LIRR To Provide Service To Citi Field Opener
This upcoming Sunday, the new Citi Field will hold its inaugural event. The event is a baseball game between Big East rivals St. John’s & Georgetown. The Long Island Rail Road sent me a press release to talk about the service it will provide to this event. Here are the complete details:
The MTA Long Island Rail Road will provide service to the inaugural baseball game, a 1:10 PM start, at Citi Field on Sunday, March 29. The game pits St. John’s University against Big East rival Georgetown University. Parking still remains limited, so taking the train is the best way to go.
The Mets new home, Citi Field, replaced Shea Stadium and Shea Stadium Station was renamed the Mets-Willets Point Station. Service to Mets-Willets Point Station is available on eastbound Port Washington Branch trains from Penn Station and westbound trains from Great Neck and Port Washington.
The train ride is just 18 minutes from Penn Station to Mets-Willets Point Station. For those traveling on the LIRR from Long Island, the Station is just six minutes from Woodside, 16-17 minutes from Great Neck and 27 minutes from Port Washington.
LIRR service to and from Mets-Willets Point Station on March 29 is as follows:
Eastbound: Trains leaving Penn Station half-hourly between 10:19 AM and 7:19 PM.
Westbound: Trains leaving Port Washington half-hourly between 10:10 AM and 7:39 PM.
The following Main Line trains will have added stops at Woodside for this game:
Eastbound: 4:22 PM, 4:37 PM, 4:52 PM, 5:22 PM, 5:37 PM and 5:52 PM.
Westbound: 11:57 AM, 12:00 PM, 12:57 PM, 1:00 PM.
Fans traveling from branches other than Port Washington can reach Mets-Willets Point Station by taking a regularly scheduled train to Woodside Station, then changing to an eastbound Port Washington Branch train.
Since Mets-Willets Point Station is located in Zone 1, tickets to that zone from outlying stations are valid to Mets-Willets Point. However, passengers must retain their ticket stubs and inform ticket collectors of their intention to travel to Mets-Willets Point Station. Customers must hold onto their tickets, which will be collected at the Mets-Willets Point Station after they disembark.
The LIRR’s Mets-Willets Point Station is not handicapped accessible.
The Railroad’s special Family Fare is a great way for future big leaguers to see their favorite team. Children, ages 5 through 11, can ride for only 75-cents each when tickets are purchased at a ticket office or from a ticket machine, during off-peak hours, when accompanied by an adult paying the regular off-peak fare.
Parents with monthly or weekly tickets just pay for the children. Up to four children can travel with each parent (or guardian, 18 or older) at this special rate. The Family Fare is $1 per child if purchased on-board a train. For travel during peak hours, the child fare is one-half the regular one-way fare. Children under 5 ride for free at all times.
I might take this game in on Sunday as I would like to see how the new facility looks. Anything would have been an improvement over Shea Stadium which was the worst stadium in Major League Baseball.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Gov. Paterson: Proceed With The Doomsday Scenario
As I noted in the entry below, the MTA Finance Committee voted to recommend enacting the “doomsday scenario” budget to the full board on Wednesday. While there is technically still time to come up with a plan, Gov. Paterson has thrown in the towel on something being done. Earlier this morning he urged the MTA to proceed with enacting their “doomsday scenario” budget since the Senate does not seem to be able to come up with a bailout plan. Glenn Blain of the New York Daily News has more in this report:
Gov. Paterson says the MTA should go ahead with its so-called doomsday budget because the Legislature can’t agree on a deal to save straphangers.
Paterson, in a Monday morning news conference, said Wednesday’s deadline has been “known by all parties” and that the MTA should not delay adopting its budget.
“Delaying action, to me, would just ring too true to what’s gone on in Albany too many times,” Paterson said.
The MTA’s finance committee is meeting Monday to approve the massive fare hikes and service cuts needed to plug a $1.2 billion budget gap.
Paterson held out hope that any fare hike or service cuts could be averted if lawmakers agree on a bailout deal sometime after the MTA’s full board meets Wednesday.
Click here for the complete report.
As I said, technically the Senate still has time to craft an acceptable plan to save the MTA & the millions of people who depend on it. However I understand why Gov. Paterson has thrown in the towel on any possible rescue plan. He makes an irrefutable point about the Senate knowing the deadline for quite some time. If they really wanted to get something done, they could have. This is still the case even with Majority Leader Malcolm Smith being clueless about the reality of the deadline.
What sad times we live in when the obvious importance of our mass transit infrastructure & system as a whole continues to be ignored by Albany even though it is arguably the region’s biggest economic engine.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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- Senate Democrats’ MTA Bailout Plan Gets Slammed
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Access-A-Ride Users Spared Huge Fare Increase
Over the last number of months, the main focus of this blog has been on the dire financial crisis within the MTA. Part of this focus was centered on the possible enactment of a “doomsday scenario” which included massive fare hikes & service cuts. One ot the potential fare hikes that did not get as much press was the plan to increase Access-A-Ride fares to twice the regular transit base fare. This proposal was met with obvious disdain.
However Access-A-Ride users may be the only group to have something to celebrate. According to a report by Pete Donohue in today’s New York Daily News, the MTA plans to shelve the proposal which would have lead to a $5 fare:
The MTA is shelving an unpopular plan to more than double the fare disabled riders pay for door-to-door van service, the Daily News has learned.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority finance committee is still scheduled to vote Monday on higher fares for subways, buses and commuter trains scheduled to go into effect June 1.
But a separate provision jacking up the Access-A-Ride fare to $5 from $2 is no longer part of the package, a staff summary obtained by The News reveals.
Transit officials now plan to raise the van service fee by 50 cents. That would keep it equal to the cost of a one-way bus or subway trip, which is slated to rise to $2.50.
Fare hikes of all stripes were blasted during public hearings in the city and surrounding counties this year, yet the Access-A-Ride provision stoked the greatest outrage.
Disabled riders, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, city Controller William Thompson and other officials urged the MTA to spare the service’s 25,000 daily riders.
The staff summary doesn’t acknowledge the strong criticism generated by the original Access-A-Ride proposal. Instead, it says staffers couldn’t get the necessary paperwork and approvals completed in time for this month’s MTA committee and full board meetings.
An Access-A-Ride fare greater than the subway/bus fare requires approval by the mayor and the federal government, authorities have said.
The staff summary suggests the authority will pursue the regulatory approvals while seeking savings in the program along with City Hall.
Click here for the complete report.
Congratulations to those riders being spared such a dramatic fare increase. I only wish the rest of us would be as lucky. However this does not look like it will be the case. First we had Gov. Patterson throwing in the towel on the MTA being bailed out. Then literally within the last 15-20 minutes, the MTA Finance Committee approving a recommendation of the “doomsday scenario” budget to the full MTA Board on Wednesday. I will talk about these two things shortly.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Transit Riders Show How Clueless They Really Are
In the entry below, I touched on how the majority of transit riders are clueless in terms of transit policy & the needs to maintain & grow our system at the same time. Many of the riders already show their lack of knowledge by continuing to obsess over the accusation of double books from 5+ years ago. They also obsess over a surplus disappearing ignoring the fact that maintaining & upgrading the system is not free.
Tomorrow’s print edition of the New York Times takes a look at how transit riders themselves are their unlikely opponent with their non-support for bridge tolls. Here is a sample of William Neuman’s piece:
A small group of Democratic state senators from Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx have blocked a financial rescue proposal for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because it would require tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges.
They have taken this position even though the plan is meant to help hold down transit fares, and in their districts — as in the city overall — commuters who ride subways and buses easily outnumber those who drive to work.
But interviews with residents in these districts revealed that the holdout legislators have tapped into a concern shared by many of their constituents, even among those where it might be least unexpected: transit riders. And while toll opponents made up a spirited minority among straphangers interviewed in recent days, their views stood out, because they were both unexpected and passionately held.
“I think it’s unfair to tax drivers to pay for those using public transportation,” Serena Burch, 37, said as she waited on a recent afternoon for a bus near Brooklyn College, where she is a full-time student. “Why should the bridge commuters pay for the subway commuters in Brooklyn?”
In the Soundview section of the Bronx, John Garcia, 33, a plumber with a job in Manhattan, is represented by Senator Rubén Díaz Sr., another vocal toll opponent. Mr. Garcia said that even though he was a regular subway rider, he worried about the effect of tolls on the small businesses that frequently use the Harlem River bridges.
“Tolling the bridges is going to hurt a lot of people that own plumbing companies, construction companies, cabs, deliverymen,” Mr. Garcia said, adding that he would prefer higher subway fares to new tolls.
Several subway riders said they opposed both tolls and higher fares and expressed a deep distrust of the transportation authority.
“The whole organization is very inefficient,” said Boris Gertsberg, 33, a software developer who lives in Mr. Kruger’s district in Brooklyn and takes the subway daily to his office in Manhattan. He said he did not drive a car but was still against tolls. “I don’t think looking at hiking fares or putting tolls is the right way to solve the budgetary crisis they’re in,” he said.
Click here for the complete report.
As you know by now, I was not impressed with the Ravitch Commission proposals. I felt they lacked innovation in terms of funding ideas. I felt with the people on the commission, they could have come up with some more options. My main issue was with the business tax as it was not well thought out. However I also understand that these proposals are clearly superior to being forced to live with the enactment of the “doomsday scenario“.
William’s report just showcases what many transit advocates & bloggers know, the general public is clueless on transit policy from how things are run down to the day-to-day operations. They completely ignore the fact they pay higher fares mainly due to elected officials (mainly Albany) shortchanging the MTA & subsequently the riders themselves year after year. They also completely ignore the fact that most of that money gets used on people located outside the 12 counties the MTA serves. Lastly they ignore how the same drivers they feel pity for are benefiting while not caring about the needs of mass transit users.
With this kind of sentiment, is it any wonder that the same anti-transit politicians get elected time & time again? This report just angered me so much as how clueless could people be? I already know the answer but wish it was something completely different. So when riders are paying more for less, I hope they remember that they reap what they sow & that the drivers they defend could care less.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Save Mass Transit With Some Honesty
With the “doomsday scenario” a little over 2 days away, time is running out for Albany to come up with a plan to save millions of riders from subpar mass transit. When it comes to the battle of public opinion, the MTA is considered the dishonest party by far.
Regardless of what proof the MTA says or does in terms of proof of their dire financial situation, a high percentage of the riding public says it is not being upfront. Their proof of this is the claim made 5+ years ago that the agency kept two sets of books. Ever since that accusation came about, the MTA’s cries for monetary assistance have been met with a sentiment of sure you do.
In an a column that appeared in today’s print edition of the New York Daily News, Errol Louis shares his belief on why honesty from the political side is necessary to save mass transit. Lets take a look at what he had to say:
We have reached crunch time in the stalled transit talks, with Albany pols deadlocked and dithering as the MTA prepares to vote this week on a “doomsday budget” that features deep cuts in service and a wallet-busting 23% transit fare hike.
This is idiotic. Everybody knows that some combination of tax hikes, fare increases and service cuts are needed to close the MTA’s $1.2 billion deficit and raise the additional billions needed to keep trains, buses, stations and bridges in working order.
But the men who run Albany remain so far apart that the MTA, Gov. Paterson and leaders of the state Legislature can’t even agree on basic arithmetic, such as the amount of revenue a tax hike is likely to yield.
That’s inexcusable – and a symptom of the need for greater transparency, disclosure and public discussion when it comes to MTA issues.
There’s a better way. Instead of using the six-year-old “two sets of books” canard as an excuse for delay, Albany pols should agree in advance to abide by a public referendum on how best to balance three or four different funding plans.
The plans could be developed by different coalitions of civic, business and political groups, then presented side by side on a Web site developed by a neutral and reliable source – say, a group of university leaders, professional accountants, urban planners and transportation professionals.
Everything should be on the table. Not just the controversial proposal of the moment – tolling the East River bridges – but also sensible ideas like a regional gas tax, which could raise billions for mass transit for a few pennies per gallon at the gas pump.
Click here for the complete column.
I happen to agree with the stance taken here by Mr. Louis. This is 2009 & a good percentage of the riding public continues to be misinformed of transit policy as a whole & what really is or is not necessary to maintain our system. The MTA has done a solid job of keeping things on the up & up under the new regime. It is about time they get recognized for that instead of being buried by the mistakes of their predecessors.
The same people who feel the MTA is being dishonest are the same ones who will be the first to complain about higher fares. They will also be the same people to reelect the anti mass transit officials who continue to screw the riding public at almost every turn. They will also be the same people who will support the possible ouster of MTA CEO/Executive Director Elliot Sander even though he has done a wonderful jub during his tenure.
Listen up people, you can’t have it both ways. Either you start to do your part or be prepared to suffer the consequences of higher fares for years to come. The choice is clearly yours. If you ask me, I wouldn’t be surprised if they stick to the status quo & continue to show just how misinformed & clueless they are.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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