New York City - Transit News

[mrnyc]

new electronic signs, which should end the confusion when the 2/5 trains switch lines, which happens often:

http://www.amny.com/news/mta-plans-u...nes-1.11466545

[mrnyc]

more from the mayor today on the waterfront streetcar/lightrail - via metro ny:





Brooklyn-Queens Connector to be one of nation’s ‘biggest urban streetcar systems’


Once it is fully built, the streetcar is expected to serve about 50,000 riders per weekday.

The Brooklyn-Queens Connector is expected to stretch a total of 16 miles from Astoria in Queens to Sunset Park in Brooklyn.

A newly proposed streetcar — still a couple decades in the making — is hoping to save New Yorkers time, while also connecting growing neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.

Mayor Bill de Blasio outlined further details on Tuesday for the Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX), a streetcar line expected to stretch a total of 16 miles from Astoria, Queens to Sunset Park in Brooklyn.

The plan for the streetcar was initially announced by the mayor during his Feb. 4 State of the City speech. It will be the city’s first streetcar in more than 50 years.

“People in neighborhoods like Red Hook haven’t had the quality transit they need and deserve. This new service means opportunity for those families, and it’s also going to strengthen communities up and down the waterfront,” de Blasio said in Brooklyn. “Anyone can see the enormous growth happening here – it’s time we brought new transit to these neighborhoods for all those people and jobs.”

According to the city, the waterfront shared by Brooklyn and Queens is considered one of the fastest growing areas of the city, with over 400,000 residents and about 296,000 workers.

However, although the neighborhoods are constantly growing the transportation options haven’t caught up.

The BQX — which according to local leaders will bring the neighborhoods a "21st century public transit service" — is proposed to run along areas such as Astoria, Ravenswood, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Navy Yard, DUMBO, Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Gowanus and Sunset Park.

“This corridor is where the present and the future of our city are happening. It’s where jobs and housing are growing, and where innovators and businesses are moving every day,” said Alicia Glen, deputy mayo for Housing and Economic Development. “The BQX will tie all these incredible success stories together, and open up even more opportunity for our people.”

The streetcar will also bring together 13 New York City Housing Authority developments and also connect 10 ferry landings, 15 subway routes and more than 30 bus lines.

Once fully constructed, the BQX is expected to serve about 50,000 riders per weekday — making it one of the largest urban streetcar systems in the country — and the average rider will save between 15 to 20 minutes each way.

The fare to ride the BQX will be the same as a single-ride MetroCard, and de Blasio added that the city is in talks with the MTA to discuss transfers.

The preliminary estimate for the streetcar line is about $2.5 billion with the city raising money through creating a nonprofit with the authority to issue tax-exempt bonds. The city will in turn pay off the debt by taking in a percentage of increased real estate values of both existing and new developments.

Once built the fares will cover about two thirds of the yearly operating costs will the city looking into additional revenue, through areas such as advertising.

Even with the hype, it will be a while until New Yorkers actually see the streetcar, as the city must first complete extensive community outreach and planning. Groundbreaking for the project is not expected until 2019 or 2020.

[bbeliko]

Originally Posted by aquablue

The stations on the SAS are nothing too exciting compared to what modern cities build these days. The design is underwhelming and only marginally better than older stations. I suppose u can't expect the moon, it's NYC not Dubai or Stockholm, etc. Transit in the City is designed to be utilitarian and that's what it is, period.. The tiles are a bit old fashioned. I would have thought they would have gone for a more modern look given they have a fresh slate to work with. I'll end with something positive of course. The ceilings are nice and high.

After a hundred years who cares what it looks like, let's just hope this thing is done before 2100.

[zoomextents]

Hi Everyone

I'm new to the forum as a poster, but have been a casual reader for years. I wanted to chime in here regarding NYC subway expansion plans. I had an idea for an alternate path for a Utica Avenue subway line, something that has been under discussion for about 75 years but has never come to fruition. I am attaching a crude map that I have created of the proposed route. I believe it has many distinct advantages, not the least of which is that it would help to create the kind of "web" system (see London, Paris, Tokyo) that allows commuters dozens of transfer choices, as opposed to the current, linear, Manhattan-centric system layout.

I've written to the MTA, but, well, didn't exactly expect a reply! Figured maybe everyone on the forum would enjoy looking it over, at any rate.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/138615.../shares/63LA67

[Busy Bee]

Welcome and thanks for your ideas. You're amongst transit visionary friends.

[mrnyc]

^ nice work zoom!

***


Brooklyn-Queens streetcar might spur bike, walk paths

DAN RIVOLI
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 02/19/2016 10:33 PM ET

The city may build two new bridges to carry the streetcars over the Gowanus and Newton Creek with bike and walking paths, city officials said.

Pedestrians and bicyclists could see some benefit to Mayor de Blasio’s Brooklyn-Queens Connector waterfront streetcar.

The city may build two new bridges to carry the streetcars over the Gowanus and Newton Creek with bike and walking paths, city officials said Friday.


FORMER NYC TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER 'GRIDLOCK SAM' ON BOARD WITH MAYOR DE BLASIO'S PROPOSED BROOKLYN-QUEENS
Polly Trottenberg speaks at a press conference in New York.


Those bridges — along with at least two depots to hold the streetcars — have been factored into the BQX’s $2.5 billion cost.

Drivers in the area, meanwhile, will lose out on parking spaces, city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said.

[mrnyc]

New York Post

MTA might bring back the W train

By Danielle Furfaro February 19, 2016 | 3:41pm

The W train was eliminated in 2010.

The MTA is considering bringing back the years-defunct W train to run between Astoria and Lower Manhattan.

The W would replace the Q train in Astoria, which would stop at 57th Street and 7th Avenue at first and eventually continue up the Second Avenue subway line. The N train would run express in Manhattan during rush hours and then continue up to Astoria as it does now.

The agency plans to hold hearings on the possible changes later this year. If it decides to go through with it, it will happen in the fall.

The MTA eliminated the W line in 2010 as part of a number of service changes. Agency officials said it would cost $13.7 million annually, and that the money is already factored into the approved operating budget.

[mrnyc]

daily news voice of the people:


Missed the third rail

Brooklyn: The MTA is considering reinstating the old W train. The Q train, which now terminates in Queens, will instead head to 96 St. in Manhattan on the new Second Ave. stubway. It has only taken in excess of a half of a century to open the first three of 16 proposed stations on the East Side. Once the entire Second Ave. subway opens, sometime next century, the T train will rule this route. After that, NYC Transit will have exhausted the alphabet. One letter, though, is conspicuously missing: the P train. Imagine saying with a straight face, “Get the Q train at Kings Highway and head to DeKalb Avenue, and then take a P. ”Robert W. Lobenstein

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

After that, NYC Transit will have exhausted the alphabet...

Except for H, I (no go, looks too much like a 1), K (briefly historically used), O (another no go, looks like zero), U (would probably be avoided due to foreign connotations to U-Bahn, etc.), V (could make a comeback), X (why the hell not?), Y (again, why?)

[mrnyc]

good!


MTA to award additional $66M to Second Avenue subway project

By William Murphy bill.murphy@newsday.com February 23, 2016

The MTA said Monday it plans to award an additional $66 million to contractors in an effort to accelerate work and get the first section of the Second Avenue Subway finished by the end of this year.

The agency’s Transit and Bus Committee approved the spending yesterday and the full MTA board was expected to act at its meeting tomorrow.

The $66 million will come from the contingency fund of the $4.4 billion budget for the project, leaving $50 million in the contingency fund, an MTA spokesman said.

more:
http://www.amny.com/transit/mta-to-a...ect-1.11500640

[mrnyc]

in advance of closers for post-sandy repairs:


L train facts and figures: Ridership, wait times and unique aspects of the NYC subway line

By amNY staff February 21, 2016


Do you ride the L train each day? if so, you're not alone -- the subway line, which travels between Manhattan and Brooklyn, serves 300,000 people daily, the MTA says.

But how much do L train straphangers know about its daily ridership and platform waits, or the unique elements that distinguish it from other train lines?

Read on to learn some L train facts and figures.

http://www.amny.com/transit/l-train-...ine-1.11451048

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

good!


MTA to award additional $66M to Second Avenue subway project

By William Murphy bill.murphy@newsday.com February 23, 2016

The MTA said Monday it plans to award an additional $66 million to contractors in an effort to accelerate work and get the first section of the Second Avenue Subway finished by the end of this year.

The agency’s Transit and Bus Committee approved the spending yesterday and the full MTA board was expected to act at its meeting tomorrow.

The $66 million will come from the contingency fund of the $4.4 billion budget for the project, leaving $50 million in the contingency fund, an MTA spokesman said.

more:
http://www.amny.com/transit/mta-to-a...ect-1.11500640

Read the Second Avenue Sagas review on this... It's sort of bullshit.

[mrnyc]

the grand opening ceremony next week of the $4B wtc calatravasaurus boondoogle canceled in shame:

http://nypost.com/2016/02/23/4-billi...ter-rail-stop/

[mrnyc]

tomorrow is the big (not so big?) day for the wtc transit hub.

the main area will open -- even though in all it will actually only be 50% open -- with the connecting corridors to open later:


TRANSIT

World Trade Center transit hub to open, a New York phoenix rising

By Reuters March 1, 2016



The newly built World Trade Center Transportation Hub, designed to resemble a dove but tasked with the job of a phoenix, opens this week, nearly 15 years after the Sept. 11 attacks left Lower Manhattan in ashes.

Oculus, the birdlike structure that is the hub's focal point, welcomes the public on Thursday, months ahead of the expected opening of connections to 11 New York City subway lines and the underground PATH trains that link New York to New Jersey.

Resembling Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's vision of a dove released into the air from a child's hands, Oculus has a practical purpose: To rebuild the PATH terminal that was destroyed when the Twin Towers collapsed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

But it also symbolizes the rebirth of Lower Manhattan after the devastation of 9/11 and the dark days that followed.

"The station, in its beauty and grandiosity, represents a testimony of faith and hope in the future of New York," Calatrava said in a statement.

With a final price tag of $4 billion, twice the estimate when it was unveiled in 2004, the soaring space has been described by some residents as an architectural wonder and by others as an eyesore.

The white steel and marble structure is dramatic to behold, with two metal-ribbed wings springing out from an elliptical shaped transit hall that is roughly the size of a soccer field.

Its soaring glass roof is meant to bring natural light to the 250,000 commuters expected to travel through the hub each day, even those on the PATH train platform 60 feet (18 meters) below the street.

In remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks, the project features a 330-foot (100-meter) retractable skylight that will be open on temperate days as well as annually on Sept. 11.

Cafes and stores are expected to fill its 75,000 square feet (6,967 square meters) of retail space, and draw many of the estimated 17 million tourists forecast to visit Lower Manhattan in 2019.

The project, destined to appear in iconic photos depicting the sights of New York City, has taken years longer than expected to complete, making it one of the most expensive and delayed train stations ever built.

[Nexis4Jersey]

A Rail Breaks Under Manhattan - A Subway Delay Chronicle

Filmed and edited by Max Diamond

A brief look at how one broken rail can drastically affect service on an entire subway line drastically. This video shows the way that the NYC Subway 7 Line operations were handled when a rail broke in the crucial "Steinway Tube", which carries 7 trains between Manhattan and Queens.

Taken on February 25th, 2016.

• Video Link

[Nexis4Jersey]

This is....Fulton Center...


This is....Fulton Center... by Corey Best, on Flickr

[K 22]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

This is....Fulton Center...


This is....Fulton Center... by Corey Best, on Flickr

Nice shot.

The few times I've been there, it seemed, I don't know... barren.

Wasn't there supposed a bunch of shops in the center or are those for the underground concourse that's supposed to connect to the Oculus?

[K 22]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

new electronic signs, which should end the confusion when the 2/5 trains switch lines, which happens often:

http://www.amny.com/news/mta-plans-u...nes-1.11466545

I live in Eastchester and I can't even begin to count how many people got confused b/c they meant to go to the White Plains Road line.

[mrnyc]

cuomo calls out penn station:

http://nypost.com/2016/03/08/cuomo-p...evels-of-hell/

[mrnyc]

i checked out the oculusity last weekend


























a tour already