Man Found Dead On Subway Tracks
Train tracks at Essex Street station on the J, M, & Z. Resized photo courtesy of Eye On Transit
An unidentified 50 year old man was found dead this morning on subway tracks at the Essex Street station on the J, M, & Z trains. MTA employees spotted the unconscious man laying on the ground & alerted police. When the police arrived, they found the man laying on the tracks with his feet touching the third rail. The victim was pronounced dead an hour later.
My question is how did the man go from laying on the ground which I assume was the platform down to laying on the tracks touching the third rail? I assume the cops came a short time after being called so how did all of this take place? Did any of the workers not try to wake the man up? Why was the man not watched while the cops were on their way? Either the events of this story were incorrectly reported or the scene was mismanaged.
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Round 2 A Dud?
This seems to be the thinking of many throughout the city as the 24 hour strike came to a close at 5 a.m. this morning. Just like last month, we once again have both sides spinning a different version of events & success. The Metropolitan Taxicab Board Of Trade estimated that more than 95% of the cabs were out picking up fares. As usual Bhairavi Desai of the Taxi Workers Alliance strongly disagrees.
One thing is for sure, this round of the strike created more turmoil between drivers. At one location, a driver who was out on strike berated another driver waiting to pick up a fare. The driver on strike shouted “Scabs! You would prostitute your own mothers!”
Here are some comments from both sides:
Mayor Bloomberg – “We made a deal and we’re going to stick to the deal and I think taxi drivers who try it will like it.”
New York State Federation Of Taxi Drivers Leader Fernando Mateo – “These are not strikes. These are small protests by small groups who want to do radical things.”
Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai – “Despite those poor, pathetic scabs, the streets were empty this morning. Whatever they do to break our strikes, they can never break our spirits.”
Cab driver Billy Acquaire – “If the mayor has to put in place a contingency plan, then the strike was a success.”
While I do support the reasons behind the strike, I am starting to question the effectiveness of these strikes. The city has yet to feel severe effects from the strike & they don’t seem to be backing off from their position. Maybe the Taxi Workers Alliance should go back to the drawing board. They clearly do not have the support of all or even a majority of their drivers. So with that alone, they are considered to be in a position of weakness. I don’t know how many more rounds the drivers can go before they get knocked out.
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MTA Concerned About Revenue Loss….
It seems when it rains, it pours. This familiar cliche might be voiced by many within the MTA if one could hear their words. According to MTA their real estate revenues dropped sharply for the month of October. MTA official Gary Dellaverson says the agency lost $47 million dollars this month.
Thankfully even with such a horrible showing for the month of October, the agency is approximately $60 million dollars ahead of their original projections. However even with saying that, Mr. Dellaverson seemed concerned when he said; “Right now we are covered. We’re just putting up a yellow flag that this is something we have to watch carefully.”
Oh great this had to happen just when we are inching closer to the date where the proposed fare hike is being voted on!!!!
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MTA Says The Price Is Not Right!
Yesterday the MTA announced that there might be a delay in the creation of a Long Island Railroad terminal at Grand Central. The announcement came after the MTA was not pleased with the lone bid it received for the contract to build the terminal. The MTA expected the bid to come in at approximately $670 million dollars. However the bid submitted by a joint venture between Judlau Contracting Inc. & Dragados totaled $870 million.
MTA Capital Construction President Mysore Nagaraja said this about the agency’s feeling on the bid; “We were not happy with the number.” He also went on to share his feelings on the lack of bids in relation to such a huge project by stating They’re not hungry.” He went on to say that the agency might consider splitting the project into several smaller contracts. He also acknowledged that he is wondering if a call for new bids would delay the project’s slated completion time of 2013.
You know what, I wouldn’t mind seeing this plan scrapped. I have felt all along that this project was not a necessity as it only helps a small minority of riders. The MTA as a whole should be focusing most of their attention on the upkeep & creation of new services & stations in relations to the NYC subway! If they were to get their business in order in those areas, I would then support projects that can help suburban commuters!
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Pascack Valley Line Riders Rejoice!
New Jersey Transit has finally done something that was long overdue! They have added more service to the Pascack Valley line. According to an article in yesterday’s Bergen Record, New Jersey Transit plans on adding bi-directional off peak and weekend service starting this Sunday.
The Pascack Valley line which is 18 stops long averages a little over 4,000 riders a day. The line stretches out 31 miles while serving riders in Bergen & Rockland counties. At the current time, the line offers service into New York in the mornings & out of New York in the evenings. The line offers no weekend service.
The change in service is the direct result of four passing siding tracks being installed. The installation of the 4 passing siding tracks enables New Jersey Transit to offer service in both directions all day long. The service changes include 15 new trains scheduled for weekday service. Weekend service will consist of 23 trains. The breakdown for the 15 weekday trains consist of 8 trains inbound Secaucus Junction & Hoboken with the remaining 7 going outbound. The breakdown for the 23 weekend trains consist of 11 inbound to Hoboken & 12 outbound.
New Jersey Transit has been planning these changes for sometime now. The agency’s board of directors approved the installation of the passing siding tracks in December 2004. Construction began on the project in 2005 & totaled $19 million when all was said & done. The 4 passing siding tracks were installed in East Rutherford, Hasbrouck Heights, Hackensack, & Nanuet.
Many people had comments about the changes made. Here are some of the comments:
New Jersey Transit Board of Directors Member Susan Hayes – “For the first time, we can get to where we want to go to and not have to fight with the traffic.”
New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri – “These passing sidings have enabled us to address the limitations that have long been posed by the Pascack Valley Line’s single track configuration. Bringing more rail service into Bergen County will encourage more people to leave their cars behind.”
River Edge Mayor Margaret Watkins – “We fully understand how important public transportation is to our lives and how it helps keep us connected to the people and the places we care about.”
Maywood resident Ed Kaminski – “It’s leisurely, I’ve always had to drive to sporting events. Now I can take the train to Devils games.”
To celebrate the long overdue changes, New Jersey Transit is offering a special promotion titled “Bring Friends & Family”. The promotional period will take place during the first two weeks of December. During the promotional period monthly pass holders can bring a friend for free and single ticket purchasers will get a second ticket free.
I used to live in Rockland County for 4 years back in the mid to late 90’s. Friends of mine would always ask why I always used the Red & Tan instead of train when going to the city as a teen. I gave them two reasons for my choice. The first reason is because the bus stop was literally down the block from my house going to NYC while I could get dropped off in front of my house coming back. However the biggest reason is because I never would see any trains at the station in Spring Valley.
Actually I will take that back, I think I saw a train once or twice in my 4 years of living there. I figure why bother hitching a ride to the train station when the bus was close by. If the train offered better service, I would have taken it at some point. I will say that even if it did, it would be hard to pass up the Red & Tan. The price to get to NYC was so low & the service quality was pretty good!
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