Passenger Terminal Expo in Amsterdam on March 15.


more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/new...al/ar-AA18I48D

3 weeks before the first lockdown it was like half the city had already cleared out...so I would really use the December 2019 Ridership levels.

fix’r upping:


MTA has revamped 11 stations this year, plans to upgrade another 30 by year end

By Christian Murray
Posted on March 22, 2023



The MTA announced earlier this week that it has revamped 11 stations so far this year, with its crews conducting station repairs, deep cleanings and general upgrades.

The renovations are part of the MTA’s “Station Re-NEW-vation Program” that was launched last year and saw nine stations on the D line upgraded in 2022.

The MTA has now upgraded 20 stations, with a goal of revamping another 30 by the end of 2023. The upgrades are part of NYC Transit’s Faster, Cleaner, Safer plan that was announced in October that aims to improve customer experience.


more:
https://www.amny.com/news/mta-has-re...0-by-year-end/

I know we shouldn't complain about any efforts to improve station conditions, but if you check out MTA's flickr photos of some of the work being done - well, let's just say it leaves a lot to be desired. The needed top to bottom revamp/renovations these efforts are not. If the 205 St-Norwood station is any indication, it appears they're taking it from truly revolting to just mildly disgusting.

I'm generally fine with a general cleaning & sprucing up of stations, considering how much time & money it costs to actually perform a full station renovation (which is invariably a capital project = time & $$$$).

With that said, if anything needs to be replaced, it's all those small tiles on the wall. My parents & I followed this philosophy with their bathroom renovation: use large tiles on walls, but not too large as to be awkward-looking. That way, any eventual grout & masonry line maintenance work will be far, far easier and less time-intensive to perform. For their bathroom, the only with small 1"x1" tiles is at the new standup shower's floor, and that's only because the tile store told us that this was the easiest way to conform with the subfloor's drainage slope.

Assuming the wall's concrete/CMU backing is mostly straight, it should not be a problem to replace with larger tiles.