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4 & 5 Train Service Alert

Posted by
on September 17th, 2007 at 1:02 pm

The MTA has posted a service alert regarding the 4 & 5 trains. The service alert reads:

Due to signal problems at the 138th Street-3rd Avenue Station, and trains are running with delays in both directions at this time.

Two notes about this service alert. I was watching Metro Traffic & Weather & they said the delays were approximately 10 minutes. Lastly I would assume the MTA meant the 138th St.-Grand Concourse station since that is where the 4 & 5 start. I can’t imagine why supposed delays at the 6 train station would hurt the 4 & 5.

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Service Alerts
0

Cops Hunting For Subway Mugger

Posted by
on September 15th, 2007 at 11:18 am

Now here is transit related story #2 from today’s Daily News. The cops are on the hunt for a subway mugger who has been targeting female straphangers. The suspect has struck 3 times since September 5 with the latest attack occurring this past Monday. Here is the brief article courtesy of the NY Daily News:

Cops were on the hunt last night for a violent mugger who targets women in Manhattan subway stations, police said.

The cowardly crook’s first victim was a 35-year-old woman whom he robbed about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 5 in the Fifth Ave. and E.23rd St. station.

The thug struck again about 1:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Eighth Ave. and 34th St. station, swiping a 50-year-old woman’s pocketbook after shoving her to the ground.

Then about 3 p.m. Monday, he grabbed a 47-year-old woman in the 40th St. and Broadway station and wrestled away her bag.

The suspect was described as a 30- to 40-year-old black man, about 6-feet-2 and 170 pounds with a slender build.

Cops asked anyone with information to call (800) 577-TIPS.

I do have one question though. Why are we just hearing about this today?

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Crime
0

Next Stop On The Second Avenue Subway; 125 Million St….

Posted by
on September 15th, 2007 at 11:04 am

While sitting on my couch wondering why I had not gone to sleep yet, I was reading today’s Daily News. In today’s issue, an article talks about the Second Avenue Subway. Yesterday the Senate passed the Transportation Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2008. The bill has $325 million dollars set aside for two major projects. The Second Avenue subway is set to receive $125 million with the remaining $200 million going to the East Side Access project. Here is the brief article courtesy of the NY Daily News:

The Second Ave. subway is a stop away from an infusion of federal money.

The long-awaited rail line got a boost yesterday when the Senate passed the Transportation Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2008, which earmarks $125 million for the project.

The bill also includes $200 million for the MTA’s so-called East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) said.

The bill now goes to a conference committee, where the Senate and House must reach a compromise on funding for transportation projects across the nation.

“The Second Ave. subway line will provide desperately needed relief to the severely stressed Lexington line,” Schumer said.

After decades of delay, state and city officials finally broke ground on the $3.8 billion subway line in April. The first phase of the line will have stops on Second Ave. at 96th St., 86th St. and 72nd St., as well as at Lexington Ave. and 63rd St.

The line is scheduled to be completed in 2013, and officials expect it to carry about 200,000 riders a day.

The Second Ave. subway has been touted by officials since the 1920s. The April groundbreaking marked at least the fourth for the subway line.

“Now that the ground has been broken and the commitment is real for the Second Ave. subway, this kind of federal investment is critical to helping the city and state keep the project on track,” Clinton said yesterday.

Schumer called the East Side Access project, which will link the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal through the 63rd St. tunnel, “a necessity for Long Island and Queens commuters who spend needless hours every week on their daily commutes.”

As a rider of the 6, the Second Avenue Subway can not arrive fast enough!

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0

2 & 5 Train Service Alert

Posted by
on September 14th, 2007 at 4:55 pm

The MTA has just posted a service alert pertaining to the 2 & 5. The service alert reads:

Due to signal problems at the Jackson Avenue Station, and trains are running with delays at this time.

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Service Alerts
3

The Future Of Mass Transit In NYC

Posted by
on September 14th, 2007 at 6:08 am

Today’s issue of AMNY has an interesting look into 6 major transit projects that will change the life of millions of straphangers. The 6 projects are ranked as followed:

    South Ferry Terminal
    Fulton Street Transit Center
    East Side Access
    7 Line Extension
    First phase of the Second Avenue Subway
    Moynihan Station

Here is the opening paragraph of the 2 page article:

Straphangers are hopping on the T train at Second Avenue, Long Islanders are ending their commute at Grand Central Terminal and the majestic James A. Farley Post Office is a major transit hub.

These scenarios are expected one day to be a part of New York’s transportation network. Some projects are taking shape while others have yet to break ground, yet all are set to serve a growing population set to boom by 1 million in the next 20 years, by the mayor’s estimates.

“This is probably the greatest spate of transportation projects since the 1920s when we’re talking mass transit,” said Clifton Hood, professor of history at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and transportation author.

At the 75th anniversary of the A train this week, MTA chief executive Elliot Sander noted that as famed line served booming north Manhattan communities in the 1930s, its reach serves three boroughs today. He also nodded to the five major projects’ on track now.

“The investments we are making in the system today will pay dividends not only to us but to future generations of New Yorkers,” he said.

For the entire article, click here.

If I had to rank the projects in terms of what I feel is most needed to least needed, here is how I would do it:

    Second Avenue Subway
    South Ferry Terminal
    Fulton Street Transit Center
    Moynihan Station
    East Side Access
    7 Train Extension

To be perfectly honest, I would be just fine if only the first 3 projects were done. I have the Fulton Street Transit Center & South Ferry Terminal being tied for the second most important project. I am not a fan of East Side Access or the 7 train extension.

I feel the East Side Access only benefits Long Island commuters & that kind of money could be spent better elsewhere. Long Island commuters do not make up the majority of straphangers so why should so much money be spent on them? One project I would support is the installation of more tracks on the mainline to improve Long Island Railroad service. I would also support the electrification of some diesel only LIRR trackage.

The 7 line extension is a complete waste. The 7 has issues with crowding as it is & you want to add stops to the line? Yeah ok, that sounds like a great idea! Instead of wasting money on this project, how about creating subway service in many areas of Queens where it is severely lacking! Unfortunately I doubt I will ever see many if any of these common sense projects created or completed in my lifetime.

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Opinions, Transit News