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LIRR Woodmere Station Building Renovations Start Nov. 17th

Posted by
on November 14th, 2008 at 12:19 pm

Just a short while ago the Long Island Rail Road sent out a notice to announce the start of renovations to the LIRR Woodmere Station Building. Here are the complete details:

Major renovation work on the MTA Long Island Rail Road’s Woodmere Station building and nearby area gets underway November 17. During the work a trailer parked near the station building will substitute as a waiting area-ticket office. Ticket vending machines have also been relocated to the station platform near the temporary ticket office trailer. Train service will not be affected by the work.

The project includes improvements to the station building exterior, replacement of surrounding sidewalks and renovation of the ticket office waiting room and rest room.

Exterior
New doors, windows, gutters, leaders and flashing will be installed along with new light fixtures. New soffits will be installed and the building will be painted. Adjacent sidewalks around the perimeter of the station building will also be installed. A new roof was completed during the summer of 2008.

Interior
New flooring, ceiling, light fixtures, bathroom fixtures, door frames and molding will be installed. The interior will also be painted.

Any necessary asbestos and lead paint abatement work will be completed before the actual building work begins.

The construction work is included in the MTA Long Island Rail Road’s Capital Improvement Program from a grant by State Senator Dean Skelos. The cost of the work is approximately $481,000. The project is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2009.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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0

NYS Comptroller Talks About MTA Capital Security Program

Posted by
on November 13th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Yesterday afternoon, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released a report which talked about the new challenges that the MTA Capital Security Program will face. Here is a sample of the press release that came with the report:

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has made a number of important security improvements, but progress has been slow and the integrated electronic security program continues to experience problems. The first phase of the MTA’s capital security program is now expected to be completed in September 2011, three years later than the MTA’s original estimate and ten years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, according to a report State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released today.

“With each completed security improvement, the MTA mass transit system is safer for commuters and better protected against attack, but delays continue and the program is falling further behind,” DiNapoli said. “The electronic security program, which accounts for a large share of the cost, is experiencing significant challenges.”

The DiNapoli report credits the MTA for successfully hardening 10 critical infrastructure facilities and establishing perimeter protection around three major transportation facilities. The report also notes security improvements the MTA has implemented through increased personnel, improved coordination with other security forces – such as NYPD, State Police, the National Guard, and federal agencies – and its successful “See Something, Say Something” public awareness campaign.

The DiNapoli report found that capital program costs have grown 42 percent to an estimated $837 million from the original forecast of $591 million. The integrated electronic security program has grown to $453 million — an increase of $188 million, or 71 percent, due in large part to the inclusion of additional facilities. These estimates exclude $63 million in potential costs that may be reflected in future budget estimates.

Click here for the complete press release.

Click here for a copy of the report (.pdf).

The most alarming part of this report is the delay in launching the program. I find the most alarming aspect to be the rise in cost. In a time where the MTA’s finances are so bleak, the last thing that is needed is for yet something else to cost a ton more than originally anticipated. They just can’t win!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

Straphangers Campaign Announces 2008 Pokey & Schleppie Award Winners

Posted by
on November 12th, 2008 at 8:22 pm

NYPRIG Straphangers Campaign Pokey AwardThe Pokey Award

The Schleppie AwardThe Schleppie Award

Earlier today the NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign handed out their annual “Pokey” & “Schleppie” Awards. The “Pokey” is awarded to New York City Transit’s slowest local bus route. The “Schleppie” is awarded to New York City Transit’s least reliable local bus route. Here is the complete press release which announced the dubious winners:

The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives today presented two awards for poor bus service in New York City.

The first is the seventh-annual “Pokey” for the slowest local bus routes in New York City. The Pokey award is a golden snail on a pedestal. It is awarded based on rides taken on 22 slow bus routes.

The second is the third-annual “Schleppie” for the city’s least reliable buses and is based on official transit statistics. The Schleppie is comprised of lumbering elephants mounted on a pedestal.

The winner of the 2008 Pokey is … the M96 crosstown. The M96 had the slowest bus speed at 3.7 miles per hour as clocked at 12:00 noon on a weekday. This is not much faster than the walking speed of the average person (3.0 mph) or slower than an elephant walking (4.5 mph). It is also slower than a running house mouse (8 mph) or chicken (9 mph). Last year’s winner was the M23 crosstown.

The winner of the 2008 Schleppie is … the M101/2/3 3rd/Lexington/Amsterdam/Lenox Avenue bus from Upper to Lower Manhattan. More than one in four of its buses bunched together or had big gaps in service. That’s the worst reliability record for 42 “high-volume” local routes surveyed by MTA New York City Transit.

Weekday noontime speeds for the Pokey were found by individuals riding 22 of the city’s slowest bus routes. Reliability was measured for the Schleppie by using performance statistics kept by MTA New York City Transit on how well buses kept to scheduled times and intervals. (See methodology.)

“Riders know from bitter daily experience that it can often be faster to walk than to take the bus,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. “Or hop on board a strolling elephant.”

Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said: “But hope is around the corner with the coming of faster service with ‘Bus Rapid Transit.’”

White noted that “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) had brought better transit to many cities around the world and that a version known as “Select Bus Service” (SBS) is being tested here. The first SBS routes have started on Pelham Parkway and Fordham Road in the Bronx (Bx12) and on 34th Street in Manhattan (M34). SBS routes are planned for Nostrand Avenue (B44), First and Second Avenues in Manhattan (M15) and Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island (S79).

Among Bus Rapid Transit strategies now being reviewed in New York are:
• Tougher enforcement of exclusive bus lanes with barriers to discourage cars from entering;
• Pre-boarding fare payment;
• Reconfigured bus stops to speed boarding and reduce conflicts with other vehicles; and
• Bus priority signals to help buses stick to schedule.

According to the groups, the slowest bus routes in each borough are:

B63 4.9 mph Between Bay Ridge and Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Bx19 5.3 mph Between Botanic Garden in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan
M96 3.7 mph Crosstown on 96th Street in Manhattan
Q56 6.1 mph Between Jamaica, Queens and East New York, Brooklyn
S42 11.4 mph Between New Brighton and St. George Ferry Terminal

The most unreliable bus routes with the greatest bunching together or big gaps in service in four boroughs are:

B44 24.0% unreliable Between Sheepshead Bay and Williamsburg on Nostrand Avenue
Bx41 20.7% unreliable Between Wakefield and the Hub on White Plains Rd/Webster Avenue
M101/2/3 26.1% unreliable Between Upper and Lower Manhattan on 3rd/Lexington/Amsterdam/Lenox Avenues
S74 22.1% unreliable Between Ferry Terminal and Tottenville on Richmond/Arthur Kill Rds

Full tables of bus speeds and reliability are attached. Schleppies went to any route with an average of unreliability greater than 20%. As a result, no Queens bus route received a Schleppie.

In the 2002 Pokey Awards, the groups found that the city’s slowest bus route was the M96. In 2003, the groups awarded the Pokey to the M23, in 2004 and 2005 to the M34, in 2006 to the M14A, and in 2007 to the M23. The groups cautioned that comparisons with some past findings were difficult due to changes in methodology over the years. In addition, changes in bus speeds since 2004 have generally been too minor to demonstrate significant trends.

The Schleppie went to the M1 in both 2006 and 2007. The official methodology for determining this measure was changed in 2008 by transit officials.

Click here for the methodology.

Click here for the complete Pokey Award chart from slowest to fastest.

Click here for the Schleppie Award chart from worst to best.

Unfortunately for riders of some routes, some things just never change. If you look at the results from last year, one would notice that some routes remained the status quo. In this case that is not the kind of distinction that the MTA could be happy about. Here are the routes that produced more of the same:

Slowest Route Category (2007):

B63 4.9 mph Between Bay Ridge and Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Bx19 5.3 mph Between Botanic Garden in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan
Q56 6.1 mph Between Jamaica, Queens and East New York, Brooklyn

Most Unreliable Category (2007):

Bx41 26.1% unreliable Between Wakefield and to Hub on White Plains Road

——-

So in the end, the results were identical for the slowest routes in the last 2 years. The only change was the unreliability of the Bx41 went down 5.4%. It is nice to see that percentage go down although it has much more room for improvement. Hopefully the MTA can find ways to improve bus service for its riders through different initiatives such as the successful Select Bus Service that was implemented on the Bx12.

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Rockettes To Take Nostalgia Train To Radio City Music Hall

Posted by
on November 12th, 2008 at 5:27 pm

The MTA’s New York City Transit division sent out a press & photo opportunity press release a short time ago. The press release was to announce that the Rockettes will be taking a nostalgia train to Radio City Music Hall to kick off a discount campaign. Here are the complete details:

MTA New York City Transit, along with Radio City Music Hall, today announced an event to kick off a $10 discount campaign for customers who use MetroCard when purchasing tickets to select performances of the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.

WHAT – Radio City Music Hall Rockettes ride a 1930’s era Nostalgia Train in regular passenger service, making regular stops.

WHEN – Thursday, November 13th at approximately 10 a.m.

WHERE – Train scheduled to leave from the World Trade Center station on the E line.

WHO – MTA NYC Transit officials & Radio City Rockettes.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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0

22 Year Old Man Struck & Killed By LIRR Train

Posted by
on November 12th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

My sister sent me an e-mail asking if I heard about the delays on the Babylon line this morning. I did not but she was nice enough to alert me to a posted report as to why the delays occurred. Unfortunately a 22 year old man was struck & killed by an empty LIRR train. Here is the brief report from the Associated Press via 1010 Wins:

BELLMORE, N.Y. (AP) — A man was killed by a Long Island Rail Road train after he apparently jumped off the platform onto the tracks, possibly to retrieve something he dropped.

LIRR spokesman Rich Mendelson says the unidentified 22-year-old man was hit at 4:35 a.m. Wednesday by an unoccupied eastbound train at the Bellmore station in Nassau County.

Authorities are investigating the case as an accident and not a possible suicide.

The accident caused residual delays that affected 17 trains through the morning rush hour. The system was back on schedule shortly after 8 a.m.

My condolences go out to the friends & family of the unidentified victim.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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