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MTA Steps Up Select Bus Service Fare Enforcement

Posted by
on July 18th, 2008 at 3:26 am

The MTA plans on step up fare payment enforcement on the Bx12’s Select Bus Service route. Pete Donohue & Tayanika Samuels of the New York Daily News has the story:

No more playing nice.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority soon will stop giving warnings to riders who board Select Bus Service buses in upper Manhattan and the Bronx without paying beforehand; transit agents will be giving out fare-beating tickets, officials said Wednesday.

The tickets carry a fine, recently boosted from $60 to $100. The enforcement will begin later this week or early next week, transit officials said.

The speeded-up bus service on the BX12 – which crosses the central Bronx from Inwood, upper Manhattan, and ends in Co-Op City – was launched June 29. It features a preboarding payment system with riders getting receipts from bus-stop machines instead of forking over coins or dipping their MetroCards into readers at the front of buses. If successful, the tactic could spread throughout the city.

The goal of the joint MTA and city Transportation Department plan is to quicken trips by shortening the time it takes for riders to board and exit buses.

Transit workers have been focusing on helping riders get used to the new payment system, but now some are gearing up to shift to the enforcement mode, officials said.

That didn’t sit well yesterday with some riders along the route, where there was still a fair amount of confusion on where and how to pay.

“Electricity’s high. Rent is high. Everything is increasing,” lamented Nadya Medina, 54, a home health aide. “Now, they want to fine you $100 to take the bus. It’s not fair.”

Riders gave different opinions on whether the bus service, which features fewer stops than limited-stop or local service, has quickened their trips.

“It’s much faster,” Ironei Ogando, 33, said.

The trip from 10th Ave. and 207 St. in Inwood, Manhattan, to her neighborhood on the Grand Concourse normally takes 10 minutes, she said. It’s now taking five minutes, she said. And what previously was a one-hour journey to Bay Plaza now takes 30 minutes, Ogando said.

But Yoany Guzman, 27, a clerical worker, has not enjoyed the same experience.

“This is a complete waste of time,” she said. “You get stuck in the same traffic.”

I am glad to hear that they are stepping up the fare payment enforcement. It is absolutely ridiculous that people still do not understand how the system works. It has been a few weeks already & from the accounts I have received, it is not that hard to figure out. Lets not also forget the MTA has been promoting this service in advance of its June 29th debut. There is no excuse as to why anyone should be boarding without having payed first.

Individuals like Nadya Medina need to stop complaining about a legitimate penalty. If someone skips a fare, it is fair for them to pay a $100 fine. What does she think is fair? Maybe we should give them a slap on the wrist & make them promise not to do it again. I definitely do not agree with someone who left a comment on the article. Einnor111 said:

Another dumb idea from the MTA that will slow down service instead of speeding it up. Confusion and poor information on the workings of this grand plan will only prove another mistake that the fare riding public will end up paying for in time and money

Once again where was this person when the MTA had all the information posted on their website. Let us not forget they advertised in the Daily News (Bronx Edition) about the service in advance. The word was definitely out there so his/her comments are way off base in this situation.

I think i1ahbanyrkuh put it nicely when they said:

OK. This doesn’t sound like science, rocket or otherwise. Technology is progressive. It moves forward. People have to learn to move forward along with technology or they will be left behind. This is a brilliant idea and it will work if everyone gets “on board” with the program. Of all places, New York, you should know better. Step lively!

Lets hope the MTA sticks with the enforcement at all times as it is the only choice to make.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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MTA Outhinks Themselves

Posted by
on July 18th, 2008 at 3:10 am

Three days ago, New York Post Transit Reporter Patrick Gallahue had an exclusive report about the MTA outhinking themselves when it came to an ad campaign they have been working on. The ads were part of their anti-groping campaign which was to bring public awareness to the never ending issue of sick individuals groping or molesting women in the subway. Here his is report courtesy of the New York Post:

City transit officials have prepared a campaign to combat deviants who grope or molest women on the subway – but have been sitting on it because of fears the ads could actually encourage sickos.

The New York City Transit campaign was set into motion after a study last year by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer found that 10 percent of women surveyed reported having been sexually abused in the subway and 63 percent claimed to have been sexually harassed.

Stringer recommended a publicawareness campaign, which NYC Transit quietly prepared. The agency made it as far as developing mock-ups, which never went to print.

Sources said the agency held off on launching the campaign out of fear it could actually provoke deviant behavior.

That move has baffled some, including Oraia Reid of RightRides, an anti-harassment organization that offers free, late-night rides home to women. “What evidence is there that a public-education campaign would provoke offenders to act or would increase the chance of crimes occurring?” Reid said.

“A comprehensive educational campaign with the full support of the MTA and the NYPD behind it would indeed help make our subways safer by informing subway riders that sexual harassment and assault is a reality [and] by letting perverts and offenders know that they are going to be held accountable for their crimes.”

Just last Thursday, a man was arrested for allegedly grinding up against a woman on a No. 4 subway car. Anthony Sum, 33 – who records show has been convicted of forcible touching on at least two occasions – was arrested and charged with persistent sexual abuse, officials said.

Anti-groping campaigns have been launched in cities such as Boston, where trains and buses are adorned with posters bearing such slogans as “Rub against me and I’ll expose you,” and “Flash someone and you’ll be exposed.”

The number of reported groping incidents there did rise with the campaign, officials said. Boston police said there were 38 incidents reported through June of this year compared with 17 during the same period last year – but attributed the rise to increased reporting.

“I would speculate that we’ve brought attention to the fact that this is not acceptable behavior to the MBTA, and people are now reporting it more,” said Chief Paul MacMillan of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. A spokesman for NYC Transit would say only that it consults with the Police Department on “matters of safety and security.”

I would love to know what the MTA is thinking with this decision. What makes them think that putting up ads will increase the amount of groping/molesting incidents? If anything, the fact you are not bringing public awareness to the issue will only make these predators think no one is paying attention to their acts.

So if they are going to use this logic, they might as well post no ads to raise public awareness to the many other issues facing subway riders such as litter, terrorism efforts, etc…. as the same principal could apply. Now most of us would realize that it would not apply but unfortunately we do not make the decisions at the MTA.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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MTA To Offer Media Tour Of East Side Access Tunnel

Posted by
on July 15th, 2008 at 5:14 pm

13 days ago the MTA issued a press release to announce that the first tunnel boring machine reached Grand Central Terminal as part of the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project. Now they are inviting photographers & reporters to tour the recently dug tunnel. Here is all the information courtesy of MTA Headquarters:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will offer a rare glimpse into the bedrock 140 feet below the surface of Manhattan on Thursday as it invites reporters and photographers to tour the recently completed tunnel that will connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal. A 200-ton tunnel boring machine recently mined its way through Manhattan bedrock, leaving a mile-long tunnel in its wake. A similar machine digging an adjacent tunnel is expected to complete its work at the end of the summer.

WHAT: Media tour of the MTA’s East Side Access project featuring a recently excavated tunnel underneath Manhattan

WHO: Tour will be led by officials from MTA Capital Construction

WHEN: Thursday, July 17 – 9:45 a.m. sharp

WHERE: Meet at a construction lot, southeast corner of E. 63rd Street & Second Avenue, Manhattan

RSVP: Space on the tour is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP by phone to Paté Felix at 212-878-7440.

NOTE: Hardhats and safety vests will be provided. Tour participants will be required to attend a brief safety presentation, and to descend and ascend 18 flights of stairs. Grand Central Terminal will not be visible on this tour.

I am going to check my schedule & see if I can somehow squeeze this in.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

MTA Looking To Ads To Add Financial Muscle

Posted by
on July 15th, 2008 at 5:13 pm

We all know the MTA is in deep trouble on the financial front. So any source of income is seen as a good thing to them. The current sector they hope to make even more money in is advertising. The agency which made $106 million dollars last year from advertising projects to earn $110 million this year. Even with this, they are still looking for more ways to make money from advertising opportunities throughout the system. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more with this report:

Advertisements encroaching deeper into the MTA’s vast transportation network of tracks, tunnels and stations, producing record revenues.

Ad-generated income totaled $106 million last year, up from $90 million the previous year, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

That figure is expected to top $110 million this year as the MTA continues to test new strategies to capture the attention of riders – including projecting commercials onto subway station walls in the line of vision of passengers standing on platforms.

After years of consideration, the MTA this year also will test the placement of ads on tunnel walls between stations that would unfold like a flip book or silent movie as a train rolls by, officials said.

“It’s high priority of ours,” MTA CEO Elliot Sander said. “We’ve made strong progress in generating new revenues, which is critical, given the MTA’s challenging financial circumstances. We’ve done a very good job with this.”

The MTA faces a 2009 budget gap that Sander previously said could be as high as $700 million, largely because the economic downturn has meant sharply falling tax-generated subsidies. As a result, fare and toll hikes will be necessary unless the state allocates more money to mass transit, transportation officials have said.

Several riders said they didn’t mind the level of commercialism. The various forms of billboards “actually makes it look better,” said Shanique Varlack, 17, a college student from Queens, adding that stations can be pretty dingy. “It’s brighter and it’s better than just looking at walls,” she said.

A standard option in the “station domination” advertising package the MTA offers is the use of overhead projectors to display images on the walls of subway passageways. After a successful pilot project in the Union Square subway station, two overhead projectors are used in the passageway linking the Lexington Ave. subway lines to the shuttle at Grand Central Terminal.

When the beam is interrupted by a straphanger walking through the tunnel, one image melts away and is replaced by a second touting the same product, currently a cable television show.

“It’s pretty nice, interesting,” said James Cross, 37, a messenger from Brooklyn. “You can look at it and try to figure out what it is.”

Ads have also reached into the area where passengers board Metro-North trains on the upper level of the railroad’s terminal. Posters and billboards are plastered against the walls, hung above platforms and across railings bordering the slots where tracks come to an end.

A monitor to broadcast advertisements is also above one Metro-North platform in

The thought of advertisements dominating the transit landscape conjures different emotions depending on who you ask. I for one am not bothered by the thought of more advertisements if it brought some financial relief to the agency. While the thought of a branded subway car is not the most appealing thing, I can look past it as the agency’s finances are more important than what I feel visually as a transit buff.

I do wonder about one thing though. Is the MTA doing enough to capitalize on the advertising opportunities? While it is nice that the agency projects higher earnings this year, the difference from last year seems small from what it was from 2006 to 2007. With the amount of subway stations alone, I would think they should make more than $4 million from the previous year. When you factor in the space from their buses, commuter railroads & such, the # should be even higher. Hopefully this will be the case in the near future.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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0

Elliot Does Better Than Expected…..

Posted by
on July 15th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

A little under a month ago, news came out about a raise for MTA CEO/Executive Director Elliot Sander. After the news came out, there was outrage shared by many including myself. When MTA Board Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger was questioned about the timing of the raise, he kept justifying it by comparing Mr. Sander’s salary to his peers. Well Caitlin Millat and Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News have done some digging to see how valid Dale’s claims were. Here is their report:

The MTA’s $350,000 CEO is one of the highest-paid public transportation honchos in the country, a spot check by the Daily News shows.

Six of the nine largest mass transit authorities in the United States grant less-lucrative economic packages to their top administrators, while two pay more than the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The issue of what constitutes appropriate pay for the MTA’s top executive flared recently after current MTA boss Elliot Sander received a $10,000 raise. The increase raised eyebrows because it came as the authority’s finances are deteriorating so much that fares and tolls could go up again next year.

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