I'm thinking it's more the high cost of LIRR and MNRR tickets than the cost of NYCT subway fare for transfers keeping riders off in those areas. Tying some fare equalization for city neighborhoods served by new capacity might be a better idea. LIRR when the ESA/3rd main track opens and MNRR when Penn Access happens.

One of the weirdest lies continually promulgated by the opponents is the "transit desert" narrative. There is no such thing.

There's nowhere in the Five Boroughs where you don't have nearby bus service connecting to rail, or express buses. People who drive have other options and are making a choice, and that choice will no longer be as heavily subsidized.

But the city also needs to institute parking permits. Currently nonresidents occupy a huge share of on-street parking spaces. Congestion pricing + parking permits will make an enormous difference.

more important than that is the city needs to take out street lanes and widen sidewalks. the steady increase in population of the city along with tourism demand it.

While MNRR or LIRR run through a bunch of hoods it's not necessarily a given that enough people can actually afford to utilize those services at current pricing.

Permit parking and tow absolutely anything not registered in the zone. All hourly parking to a demand model and rates rising with CPI annually. More loading zones...a shit ton more. Impound all sidewalk parkers. Eliminate the entire placard program.

Do this too. Plus more barrier protected bike lanes. Also expand the Brooklyn bridge pedestrian path immediately.

Agreed, but that can be fixed. Cityticket already offers lower fares and can be expanded. And those areas tend to be affluent, so it isn't like you have lots of poor folks in, say, Douglaston, or Riverdale, without transit options.

And there are always the cheaper options of express buses or the local buses to the closest subway stop. Someone in, say, Mill Basin can take the bus to the end of the nearest train line, or take an express bus directly to Manhattan.

Agree with all this 100%. Congestion pricing should just be the first step to a rational regional mobility plan.

And, yeah, sidewalks, especially the avenues in Manhattan, desperately need to be widened. Some, like Lex, 3rd, 2nd and 8th are ridiculous relevant to road width and pedestrian demand. They were all shrunk in the 40's and 50's. It's time to take the space back.

I'd pedestrianize 34th from 6th to 9th, basically all of the financial district, take a lane away from every avenue from 7th to 2nd for more sidewalk, and close the area around/through Rockefeller Center to everything but commercial traffic and make those streets shared with pedestrians. To start.

the cops are trying to shut down placard reforms


https://www.amny.com/news/placard-abuse-nypd-1.29035668

It's crazy how BDB has enabled that program to explode and also do nothing about the rampant fraud/abuse of people with fakes or by people who are not eligible. it's like he won't be satisfied until cars cover every sidewalk in the city and people have to scramble over top of them.

The waste/rot that he's caused and permitted as mayor wrt transportation is extraordinary. Hopefully somebody who at least appears to give a shit and is willing to reprioritize will take his office when the term is up (Corey Johnson would work). The city could greatly improve the ease of getting around very quickly.

no surprize, but the new ferry system is heavily subsidized:

https://ny.curbed.com/platform/amp/2...ayor-de-blasio

Deals starting to come into focus.

https://www.newsday.com/news/region-...any-1.29094300

Its a bit aggravating since the subsidy the MTA incurs per LIRR/MNRR rider is already waaay higher than NYCT riders. Also the money pit of the East Side Access which just incinerates piles of cash on contact. If this is the deal it could have been worse though.

Hopefully the dynamic pricing stays in so that the end goal can actually be achieved.

ᴴᴰ R142 2 Express Train via Bowling Green / Wall St Announcements - To Flatbush Avenue from 241 St

• Video Link

One of the most confusing reroutes, here are the automated announcements for a rerouted 2 train running via South Ferry Loop to Wall St via Bowling green and then back down to Brooklyn. Normally the conductor skips the South Ferry and Bowling green stops, but i managed to piece together the full program.

^ there are some insane weekend reroutes, especially lately with all the troubles the system is having.

we were in queens plaza last weekend around 10pm when a train finally came in and they said, oh btw everybody on this is the last train of the night the station is shutting down. ooh kaaaay. ugh.

that said, there are also plenty of common reroutes that regular riders would know, like 5 trains running on the westside, that confuse the beejezus out of visitors.

nyc ferry system slants as an amenity for the rich:


https://nypost.com/2019/03/31/city-f...t-new-yorkers/

details to be worked out but the congestion pricing measure passed late last night.

the big thing is the money goes into a lockbox for mta so cuomo cant dip into it:


The money from the congestion pricing proposal would go into a "lockbox" for MTA capital projects, along with new revenue from an internet sales tax and progressive mansion tax. All three together could be bonded against to raise a total $25 billion in new funding.


more:
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/03...stion-pricing/

https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-con...omo-1.29209432

This is very frustrating as is the budget for 2020. I thought we were promised a major infrastructure overhaul... For the 2nd year in a row, we’re told it probably isn’t happening this year. Not to spur a political debate, but it will be interesting President Trump uses infrastructure reform as a platform for re-election.

sayonara to the metrocard — mta and regional tap payment rollout details:


https://www.amny.com/transit/metroca...mny-1.29297988

You thought that was actually going to happen? Besides, the pub's gave all the money away to the rich and powerful in the tax scam bill. You're placing your hopes for an infrastructure revolution in the wrong hands. You want massive transformative infrastructure investment? Elect Democrats!

Pied-à-terre tax died for ridiculous reasons

https://cityandstateny.com/articles/...s-reasons.html




https://cityandstateny.com/sites/def...980833409d1a14

of course

corrupt nitwits

lets see who got breaks on new homes, apts and office leases for doing that.

The fight over exemptions will determine the fate of NYC’s congestion pricing

==================
https://ny.curbed.com/2019/4/8/18299...lan-exemptions

What's there to study? The connection was foreseen and accomidated for over 80 years ago! It's probably the most obvious needed subway extention on planet earth:

MTA to study Utica Ave subway extension, again

saving $$$ on second avenue subway phase two:


https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs...roject-forward

The way things look headed there are going there will be so many rebates and carve outs that I'd be shocked if congestion pricing generates half the anticipated revenue or a fraction of the hoped for congestion relief. We are unable to do even the simplest things because we absolutely must provide drivers with massive advantages at all times which can't be allowed to be reduced and let transit riders get the crumbs as usual. There is a colossal lack of political will.

Reports starting to surface that traffic from NJ will be exempt from congestion pricing. Why do it at all since the governor is going to basically exempt all existing traffic by the time this is done and little revenue will be generated?

What a total fuck up.

^^ from the very beginning they said they would give discounts to NJ tunnels riders commensurate to the amount they currently pay for the tunnels.

I think this is the fair way to go. NJ residents shouldn't have to pay $15 to take the tunnel and then another $12-$14 when they exit the tunnel and into Manhattan


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/16/n...sultPosition=1

The MTA chair has now said that he doesn't know what agreement the NJ Gov is referring to and basically that there isn't one.

As long as he Hudson crossing charges float on demand I can live with it I guess. The demand charge should not be capped however.

As far as fairness is NJ not going to toll NYC drivers on their highways?

L train gateway?


Bury the Gateway plan: The L train method is the proven way to repair the Hudson tubes

By DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL BOARD
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
APR 29, 2019 | 4:05 AM

Amtrak’s $30 billion Gateway boondoggle, centered around repairing the Superstorm Sandy-damaged Hudson tubes by building new ones, died Friday night with the start of the repairs of the L train’s Sandy-damaged East River tubes.

The MTA was planning to close the L tubes for 15 months to rip out and replace the concrete bench walls. Instead, the bench walls will no longer house power and communication cables, those will be affixed to open racks on the sides of the tube, allowing much easier access.

The Gateway gang says that they will look at cable racking, meaning the repairs won’t have to wait a decade for a new tunnel. Not good enough. In February 2018, they submitted an environmental impact statement to the feds for approval. Federal law mandates that all alternatives must be formally evaluated, but although the draft runs 1,787 pages, it never mentions racking, although it does discuss a far-out idea for a new Hudson rail bridge above Manhattan and even a new rail tunnel with bicycle lanes.

The Port Authority, as the sponsor, must withdraw the submission until racking can be rigorously reviewed and made the preferred method. The feds should also reject it for the same reason.


more:
https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/...shu-story.html

Four Lessons for 14th Street From Toronto’s Transit-First King Street

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/04/...t-king-street/




https://i2.wp.com/nyc.streetsblog.or...pg?w=800&ssl=1

It doesn't work that way. Congestion pricing can't raise billions and rid the city of cars at the same time. No more than cigarette taxes can fund healthcare while also ending smoking.
Behavior will quickly fall to one side or the other. Either the city will be full of the cars of the wealthy who continue to drive because they can. The wealthy will probably drive more as their trip times improve. Everyone else is priced out and you get inequality protests.
Or everyone abandons their cars and there's no new revenue.

The purpose of congestion pricing isn't to rid the city of cars, it's to rid the city of congestion. There will still be a huge number of vehicles, including cars, moving freely and efficiently through the city.

In other words, limit the number of cars based on the amount that people are willing to pay (determined by the laws of supply and demand) rather than limit the number of cars based on the amount of congestion people are willing to tolerate which is what currently happens in most major cities. In most cities there is a huge amount of latent demand for road space at peak times so it's impractical to expand the road network enough to keep it moving smoothly and as a result everyone using the road (including businesses and people of all income levels) is having their time and money wasted by congestion. In other words, there is already a congestion price because congestion is very expensive. The difference is that congestion pricing is a way to limit road use in a managed way by routing that cost into something productive rather than having it wasted in terms of productive time and fuel being basically evaporated.

:previous:


Well said. And I don't want to hear about ANY exceptions except for emergency/disability services. I know the cops are already whining but that needs to be shut down immediately

2nd span u/c. Kosciuszko Bridge replacement.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8070135e_k.jpg
Governor Cuomo Announces Second Span of New Kosciuszko Bridge to Open in September 2019 - Four Years Ahead of Schedule and On Budget by governorandrewcuomo, on Flickr

customers can start to use omny, the new mta tap card system, at a handful of stations starting the end of this month.

omny will eventually replace the metrocard:




TRANSIT

How to use OMNY, the MetroCard replacement coming to some subway lines, buses
The MTA's new tap-to-pay system will launch on May 31 at 16 subway stations and on Staten Island buses.

By Lauren Cook

Updated May 10, 2019 8:23 AM


https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/..._768/image.jpg



Spring is a time for new beginnings, and for the MTA that means rolling out a new way to enter the subway.

On May 31, the MTA will launch OMNY, its new tap-to-pay system that will eventually replace the swipe, swipe, swipe of the MetroCard.

In an attempt to control the chaos likely to occur if the MetroCard was tossed out overnight, the MTA is rolling out the new system in phases, starting with 16 subway stations on the 4, 5 and 6 lines in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The new technology will also be available on Staten Island buses at the same time.



more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/how-doe...ork-1.30857529

some good news --- as advertized, the ato/cbtc system upgrades are improving service on the L and 7 trains:


TRANSIT

MTA completes 7 line's Automatic Train Operation upgrade in Queens

The 7 in Queens is the second line to be upgraded with ATO, after the L train. All other lines rely on operators to control a train's acceleration, cruising speed and braking.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/subway-...ain-1.30860424

Is any tangible progress being made on Fast Forward ?

From what I've read, yes. On time statistics have improved due to repairs (especially signaling), removal of old speed restrictions, and elimination/updates to signal timers. The cutover to CBTC on the 7 has dramatically improved on time performance even though there are some teething issues with automatic operation. They still have a long way to go and rush period dispatching appears to be a continuing problem.

Thanks for the update! Also, are the new cars still on pace ?

https://www.amny.com/transit/new-subway-cars-1.26287915

As far as I know however given how these procurements go I would expect a delay of some sort once they start getting them and testing. I think there were fewer problems with the Kawasaki cars (where the next order is coming from) than the problematic Bombardier R179s so hopefully it's mostly on schedule.

Sweet!

L train work on track at the start:


https://www.amny.com/transit/l-train...ion-1.31362759

• Video Link

Uber Copter Will Only Make New York Transit Worse

https://www.citylab.com/transportati...copter/591235/




https://images.fastcompany.net/image...rs-for-now.jpg

^ Great way to die.

This is so disgusting.

Honestly society is sick, people will never realize the horrible consequences of all the destruction that is being caused to the environment?

july 1st start for 14st busway.

no cars from 6am-10pm

3rd av to 9av

also bus sbs service starts

many stops eliminated to speed things up.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/14th-street-bus-1.32231282

I take it that copter thing is off then.

I was thinking about writing a long meandering opinion, but I'm afraid the short answer is no. Or more specifically the short answer is no if it's making someone gobs of money or if many people are dependent on the status quo making them moderate amounts of money. Rocking the boat can be scary if people haven't planned for what they might hop into when it tips over.

lga airtrain complaints from the compTROLLer :D


MTA isn't ready for LaGuardia AirTrain ridership, comptroller says


By Vincent Barone

Updated June 19, 2019 7:01 PM


The MTA isn’t ready to handle additional riders expected to take the LaGuardia AirTrain coming in 2022, according to City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Citing infrequent Long Island Rail Road service to the new airport link and shrinking funds for critical station upgrades, Stringer penned a letter to the Port Authority and MTA dated Monday June, 17, asking for more rail service to handle larger crowds.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/laguard...ain-1.32624886