Multiple LIRR Lines Affected For Two Weekends
Earlier today, the MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) sent out a press release advising customers on the Hempstead & Port Jefferson line to use other lines for the next two weekends. The advisement is due to a track work program in the Queens Village area & grade crossing renewals. Here are the complete details:
A track work program in the Queens Village area and grade crossing renewals during the weekends of April 10-11 and April 17-18 will mean no train service on the Hempstead Branch and train service frequency will be reduced on the Port Jefferson/Huntington Branch. Customers should consider taking trains from South Shore LIRR stations (Babylon, Long Beach and West Hempstead Branches) in order to avoid delays during the two weekends.
The track surfacing work will keep this important section of track in a state of good repair, and when the work is completed, the thousands of daily LIRR customers who travel through the area should experience a smoother train ride. For this project, railroad employees using two track tamper machines will lift and align the track itself and add ballast (stones), where necessary. This helps to smooth out any bumps in the track bed and gives longer life to all track components. The tamper machines are each over 100 feet long and weigh 150 tons.
Schedule adjustments will also be made on some trains on the Babylon, Far Rockaway, Long Beach, Oyster Bay and Ronkonkoma Branches during the affected weekends to accommodate Hempstead Branch and Port Jefferson/Huntington Branch connections. These adjustments are reflected in the special weekend timetables dated April 10-11 and April 17-18.
Hempstead Branch:
Eastbound: Customers will board trains at western terminals then disembark at Jamaica for buses that will take them to their final destinations. Customers should anticipate up to 33 minutes additional travel time.
Westbound: Customers will board buses at their stations then change at Jamaica for trains to western terminals. Buses will depart up to 32 minutes earlier than scheduled train times.
Huntington/Port Jefferson Branch:
Customers traveling to and from stations New Hyde Park through Huntington will have hourly train service instead of half-hourly train service. Customers traveling east of Huntington to and from Port Jefferson will have train service every two hours instead of every 90 minutes.Grade Crossing Renewals:
In addition to the track surfacing work, two grade crossings will be renewed on the affected weekends. The work includes replacing rubber panels at the crossings with longer lasting concrete. On April 10-11, the Franklin Avenue, Garden City crossing will be renewed and on April 17-18, the Covert Avenue, Stewart Manor crossing will be renewed. During the work, local motor vehicle traffic detours will be in place as detailed below:
Detour route for Franklin Ave. road closure for crossing renewal work – April 10-11:
Southbound: Heading south on Franklin Avenue, proceed west on 7th Street, then proceed south on Hilton Avenue, then proceed east on 6th Street to Franklin Avenue.
Northbound: Heading north on Franklin Avenue, proceed west on 6th Street, then proceed north on Hilton Avenue, then proceed east on 7th Street to Franklin Avenue.
Detour for Covert Avenue road closure for crossing renewal work – April 17-18:
Northbound: Heading north on Covert Avenue, proceed east on Salisbury Avenue, then proceed north on New Hyde Park Road, then proceed west on Stewart Avenue to Covert Avenue.
Southbound: Heading south on Covert Avenue, proceed east on Stewart Avenue then proceed south on New Hyde Park Road, then proceed west on Salisbury Avenue to Covert Avenue.
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Customers should pick up a copy of the special April 10-11, April 17-18 branch timetables at their stations or at all terminals. For train schedule information customers can contact the LIRR’s 24-hour Travel Information Center in Suffolk County at 631-231-LIRR, in Nassau County at 516-822-LIRR or New York City at 718-217-LIRR. The Travel Information Center’s TDD number for hearing impaired is 718-558-3022. Customers can also consult the LIRR’s website at www.mta.info.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Bx12 Fare Beating Still A Problem
A little under 2 years has passed & the problem still remains, fare evasion on the Bx12’s Select Bus Service that is. The popular service which started in 2008 has faced this issue from the very get-go. The agency attempted to fix it by stepping up fare enforcement. However a May 2009 report in the New York Daily News talked about how the enforcement had not really fixed the issue. Fast forward to 2010 & the problem continues to persist according to a report in today’s New York Daily News by Mike Jaccarino:
They’re still stealing.
Nearly a year after the Daily News found flagrant fare-beating on an experimental “honor system” express bus line, riders are still ripping off the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a Bronx Boro News investigation found.
After the first News exposé on rampant fare-beating on the Bx12 Select Bus Service along Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway, the MTA said it launched a crackdown.
But recent stakeouts by The News at a number of stops along the route found dozens of riders still brazenly boarding the buses, distinctive for their flashing blue lights, without first buying the required tickets at kiosks at the stops.
Over the course of an hour at each stop, 40 fare-beaters boarded the bus at Fordham Plaza sans tickets; 22 did so near the Pelham Bay IRT subway stop, and 27 at the stop on Pelham Parkway at Williamsbridge Road.
The revelation comes as the money-bleeding MTA implements a Doomsday plan that cuts bus and subway routes around the city. The MTA has also threatened to eliminate the student MetroCard.
The Bx12 SBS began rolling June 30, 2008, as a way to speed up the ride across the congested Fordham Road corridor. The line now carries an average of 30,500 riders weekly.
A squad of eagle-eyed cops and retired police officers were supposed to enforce the bus honor system with spot checks.
The MTA said its has issued 6,532 summonses, each carrying a $100 fine, to date.
Click here for the complete report.
Something needs to be done about this as it is almost 2 years & the same issues continue to manifest. In a day & age where every dollar counts for the much maligned transit agency, they must find a way to work with the NYPD to curtail fare evasion. Maybe the cops should spend less time giving out frivolous tickets to paying subway riders & focus on catching fare beaters on the Bx12.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Subway Car Announcement Report Released
It is that time of year again, where the NYPIRG Straphangers’ Campaign releases its Subway Car Announcement Report. The report focuses on the clarity & accuracy of subway car announcements. Here is the press release they issued this morning for the report:
More than 80% of basic announcements made on subway cars are clear and accurate, according to the annual survey of subway car announcement released today by the Straphangers Campaign. (See Table One.)
At the same time, in 55% of delays and disruptions experienced by our raters, there was either no announcement — or an inaudible, garbled or incorrect one.
Official transit guidelines require conductors to make basic, in-car announcements including the line, station name and any transfer points.
The guidelines also list 18 possible delay announcements with detailed reasons for the delay ranging from “unruly person on the train” to “waiting for connecting train.” The policy says, “If there is a delay, [the conductor] must make an announcement immediately [and again] within 2 minutes after that.”
“We’re glad basic subway car announcements are improving, but disappointed most riders are being left in the dark to cope with delays and reroutings,” said Cate Contino, Campaign coordinator who oversaw the survey.
“Poor announcements can mean missed stops, longer trips and a lot more stress,” said Jason Chin-Fatt, field organizer for the Campaign.
The survey was conducted by 51 staff and volunteers between February 3 and July 11, 2009.
They made 6,600 observations of in-car announcement opportunities on 22 subway lines. Our surveyors experienced and rated 121 delay and service change announcement opportunities during the same survey period. The survey follows eight similar surveys conducted between 1997 and 2006. We privately released our findings in 2007 to New York City Transit in deference of the start of a new transit administration. This is the first survey we have released since then. (See methodology.)
Among the key findings of the survey were:
• The 4, 5, 6, L, M and N lines performed the best in making basic announcements. Our raters heard basic announcements that were clear, ungarbled and correct for a perfect 100% of the time on the 6 and M; all the top-performing lines had automated announcements and performed perfectly or near perfectly.
• The D, G and 7 performed worst in our survey, with 61% adequate basic announcements on the G, and 62% on the D and 7.
• In the delays and disruptions experienced by out raters, 55% of the time (67 out of 121) there was either no announcement — or an inaudible, garbled or incorrect one.
• Announcements were not made at all 26% of the time (31 out of 121); 2% were inaudible or garbled (3) and 27% (33) were rated “incorrect.” These were meaningless announcements that “we have a red signal,” ones lacking key information such as, “This local is now an express” (with no explanation), or ones with jargon such as, “We have a schedule adjustment.”
MTA New York City Transit does not survey delay and disruption delays on subway cars. The agency did survey the “percentage of cars with public address announcements” in the first half of 2009.
Some 90% of cars are rated as having public address announcements. This is broken down by cars with automated announcements (99%) and conductor announcements (84%).
Click here to view “Table 1“.
Click here to view their “Methodology“.
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The report contained no huge surprises. The lines one would expect to be strong were, & the ones one would expect to perform poorly did just that. Until the MTA has advanced technological subway cars on all lines, the ones that have them will always outperform their older equipment counterparts.
The biggest gripe I have with human announcements is the lack of clarity due to faulty equipment along with the lack of information given. I feel that sometimes, conductors tend to assume that the majority of riders know alternatives if things suddenly change. This is an assumption that is wrong as most are programmed to know the standard route they take. How many realistically research every possible way to get to destinations in case of an emergency? The answer is an extremely low percentage.
What should be addressed is spreading out better equipment on all lines so surveys like these can make accurate & legitimate comparisons. Anything else seems like a waste of time & resources.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Security Camera Plan Leaves Out Many Stations
Security is one of the biggest concerns for subway riders in New York City (NYC). This concern has increased even more over the last week due to the recent murder of 2 riders on a Brooklyn-bound 
train. So it is safe to assume that this next story will not help calm those concerns. According to a report by Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News, the MTA’s latest “subway security camera plan leaves 75% of stations unwatched”. Let’s take a look at a brief sample of his report:
Even after the MTA expands its security plans, only about one in four subway stations will have surveillance cameras at turnstiles, the Daily News has learned.
Nearly 70 stations now have surveillance cameras capturing riders entering and exiting through turnstile banks, and the MTA plans to expand surveillance of these so-called “fare control areas” to 100 stations in June.
But the MTA doesn’t have the money or approved plans to expand the coverage beyond that.
Click here for the complete report.
What a surprise, money is the lead trouble issue involving some sort of transit project. Where have we heard that one before? Seriously though, it comes as no surprise that they do not have the money necessary to install cameras in all stations. However in the big scheme of things, is this really that bad?
I am of the belief that we as a society have too many cameras watching us as it is. Security cameras is subways provide a false sense of security in the same way token booth clerks do. While the security camera will deter some, a criminal who has his mindset on committing a crime will do it whether the camera is there or not. Plus how good are the quality of these cameras anyway? Do you tend to notice that camera footage tends to be blurry & not exactly helpful in providing strong identification of people.
In the end, security cameras will not make the subway safer, targeted police presence & overall improvement of the environment will. Don’t let the false sense of security convince you otherwise.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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- MTA To Put Cameras In 400+ Buses
Service Diversions 04-02-10
I have just updated the “Service Diversions” page with the latest information for the weekend & following week (beyond in some cases). I suggest you print out a copy of the diversions to carry with you or use your mobile device to access the phone friendly version of Transit Blogger. Have a safe & wonderful weekend!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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