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Irresponsibility Earns Someone $2.3 Million Verdict

Posted by
on February 26th, 2009 at 5:50 pm

There are different things that can frustrate someone including yours truly. For me, one of those things is seeing irresponsibility being rewarded. This was the case when a drunk man won a $2.3 million dollar verdict from MTA NYC Transit after losing a leg in a subway accident. The highly intoxicated man fell on the subway tracks & had his right leg torn off by an oncoming train. Erin Durkin & James Martinez of the New York Daily News have more in this report:

A Brooklyn man whose right leg was ripped off by a train after he drunkenly ended up on a subway track has been awarded $2.3 million by a Manhattan jury.

“It will go mostly to my future medical expenses,” said Dustin Dibble, who secured the verdict last week after taking NYC Transit to trial.

His lawyer argued the train’s motorman had time to stop when he caught a glimpse of the man on the tracks from 180 feet away.

“He thought it was garbage,” said lawyer Andrew Smiley.

Dibble had a sky-high blood-alcohol level of 0.18 and didn’t recall arriving at Union Square, where he was hit by an N train.

Click here for the complete report.

This verdict is outright ridiculous. The MTA will definitely appeal this decision & hopefully in the end, they do not have to payout for this incident. Why should this man be rewarded when he was the main reason the accident took place. Why should they & ultimately the taxpayers be responsible for paying a guy who was too drunk to wait for the train without ending up on the tracks?

If this kind of responsibility is rewarded, why should I or someone else not end up on the tracks due to being drunk & cash in? Well because I & others would have common sense to not put ourselves in such a situation. If you are drunk, the subway is not a place you should be in to begin with. However if you must be, it is your responsibility to get to your destination safely. If you can’t handle such a task, it is clear that you should not be drinking.

Only in this country would someone get rewarded for being completely irresponsible. Let me stand up & celebrate this fact…..

xoxo Transit Blogger

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MTA Debuts Interactive Trip Planner Map

Posted by
on February 26th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

Five days ago, the MTA debuted a interactive “Trip Planner” map. Prior to the debut, they issued a press release via e-mail to talk about the map & its features:

The Interactive Map, a new feature of MTA NYC Transit’s on-line itinerary service Trip Planner, opens up a new way for customers to search, locate and pinpoint destinations, as well as places of interest in and around the five boroughs. Using the tools of the Interactive Map, obtaining a travel itinerary using the NYC Transit subway or bus network will be as easy as marking two points on the map. Released in a Beta format today as an option on the Trip Planner homepage, the Interactive Map promises to change the way customers navigate the City and plan their trips.

Employing features of the Interactive Map, users can pan to any area in New York City and, with a click on the tool bar, view a location on either a road map or aerial view while utilizing multiple zoom levels. The subway map, showing all the subway lines in an area including each subway station, is available as a user-controlled overlay in either view. Station information is easily accessible by mouse overlay or clicking on an individual station. Accessible subway stations are also available as a user-controlled feature.

The Interactive Map was developed by the Internet Technologies Group of NYC Transit’s Technology and Information Services Division. “With the Interactive Map, customers will have access to features not previously available through our Trip Planner itinerary service,” said Sohaib Mallick, Sr. Director of Internet Technologies. “We are offering our customers more flexibility in how they not only use our network, but navigate around the City. By incorporating the subway map as an overlay on the street map, and including an extensive list of public locations, we’ve provided our customers with the ability to view the subway as it relates to their specific travel needs,” added Mallick.

At the heart of the Interactive Map is NAVTEQ® map data, a recognized leader in digital map technology, while the aerial imagery is supplied by Microsoft® Virtual Earth™.
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NAVTEQ digital map data, known for its accuracy and extensive coverage, provides an ideal
foundation for supporting innovative internet-based mapping applications like the Interactive Map that require accurate, rich and relevant content. Microsoft’s Virtual Earth mapping platform provides the visualization component of the Interactive Map, offering customers an immersive touring experience of the City through high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery as well as a photorealistic and highly accurate three-dimensional city modeling.

“The Interactive Map will add even more value to the itinerary planning experience that over 14,000 daily customers have come to rely on with Trip Planner,” said Paul J. Fleuranges, Vice President of Corporate Communications. “In 2008, Trip Planner was used by more than 3.7 million customers to plan itineraries, a 187-percent increase over 2007. With the addition of the Interactive Map and the unique features it provides, we believe Trip Planner will become even more popular with our regular customers and visitors,” added Fleuranges.

A unique feature offered by the Interactive Map is the ability to personalize it. By opening up and maintaining an account, users can log-in with an email address and password and retrieve marked locations, maps and itineraries. Instead of panning and zooming to a particular area each time they log on to the Interactive Map, account holders can save that map and any marked locations of interest – their home, office, school, doctor’s office – for retrieval and use in future settings. This is particularly helpful for users when planning an itinerary with the Trip Planner feature, because they won’t have to spend time marking locations each time they want to plan an itinerary.

Unlike our current text-based Trip Planner, map users can use the map’s graphical marker feature to plan a trip directly from the map. Just like in the text-based Trip Planner, an Origin and Destination are required to get an itinerary. Users can place a marker on the map in any of four convenient ways: Station Locator, Place Finder, Address Finder, and Custom Marker.

“We’ve sought to integrate NYC Transit information like the Subway Map, Trip Planner, and Station Locator with customer specific information such as Places of Interest, the Address Finder, and the street map in one place to help our customers make efficient use of the system,” said Bill Neary, Manager of Online Services for the Internet Technologies Group. “In this Beta release we are hoping customers make use of the “Contact Us” feature to let us know how we can make the Interactive Map even better,” added Neary.

Using the Interactive Map a user can create a custom map view setting the zoom level, panning to a particular area, setting road or aerial view, adding any number of markers and then emailing the custom map view to a friend. By clicking on a link in the email the recipient will see the custom map view created by the sender. This feature would be helpful to someone hosting a conference, meeting or other event. An organizer can email the map to attendees, and recipients can then add their own location to the map to get directions to the event choosing the mode and time of travel, walking distance and other itinerary choices.

Features:

Station Locator – With just two clicks locate any NYC Transit or SIR station in the system. Once a station is chosen, the location is automatically marked on the map.

Places of Interest – drop-down menus help to quickly locate hotels, museums, parks, sports stadiums, theaters and other attractions.

Address Finder – type in an address, choose a borough and immediately receive a visual representation of the location on the map.

Add Marker – Users can mark – a way of graphically noting a location – the map with locations of their own personal interest. Markers can be labeled by the user, who also sets the color of the marker.

Line Map – While in the interactive map, users can access all the detailed transfer and stop information contained in the individual subway line strip maps.

Trip Planner – Use the map to get Trip Planner powered itineraries between any two points marked on the map. And as with Trip Planner, the user can specify mode of travel, walking distance, minimizing travel time or transfers and whether an accessible trip is required.

Email – Users can personalize the map, including any number of markers and then share it with others.

Accessible Station Finder – With one click users can see all accessible subway stations marked with an icon in the current map view.

The map can be accessed by clicking here.

This is just yet more proof of how the MTA is serious about updating the technology within the system to the benefit of its riders. I hope they can continue such initiatives in the future by having the money necessary to do so.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Ravitch Tax Plan Facing Resistance

Posted by
on February 26th, 2009 at 5:48 pm

As my readers know, I was not a fan of the payroll tax recommendation in the highly anticipated Ravitch Commission report. I outlined my reasons & will not rehash them again. The latest news on that front focused on the resistance towards the plan which has been building steadily of late especially from upstate regions. William Neuman talks about this in this report:

When Richard Ravitch revealed his financial rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in December, the harshest criticism focused on a proposal to place tolls on the East River and Harlem River Bridges.

That made the plan’s centerpiece, a proposed new tax on payrolls in the 12 counties served by the authority, seem painless by comparison.

But since then, resistance to the payroll tax, which would raise $1.5 billion a year, has been building, especially in areas farther from New York City with less access to mass transit.

And opposition is coming not just from businesses that would pay the tax but also from public officials worried about schools and health care. That is because the tax envisioned by Mr. Ravitch, 33 cents on every $100 in salaries and wages, would apply equally to private businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies, including school districts.

All that complicates the prospects for the rescue plan, which is intended to put the authority on a stable financial footing. It calls for an 8 percent increase in fare revenues rather than the 23 percent increase that the authority has proposed, and it would head off a set of deep service cuts meant to help close a $1.2 billion deficit. It would also provide money for long-term construction and maintenance in coming years.

Yet, opposition to the tolls among legislators from the city and Long Island remains strong.

Rory I. Lancman, a Queens assemblyman, said that Mr. Ravitch received an earful about the tolls at a meeting with Assembly Democrats last month.

As an alternative, Mr. Lancman has suggested dropping the tolls from the plan and increasing the payroll tax, to 45 cents for every $100 of wages.

That would almost certainly spur greater resistance to the payroll tax.

Click here for the complete report.

Lets face it, this plan was flawed from the get go. Of all the proposals, this was by far the most ridiculous from a common sense standpoint especially factoring in past results. So it comes as no surprise that many were against it. The proposal made by Queens Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman would never pass as it would cost more than the one proposed. Why he even suggested it is something I am interesting in finding out.

I would not be surprised to hear the doom & gloom come out from some if this particular proposal does not pass. Whatever you do, don’t fall for that rhetoric. This proposal alone would not make a big difference for the MTA & would cause more harm than good in the long run. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the MTA needs funding or it will spiral out of control. The ramifications from that disaster occurring would be felt without question. However there are responsible ways to achieve proper funding & this payroll tax is not one of them.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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LIRR Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

Posted by
on February 26th, 2009 at 5:47 pm

On 02/11, I spent the night taking out one of my best friend’s for their 21st birthday. I eventually hopped on the Long Island Rail Road & took an express train home in the wee hours of Thursday morning. On the ride home, I noticed a few copies of “Train Talk” laying on a few seats. For those who don’t know, “Train Talk” is a publication tailored towards LIRR customers.

I picked up a copy to read while I was listening to music on my mp3 player. The front page story was about the recent results of the customer satisfaction survey. The headline read, “Train Crew Courtesy Tops Customer Satisfaction Survey”. The crew courtesy category was the highest rated in the survey with an overall ranking of 95%.

On that note, let me share the press release the Long Island Rail Road issued via e-mail about these results on 02/11:

MTA Long Island Rail Road received high marks from thousands of customers who participated in the Railroad’s 2008 Customer Satisfaction Survey, including a resounding 95% satisfaction rating for train crew courtesy.

On board service categories garnered the highest approval ratings with Courtesy of Crew leading the way, followed by Safety from Accidents (94%), Heating During Cold Weather (93%), Overall Comfort of Trip (93%) and Train Interior Maintenance (93%). Also, 90% expressed satisfaction with LIRR’s on-time performance, which reached a best ever 95.14% in 2008 while the Railroad served a record number of passengers.

The results are based on a survey conducted by Abt SRBI Inc. in September and October of more than 9,000 peak and off-peak customers. Eighty nine percent of those customers said they were satisfied with the overall quality of service provided by the LIRR.

MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander said: “Improving customer service is one of the MTA’s top strategic priorities, and I am pleased that MTA Long Island Rail Road is receiving such high marks from its customers. Along with record-breaking LIRR on-time performance, railroad and subway mechanical reliability that is 20 times better than it was two decades ago and significant ridership gains across all our agencies, these results show that our region’s commitment to the MTA capital program is improving the quality of life for millions of our customers every day.”

LIRR President Helena Williams said: “Our Customer Satisfaction Survey is an important barometer of what the riding public thinks about the Long Island Rail Road. I am delighted to see our train crews recognized for courteous service and that the hard work of our maintenance departments is clearly adding to the comfort and reliability of our trains. We have to keep up that good work and do better in those areas that the survey shows need improvement.”

For example, many customers found fault with the cleanliness of the restrooms in Penn Station with only 58% of those surveyed finding them acceptable. Williams noted that a $5 million renovation of the restrooms now underway should go a long way toward addressing valid customer complaints.

The results are what one would expect from LIRR customers. The only category result that caught my attention was the 95% ranking for crew courtesy. The reason I say this is from personal experience & others I have spoken with or read about, the attitudes of the crew are mixed. While everyone has their good & bad days, the kind of attitude you deal with varies a lot. I have found this to be the case in my history of 11 years riding the LIRR. In the end, maybe some of us are luckier than others when dealing with crews. However you slice it, 95% is a pretty strong satisfaction rating.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Connecticut Governor Blows Transit Funding Opportunities

Posted by
on February 26th, 2009 at 5:46 pm

Recently, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell announced her budget for fiscal 2010 & 2011. Unfortunately for the state’s mass transit system, funding opportunities were blown. Tri-State Transportation Campaign Senior Planner Ryan Lynch takes a look at these blown opportunities in his entry:

Governor Rell announced her budget for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 last Wednesday in Hartford. With Connecticut facing a $922 million deficit, her proposal was mainly a laundry list of spending cuts, fee increases, and agency consolidations. With the exception of a speed camera pilot program, however, Governor Rell offered little vision on how to fund the transportation system moving forward.

Governor Rell missed an opportunity to call for some form of open-road congestion pricing on Connecticut’s roads, an action that in addition to generating revenue for the transportation system would reduce congestion and improve the environment.

The Transportation Strategy Board, tasked with directing transportation policy in the state, is set to receive the final report on congestion pricing from Cambridge Systematics on February 19. Her budget address would have been an opportune time to show support for an innovative funding policy that might be a heavy political lift.

Click here for the complete entry.

I can’t say that I follow the ins & outs of politics & issues involving Connecticut on a daily basis. However I do try to keep abreast of what is going on. I have to say I found the comment posted below the entry to be very interesting. The person who went by the name of “DingDong” stated:

The white suburban voters will always love Grandma Rell. She doesn’t get cities and doesn’t care about the poor, but neither do most Connecticut voters. This is part of the reason that ConnDOT didn’t do as bad as other agencies – and that the transportation funding decreases we did see were from programs specifically targeting lower-income residents.

Knowing the demographic & financial makeup of the state leads me to believe that “DingDong” might be on to something in terms of program decreases targeting lower-income residents. It is a shame that eventhough the lower-income residents do not make up the majority of Connecticut residents, their options are considered to not be as important. This is the wrong message to send in a day & age where we all should encourage as much investment into our transit programs as possible.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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