Service Diversions 03/27
I have just updated the service diversions page with the latest scheduled diversions for the weekend & upcoming week (and beyond in some cases). Don’t forget to check in for any changes to the page. I also suggest printing out a copy of the page to use while riding the system.
Also a friendly reminder to any of my readers who plan on using the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) this weekend. The Valley Stream track work program (which is affecting 5 branches) wraps up this weekend. So click here for complete details on how this may affect you.
Have a safe & wonderful weekend!
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- LIRR Service Alert Reminder Starting Tomorrow
- Service Diversions 11-24-10
- Service Diversions 11-12
- Service Diversions 10-16
- Service Diversions 04-15-10
MTA Workers Fearing For Their Jobs
One of the biggest positives that draws people to the MTA’s blue collar employment ranks is the job stability & benefits that one receives. However that sentiment will change for a few thousand employees who face the prospects of being jobless if the “doomsday scenario” goes into effect.
While the main coverage of the budget passing focused on the massive fare hikes & service cuts, the amount of workers that would lose their jobs has taken a backseat. Henrick Karoliszyn & Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News take a look into this:
Yvonne Caraballo pulled her bus out of a Queens depot Thursday night and headed into an uncertain future.
Caraballo, 38, a single mother of three, became an MTA bus driver because it paid better than her previous job, came with good benefits and, she thought, promised job security.
Now, just two years later, she worries about being laid off because of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s fiscal crisis – and the state’s failure to agree on a transit-funding package to plug massive budget gaps.
“To even imagine there is a possibility that I could even lose my job, something that you count on, something I use to feed my kids, is not a good feeling at all,” said Caraballo, who worked as a school bus driver before joining the MTA.
Without a state bailout, the MTA plans to cut about 3,000 positions. Transit managers hope that most positions can simply be left unfilled when workers retire.
But officials estimate about 1,100 workers will be laid off. Many service and job cuts in the MTA’s doomsday budget involve the elimination of bus routes or running buses on routes less frequently.
Workers with two or fewer years on the job are most vulnerable.
Click here for the complete report.
Coming from a son & grandson of retired MTA bus drivers, I understood why they were originally drawn to the jobs. During my years of existence, I have become friends with many MTA employees including many who have little tenure within the agency. I am concerned at the prospects of seeing them or any hard working MTA blue-collar workers losing their jobs.
This is yet another indicator of how real this financial crisis is for the MTA. The facts of this reality hit you from every direction regardless of the asinine sentiment that the MTA is a boy crying wolf here. Maybe those who echo these sentiments should try pouring over the data like us advocates do & show us where the agency is hiding the money at. I mean it is a fact that the MTA keeps double books (sarcasm folks) so the money is there somewhere.
Seriously, this is a scary time to be someone who lives in this region & uses mass transit. We might actually bare witness to the collapse of our transit system & infrastructure. Regardless of how you feel about the MTA, this is something we can’t afford to have happen.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- MTA White Collar Jobs Continue To Be Saved
- MTA Files Alert To Layoff About 750 Workers
- MTA: No Money For Raises This Year
- MTA Looks To Cut About 700 White-Collar Jobs
- Wedding Blues For One MTA Station Agent
Moody’s: The MTA’s Bond Rating Might Be Downgraded
The last time I blogged about MTA bonds was in February when a deal between Citigroup Global Markets & the MTA was questioned. Once again MTA bonds have made headlines as Moody’s Investors Services warned that the MTA’s bond rating could be downgraded. William Neuman of the New York Times has more:
Adding a new note of urgency to the debate over how to fix the fiscally troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a financial rating service warned on Thursday that without a comprehensive rescue by the state, the authority was in danger of having its bond rating downgraded.
“This is a shot across our bow,” said Gary Dellaverson, the authority’s chief financial officer. “Moody’s is saying that the M.T.A. is in difficulty.”
He said that the warning, in a report by Moody’s Investors Services, could lead almost immediately to higher interest rates on some of the authority’s variable-rate debt. If Moody’s were to downgrade the authority, it would make it harder and costlier for it to borrow money, he said.
The warning applied to about $12 billion in what are known as Transportation Revenue bonds. The bonds are backed by the fares paid by bus, subway and commuter rail riders, as well as other sources, including taxes on real estate transactions, which have declined with the worsening economy.
The report cited the authority’s deepening financial crisis and the failure of the State Legislature to enact a rescue plan backed by Gov. David A. Paterson. In response to the lack of action in Albany, and to help close a $1.2 billion deficit, the authority’s board voted on Wednesday to move ahead with a steep increase in fares and tolls and deep cuts to service.
“In the absence of a long-term funding solution from the State Legislature,” the report said, further fare increases and service cuts were probable. Even so, the report said, the authority faces growing budget deficits in coming years. It warned that “stopgap measures will not stabilize the long-term fiscal health of the M.T.A.”
As a result, the report said, the authority’s financial projections “may not support” the current rating for its fare-backed bonds.
“It is making the very direct connection between the failure of Albany to act and the financial viability of the M.T.A.,” Mr. Dellaverson said.
Click here for the complete report.
As the old saying goes, “when it rains, it pours”. This has especially been the case for the MTA over the last year or so as it saw its finances rapidly decline faster than they had even anticipated. Yet with this knowledge known to lawmakers in Albany all this time, they have failed to enact any sort of solutions.
Will this latest report from an outside source help get it through to them just how real this financial crisis is? Will this help the majority of riders get it through their head that the MTA is in serious trouble? I am waiting to read some asinine response claiming Moody’s keeps two sets of books & is in on the charade of extracting more money to waste.
The news gets bleaker & bleaker by the day. The prospects of more fare hikes & service cuts for 2010 is very high. We clearly are at a crossroads between simultaneously maintaining/upgrading a system & one that falls into a state of disinvestment & disrepair. If the right choices are not made, our infrastructure & system will take a long time to recover.
In this day & age, our region can under no circumstances handle the latter scenario becoming a reality. What will Albany do to make sure this does not happen? We can only hope it is to make the right choices for long term stability.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- MTA Bond Credit Rated AA+
- MTA Deficit Could Rise By $650 Million
- MTA Board Paints A Grim Financial Picture
- Higher Projected Deficit Could Lead To More Pain
- MTA Manages To Sell $550 Million Worth Of Bonds
Losing The B37 Would Change Lives In Bay Ridge
With all the talk of the “doomsday scenario” fare hikes & service cuts, the little stories within the big one get lost. One of those little stories is of how Bay Ridge would be different for a community of mainly seniors who depend on the B37. Susan Dominus of the New York Times looks into this:
New York is a city of speed walkers, but the bus stop on the corner of Third Avenue and Bay Ridge Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has the look of a video clip of the city playing in slow motion. On Wednesday afternoon, a petite woman in sunglasses made her way with a cane to a friend who was already at the stop. An elderly woman with a walker also waited, breathing heavily, for the same bus. A heavy-set woman labored to get out of a livery cab that dropped her on the corner, then settled on the bench with a sigh. “It’s good to sit down,” she said, taking in the sun.
She knew she could be waiting awhile. The B37 bus doesn’t run with any great frequency down in Bay Ridge, but that’s fine for many of its riders: seniors with swollen legs, frail hearts or achy knees. Time they have in abundance; what many of them lack is mobility. “The subway’s out for me,” said Edith Cresci, 86, who was waiting at Third Avenue and 86th Street. “Up and down the stairs? It’s too much. I haven’t been to a subway in I don’t know how many years.”
Weeks earlier, Ms. Cresci, like so many of her neighbors, signed a petition protesting the service cuts that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted into effect Wednesday morning, including the elimination of the Third Avenue bus that she relies on so heavily. If the changes go into effect this summer, as scheduled, a neighborhood’s swath of seniors will be all but housebound, unable to make it two long blocks over to the next closest bus line, on Fifth Avenue.
Some 3,524 people ride the B37 bus on an average weekday — a pittance compared with the 56,723 souls that cram onto the M15, the city’s most crowded line, up and down the East Side of Manhattan; or the 53,231 on Brooklyn’s busiest bus, the B46 between Kings Plaza and Williamsburg; or even the 14,200 aboard the B63, which runs on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge.
Click here for the complete report.
Sometimes one can look at a map & get a good outline of service that might not be necessary due to the proximity of other transportation options. The B37 qualifies as one of those lines as it has subway service one block over on 4th Avenue for virtually its entire run. However when you read stories like this, it does remind you of how many truly can’t use the subway or it would not be a good idea for them to do so.
I admit that stories like this do make you wonder what routes are truly unnecessary & which are not. On the other hand, this would not be on the forefront of one’s mind if the MTA was not annually screwed in terms of funding. While a properly run agency should try to save money & eliminate redundant service, this should be looked at when you are trying to run an efficient operation, not out of dire necessity due to being in the midst of financial ruin.
Maybe the so called leaders in Albany can read stories like these & have it flip the switch in their head. They need to understand that this financial crisis is as real as it gets. Millions of riders will be forced to pay more for less & others might end up rarely going anywhere due to a lost of usable service. Does Albany really think this is the way things should be in 2009 or at anytime for that matter? Better yet, do they even care?
The final verdict will be on the table soon if they don’t come up with a way to rescue the MTA. Millions can only hope they do the right thing. I am doubtful……
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- Woman Killed By MTA Bus In Queens
- Inching Closer To Unemployment
- Woman Killed After Being Struck By A Q Train
- S79 Changes Happening In Bay Ridge
- Bay Ridge Stations May Be Too Damaged To Paint
MTA Says Doomsday Scenario Can Be Avoided
Since this past Wednesday when the MTA Board approved to enact the “doomsday scenario” budget, many transit advocates & riders have expressed their frustration with the skyrocketing costs & service cuts. While the prospects of reversing seem low, the MTA says it is possible to do just that. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News takes a look into this:
There’s still time for state officials in Albany to rescue riders facing painful service cuts and sky-high fare hikes, the MTA brass said Wednesday.
“We really have the month of April before people get impacted,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Elliot Sander said.
“You could reverse some of these actions in May, but they will already start taking place in terms of hitting our customers.”
Transit officials said Wednesday’s vote was necessary because of the lead-in time necessary to implement the fare hikes and service cuts if there is no state rescue plan.
Click here for the complete report.
Technically speaking, the MTA is correct in saying the “doomsday scenario” can be reversed. However we are talking about Albany here. Regardless of what State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith claims, I will not consider the chances of a reversal of fortune to be good. The inaction of Albany during this whole ordeal & their overall history gives all the ammunition one needs to feel this way. If this is your first go around with watching Albany in action regarding the MTA, do you have high hope in a reversal of fortune? I doubt it.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:
