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- - New York City - Transit News (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154524)

THE BIG APPLE

Apr 26, 2015 10:02 AM

• Video Link

mrnyc

Apr 26, 2015 10:41 PM

nypost take on the mayors plan to expand the subway:

Begging on the subway

Shhh, hear that? It’s a tin cup rattling in City Hall as the de Blasio crowd tries to fund its transit wish list by begging.

First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris said the city’s push to extend the subway deeper into Brooklyn and add other new transit features depends on billions more from Washington.

“The first element is to lock down its federal funding support,” Shorris told reporters after a speech at the Regional Plan Association. Only then, he said, would City Hall “work with state and local resources,” according to Capital New York.

File this one under fat chance. For one thing, the MTA’s massive capital plan already faces a $15 billion hole. Where’s that money coming from?

For another, the GOP Congress won’t open the spigot for a Democratic Socialist mayor whose coffers are overflowing with tax receipts.

The state, too, had a multibillion-dollar surplus that it’s spending elsewhere, so why should national taxpayers fund what New Yorkers won’t?

The approach explains the skeptical reaction to de Blasio’s massive sustainability plan, which he calls OneNYC. Pie-in-the-sky would be more honest.

THE BIG APPLE

Apr 27, 2015 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE (Post 7004433)

Also here is a fun game you guys can start on the next page.

Name points on every NYC subway line where they should construct a new stop

I'll start the game off. 1st Avenue and 42nd Street.

Call it United Nations - 42nd Street. Service is available to the 7 and (hopefully) T trains.

Your turn.

I would build what will turn out to be the busiest train station in the city.

Call it Crossroads of the World, and it would be located at West 53rd Street between Broadway and 7th Avenue. I would make a transfer stop for the N, Q, and R trains on 7th Avenue, a transfer stop for the 1, 2, and 3 trains on Broadway, and lastly I would connect these two stops to the 7th Avenue B, D, and E train stations. Again it's called

Crossroads of the World service is available to the 1, 2, 3, N, Q, R, B, D, and E trains.

THE BIG APPLE

Apr 27, 2015 12:43 AM

Another stop I would create is Manhattan Bridge service is available to the Q and (hopefully) T trains.

Located on Canal Street at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge

THE BIG APPLE

Apr 27, 2015 12:46 AM

Another major station I would create is Astor Place. Service would be available to the 4, 5, 6, N, Q, R, and (hopefully) T trains.

yankeesfan1000

Apr 27, 2015 7:00 PM

On the back of the news that 7 train extension opening is delayed yet again, I have a serious problem with the MTA discussing any new capital projects, and giving them anymore money. Between the 7 Train, SAS, and ESA, those are what, $7BB over budget so far? And at the least two of them should have been done already going off of original construction timelines.

I have no problem with congestion pricing to give the MTA/City/State more money to execute projects like Utica Ave, but over the past decade the MTA has shown a complete and utter inability to deliver anything even remotely on time or on budget. And that doesn't even begin to cover the issue that subway construction in NYC is 3X-4X more costly per kilometer than cities like London, Paris, Berlin, etc.

Transportation needs more money for sure, but with the Federal Gov't completely and utterly broken, priority #1 should be maximizing every dollar that current agencies receive. Fundamentally, giving an agency, who's three current capital projects are north of $6B over budget so far, more money is a joke.

BrownTown

Apr 27, 2015 7:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yankeesfan1000 (Post 7005848)

Fundamentally, giving an agency, who's three current capital projects are north of $6B over budget so far, more money is a joke.

This right here. If I were Congress I wouldn't give NYC a dime of federal funds until they prove they can use them wisely. They aren't even TRYING to get these projects done on schedule and budget so far as I can tell. Has anyone been fired for incompetence yet? Has anyone been imprisoned for fraud yet? Have the politicians even TRIED to force the unions to take less money? etc..

chris08876

Apr 27, 2015 7:59 PM

The wild transit fantasies of Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo

Quote:

Last week, everyone loved transit. Mayor de Blasio had the idea for a whole new subway. Not to be left out, Gov. Cuomo reminded everyone that he’s going to build four new commuter-rail stations.

But New York’s transit system is in a lot of trouble — because everyone wants to start mega-projects without finishing what other pols started.
Consider the mayor’s idea: a subway on Brooklyn’s Utica Avenue, parallel to the F train four miles west. The state-run MTA would extend the 3 and 4 trains southeast from Eastern Parkway.

That’s fine. Southeast Brooklyn, as the mayor noted, is one of “huge swaths of the outer boroughs that don’t get enough service, and this is an example of a line that might make a lot of sense.”

And as the mayor’s top deputy, Tony Shorris, said Friday, if you live in Long Island City, Queens, you can get to 2.3 million potential jobs within 45 minutes, but if you live in Flatlands, south Brooklyn, you can get to only 170,000 jobs.

Bringing poorer people to jobs and jobs to poorer people is a good way to lessen inequality.

Or think about the governor’s big idea: bring the Metro-North Railroad into Penn Station, and build four Metro-North stations in The Bronx along the way. That’s great, too, for the same reasons.

Except for one problem: These things cost money. A subway would cost several billion dollars — whether five or nine billion is anyone’s guess. (It’s costing $4.5 billion to build the first three Second Avenue subway stations.) Four new Metro-North stations (and tracks and new trains) would cost at least $743 million.

And as these things go, it will cost more than we think. As Juliette Michaelson, strategy chief at the Regional Plan Association, told transit geeks Friday, “All of our transit mega projects today are billions of dollars and years behind schedule.”

Yes — remember those?

The things we’re already building. Just as today’s pols have their pet projects, past pols had theirs.

Gov. Pataki and Sen. Al D’Amato wanted to bring the Long Island Rail Road into Grand Central. They said it would cost $3 billion and be done six years ago. It’s costing $10.2 billion and will be done in 2022.

Mayor Bloomberg helped champion the Second Avenue Subway. We’re doing it, and those first three stops might be open in another two years — but we’ve still got another dozen or so stations to build.

So we need billions more just to finish what we started.

Over the next five years, the MTA needs $2.8 billion to keep working on the Grand Central project, and $1.5 billion to start the next few stops down Second Avenue. Facing a $15 billion deficit in its planned $32 billion in capital investment, the MTA doesn’t have a dime to keep working on these older mega-projects — let alone start new ones. (And most of that $32 billion is just replacing and rebuilding old stuff.)

It’s hard to take de Blasio and Cuomo seriously when they show no interest in paying for the old — let alone the new. Cuomo has allowed the MTA to add hundreds of millions of dollars to its annual costs, with big raises to LIRR and subway workers and little reform on retirement costs and work rules in return.

[...]

================================
http://nypost.com/2015/04/26/the-wil...-andrew-cuomo/

Cynicism

Apr 28, 2015 1:20 AM

Nexis4Jersey

Apr 28, 2015 2:48 AM

Quote:

Newark airport monorail targeted for scrap heap, cost $354M to build

http://imgick.nj.com/home/njo-media/...55acee6cb9.jpg
The Port Authority is planning to replace the AirTrain monorail at Newark Liberty International Airport, which links EWR to an NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor Line. (Jerry McCrea | The Star-Ledger)

By Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on April 27, 2015 at 2:02 PM, updated April 27, 2015 at 7:27 PM

NEWARK — The 19-year-old AirTrain monorail system at Newark Liberty International Airport is being targeted for replacement.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has not publicly estimated the cost of a new system, or said when it expected the project to begin or end. But Port Authority commissioners are scheduled to vote Thursday to authorize spending $40 million on planning consultants for the project, plus another $30 million on technical experts.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...l#incart_river

yankeesfan1000

Apr 28, 2015 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynicism (Post 7006421)

Except, it's the Mayor that wants the MTA to start the study. Should blame the City for not helping out its subway system as well.

Did you get a chance to read this? http://nypost.com/2015/04/06/whistle...avenue-subway/

It's clear why projects in NY are expensive and the MTA will continue to shell out millions even if a project is delayed. Where's the oversight?

Fair point on the city, that's a whole nother can of worms. It's absolutely incredible to me the size of the city budget, and then the amount of money the city gives the MTA. De Blasio's trip to DC is a nice photo op, but counting on anything from DC is a waste of time, he needs to step up and find money for these projects from the current city budget, and come up with a long term solution that allows the city to fund these projects without federal support.

And yeah I read that article in the post, have any politicians jumped on that yet? Can't recall seeing anything. But yeah, there needs to be serious overhauls in cost controls. I know nothing about the construction industry, but wouldn't it be relatively easy to hire like Ernst & Young to audit that sorta stuff?

mrnyc

Apr 28, 2015 1:28 PM

vis the nypost:

Metro-North had highest ridership ever in 2014
By Rebecca HarshbargerApril 27, 2015 | 12:16pm

Metro-North ridership in 2014 was at an all-time high, officials said Monday.

More than 84.6 million people rode the railroad in 2014, up from 83.3 million in 2013. Ridership climbed almost 7 percent west of the Hudson, particularly on the Pascack Valley line.

Much of the growth happened outside of rush hour and on trips that did not begin or end in Manhattan. There are more Bronx residents commuting to Westchester, as well as a larger number of Westchester residents working in Greenwich and Stamford.

“In another era, young people would buy a car with their first paycheck,” MTA boss Thomas Prendergast said in a statement. “More of them are buying train passes and MetroCards.”

Metro-North credited a strong local economy and the addition of more than 250 trains in 2013 and 2014 for setting the record.

The LIRR also saw a 3 percent boost in ridership to 85.6 million riders a year. It is the third-highest year in LIRR ridership history.

The MTA attributed the increase to the popularity of Barclays Center next to the Atlantic Avenue Terminal, as well to new trains it added in 2014 on the West Hempstead and Babylon branches.

chris08876

Apr 29, 2015 4:21 PM

Quote:

When we last wrote about the Second Avenue Subway back in February, word was that Phase I was about 79 percent complete and still on track for its December 2016 opening. Earlier this week community members and MTA officials gathered once again to go over progress, with MTA Capital Construction President Dr. Michael Horodniceanu toting a slew of new photos and renderings of the line. While the new images certainly give us a better look at some of the exciting architecture taking shape deep below our streets—in fact, the southern section is now 82 percent complete, Horodniceanu reported—several photos also reveal some fun updates to the NYC subway’s famous lettering.

==============================
http://www.6sqft.com/new-photos-of-t...mtas-typeface/

Cynicism

Apr 29, 2015 4:55 PM

chris08876

Apr 29, 2015 6:02 PM

I would take it message cautiously. Expected to open often doesn't correspond to an accurate timetable if their record is to be used as a standard.

N830MH

Apr 29, 2015 7:50 PM

I believe that they didn't open 86th St station? When they will open for business? They have to be done. ASAP.

chris08876

Apr 30, 2015 2:14 PM

Applicant plans for the Avenue R Home Expansion:

1) http://www.nyc.gov/html/bkncb15/down...enue_R._P1.pdf
2) http://www.nyc.gov/html/bkncb15/down...enue_R._P2.pdf

chris08876

Apr 30, 2015 8:26 PM

No surprise here... :yuck:

==============

M.T.A. capital projects could be delayed if gap isn’t closed

Quote:

The chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said again on Wednesday that a failure to find enough funding for the agency’s $32 billion capital plan would not lead to fare and toll increases, but also suggested some major projects could be delayed indefinitely if that happens.

The chairman, Thomas Prendergast, spoke two days after one of his top deputies said a failure to close the plan’s $14 billion funding gap by the time the state Legislature ends its session in June could lead to 15 percent fare and toll hikes. The official, chief financial officer Robert Foran, said that revenue would be needed to cover the cost of borrowing money—a statement Prendergast forcefully walked back .

“We have never, ever closed a capital program on the backs of the fare payers,” the chairman said on Wednesday, speaking to reporters after a board meeting. "That’s unconscionable. That’s not our desire. That’s not what we’re going to do."

But there is little being said publicly about how the agency will avoid doing so. The M.T.A. continues to be talk to the state about making a large commitment, and is asking the city to offer more than the average of $100 million per year it has been giving. The federal government is the third prong, but that discussion is not expected to happen until 2017.

Prendergast said it is vital he find funding for the capital program. Some $20 billion of it is dedicated to “state of good repair” work, which doesn’t involve expanding or enhancing any existing services. Beyond that, he said, growth in ridership now mandates that more be done.

“We can’t just focus on state of good repair,” Prendergast said. “We also have to focus on ways to enhance the level and quality of service, and expand the system. We can’t just sit here and wait—we need to take action now to expand that. It’s important.”

Pressed about what might get cut if that funding is not found, the chairman said he not want to point to specific projects because it might turn out to be important enough to officials in Albany for at City Hall that they would offer the funding to cover it. Still, he said future phases of the Second Avenue Subway could be put on hold to close the gap.

But even the state-of-good-repair projects remain underfunded by several billion dollars. Asked what would happen if July rolls around and the funding has not been found, Prendergast would give no indication of what would happen. Borrowing money would be difficult to accomplish without the sort of increase in revenue that fare and toll hikes generate.

“I’m not going to get into an answer for a hypothetical question, because a lot is going to happen now between now and when the city budget gets approved and when the state Legislature goes home,” he said. “And I don’t want to influence the discussion holding guns to people’s heads.”

===========================
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/articl...ap-isnt-closed

yankeesfan1000

May 4, 2015 1:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynicism (Post 7008628)

No one has tried to tackle to problem from what I know. Can't see them doing it since it "provides jobs for middle class and disadvantaged New Yorkers" mind set.

In terms of the Upper East Side Subway, its clear at this point that there will be more delays to this project. What have they been doing all this time with so many workers on site? They have quite a long ways to go in 20 months before the 2016 deadline.

The question is, when will they formally announce its new opening date?

https://twitter.com/2AvSagas/status/591703740832468993

Agree with you on your first point. It's worth a march on Washington if the rich rip us off, but if it's someone in the upper middle class (previous article you mentioned said foreman make $90/hr), then it's fine.

Good read on the Utica Ave extension talks. With East Midtown rezoning right around the corner, the focus needs to be on the SAS being completed between 125th and 42nd St.

NorthernDancer

May 4, 2015 5:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris08876 (Post 7008566)

New Photos of the Second Avenue Subway Show Progress – and a Twist on the MTA’s Typeface

http://www.6sqft.com/wp-content/uplo...S_FINAL-19.jpg

Of all the NYC subway stations I've used, I don't remember a single one (or a single PATH station for that matter) having escalators going up from the platform level. A few had escalators going from the mezzanine to street level, but from the platform to the mezzanine it was just stairs, and occasionally an elevator.

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