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Presidents’ Day Service Info

Posted by
on February 17th, 2011 at 3:12 pm

With Presidents’ Day soon approaching, the MTA issued press releases to announce service plans for the holiday. Here is the overall press release which I received yesterday:

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) trains and buses will operate on special schedules in observance of Presidents’ Day on Monday.

New York City Subway:

Subways will run on a Saturday schedule. No. 5 trains will run between Dyre Avenue and Bowling Green and will not run to Nereid Avenue.

The Nos. 6 and 7 express trains, the rush hour Rockaway Park A, the entire B, the 179th Street E and skip-stop Z lines will not be running.

J trains will operate between Jamaica Center and Chambers Street. M trains will operate between Myrtle Avenue-Broadway and Metropolitan Avenue. Q trains will run between 57th Street-7th Avenue and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue.

—

Buses in New York City and Nassau County:

Buses operated by New York City Transit, the MTA Bus Company and Long Island Bus will operate on Saturday schedules. There are many routes that either do not operate on Saturdays, or do not run on part of the route or at certain hours.

Customers traveling on Presidents’ Day should check Saturday schedules, lines and routes by using the Trip Planner function on mta.info or calling New York City Transit’s Travel Information hotline at (718) 330-1234 between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., daily.

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Long Island Rail Road:

The Long Island Rail Road will operate on a holiday schedule with extra trains added on the Ronkonkoma and Port Washington Branches.

In total, there will be nine extra trains, four westbound and five eastbound. Since the LIRR will be operating on a holiday schedule, there will be no train service on the West Hempstead Branch and East of Ronkonkoma.

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Metro-North Railroad:

Metro-North will operate on a Saturday schedule.

—

Staten Island Railway:

The Staten Island Railway will operate on a Sunday schedule. Customers looking to get a head start on the long weekend will be able to catch earlier afternoon express train service on Friday, February 18 with SIR’s Early Departure Get Away schedule.

I will post more specific LIRR info in its very own entry above this one.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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MTA Still Drafting Repair Plans For 1 Stations

Posted by
on February 15th, 2011 at 1:08 pm

181st Street
181st Street 1 station after the ceiling partially collapsed in 2009.

Who can forget the image above? when after years of crumbling & decay, the ceiling at the 181st Street station on the 1 Train partially collapsed onto the tracks in the summer of 2009. Unfortunately this was not the only station with issues as the 168th Street station also had some structural issues.

Well over a year later, the MTA is still drafting repair plans for these 2 key stations. Carla Zanoni of DNA Info has more:

More than a year after the ceiling came down at the 181st Street 1 train station, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it is still drafting the best design plan for its repair.

The design process for 181st Street — as well as 168th Street, another decaying station in Washington Heights — will continue through the year, with actual repair work planned for the spring of 2012, according to MTA spokesman Marcus Book.

Book said the logistics of making repairs to the two landmarked stations, which date back to the early 1900s, have proven more challenging than most.

“It seems the original architects relied on physics to keep up the archways,” he said about the stations, explaining that it will take a lot more than replacing a few bricks to properly repair the ceiling.

A metal cage has protected riders from falling debris since bricks from a 20- to 30-foot section of the arched ceiling at 181st Street station came showering down on the uptown and downtown tracks at the station on Aug. 16, 2009.

Click here for the complete report.

Is it just me or is the MTA taking way too long to finalize & start repairing these stations? I understand the architecture is different from most other stations, however it should not take well over a year to figure out exactly how to fix the problems.

How long will the metal cage be able to hold out before it possibly gives way? Do we even want to imagine that happening? The agency dodged a major bullet in that the collapse did not happen while a train was entering, departing, or sitting in the station. I have my doubts if they would be lucky again if history repeats itself.

Hopefully in the coming months, the agency will finalize plans & start the repair process. While I don’t want a rush job, they do need to expedite the process. I’ll be keeping an eye on this.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Straphangers Forced To Buy Swipes From Vandals

Posted by
on February 15th, 2011 at 12:44 pm

When you are a regular subway rider, some things are just expected as they come with the territory. Whether it be dirty stations, seeing rats roaming the platform & tracks, or seeing vandals selling MetroCard swipes. It turns out that the latter has become an issue at the 181st Street station on the A where straphangers are forced to buy swipes. Carla Zanoni of DNA Info has more:

Officials are investigating a growing problem with vandalism and predatory activity at an unmanned A Train train station in Hudson Heights, according to police and the MTA.

Since the removal of a station agent at the A train station at 181st Street and Fort Washington Avenue last summer, residents have complained that a group of men rig the MTA’s MetroCard machines so passengers cannot buy a card at the station and are forced to buy swipes from them if they want to gain entrance at the station.

During a Town Hall meeting organized by State Senator Adriano Espaillat on Wednesday evening, MTA spokesman Marcus Book said that the problem had been brought to his attention two weeks ago.

“We have an eye on the problem,” Book said, adding that the MTA is in talks with police from the 34th precinct to secure the station. The MTA spokesman and a representative from the precinct said they were jointly examining the possibility of putting a surveillance camera in the unmanned booth.

Click here for the complete report.

When the list of stations that were losing agents came out, I was very shocked that this one was on the list. The station has a laundry list of problems & one of them was the never ending issues with the MetroCard vending machines.

Now you throw in vandals altering the machines & it turns into a whole big mess. Also I can’t underestimate the potential safety issues here for riders. It is good to know that the MTA is aware of the problem & hope that they along with the 34th Precinct come up with a solution fast.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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1

Local Subway Service Forgetfulness

Posted by
on February 13th, 2011 at 6:04 pm

Continuing with the theme of this past Friday night/Saturday morning, I admit I was a bit taken back by part of my commute.

At the end of the festivities with my friend, I was not sure if I was going to meet up with anyone else or head to Penn Station & catch the LIRR home. Either way, I was going to put her on the train. We get to the platform & I look at the clock. I realize it is almost 3AM & my next train was not until almost 5.

I decided then & there to hop the A Train with her & go up to at least 125th St & turn back around. I admit it, I don’t have the patience to sit in a railroad station for long periods of time for my train. I figured with the A running local during the overnights, the ride would be slow & I’d kill enough time. Boy was I wrong…..

As the train approached 125th Street, I realized we were not even on the train for 20+ minutes & we were already in Harlem after starting at 14th St. I ended up staying on to the final stop & even with taking the trip back down, I still had time to kill before my train home was to depart.

My mind really was elsewhere that night, especially in terms of my transit knowledge. I am one known for always preaching about people being obsessed with express service & how the time difference between it & local service is usually not that big.

This is the perfect time to promote that I made this very point, especially specifically on the Central Park West run between 59th & 125th Streets when I was interviewed for a subway piece in a recent edition of Time Out New York. The piece was in the January 19th issue & you can read it fully (the print edition cut some parts out) by clicking here.

So in reality, I should have not been surprised at how quick the commute was even with the A running local. I admit it has been awhile since I was on the A that far uptown, it is no excuse for my forgetfulness.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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A Service Diversions Embarrassment

Posted by
on February 13th, 2011 at 5:42 pm

I pride myself on being very knowledgeable about all things mass transit in the region, especially the NYC Subway. When I post the “Service Diversions“, I always suggest printing them out or use your internet capable hand held device before traveling. So with great embarrassment, I must admit that I did not follow my own suggestions.

This past Friday, I was hanging out with one of the most awesome individuals I have ever known. We had just left Irving Plaza after seeing a concert & I decided we should head to a place I used to frequent years ago. So we walked to 23rd Street & hopped on the 6 Train to Astor Place. When we reached 14th St-Union Square, they announced the next stop was Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall.

I completely forgot about the 4 Train & 6 Train running express between 14th St-Union Square & Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection.

So don’t be like me & forget to print out or access the diversions before heading to the subway. While the extra riding time was not a big deal, it could be if you need to be somewhere on time. I hope to never make that mistake again.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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