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MTA Launches Bx36 Limited

Posted by
on September 11th, 2009 at 12:14 am

Earlier this week, MTA New York City Transit officially launched the Bx36 Limited. The new service on the Bx36 was put in place to help save long distance customers up to 8 minutes or 10% travel time. Here are the complete details courtesy of a press release sent to me by MTA New York City Transit:

In order to speed up the trip for customers traveling between Manhattan and the Bronx along the Bx36 route, MTA NYC Transit introduced the Bx36 Limited-Stop this week. The Bx36 Limited will operate on weekdays during the morning and evening rush hours between White Plains Road/Story Avenue in the Bronx and 181st Street/Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. The Bx36 Local will continue to make all stops at all times.

The Bx36 Limited-Stop service is expected to save long distance customers up to eight minutes per one-way trip or a 10% savings in total travel time. During the AM and PM peak periods, every other scheduled Bx36 trip will operate as a Bx36 Limited. Westbound Bx36 Limited service will operate from 6:40 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. and from 2:46 p.m. to 6:20 p.m.; eastbound service operates from 6:38 a.m. to 9:57 a.m. and from 2:23 p.m. to 7:31 p.m. on weekdays.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

NYCT & MTA Bus Detours Due To 9/11 Memorial

Posted by
on September 10th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

I apologize for the lack of posts the last couple of days. The site was undergoing some changes due to a server move. Anyhow lets get back on track by starting with the bus detours that will be in place due to tomorrow’s 9/11 Memorial. Here are the complete details courtesy of the press release sent to me by the MTA:

On Friday morning, September 11, 2009, Memorial Ceremonies will be held in downtown Manhattan for victims of 9/11. Bus service along Trinity Place between Battery Place and Church Street and on Church Street between Liberty and Vesey Streets will be affected from 12:01 a.m. Friday through the day until 4:30 p.m.

Staten Island Express Buses will have the following changes: morning Manhattan-bound X13, X15, X18 and X20 will travel via the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, right on West Street, right on Warren Street, right on Broadway, left on Park Row and then follow the regular route. Morning Manhattan-bound X3 and X4 service will operate via the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, turn right on West Street (the first stop will be on West Street at the far side of Vesey Street), then right on Warren Street, right on Broadway, right on Battery Place, then right on West Street.

The afternoon Staten Island-bound service on the X13, X15, X18 and X20 will operate from a temporary bus stop at West Street and Rector Street, turn right on Broadway, left on Park Row and then follow the regular route. The afternoon Staten Island-bound X3 and X4 will remain as usual.

The Manhattan-bound X27, X28 and X29 buses will travel via the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, turn right on West street, right on Warren Street and left on Church Street. The M1 and M6 buses will make stops on West Street at Rector Street and Murray Streets. No other stops will be made until the buses are back on the regular routes.

East-bound BM1, BM2, BM3, BM4, QM1, QM1A, QM11, QM24 and the north-bound BxM18 will have the following changes: The Greenwich Street at Morris Street bus stop will be made on West Street at Rector Street. The Park Place at Church Street bus stop, the Church Street at Cortlandt Street bus stop and the Church Street at Dey Street bus stop will be made on Warren Street at Greenwich Street.

West-bound BM1, BM2, BM3, BM4, QM1, QM1A, QM11, and QM24 will have the following changes: The Greenwich Street at Morris Street bus stop will be made on West Street at Rector Street. The Church Street at Cortlandt Street bus stop and the Church Street at Dey Street bus stop will be made on Warren Street at Greenwich Street.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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4

Workers Comp Doctor Sues The MTA

Posted by
on September 8th, 2009 at 12:06 am

The MTA has & will always be called many different things whether it be incompetent, thieves, etc… However you can add a new word to the list, deadbeat. This is according to Dr. Michael Hearns who says the MTA has stiffed him out of more than $600,000 in claims he has billed since January 2007. When you add on interest, the amount totals $1M+ dollars. Alex Ginsberg of the New York Post has more in this report:

If you treat the stiff joints and muscles of NYC Transit workers, watch out. You might wind up getting stiffed yourself.

A workers’-compensation doctor has sued the MTA, claiming the agency is a deadbeat that is refusing to pay out more than $600,000 in claims he has billed since January 2007.

Combined with interest and penalties, that’s more than $1 million the agency is on the hook for, according to the suit, filed last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

“I cannot imagine the current president of MTA would condone noncompliant behavior and blatant disregard for applicable laws by its division responsible for reimbursement of workers’-compensation medical bills,” Dr. Michael Hearns wrote in a July 29 letter to MTA President Howard Roberts.

“It is equally disturbing to imagine that a sitting president would knowingly allow MTA to waste taxpayers’ money on unnecessary penalties and interest payments, disrupt the patient-doctor relationship and deny injured MTA workers their rights to medical care.”

The suit demands $10 million in damages.

Click here for the complete report.

Stories like this can start to explain so much as to why our health care system needs to be reformed. However this is not the place for that discussion. I am curious as to what is taking the agency so long to pay out this money if some of the claims go back to January 2007. While I understand their point about wanting to verify the legitimacy of the claims, it should not take that long. I hope to inquire about this with them & see what answers they will provide. So stay tuned….

xoxo Transit Blogger

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1

MTA Police Overtime Draining Budget

Posted by
on September 7th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

A few months ago, a big topic was the alleged abuse of overtime which was costing the MTA millions. Fast forward to the present & yet another part of the agency is alleged to be draining millions in overtime. The agency in question is the MTA Police. According to a report in the New York Times, overtime pay rose by $5.8M in 2008 to a total $17.2M. Tom Namako has more:

MTA officials are struggling to put the cuffs on out-of-control overtime pay for their own police force, which is draining tens of millions of dollars from the cash-strapped agency’s budget every year, according to records obtained by The Post.

Overtime pay for the more than 600-member police squad jumped from $11.4 million in 2007 to $17.2 million in 2008 — a $5.8 million hit to the debt-ridden agency at a time when it was lobbying for a taxpayer- and straphanger-funded $2 billion bailout.

In 2007 alone, Officer Richard Ciullo, who was then stationed in Jamaica, Queens, logged 1,374 hours of overtime — the highest on the force, agency records show.

That helped him fatten his paycheck by $77,000, bringing his overall salary to $162,000.

Click here for the complete report.

I am all for making money especially during the tough economic times from the last few years. However I have to question the legitimacy of multiple employees working 1700+ hours of overtime in a year. The numbers just do not add up & should be investigated. Considering the MTA’s emphasis on cutting costs as much as possible, an investigation should be mandatory.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

Rockaway Stations To Undergo Rehabilitation

Posted by
on September 4th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

Earlier this morning, I updated the service diversions page with the latest information for this weekend & next week. One of the diversions I listed involved the temporary closure of three Queens-bound platforms in the Rockaways. The closure is part of a 5 month station rehabilitation project. Here are the complete details from a press release just sent ou by MTA New York City Transit:

MTA NYC Transit announced today that starting at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, September 8,
the Rockaway-bound (southbound) platforms of the Beach 67th, Beach 44th and Beach 25th Streets A stations will be closed for ongoing rehabilitation work until mid-January 2010. The Manhattan-bound (northbound) stations at Beach 105th and Beach 90th will close from September 14 to December 21.

When that work is completed, the opposite platforms will close at those stations for rehab work. Following that, the same pattern will occur for the stations at Beach 60th, Beach 36th and Beach 98th Streets. The final station rehab will be at Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue. During this rehabilitation project, only alternate stations are closed so that customers are never more than one station away from a fully-open station. This project will require numerous weekend closures of either the Far Rockaway or Rockaway Park branch. At that time, free shuttle buses will be provided.

The Rockaway Branch of the A Line was opened in 1956 with the Far Rockaway station opening about two years later. The line dates back to 1892 when the route was operated by the Long Island Rail Road.

The $117 million rehabilitation work for these nine stations includes new canopies over the stairs and platforms, redesign of the area around the station booth, renewal of mezzanine and platform floors, replacing platform edges and ADA tactile warning strips, the installation of vandal-resistant fluorescent lighting and a new, high-quality public address system. ADA elevators will be installed at the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station. In addition, NYC Transit is replacing track panels on weekends on both branches. Their diversions will coincide with the weekend diversions for the station rehabilitation project.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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