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Cuomo Plan Axes $100M From MTA Budget

Posted by
on February 2nd, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Yesterday morning I wrote about Gov. Cuomo’s delusional fantasy world where taking money from the MTA would keep fares & services at current levels. Hours after my entry, he revealed his budget plan & as expected contains a huge blow to the MTA.

Gov. Cuomo would ax $100M from the MTA’s budget. Andrew Grossman of the Wall Street Journal has more in this report:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority would see a $100 million cut to its $11.3 billion 2011 operating budget under the financial plan released Tuesday by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the agency said. It vowed to fill that gap without service cuts or fare hikes.

“Finding an additional $100 million in 2011 will be very painful, especially with sizable deficits still projected for 2012 and 2014. As we continue cost-cutting, further reductions become harder and harder to achieve,” the agency said in a statement. “But we must fill this gap, and we will fill it without resorting to fare and toll increases or service cuts, because our riders have already been hit with these painful measures over the past year.”

The MTA said it would “find additional cost-savings through efficiencies and improved productivity.”

The governor’s proposed cuts start anew the cost-cutting process that occupied senior MTA management for much of 2010. The agency filled an $800 million gap last year with a mix of service reductions and administrative cost-cutting.

The MTA had been expecting a small surplus in 2011, on the heels of a net 7.5% fare increase that went into effect Dec. 30. Another increase of the same size is scheduled for 2013. Still, the agency was already facing a $207 million gap for 2012.

The cuts in Cuomo’s proposed budget come from a diversion of dedicated tax revenue to the state’s general fund. Most of that money will pay debt service on bonds issued by the state for the MTA, but some would go toward other spending.

“We generally think it’s good news for transit riders,” said Gene Russianoff, a staff lawyer with the Straphangers Campaign, a subway-rider advocacy group. Still he said, “We’re not happy that they’re diverting money from an account that’s supposed to go to transit needs.”

Click here for the complete report.

Shortly after the budget was released, the MTA issued a statement which focused on how they had no intention to raise fares or cut services to help fill the gap. The Straphangers Campaign as noted above found this to be good news for riders.

The statement did contain good news, one has to wonder how realistic is their sentiment? While the MTA has no plans for actions that would burden riders further, how long can they plug the hole before no other alternative besides fare hikes & service cuts hit the table?

In terms of the stances taken since the budget plan release, I agree 100% with Transportation Alternatives who had this to say:

In his executive budget released today, Governor Cuomo has proposed taking $100 million in dedicated transit funds from transit riders. The MTA has pledged not to raise fares or cut bus and subway service, but with $100 million less in state funding, something has to give.

“Governor Cuomo campaigned on restoring honesty and ethics to Albany, but when it comes to transit nothing much has changed,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “Cuomo is taking dedicated funds away from the riders.”

In 2010, transit riders lost two subway lines and 37 bus routes thanks to Governor Paterson’s theft of $160 million in dedicated transit funding. Riders are now anxiously awaiting the MTA’s response to Cuomo’s diversion of dedicated funds. The proposed reductions could translate into fewer trains and buses, longer waits, less frequent station cleanings and deferred maintenance, among other inconveniences.

I understand that the state is facing severe economic challenges. However why should transit riders have to once again bare the brunt of the pain? Why is it every time a fiscal crisis occurs, one of the initial solutions is to plug it with money that is meant for transit?

I am urging all of my readers to join the Transportation Alternatives call to action which you can participate in by visiting http://riderrebellion.org

It will be interesting to see how the MTA balances this latest round of bad news & in turn how it will play out for riders. Stay tuned…………..

xoxo Transit Blogger

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B63 Gets Real Time Bus Location Information

Posted by
on February 2nd, 2011 at 3:15 pm

The other day I was browsing news sites & saw a story about real time bus information coming to the B63. I was surprised the MTA did not send out any sort of press release about it. However that did not last long as a few hours later they did.

Here is more information on the service which first debuted in October along 34th Street in Manhattan for the M16 & M34 respectively:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced the arrival of MTA BusTime – the MTA’s real-time bus information pilot – on New York City Transit’s B63 bus route in Brooklyn. The program is the latest initiative to alert riders to the status of their commute in real time, with actual bus locations available on the web, by text message and on your Smartphone. If this pilot is successful, MTA BusTime will be expanded across the city, with every bus on Staten Island due to receive the new technology this year.

“Today, the transit system is quickly catching up with our 21st century expectation that real-time information is available on the go for all New Yorkers,” said MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder. “That means knowing if your bus is on time before you leave home, getting updates on delays while you’re out and about, and unlocking opportunities for better service across our entire network. MTA BusTime is a big part of this new vision for bus service in New York.”
MTA BusTime will take the guesswork out of waiting for next bus ride through enhanced global positioning system devices, installed on 30 buses along the B63 route, that triangulate bus locations in real time. Accessible through cell phones and other electronic devices, all bus customers have to do is text us a code that will be prominently displayed at their bus stop. They will immediately receive a return text with the real-time locations of the next several buses.

But if they’ve forgotten the cell phone at home, they won’t have to worry. We’re working with area merchants, who will soon be installing LCD signs that will display bus locations in real-time at the bus stop nearest the merchant’s location. So, bus customers can pick up their newspapers while waiting for the arrival of the next bus.

Electronically-savvy customers can also use their Smartphones to snap a picture of a two-dimensional barcode we’ve installed at every B63 stop. A barcode-reading app, available free of charge, can then interpret this information, and take you directly to our mobile website.

The MTA BusTime website, www.MTA.info/bustime, is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection. The site presents map-based moving images representing the real-time location of every B63 bus in service. The same information will be available through Smartphones, on a simplified website we’ve designed specifically for mobile phone browsers.

Unlike the Manhattan cross-town pilots on the M16 and M34 routes, the B63 system was developed by the MTA in collaboration with a non-profit civic group called OpenPlans utilizing non-proprietary, open standards and software for development and deployment allowing for increased flexibility and a cost reduction approaching 70 percent, compared to the vendor pilots. This means MTA BusTime can be expanded to more bus routes more quickly.

“We are working hard to provide up-to-the minute travel information for both bus and subway customers,” said NYC Transit President Thomas Prendergast. “There are few things as frustrating as having to guess when the next bus is going to show up at your stop. With MTA BusTime, next bus arrival times are right in your hand.”

“With a variety of ways of accessing MTA BusTime, customers will find it extremely convenient and useful. No more looking into the distance and guessing,” said Darryl Irick, Acting VP for Department of Buses and Acting President for MTA Bus.

“This project demonstrates that open, standard hardware and software can meet the needs of the biggest transit authorities and their riders at a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time required to deploy legacy solutions,” said Nick Grossman, Director of Civic Works at OpenPlans.

MTA BusTime is the most recent MTA customer communications innovation which provides riders with the information they need. Currently, customers at more than 140 subway stations are now benefitting from next train arrival information. That number is scheduled to swell to 200 stations by the end of the year. Subway customers can also sign up for email and text alerts letting them know about service interruptions both planned and unplanned.

We have also introduced electronic signs alerting customers to the status of subway service before they pay their fares, giving them the opportunity to utilize an alternate route. Know before you go. Now, that’s the way to travel.

For complete information on MTA Bus Time, customers can pick up the smart-looking green and white brochure on the B63 buses, or log onto MTA website at www.MTA.info/bustime

One point I did not mention back in October is one I would like to quickly address. Will this program help the MTA highlight the major issue they have with bus bunching? If you have ever rode a bus within the 5 boroughs, you know how familiar the sight is of no buses being around & then all of a sudden multiple ones show up at the same time.

I am glad to see that the success of the initial pilot has led to the expansion of the program to the outer boroughs. While I still feel more money should be put into real time information at actual bus stops, having this program is better than nothing.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Sliding Doors On Subway Platforms?

Posted by
on February 1st, 2011 at 12:26 pm

Sliding Doors
An example of the type of doors that might one day be waiting for you on subway platforms. Photo courtesy of DelMundo for the NY Daily News.

Fresh on the heels of the death of Brendan Mahoney by a Brooklyn-bound L Train train comes word that the MTA is looking into installing sliding doors on subway platforms. The overall goal would be to prevent people from falling to the tracks as well as litter being thrown onto them.

This is not a new idea with the agency as back in September 2007, they had revealed their plan to install them as part of the 7 line extension. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more in this report:

The MTA may install sliding mechanical doors on subway platforms so riders can’t fall, jump – or get pushed to the tracks.

The metal-and-glass doors would be part of a barrier along a platform’s edge and would open only after a train stops at the station, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority document shows.

The system would help prevent tragic incidents, like the Sunday morning death on the L train tracks of 24-year-old Brendan Mahoney in Brooklyn, officials said.

And it would protect riders from killers like Andrew Goldstein, the mental patient who shoved 32-year-old Kendra Webdale to her death in front of a speeding N train beneath Madison Square Park in 1999.

In 2009 alone, 90 people were struck by trains – and 40 died, NYC Transit stats show. “We are very early in the process of looking at the possibility of installing platform doors that would go a long way toward enhancing passenger safety and station appearance,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

The protective platforms under consideration are increasingly common overseas in cities like London, Paris and Tokyo. They are also in use closer to home at AirTrain stops in Queens and in New Jersey.

Subway riders yesterday said the platform barriers and doors would be a good addition but worried about the costs and whether installation would drive fares up.

“I think it’s great but … I don’t know where they’ll get the funds to finance that,” said Dave Ugelow, a 24-year-old Manhattan law student. “Anything that can prevent people from falling or jumping on the tracks is a good thing.”

Click here for the complete report.

I must say that I am not the biggest fan of this idea. While it does make a lot of sense to keep people safe & prevent litter from reaching the trackbed, I don’t feel this is a project that the agency should undertake.

While it is early in the process & they would look to pass on the majority of the cost to a partner, I feel whatever money they do spend could be better used for more pressing needs. While one person falling to the tracks & being injured or dying is one too many, it does not mean that millions have to be spent to avoid such occurrences. The majority of these stories happen at the fault of the person who ended up on the tracks.

Also with anything the MTA touches, one can expect glitches. What happens if they do not properly open when a train stops in the station? What if too much pressure is put on the doors as people bum rush train doors & it cracks & crashes down? I know it sounds like doomsday scenarios, but they are a possibility. Lastly, could we really expect these things to not get destroyed by low class morons? We all know that the MTA can never install anything nice & it stay that way!

In the end, I can understand the positive points one could make about them but I feel the potential negatives are just as strong & even possibly outweigh the benefits. So I remain against them until failsafe options can be put in place & the agency’s finances would enable the project to be done right.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Cuomo Wants To Slash Some Transit Funding

Posted by
on February 1st, 2011 at 12:30 am

A new year is here but the story remains the same, Albany is looking to give a low blow to the MTA & its riders. The latest low blow comes from newly elected Governor Andrew Cuomo who wants to slash some funding earmarked for the MTA.

The news came out a day before he is scheduled to unveil his budget proposals. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more in this report:

Gov. Cuomo soon will propose a reduction in MTA funding – but he doesn’t want to trigger an increase in what riders pay to ride the subway, buses and commuter trains, a source close to the administration said.

The figure will be limited to an amount the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be expected to absorb while maintaining both the current MetroCard prices and level of service, the source said.

“The governor acknowledges it’s been a rough couple of years for the riding public and doesn’t want to see them hit with more service cuts or fare hikes,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, who has lobbied administration officials on behalf of riders.

It seems crazy to even raise the possibility of riders paying more. The prices have risen three years in a row.

MTA executives cut $500 million in spending last year. About 3,500 positions were eliminated, many through painful layoffs.

But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority remains in a constant state of fiscal crisis. Its 2011 budget plan has a $75 million reserve – lunch money for an authority operating the largest subway system in North America and the country’s two largest commuter railroads.

Whatever its shortcomings, the MTA’s money problems aren’t the result of corrupt transit executives, bungling bureaucrats or greedy workers, as some critics contend.

There never was an illegal “two sets of books,” a myth that emerged after an ethically challenged state controller released a scathing report on MTA finances. The real shell game takes place in Albany.

Click here for the complete report.

Let me first start off by saying thank you to Pete Donohue for addressing the ridiculous second set of books tale that has spread like wildfire over the years by exposing it as an outright lie. However that is the only good part of this report.

Mr. Cuomo, do you remember the service cuts from a few months ago? Well if money that was earmarked for the MTA not stolen from them, they could have been avoided. He clearly is living in a fantasy world if he really thinks that funding can be stolen from the MTA & in return they will not cut services or find a way to pass costs on to riders via fare hikes. The numbers do not lie as it is impossible to play both sides to the middle & no consequences occurring.

So if things go as expected, the MTA will get deserved money taken away from them, the brunt of the blow will be passed on to riders via some sort of cuts to service or functions, and possibly fare hikes. Then elected officials will come out & go fishing for B.C.P’s (Brownie Constituent Points) by blaming the MTA & they will get praised for fighting for the little guy.

Seriously if 2011 is a repeat of the last few years, will riders finally wake the hell up & hold all of these officials responsible for selling them out yet again? They better as if they don’t, it will be hard to feel sorry for such suckers.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

Man Killed By L Train In Brooklyn

Posted by
on January 31st, 2011 at 11:45 pm

You know the adage that some people never learn. Once again it has rang true & unfortunately this time it resulted in death. An unidentified man was killed by a Brooklyn-bound L Train train at the Halsey Street station. Frank Rosario of the New York Post has more in this brief report:

A man was killed by a subway train in Brooklyn yesterday after he jumped down on the tracks — possibly to retrieve his dropped keys. The victim, who was not carrying identification, was struck at around 5:30 a.m. by a Canarsie-bound L train at the Halsey Street station in Bushwick, cops said. MTA employees told The Post that the man, who law-enforcement sources said had been intoxicated, had been trying to get his keys after they fell onto the tracks. He died at the scene.

My condolences to the victim’s friends & family. I just wish people will realize that they need to never step foot on the tracks as it is a very dangerous place. How many people have to die before it sinks in with everyone. Find an employee to help you get something off the tracks!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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