Q21 & Q53 Travel Advisory
Earlier today, MTA NYC Transit & Bus Company issued a press release to announce a travel advisory for those who ride the Q21 & Q53. Here are the complete details:
MTA Bus officials announce that on Wednesday, February 3, Thursday, February 4 and Friday, February 5, the Q53 and Q21 will experience intermittent delays in order to accommodate maintenance work on the Cross Bay Bridge.
All northbound lanes of the Cross Bay Bridge will be closed for 20 minute intervals between 9 a.m. and 12:01 p.m. on those three days. These closures will affect all traffic traveling to Broad Channel from the Rockaways. Q53 and Q21 customers should expect delays and plan accordingly
xoxo Transit Blogger
- Q21 & Q53 Travel Advisory Update
- Rockaways Prepare To Get Pounded By Both Sides….
- No LIRR Long Beach Service This Weekend
- Drivers & Politicians Prepare For Bridge Toll Fight
- Southbound Q59 Rerouted In Brooklyn
MTA Stimulus Funds Editorial
A big topic of late in the world of the MTA is what the agency should do with federal stimulus funds. Some feel the agency should plug their operating deficiencies with stimulus funds, while others feel this is not the best use of funds. Sunday’s print edition of the New York Daily News contained an editorial from NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, NYC Council Member James Vacca, & NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign Senior Attorney Gene Russianoff on the topic:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is struggling with a whopping deficit.
The agency is looking for new efficiencies and administrative overhauls, but it also has proposed three awful steps in 2010. These include $62 million in drastic service cuts; $31 million from beginning the phaseout of student MetroCards; and $40 million in savings from reduced paratransit service.
Millions of subway, bus and commuter riders are the victims, virtually lashed to the tracks as a trainload of misery bears down on them.
We have proposed several reasonable actions to prevent these proposals and are urging the MTA to use federal stimulus funds and other operating money to prevent service cuts this year.
Here’s what should be done:
• Use up to $121 million in federal stimulus funds for service in 2010. Federal law permits up to 10% of its stimulus funds to be spent on operations. Transit systems around the country – including Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle and St. Louis – are facing the same financial crises and are using stimulus dollars.
• Reprogram for service up to $50 million in operating funds. Right now, the MTA is planning to spend $50 million in operating funds on capital projects. At a time when the operating budget is badly pinched, it makes no sense for the MTA to direct operating funds to capital and worsen service cuts.
It’s just not correct to say the first two steps are taking transit capital dollars to pay for operations, as the MTA has argued.
Federal law specifically allows a small portion of transportation stimulus money to pay to keep the system running. Congress and President Obama saw it was in the national interest to help maintain service in this troubled economy. Transit agencies around the country are using this option to maintain vital service and jobs.
There is a way out. The MTA can use the authority Congress gave it to spend federal stimulus funds for service. This temporary measure will buy the MTA a year to begin tackling the real and lasting reforms Chairman Jay Walder has already laid out in his recent report, “Making Every Dollar Count.” With our plan, the agency can act in the interest of the riding public, untie them from the tracks, and save them from these devastating cuts.Click here to read the complete editorial.
The 3 of them make a compelling case for the call of using a block of stimulus funds to fix holes in the MTA’s financial budget. However I am not sure this is the right way to go about doing things. As we saw during the whole battle over the “doomsday scenario“, & subsequent “rescue package“, politicians are always looking for quick fixes.
Using money tailored for future capital projects seems like a bad idea from where I sit. Although the argument can be made that a fiscally healthy MTA in the current day is just as important as a better developed system in the future, I worry about politicians not understanding what is needed for both to become a reality.
It seems anytime they can go for the quick fix to plug holes at the risk of the future they will. When the future becomes the present, the cycle repeats itself & so the story goes. What they need to understand is that going the quick fix route whether it be stimulus funds or anything else is not what they should be concerned with. They need to find a way to pony up the city & state’s fair share of funding on a regular basis. This is the real goal that should be on their minds today, tomorrow, & forever.
xoxo Transit Blogger
- MTA To Use Stimulus Cash On Fulton Transit Center
- SAS To Receive $79M In Stimulus Money
- MTA Looks To Go Trick Or Treating With The State
- Potential Stimulus Package = More Of The Same
- Mass Transit To Be Stimulated
Track Work Disturbing Locals
Every couple of months I come across these kind of stories in the New York Daily News. The formula usually goes something like this, MTA NYC Transit is doing construction on a subway line. The construction leads to complaints from locals who feel the noise is ruining their lives in some ways. This is once again the case as some Bensonhurst locals are complaining about track work on the 
. Mike McLaughlin of the New York Daily News has more:
you hear something, say something.
Recent track work by the MTA on an elevated line in Bensonhurst has left locals covering their ears because of an ear-splitting, screech from overhead trains.
“I’ve been here 30 years. It used to be noisy, but livable. Now, it’s killing me,” said Hilna Motors owner Louis Gellman, whose auto repair shop is beneath the D train at 86th St. and Stillwell Ave.
“I can’t even talk to people outside. I have to bring my customers into my office,” added Gellman, who believes the racket has caused hearing loss.
The disturbance began last year when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority installed new tracks along the route.
A TA spokesman said the increased volume was a temporary headache because the track work required that they stop greasing the rails, which reduces the din.
After a series of noise complaints were lodged with the MTA, the agency inspected the site on Dec. 21, prompting the agency to add extra lubricant to the rails to fight the problem.
“These corrective measures have greatly reduced the noise level,” said TA spokesman Charles Seaton in a statement. “We expect further reduction as the new track wears in.”
Assemblyman William Colton (D-Brooklyn) said that noise is not just a public nuisance: It’s also a symbol of financial waste at the MTA.“Noise is not only something that’s detrimental to people’s lives and health, but it’s also detrimental to the system” he said.
Click here for the complete story.
Seriously I am starting to get sick of locals always finding something to complain about. Construction on a system 100+ years old is inevitable so noise is a natural part of the process. While it can be disturbing, it is just part of the pain you must endure for the better good of everyone.
If they had it their way, the construction would stop so the noise could go away. However we all know that these same people would be complaining about things not being fixed. Sorry, you can’t have it both ways so deal with it & find something else to worry about.
xoxo Transit Blogger
- MTA Frustrating Long Island City Residents
- MTA Still Frustrating Long Island City Residents
- Some Hunters Point Residents Need A Hobby
- Merchants Complain About Bleecker St. Project
- NYC Transit Releases Data On Late Trains
Stony Brook Station Renovations To Begin Soon
Just a short time ago, the MTA Long Island Rail Road announced that station renovations at the Stony Brook station would begin. Here are the complete details courtesy of a press release I received:
The MTA Long Island Rail Road’s Stony Brook Station, on the Port Jefferson Branch, will undergo a $2.7 million renovation project starting Monday, February 1. A temporary trailer will serve as a waiting room during part of the work and will be open from 4:00 AM through 5:00 PM daily. Nine parking spaces will be temporarily out of service in order to stage materials and the trailer.
The project includes refurbishing the two station restrooms, replacing station building interior walls, installing new platform shelters, and light poles. The station building work is expected to be completed by mid-April, 2010, while the exterior work is expected to be completed by January, 2011.
Funding for the work in the MTA LIRR Capital Program was secured by State Senator John Flanagan.
The total daily ridership to and from Stony Brook is approximately 1,450.
xoxo Transit Blogger
- LIRR Woodmere Station Building Renovations Start Nov. 17th
- Penn Station LIRR Waiting Room Closed This Weekend
- Ronkonkoma Parking Lot Renovations Begin May 11th
- Bus Service To Replace Service On Port Jefferson Line
- Work In Bay Shore Affects Montauk Branch
Service Diversions 01-29-10
I have just updated the “Service Diversions” page with the latest planned information for the upcoming weekend, next week, & beyond in some cases. Also as a reminder for those who plan on riding the LIRR’s Long Beach line, please read this entry for important diversion information. I suggest you print out a copy of the “Service Diversions” page to carry around with you or use your mobile device to access it while outside.
Have a great weekend!
xoxo Transit Blogger
