MTA Reports Improved Storm Performance
Yesterday the MTA sent out a press release to announce a press conference to unveil new sidewalk furniture along with other steps to help prevent subway & railroad flooding. Unfortunately I was tied up with a lot of work yesterday so I did not get the chance to post the release for the conference that was scheduled for this morning. However the MTA just sent a new press release to recap the press conference so here it is before it hits their website & other media outlets:
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Elliot G. Sander today reported the significant storm performance progress made by the MTA since an August 8, 2007 storm flooded key parts of the transit system. Sander unveiled new flood-mitigating subway furniture on Hillside Avenue in Queens, one highlight of the agency’s work in the 365 days since the release of an inter-agency task force report on necessary improvements to handle future storms.
“In just one year’s time we have made enormous progress in tackling flooding issues that have plagued the MTA’s transit network for a generation,” said Elliot G. Sander, MTA Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. “While there’s still work to be done, I’m proud of the MTA’s performance during the heavy storms that hit the area earlier this month. The street furniture we’re debuting today on Hillside Avenue proves that we can fight flood waters with good design that adds to the community.”
The prototype street furniture was designed by Rogers Marvel with di Domenico and Partners. In the coming weeks, the MTA will also release different designs for similar structures, designed by Grimshaw Billings Jackson with Systra, on West Broadway in Lower Manhattan and on the Upper West Side, for public comment.
The September 20, 2007 report was produced by an inter-agency task force that included: the presidents of all of the MTA’s operating agencies; MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger; NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd; NYC Dept. of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan; and NYS Dept. of Transportation Commissioner Astrid Glynn. The report provided recommendations in operations, engineering and communications. Sander reported significant progress in all three areas.
Operations:
• Early warning and response capability: The MTA established a common weather forecasting system, installed Doppler radar screens in all agency operations centers and has begun to pre-deploy operating personnel in flood-prone areas.
• Emergency Response Center: The MTA completed an internal ERC in October 2007 with communications, weather monitoring, Doppler radar and video conferencing capabilities.
• Agency Storm Protocols: The MTA revised its agency-wide storm protocols and established a common structure for emergency response teams.
Engineering:
• NYC Transit: Vent grating prototypes have been designed and are being constructed for placement at the top 6 flood locations, with the next four priority locations underway. Also substantially completed IG recommendations from prior report.
• LIRR: Bayside Station sewer line improvements by NYC DEP and LIRR; portable pumps have been staged at Mineola with installation of drainage rings planned for 2009.
• Metro-North: Short-term engineering solutions complete at Mott Haven; additional catch basin installed by NYC DEP on Webster Ave.
• Bridges & Tunnels: Construction due to complete in early ’09 will remedy situation at Marine Parkway Bridge and Cross Bay Bridge.
Communications:
• Increase website capacity and clarity: Firewalls were replace in Sept. 2007, home page redesign is underway, universal PDA access to website was completed in September 2007, and rss alert feeds have been provided since February.
• Develop capacity for real-time text and email alerts: A contract for agency-wide email and text messaging alerts was issued and service is set to begin in October.
• Improve communication between operation centers and field personnel: All agencies improved communications, including: establishment of a Communications Coordinator at NYCT’s Rail Control Center; virtually all LIRR train personnel are now equipped with cell phones; key Metro-North railroad managers have received Blackberry devices; and B &T has established redundant methods of communication including two-way radios and Blackberry.
• Establish clear emergency communication protocols: All agency public affairs staffs have reviewed and/or revised communications protocol to ensure accurate and timely customer communication.
• Advance public address and video screen technologies: Video screens installed at Penn and Jamaica in late 2007 for LIRR; system testing continues at White Plains station for Metro-North’s Model Station Communication Network; and NYCT is testing video screens.
While it is promising to see efforts made to avoid subway flooding, it is sad that it took a major storm & system shutdown to get progress made on flood prevention.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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MTA Hands Out Medals Of Excellence To 16 Heroic Employees
Yesterday afternoon the MTA sent out a press release to announce that they were awarding “Medals of Excellence” to 16 heroic employees. Here is the press release:
MTA New York City Transit employees maintain a proud tradition of going above and beyond the call of duty in coming to the aid of customers and their fellow workers in time of trouble. Because some of these employees have risked their lives and well-being, 16 of them were honored today during a ceremony held at Transit’s headquarters.
This select group of employees was awarded Medals of Excellence in three distinct categories: Heroism, Commendation and Distinguished Service. For example, Hydraulic Maintainer Anthony Paterno was on his way to work on December 28, 2007 at the Broadway-Lafayette Street station when he heard frantic screams for help from a customer who had fallen onto an adjacent roadbed. Disregarding his own safety, he jumped onto the roadbed and helped the customer to safety. He was awarded a Heroism Medal for his swift and selfless act.
Similarly, Telephone Maintainer Luc Dubuisson and Signal Specialist Emilio Caldarola jumped to the roadbed to save a baby in a stroller after hearing the mother’s hysterical screams in the Atlantic Avenue station on January 30th. They were able to stop an approaching train just in time and retrieve the baby and stroller from the roadbed. They were also awarded Heroism Medals for their courageous actions.
Such heroic actions have placed these employees with 13 fellow NYC Transit workers who are being recognized for various acts.
“Each of the MTA’s 68,000 workers do an incredible job day in and day out moving nine million New Yorkers safely and conveniently,” said Elliot G. Sander, MTA Executive Director and CEO. “Today I am humbled to honor 16 MTA NYC Transit employees who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, risking their lives to help others. I am proud but not surprised that these heroes are MTA employees.”
NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts, Jr. congratulated the Transit Workers for their bravery and quick-thinking efforts in rendering assistance to those in need and in preventing deaths on the tracks. “Our top priority has always been the safety of our customers and employees, and it makes me extremely proud to be the leader of an organization that employs such a team of selfless and dedicated workers,” Roberts said.
In all, six employees received Heroism awards, including Anthony Paterno, Luc Dubuisson and Emilio Caldarola mentioned above. Other Heroism award recipients were Cleaner Charles Tyler, who saved an intoxicated customer who had fallen onto the roadbed in the 3rd Avenue station of the L Line on March 25th by jumping down and helping him back up to the platform.
Power Maintainer Patrick Williams removed his colleague who had broken his leg while doing some work on the roadbed near the Church Avenue station on the F line on June 13th; this colleague was about twice his size and couldn’t walk, but Mr. Williams was able to move him away from danger until help arrived.
Bus Maintainer Robert Sturiale, while riding his motorcycle with a couple of friends on the Northern State Parkway on July 17th, happened upon a car accident and was able to remove the female driver from the car which had burst into flames.
Eight employees received commendation medals for their individual and collective efforts in seven incidents. These ranged from saving a suicidal female customer who was about to jump in front of an oncoming train to reuniting a lost 4-year-old boy with his family.
Lastly, but certainly not the least, two employees received distinguished service medals for their continued outstanding and efficient service to NYC Transit.
Nominations for potential honorees were sent to our Employee Recognition Program Committee, which selected today’s honored employees that met the committee’s criteria in the above mentioned categories.
I would like to take this time to salute these employees for going the extra mile to provide great service & heroic actions at the same time. Transit Blogger salute…..
xoxo Transit Blogger
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World Trade Center Transportation Hub’s Future Hangs In The Balance
The fate of arguably one of the city’s most important projects in recent history hangs in the balance. The World Trade Center Transportation Hub is over budget, behind schedule, & most importantly faces an identity crisis on how it should look. The task of figuring out these issues & then some fall in the lap of Port Authority Executive Director Christopher O. Ward. David W. Dunlap of the New York Times’ City Room Blog looks at this entire situation in this report
With two weeks to go before he must make more than a dozen recommendations on how to get ground zero rebuilding on schedule and on budget, the executive director of the Port Authority said on Tuesday that he had not yet solved the linchpin problem: how to build the underground mezzanine of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.
The executive director, Christopher O. Ward, told the commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that he was still confident he would meet the Sept. 29 deadline for delivery of his report. But Mr. Ward, who can be disarmingly candid, acknowledged that his own deadline for setting deadlines had been perhaps “overly ambitious.”
What makes the mezzanine so critical is that its schedule dictates the schedule of the memorial, because one large corner of the memorial plaza is directly above the mezzanine. Construction of the mezzanine also affects the completion of Greenwich Street, which runs in front of the three office towers planned by Silverstein Properties.
Santiago Calatrava, the architect of the transportation hub, has called for a mezzanine with uninterrupted space, depending on long-span arches and cantilevers to avoid the use of columns. A second proposal, from a working group led by a Silverstein Properties executive, proposes standard column-and-beam construction and the insertion of another floor within the space. A third proposal, developed in-house by the Port Authority, would retain some of the spaciousness of the mezzanine, but also use columns and beams.
The key question is whether Mr. Calatrava’s seemingly exotic design can be constructed timely and economically.
Click here for the complete report.
In an earlier point I wrestled back & forth on what was more important in terms of getting the project done with a minimal design or going all out to represent the importance of this project. I ended up siding with the importance of getting the project done over taking longer & spending more on a more complex design.
I find it downright hypocritical that many riders & transit advocates desire to see the design by Mr. Calatrava’s used yet they are the same ones preaching at how times are tough financially. You can’t play both sides & expect not to be called out for it. The economy from the MTA to the city & state itself is in bad shape. Can we really justify the extra time & money spent for this project?
The answer is clearly no & this attitude of NYC needing some sort of architectural masterpiece for the world to fawn over is beyond ridiculous. This is not the time to play a game of showmanship when we have better ways & time to spend what limited resources we have. To say that this project is something that our transit infrastructure needs is without merit or in better terms shows a clear lack of financial judgment. A responder to the New York Times’ City Room Blog entry named Jonathan Katz said it best:
Get rid of the fancy architects. Just hire competent engineers and let them design and build it so that it performs its essential functions of moving people safely and conveniently, at the lowest cost possible.
He is right with this thinking as no matter what fancy name or design you have in mind, it is still just a “transportation hub”. Don’t let the masses try to spin this from what it really is….
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Purchasing E-Z Pass Tags Will Be As Easy As 1-2-3
For years the MTA has made purchasing MetroCards convenient as they are available at many places outside of the system whether it be in a drug store, gas station, grocery store, etc…. Now they plan on bringing the same convenience to their E-Z Pass tags as starting by the end of the year, you will be able to purchase $30 “E-ZPass on the Go” at many locations including gas stations & pharmacies. New York Daily News transit reporter Pete Donohue has the brief report:
Getting an E-ZPass is about to get a lot easier.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels plans on selling $30 “E-ZPass on the Go” tags at corner stores, gas stations and pharmacies citywide – similar to NYC Transit’s MetroCard sales, officials said Wednesday.
“We are making it as convenient as possible to try E-ZPass because the more tags in use, the faster the trip through the toll plaza for everyone,” said acting Bridges and Tunnels President David Moretti, noting that 75% of motorists already use the technology.
Purchasers will have 48 hours to convert the new tags into permanent E-ZPasses by registering in an MTA account. If they choose not to, only $20 can be used for tolls, with $10 withheld as a tag deposit.
The new tags will be available by the end of the year.
Making the purchase of E-Z Pass tags more convenient is long overdue if you ask me. However lets focus on a good idea being implemented instead of never at all.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Mayor Bloomberg’s MTA Reps Balk At NYFD/NYPD Toll Proposal
Yesterday afternoon I wrote an entry about the MTA wanting NYFD & NYPD employees to pay for tolls like regular commuters while on duty. The plan which needs to be approved by the MTA Board would bring in approximately $10 million a year in added revenue. New York Daily News transit reporter Pete Donohue first broke this story & is now back with word that Mayor Bloomberg’s MTA Board representatives are balking at the proposal. Here is his report:
Mayor Bloomberg’s four representatives on the MTA board are balking at a plan to bill the city for police and firefighter E-ZPasses.
“I’ll vote against it,” Jeff Kay, a mayoral rep on the board, said Wednesday after a Metropolitan Transportation Authority committee meeting. “The mayor has consistently said that the city doesn’t have the money.” The MTA wants the Police and Fire departments, and other city and state agencies, to link their now-free E-ZPasses to prepayment accounts just like private citizens and businesses do.
Cops and firefighters on duty won’t be delayed digging into their pockets for change at tollbooths, MTA officials said.
Bridge and tunnel officers would continue to usher cops and firefighters responding to emergencies through toll plazas, clearing aside traffic and opening gates if needed, MTA spokeswoman Catherine Sweeney said.
Click here for the complete report.
I still have to give this some thought before I can form a complete opinion on it. A big factor would be if the MTA would guarantee that no one would be held up during an emergency due to having to deal with toll payments. If they could, I would side with their idea of bringing in extra revenue by collecting the tolls. Considering the financial times currently in play within the MTA, any extra revenue that can be collected should be seen as a good thing.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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