New Metro-North Schedules For 2 Lines
New schedules for the Metro-North’s Hudson & New Haven line go into effect this Monday. Here are the details:
On Monday, November 16, new Metro-North timetables go into effect on the New Haven Line and the Hudson Line. On both lines, trains are returning to normal schedules after construction work has concluded. The timetables will stay in place through April 2. There are no changes to the Harlem Line.
New Haven Line:
Waterbury Branch customers who since May have been changing trains at a temporary platform called the Devon Transfer will no longer transfer there. Starting on Monday, Waterbury Branch trains will resume their usual service pattern with all trains traveling to or from Bridgeport. This previously announced change reflects progress in Metro-North’s project to rehabilitate the Devon Movable Bridge, which carries New Haven Line, Waterbury Branch, Shore Line East and Amtrak trains over the Housatonic River between Stratford and Milford.
Hudson Line:
There are no changes to the Hudson Line’s weekday trains. On weekends, train schedules return to normal following the completion of a major track switch reconstruction project near the Yankees-E. 153rd Street Station in the Bronx that had resulted in additional transfers and lengthened travel times for some customers. On weekends, the Hudson Line now resumes its usual service pattern with three trains per hour in each direction: an express diesel to/from Poughkeepsie, an electric local making all stops to/from Croton-Harmon, an electric semi-express making select stops to/from Croton-Harmon.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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M5 Bus Route To Be Split In Two
The M5 is the longest bus route in Manhattan. It also happens to be the worst in terms of chronic schedule failures mainly due to midtown traffic. MTA NYC Transit hopes to combat the issue by splitting the route in two. Dan Rivoli of the New York Daily News has more:
The MTA wants to break the bottlenecks on the longest bus route in Manhattan, the Daily News has learned.
The 12-mile long M5 bus — running from the George Washington Bridge to the Staten Island Ferry — will be split into two routes at 37th Street so that the buses are no longer stuck on congested midtown streets.
“The M5 is plagued by chronic reliability issues,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
The agency hasn’t determined when the route will be changed.
Manhattan’s traffic woes can cause M5 buses to get so far behind schedule, roughly 15% of trips are cut short.
More than 60% of riders use the bus line north of 37th Street. while nearly a quarter of them use the bus exclusively south of the street.
Meanwhile, the MTA will also extend the M1 bus to Worth Street, instead of ending it at 8th Street.
Click here for the complete report.
This sounds like it should really help the issues that plague this line which I have heard many complaints about. I am curious as to when the new changes will kick in as the sooner they are, the better!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Bus Driver Arrested For Crash Death
This past Tuesday, I wrote about Carol Bell, the elderly woman who was struck & killed by a NYC Transit bus in the early morning hours that was headed back to the East New York Depot. I opined that I was very curious about the investigation as I found it hard to believe the driver could have zero clue he hit an actual person.
Not long after, not only was the driver identified but arrested. Here is more on the 48 year old Paul Roper being arrested via a NY1 News report:
An MTA bus driver was arraigned Wednesday for his alleged involvement in a deadly hit and run in Brooklyn.
The 48-year-old Paul Roper is being held on $25,000 bond after police say he struck 70-year-old Carol Bell.
Surveillance video from NBC shows the moments right before Bell was hit crossing at Sackman and Fulton streets in Cypress Hills Tuesday morning.
After hitting Bell, police say Roper did not stop, and kept driving towards a bus depot in East New York.
Bell’s daughter says she wants answers as to how Roper didn’t see her mother crossing the street.
“I’ve seen the google, I’ve seen the news,” said Alisa Bell. “You are not going to tell me that you didn’t see my mom, white Caucasian, bright green sweater with a walker. But you hit her and you keep on going? Where she was dismangled. ”
Roper’s wife says he was unaware he hit anyone until after he was questioned at the depot.
That’s where blood was found on the wheels of the bus.
“He didn’t mean to do it,” said Sonia Roper. “He didn’t mean to do it. Because he’s not that type of guy. I know for a fact he didn’t see that lady because he would have stopped it. And if he knew that was a person I know he wouldn’t have pulled off. If he saw the lady in front of him he would have stopped the bus.”
Roper faces charges that include leaving the scene of an accident and failing to yield to a pedestrian with the right of way.
He’s been a bus driver for 15 years.
The MTA has suspended Roper without pay.
It is so hard to picture how this all went down. On one hand, loved ones can’t understand how she could not be seen based on what she was wearing. Yet on the other side, we have the claim that Paul would never do such a thing. So which side is closer to the reality? We might not never know.
Regardless of which side is, the sad reality is this tragedy will never be forgotten.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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FASTRACK Returns To A & C In Manhattan
MTA NYC Transit’s FASTRACK program will be returning to the 
& 
in Manhattan next week. Here are the details:
MTA New York City Transit brings FASTRACK to the AC lines in upper Manhattan for two consecutive weeks. Beginning Monday, November 9, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., for four consecutive weeknights, and from Monday, November 16, to early morning Friday, November 20, A trains are suspended in both directions between 168 St and Inwood-207 St. 1 trains, Special M4 buses and free shuttle buses provide alternate service. C service will end early each night.
Travel alternatives:
• Free shuttle buses operate on Broadway between 168 St and Inwood-207 St, stopping at 175 St, 181 St, 190 St, and Dyckman St.
• Free shuttle buses run between the Dyckman St A and 1 stations.
• For service to/from A stations at Inwood-207 St and Dyckman St, use nearby 1 stations instead, or free shuttle buses.
• For service to/from A stations at 190 St, 181 St, and 175 St, use the 1 or take special M4 buses instead.
• Transfer between A and 1 trains special M4 and free shuttle buses at the 168 St station.
• A local service at C stations will begin early each night.
Joseph Leader, Senior Vice President for the Department of Subways, said, “FASTRACK has proven to have a significant impact on decreasing delays – both in terms of consolidating maintenance forces in a concentrated area and in terms of proactive maintenance that improves service delivery.”
FASTRACK has been designed around the careful determination that there is adequate alternate means of transportation, including enhanced services along some bus lines during work periods. Alternative transportation options will be detailed in announcements and posters on trains, in stations and on selected buses; brochures will be available in both English and Spanish. Information on this FASTRACK is available on the web at http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/fastrack_A.htm
xoxo Transit Blogger
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MTA Chairman Statement On Capital Program
With the media & local officials all over the MTA about the $1 billion cut for the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway project from the recently approved 2015-2019 Capital Program, MTA Chairman & CEO Thomas F. Prendergast has released the following statement:
The new MTA Capital Program includes $535 million over the next four years for design, planning, environmental review, property acquisition, utility relocation and construction preparations to bring the Second Avenue Subway to East Harlem. This reflects the work we can realistically accomplish in the next four years given the regulatory and engineering constraints on heavy construction in a densely populated section of Manhattan.
We have committed that if we can speed up the schedule to begin tunneling the East Harlem phase sooner, we will pursue a Capital Program amendment to do so. Governor Cuomo has made clear that he would like us to accelerate work on the Second Avenue Subway, and we are actively looking for ways to deliver the project faster.
The MTA Board last week unanimously approved a 2015-2019 MTA Capital Program that reduced the Second Avenue Subway allocation due to construction timing, including city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, when she voted for what she called “a very terrific capital plan.”
No surprise that he came out with a statement after all the backlash. It is good to know if the funding becomes available (I’m looking at you Andrew & other elected officials), that an amendment would be made to do so. Hopefully the money will come to fruition in the very near future.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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