New York City - Transit News

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by BrownTown

I don't know what they make in Tokyo, but NYC construction workers make more than the average doctor and they don't have to go to med school until their late 20s and get into debt either.

except that leaves us with the non-unionized illegal immigrant labor, you know, like for example the kind your boy trump used on his trump soho hotel that got someone killed during the rushed construction, who make much, much less with the under the table day cash $ they get handed.

[mrnyc]

state politicians propose using sales tax and additional red light camera ticket money to fund transit repairs:


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...icle-1.3722091

[BrownTown]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

except that leaves us with the non-unionized illegal immigrant labor, you know, like for example the kind your boy trump used on his trump soho hotel that got someone killed during the rushed construction, who make much, much less with the under the table day cash $ they get handed.

Yes, you're right those are the ONLY two options, theres no possible middle ground at all.

[chris08876]

Should Uber and Lyft riders pay a fee for clogging Manhattan’s busiest streets?

The number of for-hire vehicles operating in the city has nearly doubled, from 47,000 in 2013 to 103,000 today, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Out of those in operation, about 68,000 are with ride-hailing apps, with Ubers being 65,000 of them. City law caps the number of yellow taxis below 13,600. The explosion of ride-hailing services in the city, and the heavy traffic that comes along with it, has caused some officials to consider measures to reduce congestion while raising money for the MTA.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is planning to release a congestion pricing plan in January as a way to provide a dedicated funding source for the transit system. Cuomo’s 16-person state task force, Fix NYC, is currently exploring options that would reduce congestion, including a per-ride fee on for-hire vehicles in Manhattan.

About 10 years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed for a similar congestion pricing plan; charging drivers $8 to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan during peak commuting hours. The legislation faced opposition and was never brought to a vote.

On Tuesday, Uber launched an advertisement campaign supportive of a congestion pricing plan. As the Daily News reported, the six-figure television ad will run on city cable stations and will highlight the “congestion nightmare” NYC is experiencing. The ad says: “Above ground: congestion. Below ground: A mess. Congestion pricing can fix both.”

[...]

Instead of a congestion pricing plan, De Blasio has announced support for a “millionaires tax,” a plan to tax the wealthiest 1 percent of residents to pay for transit repairs. The tax must be approved by Albany, something that many say is unlikely due to the state Senate’s Republican majority.

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6Sqft

[Dac150]

Sounds like a smart and easy way for the MTA to generate some revenue … and perhaps reduce some congestion in the process.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Should Uber and Lyft riders pay a fee for clogging Manhattan’s busiest streets?




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6Sqft

Chicago has experienced a similar increase in traffic from Uber/Lyft. There are a couple fees now tacked onto ride-share trips, although I don't think Chicago is considering any congestion pricing in the Central Area. The idea gets mentioned now and then, but I think it'd be relatively complicated to implement and while traffic is much worse than it was ten years ago it still isn't quite bad enough to make everyone favor congestion pricing yet.

I think rush-hour tolls on the expressways might be worth considering, though. It would be somewhat ironic, seeing as the first Mayor Daley went out of his way to ensure there are no toll roads in Chicago (except for the Skyway headed to Indiana). It can take 90 minutes to get to/from O'Hare to the Loop - a distance of 16 miles - at rush hour now. Which is good for Blue Line ridership (it's consistently 45 minutes from O'Hare to the Loop via the Blue Line subway), but not much else. A few years ago, some study found that Chicago was the only city in the country where transit between all (both) of its airports and the Central Business District could beat travel by car and traffic has only gotten worse since then. Hence continued pushes for express rail service between O'Hare and the Loop.

I kinda think Uber/Lyft should have substantial taxes, given the number of external costs they impose on the city. Tacking on the equivalent of a bus ticket per passenger for all trips originating or ending in the Central Area would be a pretty good goal, making sure that at least on trips involving the Central Area ride-share will never be less than using mass transit. Some of those additional trips are made exactly because they can be less than or not much more than taking transit. Ending that price advantage would almost certainly reduce the number of trips into the Central Area by car and help raise additional revenue for transit. New York should do that, too.

[chris08876]

Public Hearings Next Week on PATH Extension to Newark Airport

Now, plans are advancing to expand the Port Authority Trans-Hudson’s (PATH) Newark-World Trade Center Line south by 2.4 miles from Newark Penn Station to a site in the Dayton neighborhood alongside the existing airport station, which connects NJ Transit and Amtrak trains to the AirTrain. Unlike the existing station, the construction of the controversial two-track PATH stop near the intersection of Frelinghuysen Avenue and Haynes Avenue would allow for access to the Frelinghuysen Avenue corridor.

As part of the project, new PATH tracks will also have to be constructed along McCarter Highway in Newark south of South Street, where PATH’s train yard currently ends.

According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a new rail yard will be built at 442-470 Frelinghuysen Avenue or 660 Frelinghuysen Avenue and platforms at Newark Penn Station will undergo a “modification…to accommodate increased passenger flow.” A park-and-ride commuter garage could also be built as part of a public-private partnership, according to the agency’s scoping document, and paths for bikes and pedestrians, bike storage, an area for taxi service, and stops on NJ Transit Buses 37, 59, and 107 from areas like South Orange, Irvington, Ivy Hill, Cranford, Plainfield, Elizabeth, and Manhattan, as well as Coach USA’s Bus 24 are expected to be included at the new station.

This new service from the airport, which could receive funding from the Federal Transit Administration, would increase service along an already crowded system, particularly because the PATH cost is significantly less expensive than NJ Transit. In addition, PATH service at the airport station would allow for the first-ever one-seat ride from Lower Manhattan to EWR.

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Jersey Digs

[mrnyc]

whats just stunning is that its taken this long.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Once PATH is extended to Newark, I will probably visit NYC every year. I'd actually like to spend some time on the Jersey side of the Hudson, too.

It has been an insane idea not to properly link Newark-Liberty to the PATH and MTA systems.

[Marv95]

As a former local resident I'm all for a South Ward PATH station. Could help out the area unlike that choo-choo extension between Broad Street Sta and Penn Station. The recent developments/proposals are happening in spite of it.

That said it's idiotic to not have a PATH station within walking distance to the terminals. Why not just redo Airtrain and extend it from the airport to Penn Station NWK as a monorail which could be cheaper? This is almost a ripoff of Sutphin Blvd in Queens. There also shouldn't be a flat rate for PATH either.

[C.]

The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/n...ion-costs.html

A must-read expose in the Times!

[C.]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...ay-tunnel-deal

Gateway is dead again

[giantSwan]

Originally Posted by CIA

The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/n...ion-costs.html

A must-read expose in the Times!

Great article. Whatever your political affiliation, this should anger you. Hopefully we can come together as a city/country and focus on results rather than dogma. Totally unacceptable to have a similar project cost 5x less in Paris v. NYC.

[BrownTown]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

whats just stunning is that its taken this long.

I agree, but if you look at the price projections the reason becomes obvious. It seems like it should be so simple, but building any transit in the NYC area is like throwing money down the toilet. Ironically you can just click that NYT article linked above to see why.

[Dac150]

Originally Posted by CIA

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...ay-tunnel-deal

Gateway is dead again

I have to believe a new deal will come to fruition … replacement tunnels are a necessity.

[BrownTown]

Originally Posted by Dac150

I have to believe a new deal will come to fruition … replacement tunnels are a necessity.

The deal will be for a wall along the Southern border.

[jd3189]

Hate to say it, but it would be nice if a Robert Moses for transit arose to power in NYC during this time. But then again, many laws have been put in the books to prevent a person like that from ever rising up again.

[antinimby]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

except that leaves us with the non-unionized illegal immigrant labor, you know, like for example the kind your boy trump used on his trump soho hotel that got someone killed during the rushed construction, who make much, much less with the under the table day cash $ they get handed.

You should read that NYT article link by CIA above. You might learn something.

[BrownTown]

Originally Posted by antinimby

You should read that NYT article link by CIA above. You might learn something.

Yeah, exactly. I hate this Black and White thinking people have. Either it's unions making $300,000/yr with half of them doing literally nothing or else it's illegal immigrants making minimum wage. ABSURD. These other countries all have unions, they just also have brains so they don't have it written in their union contracts that you need twice as many people on a job as is actually required or that you get paid $400/hr working overtime on Sundays.

[antinimby]

^ Yup and accidents happen even with unions. In fact, some of the most tragic crane collapses in the city have been union jobs.