service delays due to the covid wave:


https://gothamist.com/news/mta-cuts-...rates#comments

the subway is already so pitiful... 15 minutes between C trains on weekdays to name one example... the MTA is an embarrassment--will anybody even notice these additional delays?

^ there are ripples of delays now and trains being pulled out of service for periods of time. its very weird and aggravating. hopefully things get better next month when this winter rise in covid and new omnicron wave passes.


its more than this -- it changes regularly, but here is a good snapshot report:

https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-thr...vid-shortages/

Fortunately, my office has gone remote for the past 3 weeks due to omicron, so I don't need to deal with the subway at least until next Monday. Unfortunately, I also caught COVID two weeks ago. I had a rough few days, then lingering symptoms while recovering. On the plus side, I got free COVID sick leave without needing to use my actual sick leave.

There is no story yet but the Gov's policy book leaked and she wants to build the Triboro (rebranded Interboro) line at least as far as Jackson Heights.
Kind of stunned actually.


edit: its posted

https://i.imgur.com/jIs6McE.png

https://i.imgur.com/BxV81HD.png

That would be awesome if it ever happens.

^That's a positive sign but I will believe it when I see it.

And by Jackson Heights I'm assuming they mean in the vicinity of Roosevelt or Northern Blvd as the journey into the Bronx would require a Hell Gate crossing (which would be immensely difficult to achieve due to physical capacity and Amtrak/M-N usage not to mention mainline characteristics) or a short tunnel skipping across Randalls Island into the S. Bronx (which I think could be incredibly useful as it would also provide some sort of Broadway Line service into Harlem/S. Bronx via Astoria). Anyways, these are huge ticket expenses that really will take a paradigm shift in MTA strategy, culture and thinking paired with a major stream of dependable long term capital revenue sources. I still think we may be a couple decades away from ambitious system expansion unfortunately. The old guard from the bad old days era of municipal decline are still in many ways at the helm, though I am incredibly impressed with Janno Leiber, he just needs a state and federal partner who's game for broad system renewal/expansion programs.

On the topic of TriboroRX, I'm excited to see political support build and "planning" to begin, but lets not fool ourselves into thinking that's going to translate into construction starting anytime soon. This is the MTA as it's currently constituted. A transformation from the culture of managed decay and low expectations needs to be overcome and replaced with one that acts like the transport agency of one of the best and most dynamic alpha cities on planet earth.

This governor, unlike the previous one, doesn't make any games of if she controls the MTA though. She seems willing to set the priorities publicly and make them deliver.
I doubt anybody is under the illusion that construction will start tomorrow or anything.

My comment was meant to be aspirational but I can see how its reads as a downer. It's just that NYC transportation can be a heartbreaking and exhausting thing to care about.

Get it done.


https://mobile.twitter.com/govkathyhochul


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FIW_bBvX...pg&name=medium

It'd be kinda silly not to go all the way to the Bronx and connect this with the Metro North Penn Station Access. Either way, this is positive news and a hopeful sign that NY could develop a regional rail system on par with the subway

Indeed. Interconnectivity is always great for the city. Along with Metro North connecting with Penn, Gateway, ESA, the Penn Reno transit is going massive. As it needs to. Though hopefully we see more in the future.

Probably more to do with Amtrak than anything else. They were a PITA for Metro North Penn Access AFAIK.

A Triboro subway scheme never really made much sense going up the New Haven Hell Gate Line to Co-Op City anyways, especially after the M-N ESA East Bronx line is put in place as it would kind of be a duplicative service, especially so if there is ever a M-N station in the southern Astoria area (in addition to the four planned for the East Bronx). A number of factors including the aforementioned constraints on the Hell Gate Bridge itself being 4-track and most of the Amtrak/M-N r.o.w. up to Pelham doesn't really have the space for 2 dedicated tracks for Amtrak, 2 dedicated tracks for Metro-North plus another 2 for a subway based service (plus the FRA might make them build a bunch of intrusion barriers whereas they will probably get a waver for the Bay Ridge branch due to low usage. A Triboro service sharing tracks with mainline Metro-North is a non-starter, no serious transport professional would advocate for such a thing which is why I always found the notion of a Triboro service crossing the Hell Gate so perplexing. Unless the Triboro rolling stock is built to mainline specs like M-N and LIRR, which it won't and makes little to no sense to do so, there isn't really a way to get it to the Bronx without a tunnel IMO. And once it's in the Bronx it would do a better job being a distribution type service by crossing East-West across the S. Bronx and the only way to do that is to get a tunnel from either Steinway across Randalls Island into Mott Haven where it can maneuver up the NY Connecting RR viaduct and sort of spiral into the Port Morris branch cut OR a tunnel from a station serving LGA and skipping to Rikers Island -->North Brother Island and diving right into the mouth of the Port Morris cut. Where it goes from there is chapter two of a much longer conversation.

Governor Hochul lacks the flash and pompousness of Cuomo but she seems to “get” the importance of infrastructure improvements such as rebuilding JFK, Penn Station, and a less Manhattan-centric subway system post-pandemic. My husband and I would ride the heck out of this. We live in Astoria and he works in Sheepshead Bay. Right now 2 hrs on a train and a bus each way just aren’t a viable option. This would be a game changer.

I am still pretty skeptical that traveling between any part of Brooklyn and any part of The Bronx via this new service will be faster than any existing subway service. Queens, yes, but I agree that interlining on the Amtrak tracks isn't going to work at all, meaning any new service will require extensive tunneling, and that would be a very expensive project for something that probably won't attract anywhere close to the ridership that people expect.

^ nonsense, projected triboro rx ridership has been estimated at 76k-100k daily, which even at low end is most closely on a par with all of philly or minneapolis-st paul systems.

also, for all practical purposes the added bx section is a non-issue and will be for some time due to these inter-agency issues and expenses -- the bronx portion of triboro rx was always meant to be last while mnrr and amtrak worked it out.

in the meantime, there is no reason not to focus on the 18 total proposed stations and get to work for the phase one brooklyn section and then the phase two queens section.

triboro rx has long been the bird in the hand dream for the boros.

and -- how refreshing to have a gov like hochul that directly cares about city folk transit instead of cowtowing to suburbia like cuomo usually did.

Yeah I actually dont doubt the ridership projections at all, what I doubt is the operational feasibility of a Hell Gate crossing. You know sometimes you gotta just build a tunnel. That outta be on the wall of MTA leadership.

^ i hate to "yeah, but ..." lol, but ... keep in mind those bx issues would be for triboro rx phase 3 -- and just like bringing second avenue subway home to hanover square, it's dubious we would see that in our lifetimes, so i ain't too worried about it. :shrug:

Speaking of transit to the outer boroughs, the Staten Island ferry is at auction for $100K, which seems like a pretty good deal!

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/au...ew?auc=2955564