MTA Holds First Fare Hike Public Hearing
In what my opinion comes as nothing but theater, the MTA held the first public hearing on what will most likely be the latest fare hike aka financial burden for the region.
My good friend Greg Mocker of Pix 11 has more:
Since 2009, fare and toll increases have been budgeted by the MTA. At the November meeting, the board reviews the next budget and announces the proposals.
The Board will discuss and vote on the plans in January. It is set to take effect in March.
There are two options for subway and bus riders. The base fare could increase to $3 or stay the same. The bonus from pay-per-ride swipes would be eliminated in that case.
Railroad riders would see a 3.85 percent maximum increase for weekly and monthly tickets. There would be a cap of $15 for monthly and $5.75 for weekly tickets with no increase for passes above $500.
Click here for the complete report.
I find it hard to believe we won’t see a fare increase as it seems overdue based on the MTA’s history. Now whether the increase is justified is a completely different story when you look at the amount & quality of service received. While I find the subway still a bargain at its current prices, the real losers are suburban commuters who pay extremely high prices for subpar service with no end of such misery in sight.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I would like to take this moment & wish each & every person a Happy Thanksgiving! May you all have a great holiday filled with great food & even greater memories!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Plastic Wrap Causes Travel Nightmares
The day before Thanksgiving is always one of the heaviest travel days of the year. In a region like the tri-state area, this is just more added chaos to what is already the norm. Riders who especially deal with Penn Station know all about the chaos as it is a regular occurrence for them due to the inadequacies of Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road & NJ Transit.
Sadly riders of Amtrak & NJ Transit had to deal with an extra dose of chaos on their commutes Thanksgiving Eve that saw service delayed for as much as one hour due to plastic wrap being caught in the catenary power wires. Noah Cohen of NJ.com has more:
Plastic wrap caught in overhead wires caused major delays on Amtrak and NJ Transit lines Wednesday, slowing riders on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
“There was a plastic wrap in the catenary power wires and we were holding trains until it was removed,” Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said in an email shortly after 6 p.m. “Trains are now on the move, but residual delays are expected.”
Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line service was initially suspended because of the Amtrak wire problem near North Elizabeth, but later resumed with hour-long delays, according to NJ Transit.
Hour-long delays were also reported on NJ Transit’s Raritan Valley Line.
Amtrak reported delays on some of its trains near Metropark and Newark airport stops.
Photos on social media showed a packed waiting area at the already busy New York Penn Station.
Click here for the complete report.
I feel for these riders as dealing with service in & out of Penn Station is frustrating enough when things are decent much less on one of the busiest travel days of the year!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Amtrak Train Detaches On Trip To NYC
Credit: @Manchuck on Twitter
Long time readers know that I am a historic critic of Amtrak’s poor service & much deserved reputation as a failed transportation carrier. So when I heard the news of one of their trains detaching on a trip headed to NYC this evening, I was not surprised one bit.
The story starts on Train #68 on the Adirondack line that runs from Montreal to New York daily. The train which was scheduled to arrive at 8:50 in Penn Station (as of press time, the train has still not arrived at Penn Station) was south of the Albany-Rensselaer when a passenger heard a loud pop & felt a gush of cold air.
When the passenger turned around, he saw that the locomotive engine had detached from the cars & kept going as they sat there like sitting ducks. The 25 people in the car along with the rest of the passengers & crew who made up the 287 in total on board had to wait for 2 hours in the cold as they waited for another train to come get them so they could continue their trip to NYC.
I can’t wait until the investigation is concluded & the facts hopefully come out as to what exactly happened here. Was it some sort of mechanical failure or possible human error that caused this? If human error is the cause, we better see the termination of those responsible for something that could have been tragic.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Greenpoint Elevator Project Moves Forward
Earlier today, MTA NYC announced that its project to install an elevator at the Greenpoint Avenue 
station will be moving forward. Here is more via the press release I received:
MTA New York City Transit announced today that the next phase of a project to bring full accessibility to the Greenpoint Av
“Accessibility is one of my top four priorities as part of the Fast Forward Plan to modernize NYC Transit, and I am very pleased to see how quickly the elevator project at Greenpoint Av has advanced in just a few months,” said MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford. “We thank our customers for their patience while we install these elevators; the final result will benefit everyone – from people who use wheelchairs to parents with strollers to anyone carrying anything heavy.”
The Greenpoint Av elevator project will install three new elevators and update station infrastructure such as stairs, handrails, turnstiles, powered gates and braille signage. An elevator will link the southern end of the station mezzanine to the sidewalk on the east side of Manhattan Avenue between Greenpoint Avenue and Kent Street. Two other elevators will provide access to the northbound and southbound platforms, respectively, from the station mezzanine. In addition, the station agent booth will be modified to a wheelchair user-friendly height and new sidewalk pedestrian ramps will be installed.
From 9:45 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30 to 5 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 31, only northbound
A similar one-direction station bypass for northbound
Construction began in September and is expected to take a total of 28 months. More than 9,400 weekday customers use the station, which remains open to service during the work, though short-term outages such as these limited station bypasses have been scheduled to accommodate work requiring platform or track access. Announcements, signage and outreach to the affected communities and local elected officials detailing any additional service changes related to the construction will be posted and disseminated ahead of each service change as they are scheduled.
In May 2018, President Byford unveiled the Fast Forward Plan to establish a roadmap for the modernization of the subway, bus and paratransit networks. It proposes to add, in the span of five years, enough new elevators to ensure that all subway riders will not be more than two stops away from an accessible station. The plan proposes making more than 180 subway stations ADA accessible over the course of 10 years. In June, President Byford appointed the agency’s first systemwide accessibility adviser, Alex Elegudin, to implement accessibility initiatives outlined in the plan.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has invested nearly $5 billion to make subway stations accessible, including $1.4 billion in the 2015-19 MTA capital program for adding accessibility at 20 stations. The 2015-19 capital program includes $479 million to replace 42 existing elevators and 27 escalators. Future capital programs will include funding for additional stations.
Some planned service changes to accommodate the Greenpoint Av elevator project will also accommodate track maintenance work on the
tunnel reconstruction project that will begin in April 2019. The service changes listed below begin at 9:45 p.m. each night and ends at 5 a.m. the next morning, except weekend work, which begins at 9:45 p.m. Fridays to 5 a.m. Mondays:
November 30 – December 3
- Free shuttle buses operate between Court Sq and Nassau Av
December 3-7
- Free shuttle buses operate between 21 St-Queensbridge and Bedford-Nostrand Avs
December 7-10
- Free shuttle buses operate between Nassau Av and Court Sq
December 10-14
- Free shuttle buses operate between 21 St-Queensbridge and Bedford-Nostrand Avs
December 14-17
- Free shuttle buses operate between Court Sq and Bedford-Nostrand Avs
December 17-21
- Free shuttle buses operate between 21 St-Queensbridge and Bedford-Nostrand Avs
December 21-24
- Free shuttle buses operate between Court Sq and Bedford-Nostrand Avs
January 4-7
Free shuttle buses operate between Bedford-Nostrand Avs and Jay St
xoxo Transit Blogger
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