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MTA Chairman Statement On Capital Program

Posted by
on November 3rd, 2015 at 5:07 pm

With the media & local officials all over the MTA about the $1 billion cut for the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway project from the recently approved 2015-2019 Capital Program, MTA Chairman & CEO Thomas F. Prendergast has released the following statement:

The new MTA Capital Program includes $535 million over the next four years for design, planning, environmental review, property acquisition, utility relocation and construction preparations to bring the Second Avenue Subway to East Harlem. This reflects the work we can realistically accomplish in the next four years given the regulatory and engineering constraints on heavy construction in a densely populated section of Manhattan.

We have committed that if we can speed up the schedule to begin tunneling the East Harlem phase sooner, we will pursue a Capital Program amendment to do so. Governor Cuomo has made clear that he would like us to accelerate work on the Second Avenue Subway, and we are actively looking for ways to deliver the project faster.

The MTA Board last week unanimously approved a 2015-2019 MTA Capital Program that reduced the Second Avenue Subway allocation due to construction timing, including city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, when she voted for what she called “a very terrific capital plan.”

No surprise that he came out with a statement after all the backlash. It is good to know if the funding becomes available (I’m looking at you Andrew & other elected officials), that an amendment would be made to do so. Hopefully the money will come to fruition in the very near future.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Capital Program, Second Avenue Subway
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NYC Transit Bus Kills Elderly Woman

Posted by
on November 3rd, 2015 at 4:00 pm

In a sad piece of transit news, an elderly woman named Carol Bell was struck & killed by a bus this morning in Brooklyn as it headed back to the East New York Depot. Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times has more:

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus hit a 70-year-old woman who was crossing the street in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning, killing her, and then continued on to a nearby depot, the authorities said.

By the time investigators determined through surveillance video which bus was involved in the crash, a second driver had picked it up from the depot and begun a new route, apparently not knowing it had hit a woman earlier in the morning, an authority spokeswoman, Amanda Kwan, said.

The police said the surveillance video obtained by investigators showed the bus stopping briefly after hitting the woman, Carol Bell, at the intersection of Sackman and Fulton Streets in the Broadway Junction section of Brooklyn around 6:15 a.m. Then the bus drove off to the East New York Depot, several blocks away, near the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and Broadway, the police said.

The driver was not immediately located on Tuesday morning, but by the afternoon, investigators had identified the driver and were questioning that person, the police said.

Ms. Kwan said the authorities towed the bus back to the depot after identifying its rooftop number through surveillance video and pulling it over along the B15 bus route, with a fresh driver at its wheel.

Click here for the complete report.

First off my condolences go out to the family & friends of Carol Bell who tragically lost her life.

I am very curious to hear the results of the investigation of this accident as it always catches my attention when a driver fails to notice that they hit a human being. I could see not knowing you ran over an animal or piece of debris but a human!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Brooklyn, Buses, Death
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NJ Transit Leader Coming To The MTA?

Posted by
on November 3rd, 2015 at 3:50 pm

That is the question being posed in some transit circles as rumors swirl that the MTA will soon name NJ Transit executive director Ronnie Hakim as the next president of NYC Transit. Andrew Tangel of the Wall Street Journal has more:

Ronnie Hakim, NJ Transit’s executive director, is expected to be named to a top Metropolitan Transportation Authority post overseeing New York City’s subways and buses, people familiar with the matter said.

Ms. Hakim, 55 years old, is expected to become the next president of the MTA’s New York City Transit division, these people said, but it wasn’t clear when she might make the move.

One of these people said that the final terms of a deal hadn’t yet been reached, leaving open the possibility Ms. Hakim might not wind up being appointed to the position.

A spokeswoman for NJ Transit and a spokesman for the MTA declined to comment.

Click here for the complete report.

If the rumors are true, one could argue the timing could not be worse for NJ Transit which is in the midst of financial crisis which is never a good thing heading into negotiations with union leaders. Her job at NYC Transit would be a big step up on paper but her prior experience should help with a smooth transition to an arm of the agency dealing with many issues itself.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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MTA Pays $1.2M To Settle Lawsuit

Posted by
on November 3rd, 2015 at 3:40 pm

The MTA is shelling out the dough as it was just discovered that the agency had to pay out $1.2 million to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit from Black & Hispanic transit cops. Reuven Blau of the New York Daily News has more in this exclusive:

The MTA quietly paid $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of black and Hispanic transit cops who accused the agency of condoning and encouraging racial discrimination.

The 10 plaintiffs — current and former officers, detectives and sergeants — argued that they were regularly subjected to racial slurs, skipped over for promotions, and blocked from getting prized overtime assignments.

The suit said 96% of the agency’s captains and other supervisors are white.

MTA officials spent eight years fighting the case in federal court. The plaintiffs had originally sought $8 million in damages.

The settlement — the largest tied to a case against the MTA in at least five years — was issued on Aug. 24, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request.

The 48-page suit listed a host of racial discrimination allegations.

“The MTA Police Department is permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule and insult whereby supervisors disparage the abilities of African-American and Hispanic officers and cause them to feel as though they are continually at risk of discipline,” the lawsuit alleges.

When officers protested about the unfair treatment, their bosses retaliated by denying them promotions and training, the suit claims. The officers who complained were given menial and demeaning jobs and denied access to overtime, according to the lawsuit.

Click here for the complete report.

Let us face reality here, while the MTA is on record about the case stating “Settling this case without admitting any wrongdoing was in the best interest of the MTA and the public that funds us”, they were in the wrong & would have had no issues dragging this case out longer if the plaintiffs wanted to do so.

When you are innocent, you do not settle especially when you have the deeper pockets to afford to pay for the proof of innocence. Plus I know from my experience knowing people who have or continue to work at the agency in various levels that looking down on minorities is nothing new.

My main goal is that this treatment will eventually stop but the reality is it probably never will unless changes in the culture are made. Until they are, we can expect the MTA to keep dishing out the cash.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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MTA Approves 2015-2019 Capital Program

Posted by
on November 2nd, 2015 at 4:58 am

This past Wednesday, the MTA approved its 2015-2019 Capital Program which includes $3 billion in cost reductions. Here is more via official press release:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board today approved its 2015-19 Capital Program, the largest investment ever in the subways, buses, railroads, bridges and tunnels that keep New York moving.

The Capital Program will buy thousands of new subway cars, train cars and buses; invest $2.8 billion in subway station improvements; finish installing Positive Train Control on Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR); bring countdown clocks to the majority of subway stations; begin work on extending the Second Avenue Subway to East Harlem; build a new LIRR station in Elmhurst, Queens; and construct four new Metro-North stations in underserved areas of the Bronx.

“Since our first Capital Program in 1982, we have invested more than $100 billion to rescue our mass transit network from near-collapse and make it an engine of growth for the entire region,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “Thanks to the leadership of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the hard work of our dedicated MTA staff, this revised Capital Program will reduce costs and deliver projects more efficiently without cutting any projects or the benefits they will bring to our customers.”

The revised Program totals $29 billion, almost 10% less than the $32 billion Program first proposed a year ago. It includes $21.6 billion in core investments in the MTA’s subways, buses and railroads; $4.5 billion for the East Side Access, Penn Access and Second Avenue Subway projects; and $2.9 billion for MTA Bridges and Tunnels.

The Program is fully funded with $11.8 billion in MTA funds, an $8.3 billion commitment from Governor Cuomo, $6.4 billion in federal funds and $2.5 billion committed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

To deliver these projects at a lower cost, the MTA will use innovative methods such as design-build, negotiated procurement processes and public-private partnerships to operate more efficiently, spread risk more broadly and take advantage of innovative techniques. The MTA will continue its strategy of replacing deteriorated components, rather than entire systems, which has been successful in addressing subway station conditions and will now be expanded to power supplies, subway structures and other areas. The MTA will also transform how it works with contractors on projects, recognizing that becoming a better business partner can bring down costs.

The 2015-19 Capital Program includes full details on all project spending and efficiencies as well as revenue sources, and is available on the MTA website at www.mta.info/capital. Following today’s approval by the MTA Board, the 2015-19 Capital Program will be submitted to the state Capital Program Review Board (CPRB) for approval. The CPRB is composed of one voting representative each from the Governor’s Office, the Senate and the Assembly, as well as from the Mayor of the City of New York for the New York City Transit portion of the program. By statute, if the CPRB does not veto the Capital Program within the next 30 days, the MTA can begin pursuing projects in the Capital Program. The Bridges and Tunnels portion of the Capital Program is entirely funded by tolls and does not require CPRB approval.

Click here to view a .pdf with details on the 2015-2019 Capital Program.

Now while the $3 billion in cost reductions is a nice touch, it should come as no surprise that it sugarcoats one of the main stories which is that $1 billion of those savings comes on the back of Phase 2 of the much needed Second Avenue Subway project.

Needless to say that many across the city are not happy & as expected we have plenty of finger pointing going on. Regardless of who believes what, one thing is certain & that is the fact it is inexcusable that the MTA has been forced to push back a lot of Phase 2 until the 2020-2024 Capital Program.

When will we have elected officials who will fight for the transit starved constituents that make up our region? Until we do, we the riders will continue to suffer the most while our so called leaders play the pass the blame game around. How sad…..

xoxo Transit Blogger

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