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MTA Schedule Info For Spring Religious Holidays

Posted by
on April 14th, 2011 at 11:49 pm

With Passover, Good Friday, & Easter coming up, the MTA will be adding extra railroad service & cut back on construction on the roadways. Here are details courtesy of the press release I received:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced that the MTA’s railroads will operate additional trains to assist customers with travel during Passover, Good Friday and Easter 2011. The New York City Subway, the MTA’s buses in New York City and Nassau County, and the Staten Island Railway will operate on normal schedules throughout the holidays.

MTA Long Island Rail Road:

The Long Island Rail Road will operate nine additional eastbound trains from Penn Station, between 2:08 PM and 3:48 PM on April 18 and 19 for customers leaving work early in observance of Passover. The railroad will do the same on April 22 for customer leaving work early in observance of Good Friday. On each of these days, there will be three additional trains on the Babylon Branch, three on the Port Jefferson Branch, one on the Far Rockaway Branch and two on the Port Washington Branch.

The extra, afternoon service from Penn Station follows:

Babylon Branch:

2:24 PM express to Lynbrook, then all stops to Babylon.

3:00 PM stopping at Jamaica, Rockville Centre, then all stops to Babylon.

3:31 PM express to Rockville Centre, then all stops to Babylon.

Port Jefferson Branch:

2:08 PM stopping at Jamaica, Mineola, then all stops to Huntington.

2:21 PM stopping at Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Jamaica, New Hyde Park, then all stops to Huntington.

3:24 PM stopping at Jamaica, Mineola, Westbury and Hicksville.

Far Rockaway Branch:

3:48 PM express to Locust Manor, then all stops to Far Rockaway.

Port Washington Branch:

3:18 PM stopping at Woodside, Flushing Main St., then all stops to Port Washington.

3:40 PM stopping at Woodside, Flushing Main St., then all stops to Great Neck.

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MTA Metro-North Railroad:

Metro-North Railroad will add extra cars to trains departing Grand Central between 3 PM and 5 PM on April 18 to accommodate customers who wish to be home before sundown.

Metro-North expects ridership to be down by a third on Good Friday, April 22, as the financial markets will be closed. Metro-North will operate a regular weekday schedule with an extra train bound for the Upper Hudson Line departing Grand Central at 3:25 PM, first stop Beacon, as shown in the April 3 timetable.

On Easter Sunday, April 24, Metro-North will provide three extra Grand Central-bound trains from New Haven, departing at 5:50 PM, 6:50 PM and 7:50PM, making stops at Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport, Fairfield and Westport. These extra trains are noted in the April 3 timetable.

With Passover, Spring Break and Easter this month, MTA Metro-North Railroad is making some schedule changes to better accommodate its customers’ special travel patterns. These changes
are in addition to the new spring timetables that became effective April 3.

On the eve of Passover, Monday, April 18, there will be extra cars on trains departing Grand Central between 3 PM and 5 PM to accommodate those customers who wish to be home before sundown and the beginning of the holy day.

For Spring Break, Monday-Friday, April 18-22, when most schools in the metropolitan region are closed, there will be extra cars on inbound off-peak Harlem, Hudson and inner New Haven
Line trains, especially on Wednesday April 20.

On Good Friday, Friday, April 22, ridership is expected to be down by a third as the financial markets are closed. Even so, Metro-North will operate a regular weekday schedule but trains
will have fewer cars to save on propulsion costs and reduce wear and tear on the equipment. In addition, there will be one extra outbound train for the Upper Hudson Line departing Grand Central at 3:25 PM, first stop Beacon, as shown in the April 3 timetable.

On Easter Sunday, Sunday, April 24, Metro-North anticipates heavy travel in the afternoon and evening as people return to New York City. There will be three extra inbound trains from New Haven with departures at 5:50 PM, 6:50 PM and 7:50PM, making stops at Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport, Fairfield and Westport. These service changes are noted in the April 3 timetable.

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MTA Bridges and Tunnels:

MTA Bridges and Tunnels will lift all traffic restrictions and roadway closures (other than permanent or emergency conditions) by early afternoon on Monday, April 18, to facilitate Passover travel. Similarly, there will be no restrictions or closures on Easter Sunday.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

BxM2 Revises Northbound Route In Manhattan

Posted by
on April 14th, 2011 at 11:23 pm

Yesterday afternoon, MTA Bus announced that beginning on Sunday, April 17, the northbound Manhattan route of the BxM2 would be revised. Here are the details courtesy of the press release I received:

MTA Bus Company announces that beginning Sunday, April 17 the BxM2 express bus route to Riverdale will be revised in order to provide consistent service along the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Currently, the BxM2 from Riverdale travels south on Fifth Avenue from West 106th Street, then turns west on 79th Street using the Transverse through Central Park to Columbus Avenue, then south on Columbus Avenue to Broadway serving stops along the route to drop-off customers.

On the return trip, however, the BxM2 traveled north on Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue, east on West 72nd Street to Central Park West (CPW), then north on CPW to West 96th Street and through Central Park using the 96th Street Transverse to Madison Avenue, then north on Madison Avenue. The bus traveled non-stop between CPW and West 81st Street and Madison Avenue at 99th Street. The different travel paths were an inconvenience to round-trip customers because they had to walk up to one mile to access the bus to return to Riverdale.

In order to increase customer convenience and marketability, we revised the Riverdale-bound route to operate from Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue, east on West 81st Street and through Central Park using the 79th Street Transverse (instead of the 96th Street Transverse) to Madison Avenue. This will allow access to the Upper East Side to serve bus stops on Madison Avenue proximate to the southbound stops on Fifth Avenue. We also expect customers visiting venues along the Museum Mile to benefit from the route change as well.

There would be no change in operating costs and we expect that over time, the reroute will generate increased ridership and revenue.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Darryl Irick Will Head All MTA Bus Divisions

Posted by
on April 11th, 2011 at 1:33 pm

Earlier today, MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder announced that Darryl Irick will be the new head of all MTA bus divisions. Here is more courtesy of a press release I received:

Citing a depth of experience covering all areas of bus operations from maintenance to service planning, MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder today named Darryl Irick to the permanent posts of MTA New York City Transit Senior Vice President of Buses, President MTA Bus Company and President MTA Long Island Bus. Irick has been the acting head of the MTA’s bus divisions since late last year when former bus head Joe Smith announced his retirement.

“That’s a lot of titles but Darryl is a perfect fit for the job of providing safe, efficient and dependable transportation for New Yorkers,” said Chairman Walder. “Darryl is taking this job at an extremely challenging time, but I know that he is strongly focused on the MTA’s goals of providing faster bus service and more real-time information for the nearly three million customers who depend on buses every day.”

Beginning his NYC Transit career in 1986 as a Bus Operator working out of the Kingsbridge Bus Depot in Manhattan’s Inwood section, Irick moved up to earn progressively more senior positions in the areas of depot management, operations planning and road operations.

A New York City resident, he is coming into this leadership role at a particularly challenging time when bus services are expected to continue to improve even in the face of severe budget constraints. He views the delivery of services as a business model and will maintain a core commitment to offer safe, customer-focused and efficient service, while overseeing improvements such as Select Bus Service, camera-enforced bus lanes and the rollout of MTA Bus Time, which provides real-time bus location information. Irick will also manage the orderly transition of LI Bus services to Nassau County’s selected operator by the end of 2011.

“The MTA’s bus customers expect a lot from us each day and it is my job to deliver. Challenging times are no excuse for falling back and making do,” said Irick. “We have done a lot, but I intend to make certain that customers see further, tangible improvements – improved communications with customers and a commitment to providing service that our customers can depend on.”

He has already faced the challenge of one of the harshest winters in the City’s history. Under his leadership, his team devised new approaches to winter storm response, resulting in a much improved response and more efficient delivery of customer information during disruptions.

In total, the MTA’s bus operations transport 2.8 million daily bus customers throughout an operating area of more than 900 square miles. The total fleet includes nearly 6,000 buses and the three divisions are supported by 18,500 employees working out of 40 facilities stretching from Yonkers to Rockville Center.

Congratulations go out to Mr. Irick. Hopefully he does a good job with bringing up the quality of every bus division under his watch & lead it to a more prosperous future. Only time will tell if he was the right man for the job.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Service Diversions 04-11-11

Posted by
on April 11th, 2011 at 5:01 am

I have just updated the Service Diversions page by removing all of the weekend work that wrapped up by a minute ago. The planned work for this week & beyond in some cases has been moved to the forefront.

I suggest printing out a copy before heading to your destination. If you have an internet capable handheld device, you can use it to access the mobile version of this site. The next update will be sometime on Thursday or Friday after I received the planned weekend diversions from the MTA directly.

As always, stay safe & have a wonderful week.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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The MTA Prepares For Next Budget War

Posted by
on April 11th, 2011 at 12:21 am

A new year yet a very familiar story. The MTA is up against it financially & any sort of budget miracle seems to be a fantasy. The latest issue stems from the budget plan released by Rep. Paul Ryan last week which would cost the cash strapped agency $2.3B over a 10 year period.

While the likelihood of his plan passing is slim to none, it does not change the fact that MTA is in a huge financial bind including having no funding for the last 3 years of the current Capital Program. Erik Engquist & Jeremy Smerd of Crain’s New York have more:

This season’s budget battles, whether federal or state, spell out a common theme: funding trouble for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The budget plan of Rep. Paul Ryan that House Republicans unveiled last week would cost the MTA more than $2.3 billion over 10 years in funding for rail and bus infrastructure and security projects, Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-Brooklyn/Queens, calculates. While that plan for 2012 is unlikely to pass, cuts in federal funding for the MTA appear probable.

A larger problem for the agency is that the last three years of its five-year, $26.3 billion capital plan have no state funding, and it’s unclear how it will be raised. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who did not appropriate money for the capital plan in the new budget, has not said whether his no-new-taxes pledge applies to the MTA capital plan.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Martin Golden, R-Brooklyn, intends to introduce legislation to eliminate the 50-cent surcharge on taxi rides that goes to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s operating budget. The surcharge brought in $81 million during the state fiscal year that ended March 31.

Click here for the complete report.

Let’s face reality here, the MTA is not crying wolf here. While many feel the agency has two sets of books, wastes money that could fix this overnight, etc… the fact is these myths are not true. While the agency has waste issues, they have at least attempted to clean up that side of things lately. However even if they cleaned up every aspect & wasted not one cent, they would still be in a bind.

The state of our system from the equipment to the infrastructure, & future service depends on having money available for them to use. For over two decades, our elected officials have continued to shaft the agency of much needed cash.

While the agency was able to find a way to get things done, it mainly came at the expense of the riders. However at some point, everything will hit the fan & we could see a steep loss in our transportation network.

This is the time for people to get with the program & rally to get our elected officials to find legitimate ways to help fund the agency & end the practice of shortchanging them. If you ignore what is obviously staring you in the face, don’t cry when base fares are $3+ & 30 day unlimited cards approaching $150!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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