0

Service Diversions 02-18-11

Posted by
on February 18th, 2011 at 2:26 pm

I have just updated the Service Diversions page with the latest planned work for the holiday weekend, next week, & beyond (in some cases). I suggest printing out a copy before heading to your destination. If you have an internet capable handheld device, you can use it to access the mobile version of this site.

The next update will be at 5:01 AM Tuesday when the weekend diversions are removed & all subsequent work is moved up. As always, stay safe & have a wonderful weekend.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
Service Diversions
0

Wishing For A Local…..

Posted by
on February 17th, 2011 at 7:01 pm

Lately when I have been spending my time riding the subway, it has been along the 8th Ave corridor. Once again I found myself riding this corridor as this story takes place on a Manhattan-bound A Train train.

This past Tuesday, I was in Chelsea with the most awesome person on the planet as we went to catch a movie. After it was over, we hopped on the C Train & headed to 42nd St-Port Authority to transfer to the A Train. The C Train came fairly quickly & we met up with an A Train that passed us by so it was a smooth transfer.

Unfortunately for me, the ride was way too quick as I was enjoying our conversation. This is a time where I really wish the A was running local. Although the difference in the ride is not that much as I noted the other day, any extra commute time would have been okay with me!

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
Personal Stories
1

Won’t You Be My Nosy Neighbor

Posted by
on February 17th, 2011 at 6:03 pm

One of the things I can’t stand is a nosy person. While human nature makes us all somewhat curious by default, some people just run well beyond that point. This was quite evident to me this past Monday.

I was on a Brooklyn-bound D Train train heading to 59th Street-Columbus Circle where I would catch a C Train train to 23rd Street in Chelsea. While I was sitting in my seat listening to my mp3 player, a young man boarded & took out his laptop. He sat across from me with no one around him like was the case for myself.

As people got on & sat elsewhere in the car near us, I noticed more & more people were trying to glance at whatever had him preoccupied. One woman kept looking his direction every 10 seconds to see if she could get a reflection of whatever was on the screen. However the real kicker was a woman who was getting off at my same stop. She was clearly dying to know what he was looking at & was going to find out one way or another.

So as the train is approaching the station, she stands up to go near the door. Normal people face the door & wait for the train to stop & for them to open. She decides instead to purposely turn & lean against the door while standing next to the guy with the laptop. She flat out leaned her head towards him & started looking at it.

I am just sitting there in my seat looking in amazement at her audacity. If that was me, I would have asked her if she wanted an autograph since she was dying to be near me or whatever witty sarcasm I am known for.

What made her feel that she just had the right to know what he was looking at? Yes, when we are in public, we lose most of our rights to privacy. However we still do maintain private space rights & just basic common sense decency. I know most people are nosy but this woman clearly took it to the extreme.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
Personal Stories
0

Metro-North Ridership Reaches Near High

Posted by
on February 17th, 2011 at 3:33 pm

A couple of days ago, the MTA released information on 2010 ridership. The Metro-North took the time to announce that 2010 saw its 2nd highest ridership total in its history. Here are the details courtesy of a release sent to me:

Despite a still-bruising recession MTA Metro-North Railroad customers are coming back. By the end of the year, overall ridership in 2010 was up 1.5% over 2009.

In 2010, Metro-North provided 81.1 million trips, the second-highest year on record, exceeded only in 2008, when 83.3 million people took trips on Metro-North.

Metro-North also achieved a stellar on-time record of 97.7% for the year, the sixth year in a row that trains performed at 97.5% on-time or better.

“It was a terrific performance to operate such a complex system at such a high level day in and day out,” said Metro-North President Howard Permut. “It is a testament to the dedication and professionalism of our employees. The challenge in 2011 is to fix the New Haven Line and bring it up to the standards of the Hudson and Harlem lines and at the same time to continue to improve all three lines.”

After 15 consecutive months of ridership declines, the ridership rebound began last March with non-commutation trips. Occasional customers who traveled during the midday, at nights and on weekends started coming back to Metro-North for their discretionary trips in March.

The commutation market, those who use monthly or weekly tickets for trips to and from work, began to turn around in April of 2010.

This was boosted by the first full year of service to the new Yankees-East 153rd Street Station, which accounted for 700,000 rides, about 250,000 more than in 2009. Regular, non-game day ridership more than doubled from 2009.

Of interest is the 2.8% rate of growth on the New Haven Line. This compares to the Hudson Line where ridership rose 1% and the Harlem Line, which grew 0.3%. Of all the line segments, the portion of the New Haven line between Stamford and New Haven was the best-performing segment with overall growth of 5% in 2010.

“The Outer New Haven Line really led the way and buoyed the whole railroad, despite the fact that the line has an antique fleet that is not large enough to accommodate all our customers comfortably,” Permut said. “We look forward to the introduction of the new M-8 cars, which will occur in the very near future.”

West of the Hudson, on the lines operated by New Jersey Transit under contract to Metro-North, ridership at the three stations in Rockland County on the Pascack Valley Line grew 5% last year and achieved an overall on time performance of 96.5%.

The Port Jervis Line, which serves Orange County, is the only line where ridership declined, by 4.8% in 2010, while maintaining an overall on-time performance of 95.4%.

For 2011, Metro-North is projecting modest ridership growth of 0.7%.

Personally I am not a fan of trying to correlate economic growth or lack thereof to ridership statistics. Even with the current economic crisis, millions of people in our region still have jobs & use mass transit to reach them. So while it is good that ridership grew reached near historic levels, leave the message to that.

On the flip side, these figures clearly send a message to elected officials that our transit infrastructure & network is of vital importance. The importance of the cog that it is within the whole picture should never be underestimated. The question is will they act on these facts? If they don’t, we will see more disasters like the New Haven Line cutback of service due to equipment failures.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
Metro-North
0

LIRR Presidents’ Day Service Info

Posted by
on February 17th, 2011 at 3:21 pm

As I mentioned here, I was going to write a specific entry to post the official details of the LIRR’s Presidents’ Day service plan:

The MTA Long Island Rail Road will operate on a holiday schedule on Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 21. In addition, nine extra trains, four westbound and five eastbound, will operate on the Ronkonkoma and Port Washington branches. Cars will also be added to selected trains. Off-peak fares will be in effect all day.

Since the LIRR will be operating on a holiday schedule on Monday, February 21, there will be no train service on the West Hempstead Branch and East of Ronkonkoma.

Extra Westbound Trains:

Ronkonkoma Branch:

Departs Ronkonkoma at 7:10 AM, making stops all stops to Hicksville (except Pinelawn), Jamaica, Woodside and arrives Penn Station at 8:28 AM.

—
Port Washington Branch:

Departs Port Washington at 7:10 AM, making all stops to Flushing Main St. (except Mets-Willets Point), Woodside and arrives Penn Station at 7:55 AM.

Departs Port Washington at 8:10 AM, making all stops to Flushing Main St. (except Mets-Willets Point), Woodside and arrives Penn Station at 8:55 AM.

Departs Port Washington at 9:10 AM, making all stops to Flushing Main St. (except Mets-Willets Point), Woodside and arrives Penn Station at 9:55 AM.

—

Extra Eastbound Trains:

Ronkonkoma Branch:

Departs Penn Station at 4:36 PM, making stops at Woodside, Jamaica, Hicksville, Bethpage, then all stops to Ronkonkoma.

Departs Penn Station at 5:34 PM, making stops at Woodside, Jamaica, New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue, Mineola, Carle Place, Hicksville, then all stops to Ronkonkoma.

—

Port Washington Branch:

Departs Penn Station at 3:49 PM, making stops at Woodside, Flushing Main St., then all stops to Port Washington.

Departs Penn Station at 4:49 PM, making stops at Woodside, Flushing Main St., then all stops to Port Washington.

Departs Penn Station at 5:49 PM, making stops at Woodside, Flushing Main St., then all stops to Port Washington.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
LIRR, Service Alerts