New York City - Transit News

[chris08876]

State pols push for 'design-build' to speed up BQE repair plans, prevent traffic 'nightmare'

An historic Brooklyn neighborhood could be hit with horrible traffic jams in the future if city officials can’t figure out a way to speed up repairs to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.

Thousands of trucks may over-run Brooklyn Heights if the worst happens, according to Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

Speaking Friday at a press conference above the BQE, Trottenberg said if the repair job takes too long, the agency will be forced to send trucks onto local streets.

“Our best engineers’ estimate is that by 2026, if we don’t have the project pretty much done we’re gonna have to start to do weight restrictions,” Trottenberg said. “And that means diverting trucks.”

The section of the BQE under repair, known as the Triple Cantilever, sees 150,000 cars a day, including 15,000 heavy vehicles.

DOT could cut $100 million from its budget and trim its timeline by two years — likely avoiding a potential traffic nightmare — if state lawmakers pass a bill allowing the city to contract with a single firm to handle the whole project.

========================
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.3810747

[chris08876]

With permit to dig, Elon Musk’s plan for a 29-minute ride between NYC and D.C. inches forward

The Boring Company, led by Elon Musk, received a building permit this week from the Washington, D.C. government, potentially jumpstarting the tech entrepreneur’s plan to bring a high-speed tube system between New York City and D.C. Although Musk said last summer he received “verbal” approval from officials, the new, written permit allows preparatory and excavation work to begin on a parking lot on New York Avenue in D.C., the Washington Post reported. The Hyperloop One would be able to take passengers from NYC to D.C., with stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore, in just 29 minutes via a tube moved by electric propulsion.


On Hyperloop One, riders would board magnetically levitating pods that can travel more than 700 miles per hour. Once passengers are loaded into a pod, which can fit about 16 people each, it would gradually accelerate through a low-pressure tube. The pod then lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and moves at airline speeds.

Talks of the Hyperloop are just beginning between Musk and D.C. officials. D.C. Mayor Murial Bower’s chief of staff, John Falcicchio, told the Post: “We’re just beginning, the mayor’s office, our conversation to get an understanding of what the general vision is for Hyperloop.”

Designs for Hyperloop stations are expected to be much more simple than D.C.’s Union Station or Grand Central Station in NYC. A spokesperson for Boring said, “Stations in a Loop or Hyperloop system are small in size and widely distributed in a network. [That’s] very different from large-station [terminals] considered for train systems.”

========================
6SQFT

[mrnyc]

^ i saw that -- musk has plans for a hyper loop between cleveland and chicago too.

i hope this futuristic transit idea works out someday, we'll see.

i am dubious, but then again i would never have thought you could land rocket gas tanks right back at the launchpad to be reused, so i don't put anything past musk!

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

i am dubious, but then again i would never have thought you could land rocket gas tanks right back at the launchpad to be reused, so i don't put anything past musk!

Impressive, but a lot easier and economically feasible than a 400 mile vomit launch tube between Chicago and wait for it, Cleveland. WTF?

[mrsmartman]

$213M Fix For Subway Stations Passed Against City's Wishes

The MTA Board finally approved eight subway station renovations.

Originally Posted by New York City Patch

NEW YORK, NY — Even the MTA's renovation plans get delayed. The state-controlled MTA Board approved a package of eight station upgrade projects worth $213 million on Thursday over continued objections from Mayor Bill de Blasio's appointees, who argued the money should go to fix the subways.

After the 10-3 vote, two companies will renovate the stations — including the 1/2/3 and A/C/E stops near bustling Penn Station — under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Enhanced Station Initiative, a $1 billion effort to give more than 30 stations structural repairs and cosmetic fixes, such as new stairs, floors, countdown clocks and lighting. This round of projects includes six stations in Manhattan and two in the Bronx.

The work at the Penn Station stops — two of the busiest in the subway system — and three others in Manhattan is expected to be finished within 11 months of work starting...

Read more at: https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-...er-more-debate

[mrnyc]

7 train extension to nj is back in play:


Extending the 7 line into NJ among study options to ease commuting crunch

An estimated 524,000 commuters a day will be coming into the city to work by 2040, highlighting the need for new transit routes.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/7-train-nj-1.16981061

[mrnyc]

prep for the post metrocard future:


MTA must prepare now for next-generation tech implementation, report says

The MTA should begin seriously discussing all-door bus boarding, fare-capping and more, advocates say.






more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-met...ent-1.16986098

[k1052]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

7 train extension to nj is back in play:


Extending the 7 line into NJ among study options to ease commuting crunch

An estimated 524,000 commuters a day will be coming into the city to work by 2040, highlighting the need for new transit routes.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/7-train-nj-1.16981061

Sending the L and the 7 into NJ makes way to much sense for it to ever be done. The flying car will arrive first.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by k1052

Sending the L and the 7 into NJ makes way to much sense for it to ever be done. The flying car will arrive first.

ha yeah.

and lets not even mention bringing the 7 train down just a little ways more to connect with the L train at 11av/14st (site of the 'solar carve' office building now under construction).

people probably dont realize the tunneling for the new hudson yard 7 train extension actually already extends down 11th av to 25th st. that's where the launch box went in. so its really only 11 blocks of digging to get it down to 14st.

connecting the dots someday~!

[M II A II R II K]

Nobody is talking about NYC’s most pressing transit crisis

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news...-crisis-022718

.....

- There is a case to be made that New York City’s biggest transit crisis does not lie underground in the subway tunnels but instead on the street level with its floundering network of buses. The MTA currently provides the slowest bus service of any major city in the country (averaging 7.4 miles per hour), according to the aforementioned report, and poor service is hurting the New York communities that could benefit from it the most.

- While the city has very little influence over the subway, it is a key player when it comes to managing Gotham’s public bus network. The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) has sweeping power when it comes to regulating the flow of traffic, overseeing roadway construction and maintenance, and implementing policies that make street traffic flow more efficiently across the five boroughs. Mayor Bill de Blasio spent a good portion of his first term in office deflecting the blame for state of the subway toward Governor Andrew Cuomo.

- Newly minted New York City Transit president Andy Byford has publicly made the bus system one of his top four priorities since taking office, and commuters across the city are eagerly waiting for solutions to be put in place. While features like Transit Priority Signal and an expanded Select Bus Service network could go a long way in improving the bus system as a whole, some transit activists believe that more radical solutions are necessary for improving service.

- One of them is Jim Venturi, the principal architect at ReThink NYC, a local transit think tank. He proposes a reimagining of the way the city’s bus network is organized. If the powers that be start thinking of services like Via, UberPool and Lyft Line in the same vein as they do buses, he says the city can make street level more efficient and egalitarian. --- Venturi argues that services like Via, which require passengers to walk up to a few blocks to meet at a pickup destination, should be treated like buses.

- Venturi also compared the current bus crisis in New York City to a similar one in London a decade ago. In 2005, the city’s former mayor Ken Livingstone shifted away from its double-decker buses in favor of the long accordion-style vehicles that are common in New York. Riders hated the switch, and the issue was key in Livinstone losing his re-election bid to Boris Johnson, who implemented a new model of double-deckers.

- While the shabby state of New York City’s bus system will almost certainly not lead to a full-blown secession, it’s important for New Yorkers to remember what’s at stake when it comes to investing in an efficient bus network. The average New York City subway commuter earns $40,000 a year. The average bus rider earns just $28,455. And as the city’s population continues to expand, bus routes will become even more vital.

.....

[yankeesfan1000]

Trump pushes Republicans to oppose crucial New York-New Jersey tunnel project

[chris08876]

^^^^^^

I don't understand , why the f**k would he block it? Has he seen the absurd overcrowding and delays lately? All he would have to do is go within Penn Station on any given morning or evening.

O man... there's always some bs going on. Damn shame!

As someone who takes the rail a lot and also drives in the city a lot, Trump is really out of touch with the current situation...

And now, according to four officials familiar with the discussions, Trump has taken a personal interest in making sure no federal dollars flow to a project that is considered critical to his hometown’s long-term economic prosperity.

Somehow this needs to become reality with or without Trump and the POS GOP run government. Bad enough his tax plan hurts blue states, the least they could do is provide some federal dollars to alleviate the residents of NJ/NY. Yes places like NJ or NY are not poor places like Alabama or most of the South East, but god damn, we need some relief. Even if we have a higher GDP and standard of living, it really is not all its cracked up to be once you factor in the expensive nature of it all (speaking in general).

The motivations behind Trump’s opposition are not entirely clear. It is a direct challenge to a key political rival, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been among the most powerful and vocal backers of federal funding for the project.

Wouldn't shock me at all. At the expense of the people and longevity, long after he's gone.

[Cirrus]

Guys, this is a transit news thread. Take your Trump argument to the Trump thread.

If it keeps up here after this post I'll move all the posts up to now to that thread, and clean this one out.

[Cirrus]

All politics-related posts have been moved to the Trump thread. Enjoy that 30,000-post dumpster fire.

Discussion about the administration as it specifically relates to the Gateway project or other NYC transit issues can continue.

[mrnyc]

nice list of mta excuses:

https://nypost.com/2018/03/11/why-on...e-the-mta-now/

[mrnyc]

Taylor Swift dances barefoot on subway in ‘Delicate’ video

Swift premiered the new video during the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

By Meghan Giannotta
meghan.giannotta@amny.com @MeghGia
Updated March 12, 2018 10:34 AM


Taylor Swift dances like no one’s watching in a hotel lobby, through a construction site and on the subway in her new “Delicate” music video, released during the iHeartRadio Music Awards Sunday night. The problem, per fans on Twitter? She’s not wearing any shoes.

Swift, desiring an escape from the craze of fame, suddenly becomes invisible and dances around carefree — and barefoot — in the nearly four-minute video. A particular scene, about three minutes in, sees the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer hop around on a dirty subway platform before rolling to the ground on a train, her feet and legs bare.

Many thought the video was shot in New York City — causing a flood of local commuters to call her out on Twitter for her cringe-worthy subway scene. But the video was actually filmed in Los Angeles. Does that make it any more acceptable? Not according to these Swifties:


more:
https://www.amny.com/entertainment/t...way-1.17325709

[Busy Bee]

So what!?

Do people really think a subway is more dirty/germy than the rest of the city, or the rest of the planet for that matter?

It's not like she's sitting down after her barefoot platform dance and giving her foot a big sloppy lick.

People are weird. We're all dirty animals anyway.

[M II A II R II K]

‘The Trains Are Slower Because They Slowed the Trains Down’

https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/03...e-trains-down/

.....

- The root cause of the subway system’s decay, it turns out, isn’t budget cuts or overcrowding — rather, the collapse of the subway system appears to have been primarily self-inflicted by the authority itself, in response to a single accident two decades ago that set the transit system on a path to disaster. --- Much of what the MTA is doing to fix the subways, including the authority’s $836 million Subway Action Plan, is not addressing the bulk of the delays that are plaguing the city’s transit system. And only now has the subway’s leadership, since the recent hiring of New York City Transit president Andy Byford, begun to seriously consider its own role.

- Simply replacing old technologies with new ones may not be enough to solve all the subway’s fundamental problems. The subway’s performance has been steadily deteriorating for many years. The authority’s own internal data shows that delays due to “incidents,” such as broken signals and tracks or water damage, have only marginally increased since 2012. But there is one type of delay that’s gotten exponentially worse during that time: a catchall category blandly titled “insufficient capacity, excess dwell, unknown,” which captures every delay without an obvious cause.

- From January 2012 to December 2017, these delays increased by a whopping 1,190 percent — from 105 per weekday to 1,355. In December, one out of every six trains run across the entire system experienced such a delay. The increase has been steady and uninterrupted over the past six years. In other words, as the rest of the system has remained relatively stable, this catchall category has worsened to the point that it’s gone from a minor problem to the single biggest cause of delays in the system.

.....

[yankeesfan1000]

So basically $0. What a joke, wasn't this supposed to be the infrastructure administration?

Congressional leaders etch deal to make $540M available to Gateway

"Congressional leaders have agreed to include $540 million in the federal spending bill that could be used to fund a portion of the massive Gateway tunnel project, according to two people close to the budget negotiations...

...Two administration officials, however, say there is no guarantee that money will go to Gateway. DOT, the officials say, will actually have control over the purse strings because existing law allows the department to review Amtrak’s capital spending plans and the state of good repair program includes a competitive grant program...

...The current tunnel to New York’s Penn Station is more than a century old, damaged by Hurricane Sandy's flood waters and said to be at risk of failing within the next two decades. Taking just one tunnel out of service would reduce capacity to Penn Station by 75 percent, making it virtually impossible for NJ Transit’s commuter trains to reach New York during peak travel times..."

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by yankeesfan1000

What a joke, wasn't this supposed to be the infrastructure administration?

What you believed that?

The Trump administration's seriousness about infrastructure is just like the Obama administration's seriousness about infrastructure except for its' intention to actually fund anything.