New York City - Transit News

[mrnyc]

big news -- the omny contactless payment system is now installed at most subway stations:


OMNY payment system now at turnstiles in most subway stations: MTA
Mark Hallum
August 12, 2020


https://www.amny.com/transit/omny-pa...-stations-mta/

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

big news -- the omny contactless payment system is now installed at most subway stations:


OMNY payment system now at turnstiles in most subway stations: MTA
Mark Hallum
August 12, 2020


https://www.amny.com/transit/omny-pa...-stations-mta/

Awesome... one of the underappreciated properties of the Chicago L is that you can pay via contactless credit card or phone.

[mrnyc]

^ yes it is and lots of other cities too. mta always waits until last when the tech is perfected elsewhere to their liking before adopting anything, for obvious reasons.

***

a known vandal smashed 7 train windows and may have taken trains out of service. the one man wrecking crew is suspected of over 63 seperate incidents!:

https://abc7ny.com/amp/7-train-vanda...ammer/6381063/

[mrnyc]

ugh.


Updated August 27th, 2020:

MTA Unveils "Doomsday" Plan

Yesterday, the MTA unveiled a doomsday plan that they say they will be forced to implement if they do not receive aid from the federal government. The plan calls for a 40% reduction in service, which equates to an eight minute increase in wait times on the subway, and 15 minutes on buses. The agency will also suspend planned work on signal replacement and infrastructure improvement, and eliminate a program that provides accessible vehicles to handicapped customers. Of course, a fare increase is also likely, raising the cost of a swipe to $3.75. The MTA also warned that without aid they would be forced to make dramatic cuts to staff, leading to layoffs of as many as 7,200 transit workers in the city and 850 Long Island Railroad employees. The plan is still hypothetical at this point, and will not go into effect until 2021. The MTA has until December 31st to vote on a budget for next year.

[chris08876]

Free bus fares ending tomorrow.

[mrnyc]

^ yeah i took the bus today and they announced that.

i will sure miss that perk, but otoh my worktransit metrocard acct is loaded!

[mrnyc]

the money mta, etc. needs back from the feds is staggering ...


https://www.amny.com/news/transit-ne...trouble-cuomo/

[M II A II R II K]

Gateway delay increases project cost by hundreds of millions of dollars, planners say

https://www.njherald.com/news/202008...planners-say/1

.....

- A revised financial plan to fund the long-delayed Gateway project anticipates costs going up by hundreds of millions of dollars because of the stalled process for federal aid, said the agency leading the proposal planning. “The estimated construction cost of the Hudson Tunnel Project elements totaling $11.6 billion, has in whole, increased by $275 million (2.4%) since the 2019 submittal,” according to the letter to the Federal Transit Administration from the main project sponsor, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The increase, the letter said, is “due to escalation as a result of the delay in issuing the (final environmental impact statement) and (record of decision) and the ensuing ineligibility to receive federal funds required for advancing into full construction.”

- Inflation from waiting for the project to get underway is the main reason for the cost increases, according to Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the project. “We can’t move early work forward, you can’t move utilities, you can’t buy a bunch of properties that you would need,” Sigmund said. “That equals higher costs over time.” If the project gets approved as is, those additional costs, Sigmund said, would be split evenly between those paying for the local share — the Port Authority, Amtrak, NJ Transit and the Gateway Corporation — and the federal government. This plan increases a request for federal grant funding to $4.498 billion, up from $4.361 billion, which would make the federal percentage portion 44.3%, up from 44.0%. The local share that would be split is estimated at $5.5 billion.

.....

[manchester united]

After De Blasio, Cuomo and Foye, also Sarah Feinberg says that the 24/7 subway service will be restored. But when????
http://www.mta.info/press-release/ny...%E2%80%99-good
http://www.mta.info/press-release/ny...ears-live-wcbs

[mrnyc]

^ not for awhile yet.

maybe after schools open, indoor dining and a few other things return.

it would not surprize me if its not until we get a vaccine though, so they can keep up the cleaning routine.

our state senator brad holyman hosted a law that mandated it return at some point, so it will indeed return.

[mrnyc]

oh great, more loudmouth opportunities!



MTA’s Canarsie Tunnel is first under-river subway with full connectivity

The agency partnered with Transit Wireless on a deal that not only earns revenue for MTA, it also provides riders with added cellular connectivity.

Sep 3rd, 2020


The recently rehabbed Canarsie Tunnel, which carries the L Line under the East River in New York City, has become the first under-river tunnel to have full connectivity. The feat is the result of a partnership between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Transit Wireless.


more:
https://www.masstransitmag.com/techn...l-connectivity

[mrnyc]

mta and the search for $$$



TRANSIT

Railing Over MTA’s One-Track Mind on Federal Bailout Hope

BY JOSE MARTINEZJMARTINEZ@THECITY.NYC SEP 13, 2020, 8:57PM EDT


The MTA has placed a $12 billion, all-or-nothing bet on a bailout from the federal government.

But budget watchdogs and some of the transit agency’s own board members are pushing the MTA to look beyond Washington for salvation from a pandemic-driven economic crisis that’s alternately been described by officials as a “fiscal tsunami” and a “five-alarm fire.”

”Absent a miracle in the next few weeks, the MTA is not going to get the $12 billion of funding it needs,” said Denise Richardson, vice president of research at the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission. “So, what’s the plan?”

Without another infusion of federal funding, the transit agency has warned of 40% cuts to subway and bus service, layoffs and delays to long-planned system upgrades and expansion efforts. The MTA previously received $3.9 billion in federal aid to help cover operating expenses during the pandemic, but that money ran out in July.


more:
https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/9/13/21...l-bailout-hope



Riders wait for a 7 train at Queensboro Plaza, Aug. 27, 2020. Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

[mrnyc]

50% cuts in commuter rail service?


Transit advocates warn MTA cuts threaten Long Island ‘way of life’
By David MeyerSeptember 17, 2020 | 1:12pm | Updated

Proposed 50 percent cuts to the MTA’s commuter rail service threaten Long Island’s “very way of life” and could spell the end of the Hamptons, transit advocates warned on Thursday.

“East End communities depend in particular on the Long Island Rail Road to bring affluent visitors, and their spending, from New York City and points west,” a coalition of city and suburb-based advocates said in a report.

“Rail cuts would bring debilitating increases in summer gridlock and ear-splitting spikes in noise pollution associated with helicopters.”


more:
https://nypost.com/2020/09/17/mta-ca...d-way-of-life/

[mrnyc]

a bit of progress on second avenue subway if you can believe it:



MTA Inches Forward on Plan to Grab Property for Second Avenue Subway
BY JOSE MARTINEZ AND RACHEL HOLLIDAY SMITH SEP 20, 2020, 7:14PM EDT


The MTA is still moving to someday stretch the Second Avenue Subway into East Harlem — but the pandemic-spurred economic crisis has put the project back on the local track.

The agency has started taking steps mandated by state law toward eventually securing buildings and land along the proposed route of the Q line’s extension from 96th Street to 125th Street — with eminent domain a last resort.

At its July board meeting, the MTA said it has begun the process of acquiring over a dozen properties along Second Avenue and 125th Street through “negotiated voluntary agreements,” according to agency records.

If agreements can’t be reached “in a timely manner,” documents show, the MTA must take preliminary steps under the state’s Eminent Domain Procedure Lawto lessen the potential for future delays to the project.


more:
https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/9/20/21...domain-transit

[Busy Bee]

I know it's like beating a dead horse but it's still absolutely mind boggling that extending the line to the 1 train @ 125th creating a crosstown link* isnt firmly part of this project. Look at those tail tracks! My goodness just keep going! Insane this isn't just common sense.

Also a transfer station @St Nich with A B C D trains

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

I know it's like beating a dead horse but it's still absolutely mind boggling that extending the line to the 1 train @ 125th creating a crosstown link* isnt firmly part of this project. Look at those tail tracks! My goodness just keep going! Insane this isn't just common sense.

Also a transfer station @St Nich with A B C D trains

yep 125 needs crosstown service and those connections.

at least this sets it up for someday.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

yep 125 needs crosstown service and those connections.

at least this sets it up for someday.

I just wish "someday" meant 5 years from now not 25.

[mrnyc]

the next busway was supposed to be main street flushing in queens, but there was pushback there, so now it will be jay street in downtown brooklyn. that one has been delayed a bit, but is on the way:



https://www.amny.com/transit/dot-say...rly-september/

[mrnyc]

a list of additional open streets for the popular covid inspired restaurant streeteries:



https://www.amny.com/transit/open-st...siness-owners/

[mrnyc]

subway ridership worries:


https://abc7ny.com/mta-in-peril-as-n...mmets/6505428/