Buses Come To A Standstill To Honor Edwin Thomas
10 days ago the life of a hard working Brooklyn bus driver came to an unfortunate end at the hands of a heartless bastard. The death brought many to tears from fellow bus drivers to his daily riders, & everyone in between. Family, friends, co-workers, & others showed up this past Monday at his funeral. In a second show of solidarity, the MTA instructed every bus in the city to pull over at midday in a moment of silence. Pete Donohue & Oren Yaniv of the New York Daily News have more on the emotional day:
City buses came to a standstill at noon Monday in honor of slain driver Edwin Thomas just as transit officials pledged at his funeral to improve safety.
Hundreds of bus operators, MTA executives, relatives and friends came to remember the popular driver inside a modest Queens church.
“The legacy of Edwin Thomas will be a more secure and safe environment for bus drivers in this city,” president of NYC Transit Howard Roberts said to applause.
The overflowing crowd later lined up outside the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Cambria Heights to salute Thomas’ coffin, which was trailed by a bus draped with bunting.
In another show of solidarity, every bus in the city was instructed to pull over at midday for a moment of silence. There are typically about 5,000 buses on the road at that time.
Thomas, 46, was driving a B46 bus last Monday when fare-beater Horace Moore, 20, allegedly fatally stabbed him when the operator refused to give him a free $2 transfer.
The first murder of a city bus driver since 1981 took place on the route with the most fare evasions.
Click here for the complete report.
I would like to once again offer my condolences to the friends, family, & co-workers of Edwin Thomas who met an unfortunate & unnecessary end ro his life. I applaud the MTA’s decision to have a moment of silence to honor Edwin. I am sure he smiled at that gesture.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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LIRR To Provide Extra Trains For Christmas Holiday Weekend
Earlier this afternoon, the Long Island Rail Road sent out a press release via e-mail to announce extra train service for the Christmas holiday weekend. Here are the complete details:
The MTA Long Island Rail Road is the best way to travel this coming Christmas Holiday weekend if you can’t hitch a ride on Santa’s sleigh. For customers leaving early for the holiday weekend, there will be 13 extra trains departing Penn Station on Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24) between 12:55 PM and 3:48 PM. In addition, off-peak fares will be in effect for the entire weekend (December 25 through December 28).
The special Family Fare program will also be in effect this long weekend where up to four children ages 5-11 can ride for the advance purchase fare of 75-cents each when accompanied by fare-paying parent or guardian. Weekly and monthly ticket holders just pay for the kids. Children under 5 ride free.
The extra service for Wednesday, December 24 is as follows:
Ronkonkoma Branch:
• 12:55 PM stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville and all stops to Ronkonkoma
• 1:55 PM stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville and all stops to Ronkonkoma
———-
Babylon Branch:
• 1:30 PM express to Rockville Centre, then all stops to Babylon
• 1:52 PM stopping at Jamaica, Rockville Centre, then all stops to Babylon
• 2:12 PM express to Rockville Centre, then all stops to Babylon
• 2:22 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
The 5:59 PM from Penn Station to Babylon will not operate on Christmas Eve. Customers will be accommodated by the 6:05 PM from Penn Station, which will make all stops from Merrick to Babylon on Christmas Eve.
———-
Port Jefferson Branch (to Huntington):
• 2:09 PM stopping at Jamaica, Carle Place, then all stops to Huntington
• 2:26 PM stopping at Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Jamaica, New Hyde Park, then all stops to Huntington
• 3:24 PM stopping at Jamaica, Mineola, Westbury, Hicksville
———-
Port Washington Branch (to Great Neck):
• 3:40 PM stopping at Woodside, Flushing, then all stops to Great Neck
———-
Far Rockaway Branch:
• 3:48 PM stopping at Locust Manor, Laurelton, Rosedale, Valley Stream, then all stops to Far Rockaway
The LIRR will operate on a weekend/holiday schedule Christmas Day (December 25). A weekday schedule will be in effect on Friday, December 26, but off-peak fares will be offered all day.
New LIRR timetables effective December 15, 2008 - March 1, 2009 are available at stations and terminals and on the LIRR website. The schedules highlight the extra trains for the Christmas and New Years holidays.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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MTA Statement On New Talking Kiosk
Yesterday afternoon I shared news the MTA sent out about the debut of a new talking kiosk for the visually impaired at Penn Station. Earlier this morning the agency held a ribbon cutting ceremony to debut the new kiosk & hours later have released a statement on today’s ceremony:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and MTA Long Island Rail Road today unveiled a “talking kiosk” to help visually impaired and other customers navigate the concourses, passageways and platforms of Pennsylvania Station. The kiosk features a touch-activated, tactile map of the station, vivid visual displays for the partially sighted, and a voice designed for phonetic clarity. As a customer touches different parts of the map, the kiosk describes the corresponding location and gives directions of how to get there. It also offers general information about Penn Station and the Long Island Rail Road.
The kiosk is the second permanent talking kiosk located on the Long Island Rail Road concourse. The new version has expanded functionality and an improved user interface, a smaller size and a convenient wall-mounted position. It costs $23,000, or less than half the cost of the previous model, which was removed earlier this year.
“The installation of this kiosk is just one of the many ways we are making transit more accessible to our disabled customers,” said Elliot G. Sander, Executive Director and CEO of the MTA. “And while it is designed with visually impaired customers in mind, this kiosk is useful for anybody who is unfamiliar with Penn Station.”
“At the Long Island Rail Road, we understand that access to public transportation is a key to independence, employment and full community participation for people with disabilities,” said LIRR President Helena Williams. “The talking kiosk is just part of the effort the LIRR is making to increase accessibility for customers with disabilities, including those who are blind or have visual impairments. We are working hard to ensure that our facilities are accessible and that individuals with disabilities can safely board, ride and exit our trains. Our goal is to make people with disabilities comfortable riding the LIRR.”
The kiosk is located in the Long Island Rail Road’s main concourse, between the entrances to Tracks 14 and 15. To help visually impaired customers find the kiosk, the kiosk emits the song of the lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus), a bird species native to the American West that is found by audiologists to have a unique set of phonetic properties that make it most effective at assisting in directional wayfinding.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Mayor Bloomberg Just Doesn’t Get It
While I usually don’t let Mayor Bloomberg get to me as I can usually understand his thinking, I must admit he has me saying WTF to myself. As you all know by now, part of the MTA’s “doomsday scenario” called for express bus fares to rise from $5 to $7.50. However Mayor Bloomberg has informed his MTA Board representatives to come up with a way to keep the fare at $5. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more in this report:
Mayor Bloomberg has told the MTA board members he appoints to look for ways to save express bus riders from sweeping planned fare hikes and service cuts, sources said.
The mayor wants the four city-controlled board members to push to keep the express bus fare at $5 and limit service reductions, even as subway and commuter rail riders face big looming fare hikes, sources said.
Bloomberg has told aides that express bus riders should get priority because they often lack readily available transit options to get to and from their jobs in Manhattan.
Click here for the complete report.
It is about 4:30 in the morning so I will keep this brief as I have meetings to attend this morning. I have to ask WTF is Bloomberg thinking with this? After reading his logic, I can understand why many feel he is out of touch with the everyday New Yorker.
His logic is flawed in feeling express bus riders are more deserving of a fare break versus non-express bus commuters. Not all customers have other options outside of their local bus or subway route. So should the fare stay the same for them as well? He would obviously answer no but I would immediately grill him as to why not. Most express buses do not get that high of ridership as it is. Lets couple this with the fact that some routes travel in areas that have other options for commuters.
Yes, the commute for some might be longer taking the subway into Manhattan but should that be enough of a reason to warrant a fare break? I say absolutely not as in this case their use of the express bus is a luxury, not a necessity. I am more sympathetic to lines that serve areas with next to no other options. However I can’t sympathize for riders of lines who have many other options.
A good example of what I would call “luxury lines” are just about every express bus that serves Southern Brooklyn. Most of those lines are a mere few blocks away from subway service almost their entire runs in the borough. Why should riders of these lines get a break when they are using a service out of luxury instead of necessity. Mayor Bloomberg really needs to get with the program & realize that helping out those who need it the least is not the right thing to do.
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Drivers & Politicians Prepare For Bridge Toll Fight
A little over a week ago I wrote about how motorists in Broad Channel & the Rockaways were planning civil disobedience if the MTA went through with plans to eliminate their Cross Bay Bridge toll rebate. Motorists from the respective areas pay $1.03 with resident E-Z Pass tags when crossing the bridge. They receive their money back in the form of a rebate. Yestderday’s print edition of the New York Daily News has more on plans to stage two large protests as well as packing the MTA’s Bridge & Tunnel meeting tomorrow. Brendan Brosh has more:
Rockaway and Broad Channel motorists are planning two large-scale protests this week to dissuade the MTA from abolishing toll rebates for the Cross Bay Bridge.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and other local leaders plan to demonstrate Monday near the toll plaza, and six busloads of residents are slated to pack Wednesday’s MTA meeting in Manhattan.
The MTA is facing a budget crisis and hopes to save $3.6 million a year by rescinding the rebate.
“We fought this battle once already, and thought it was over,” said Frank Harnisher, 70, a Broad Channel resident who was a vocal leader against the tolls in the 1990s. “People will only be bitter if they have to pay that toll again.”
Rockaway peninsula and Broad Channel drivers with E-ZPasses are charged $1.03 every time they cross the bridge, and the fee is remitted back to them in a rebate.
The program was instituted in 1998 after decades of protests.
Click here for the complete report.
The idea of them eliminating this rebate seems ridiculous. Yes, I understand that the MTA has financial issues but is $3.6 million really going to make a dent in their deficit? The answer is obviously no. The residents in these areas use the bridge to connect to the main part of Queens & driving is the best means of transportation considering the subpar bus & subway service available. Why screw them some more by taking away the rebate program? I am 100% sure they can find ways to make up this amount by eliminating the monumental amount of waste within.
xoxo Transit Blogger
- Drivers Promise Civil Disobedience If They Lose Toll Rebate
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4 Train Results Tell The Same Story
Woodlawn bound 4 train approaching the 161 Street-Yankee Stadium station. Resized photo courtesy of Eye On Transit.
Many things have happened over the last year. However one that that did not happen was an improved grade for the 
train in the Rider Report Cards. The which finished with a C last year followed up that average performance by finishing below average this year in earning a C-. What is even more disturbing is the total voter turnout which dropped by over 1200. Now onto the complete breakdown. Let me start with the:
4 Train Riders’ Top 10 Priorities; 2007 priority rank will be in ( ):
01. Adequate room on board at rush hour (1)
02. Minimal delays during trips (2)
03. Reasonable wait times for trains (3)
04. Station announcements that are easy to hear (4)
05. Cleanliness of stations (6)
06. Sense of security on trains (5)
07. Sense of security in stations (7)
08. Train announcements that are easy to hear (8)
09. Cleanliness of subway cars (13)
10. Comfortable temperature in subway cars (10)
———-
Now here is the entire order of 4 train riders’ priorities:
01. Adequate room on board at rush hour
02. Minimal delays during trips
03. Reasonable wait times for trains
04. Station announcements that are easy to hear
05. Cleanliness of stations
06. Sense of security on trains
07. Sense of security in stations
08. Train announcements that are easy to hear
09. Cleanliness of subway cars
10. Comfortable temperature in subway cars
11. Station announcements that are informative
12. Working elevators and escalators in stations
13. Courtesy and helpfulness of station personnel
14. Train announcements that are informative
15. Availability of MetroCard Vending Machines
16. Ease of use of subway turnstiles
17. Signs in stations that help riders find their way
18. Signs in subway cars that help riders find their way
19. Lack of scratchitti in subway car
20. Lack of graffiti in stations
21. Lack of graffiti in subway cars
———-
Now here is the graded breakdown for all 21 categories; Their 2007 grade will be in ( ):
01. Minimal delays during trips C- (C-)
02. Reasonable wait times for trains C (C)
03. Adequate room on board at rush hour D- (D)
04. Sense of security in stations C (C)
05. Sense of security on trains C (C)
06. Working elevators and escalators in stations C (C)
07. Signs in stations that help riders find their way C+ (C+)
08. Signs in subway cars that help riders find their way C+ (C+)
09. Cleanliness of stations C- (C-)
10. Cleanliness of subway cars C (C)
11. Station announcements that are easy to hear D+ (D+)
12. Station announcements that are informative C- (D+)
13. Train announcements that are easy to hear C (C)
14. Train announcements that are informative C (C)
15. Lack of graffiti in stations C+ (B-)
16. Lack of graffiti in subway cars B- (B-)
17. Lack of scratchitti in subway cars C+ (C+)
18. Courtesy and helpfulness of station personnel C (C)
19. Comfortable temperature in subway cars C (C+)
20. Ease of use of subway turnstiles B- (B-)
21. Availability of MetroCard Vending Machines B- (B-)
For starters is anyone shocked by the overall grade earned? I am not really as I expected it to fall albeit to a D. Ignoring the disturbing lack of rider participation which I feel is the MTA’s fault, the line is in a no win situation. Many of the issues plaguing the line is the lack of ability to add more service to the Lexington Avenue corridor along with a lack of the Second Avenue Subway.
However lets look at it a little more. The first thing that caught my eye was the top 10 priorities, especially the first 3. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to tell there is a problem when the top 3 priorities are in the same exact order from 2007 & overall 9 of the 10 appear from last year’s list overall.
I feel that the issue of cleanliness must be looked into as it is alarming to see that priority rise 5 spots to earn a spot in the top 10. This is extremely concerning when the has a newer fleet of cars compared to most lines in the system. Although I do wonder if the priority jumped up 5 spots, how come its grade stayed the same from last year? I think it is safe to assume it would be lower.
I have not ridden the as much as I did in the past. Has anyone noticed an upswing in the amount of graffiti inside stations? I would think an upswing must have occurred for this priority to have the biggest grade shift. Lets hope this is not becoming a bigger issue than it already is. I respect people who choose to use graffiti as a form of art but only in proper locations where they are authorized & welcomed to do so. The subway system has & never will be such a place!
Overall I don’t know what the MTA can do to improve the . The most logical improvements are not ones that can just be implemented overnight or anytime soon for that matter. Unfortunately for train riders, I expect more of the same for the next few years.
xoxo Transit Blogger
- The 5 Produces More Of The Same
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- Staten Island Railway Is No Different
- L Train Rider Report Card Breakdown
MTA To Introduce New Talking Kiosk At Penn Station
Earlier this afternoon, the MTA sent out a press release via e-mail to announce the introduction of a new talking kiosk at Penn Station. Here are the complete details:
Elliot G. Sander, the Executive Director and CEO of the MTA, Helena Williams, President of the Long Island Rail Road, and others will cut the ribbon on the new “talking kiosk” at Penn Station. The new kiosk assists the visually impaired customers find their way around Penn Station’s network of concourses, tracks and platforms.
WHO: Elliot G. Sander, Executive Director and CEO of the MTA; Helena Williams, President of MTA Long Island Rail Road; Steven Landau, Research Director at Touch Graphics, Inc.; Karen Gourgey, Director of Baruch College’s Computer Center for Visually Impaired People.
WHAT: Officials cut the ribbon on a new touch-activated “talking kiosk” for visually impaired MTA customers.
WHEN: Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 9, 2008, at 11:15 a.m.
WHERE: Pennsylvania Station, Long Island Rail Road Main Concourse between Tracks 14 and 15. (Subway: 1, 2, 3, A, C, or E to 34th Street-Penn Station; LIRR to Penn Station.)
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Ravitch Commission Report Reactions
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that the Ravitch Commission released its long awaited report this past Thursday.
Some of the proposals recommended by the commission were leaked via various outlets such as the New York Times & Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s “Mobilizing The Region” blog. I opined on a couple of the proposals but planned on doing so more in depth when I had a chance to view the entire report. Unfortunately I have not had the chance to read the report completely due to business matters occupying my time.
However in the meantime, you can check out an entry by Sewell Chan in the New York Times City Room blog which got the reaction to the proposal from some elected officials, local leaders, & transit advocates. You can check it out by clicking here. I also recommend checking out a breakdown of where the local newspapers stand on the proposals. You can view a detailed breakdown by checking out Benjamin’s latest Second Avenue Sagas entry.
I will try my best to offer my full thoughts on the proposals within the next 24-36 hours.
xoxo Transit Blogger
