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Taking A Look At The “Doomsday Scenario”

Posted by
on March 18th, 2009 at 7:58 pm

With a week to go until the MTA votes on whether or not to implement their “doomsday scenario“, the New York Daily News takes a closer look at the details of this scenario. It is pretty much a refresher course from the information reported in January. So here is the latest from Pete Donohue:

A one-way ride on the subway will cost $2.50 and a monthly MetroCard will be priced at a stunning $103 under a doomsday menu of fares expected to be approved by the MTA next week, sources told the Daily News Wednesday.

The MTA board finance committee is scheduled Monday to vote on specific price changes affecting more than 8.5 million subway, bus and commuter train riders.

The full board is slated to adopt the changes at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday.

The higher fares would hit turnstiles and bus fare boxes June. 1.

Sources said a majority of board members support the following rate changes for subways and buses:

* Base MetroCard and cash/single-ride fare: $2 to $2.50

* 1-Day MetroCard: $7.50 to $9.50

* Weekly: $25 to $31

* 14-Day: $47 to $59

* Monthly: $81 to $103

As I noted earlier, the prospects of this “doomsday scenario” being avoided are looking bleaker & bleaker by the day. Our “so called” leaders in Albany continue to beat around the bush in terms of coming up with legitimate solutions. It sure does not help that the so called big players in Albany such as Malcolm Smith & Gov. Patterson seem to lack the moxie to get their points across to those within their ranks & across the aisle. In the end, it is just one big financial mess that the riders will ultimately have to pay for. So really, it is business as usual.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Buses To Replace Overnight Ronkonkoma Trains

Posted by
on March 18th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Just a short time ago, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) sent out a press release via e-mail. The press release was to announce that buses will replace overnight Ronkonkoma Line trains due to rail inspections. Here are the complete details:

The MTA Long Island Rail Road will provide bus service in place of trains on the Ronkonkoma Branch during overnight/early-morning hours on Saturday, March 21, while rail inspections are conducted. From 12:45 AM to 6:30 AM buses will replace four eastbound and four westbound trains between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma.

In performing track inspection, LIRR track maintenance crews will utilize a vehicle fitted with ultrasonic technology and electro-magnetic induction test equipment. This bright yellow vehicle, the Sperry Rail Car, is designed to detect internal rail defects otherwise not readily visible to the eye. Track maintenance workers will immediately correct any defects uncovered.

To ensure that our rails are properly maintained, the Sperry Rail Car is used biannually to inspect approximately 500 miles of LIRR track.

Farmingdale to Ronkonkoma:

The Sperry Rail Car will be conducting rail tests between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma between 12:45 AM and 6:30 AM on Saturday, March 21.

Eastbound:

Customers on the 12:14 AM, 1:16 AM, 2:53 AM and 4:43 AM trains from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma will transfer to buses at Hicksville for stations Wyandanch through Ronkonkoma. Bethpage and Farmingdale customers will remain on the train to their stations.

Westbound:
Customers on the 12:44 AM, 2:10 AM, 3:45 AM and 5:37 AM trains from Ronkonkoma will board buses at stations Ronkonkoma through Wyandanch and transfer to trains at Hicksville to complete their trips. Customers utilizing Bethpage and Farmingdale stations will board normally scheduled trains.

During this testing, customers should anticipate up to 33 minutes additional travel time.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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3

Elliot Sander’s Days Might Be Numbered

Posted by
on March 18th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Ten days ago, I blogged about a possible MTA Bailout that was in the works according to a report in the New York Daily News. One of the potential parts of that bailout might have led to the ouster of CEO/Executive Director Elliot Sander. The potential bailout plan will not come to pass but the potential of Elliot being ousted is still possible. David Seifman & Tom Namako of the New York Post had more in this extremely brief report:

MTA chief Elliot Sander’s days could be numbered, and a leading candidate for his job is a close aide to Gov. Paterson who is a former top transit executive, sources told The Post.

Paterson’s senior adviser, Marc Shaw, could replace Sander after state lawmakers decide how or if to fix the agency’s $1.2 billion budget gap and reorganize its management, the sources said.

Click here for the rest of the story.

As I wrote in that entry 10 days ago, I feel it would be a terrible mistake to let Elliot go at this point. He has done a solid job considering the hand dealt to him & he has earned more time to get the job done. He inherited a huge mess that will take years to fix. So replacing him with someone else will just push those efforts back. What I truly find to be ridiculous is the possible replacement.

How in the world would any sane person want to appoint someone from an old & unsuccessful regime? Seriously, this job needs to belong to someone capable such as Elliot & not a political friend. Enough is enough with the political games!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

Senate Democrats’ MTA Bailout Plan Gets Slammed

Posted by
on March 17th, 2009 at 11:23 pm

The countdown to the possible enactment of the “doomsday scenario” is exactly a week away. The prospects of adverting this disaster took a major blow when Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith’s plan was practically D.O.A.

The plan which I blogged about yesterday was nothing more than a band-aid solution to a flesh wound problem. Some of the heavy hitters in Albany including Gov. Patterson & Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver agreed as they shot the plan down as soon as it came out. Ken Lovett, Glenn Blain, & Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more in this report:

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith’s universally panned MTA bailout appears dead on arrival – leaving riders closer to sky-high fare hikes and service cuts.

Not only did the Democratic governor and Assembly speaker blast the stop-gap plan Tuesday, but the head of the Senate Finance Committee rejected it, too.

“I don’t think a piecemeal approach will accomplish the goals,” state Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) told the Daily News.

Without a bailout, the agency will have to raise fares and tolls by up to 30% in June, officials have said. Service cuts slated to start in the spring include shutting down 21 local bus routes.

Smith’s plan would impose a payroll tax on businesses and raise fares 4% to fund day-to-day operations. Current levels of service could be maintained, Smith said.

His plan doesn’t help pay for the next five-year capital construction and maintenance program, which starts in January and is unfunded.

That program should get between $25 billion and $30 billion to keep the system safe and reliable, and to expand it, MTA CEO Elliot Sander has said.

Smith said his plan addresses the more immediate problem facing the authority and riders, and leaves time to deal with the rest of the crisis.

The MTA and Gov. Paterson’s office said the Queens Democrat’s plan is flawed with miscalculations that would result in a $1.1 billion shortfall over two years.

The Ravitch proposal would fund both the operating and capital budgets, scale back fare hikes to 8% and avert service cuts.

Click here for the complete report.

Now lets take a look at a similar report from William Neuman & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times:

In an intensifying battle among Democrats, Gov. David A. Paterson on Tuesday flatly rejected a Senate version of a rescue plan for the financially troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority and said he would continue to push for tolls on the East and Harlem River bridges.

Mr. Paterson chided the Democratic majority in the Senate for choosing what he described as a short-term solution that left big holes in future budgets at the authority. His strong stance suggested that the debate over how to prevent sharp fare increases and service cuts could drag late into the budget season.

“The solution must be taken now,” Mr. Paterson said. “Unfortunately there seems to be a belief that these types of issues can be deferred into some sort of future activity. This is what’s gotten Albany in trouble time and time again.”

The governor was asked if there were any way the Senate plan could be adopted and provide a solution for the authority’s problems.

H. Dale Hemmerdinger, the transportation authority’s chairman, said that the Senate plan fell short of meeting the authority’s needs by about $1 billion. To make up for it, he said, the Senate plan would require a fare increase of 17 percent instead of its proposed 4 percent.

“We believe their math is wrong, and they just didn’t take the time to do their homework,” Mr. Hemmerdinger said.

Click here for the complete report.

I applaud Gov. Patterson & others for seeing how ridiculous Malcom’s plan was. It was quite clear that the proposal was not well thought out if at all. We are a week away from the MTA Board possibly voting to enact their “doomsday scenario” & this is the best Malcolm could come up with. Either he is truly clueless to how dire this situation really is (possible considering he questioned the MTA’s deadline considering it is part of the state’s law!) or he just does not care.

Either way, his plan needed to be killed right away as it would do more harm than good, if it did any at all. The prospects of the “doomsday scenario” being avoided are looking bleaker & bleaker as each day goes by. For millions of riders, this will just be another screwjob on top of the many Albany has given out over the years. Sigh……….

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Ridership Growth Over The Last Decade

Posted by
on March 17th, 2009 at 2:35 am

Unless you have been living under a rock or inside a cave for the last decade, transit ridership has exploded. More & more people are turning to mass transit in New York City & the latest issue of “New York By The Numbers” by the Center for an Urban Future showcases this point. Before we get to the actual report, lets first take a look at a story on the report by Dorian Block of the New York Daily News:

While politicians debate whether or not to rescue the MTA to prevent fare hikes and service cuts, a new report shows the borough had the largest increase in bus ridership in the city over the past five years.
An average of 558,919 people rode the bus in the Bronx on weekdays in 2008, which is 43,840 more people than in 2003, says a report called “Transit Overload” put out by the Center for an Urban Future.

Twenty Bronx subway stations also had 50% or greater increases in riders.

“This shows how dependent this borough is on public transportation. It is extraordinary,” said Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future.

“More of the Manhattan workforce has had to move to the outer boroughs. For the most part, new immigrants do not have cars,” he continued. “The rise in congestion and oil prices nationwide and in New York has been pushing people to transit.”

As in past years, the Yankee Stadium, Third Ave. at 149th St. and Parkchester subway stops saw the most riders.

But the station with the largest percentage growth of ridership was Bronx Park East — below Pelham Parkway near the Bronx Zoo — with 2,897 riders passing through daily last year, compared with 1,450 per day in 1998.

Click here for the complete story.

Now lets take a look at some interesting facts from the report:

• 20 of the 22 stations with the largest percentage increase in subway ridership were either in the outer boroughs or in Manhattan north of 96th Street.

• In 2008, 62 stations outside of Manhattan had an average weekday ridership of over 10,000 people, up significantly from 46 stations in 2003 and 36 in 1998.

• More than a quarter of all New York City subway stations—111 out of 425—saw an increase in average weekday ridership of 50 percent or more during the past decade. Brooklyn accounted for nearly half (51) of those stations; there were 28 in Manhattan, 20 in the Bronx and 12 in Queens.

• 13 stations on the L line and nine on the N line were among the 50 fastest growing stations citywide. Other lines with several stations on the top-50 list: the 2 (seven stations), 3 (six stations), F (five stations), J (five stations) and M (five stations).

Click here to view and/or download the complete report (.pdf)

I had a chance to read a bit of the report & the statistics do not surprise me at all. Many areas in NYC have underwent or are in the process of gentrification. So with such improvements bringing in new people, ridership had nowhere to go but up.

This is the kind of report that should be printed out & thrown in the face of leaders in Albany. They need to understand that regardless of past MTA transgressions & poor choices by them in partnership with Albany, that they must do what is right for the people. Hopefully reports like this will get through to people who continue to not come up with legitimate fixes for the MTA’s financial crisis. Am I & millions of others asking for too much? I know the answer but does Albany? Only time will tell…..

xoxo Transit Blogger

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