Andy Byford, CEO of the New York City Transit Authority, attended CB3's Transportation, Public Safety, & Environment Committee meeting last night for an L-train update.
As transportation reporter Aaron Gordon noted at Gothamist:
Byford only attends higher profile events like town halls and dispatches underlings to small community board meetings. But he told the roughly three dozen residents of CB3, which encompasses the Lower East Side from 14th Street to the Brooklyn Bridge, that he came in person because “I owe it to the community to come out and explain to you as best I can what we know about what has changed and to go through what hasn't changed.”
On the safety front, Byford is convening an engineering team, which he promises will be independent not just of the MTA but of New York politics, to review the new plan and ensure it does not jeopardize anyone’s safety. But he has not yet determined who will be the independent reviewers or when their report — which he promises to publicly release — will be done.
At the same time, his team at Transit will review how often the MTA can run L trains on nights and weekends when one of the two tubes is closed, what alternate service should be provided, and how best to communicate those changes to riders.
He reiterating throughout his talk that he will "not be steamrolled" by Cuomo's L-train desires.
About three dozen people were in attendance (there were rumors of Byford's appearance in the hours leading up the meeting). A few people asked questions:
Most of the questions focused on what would happen to the new bike lanes and 14th Street busway that had planned to ease commutes during a full L train shutdown. The bike lanes are entirely up to the Department of Transportation, said Byford, while the future of the 14th Street Select Bus Service will be a joint decision.
Read Gordon's full post at Gothamist via this link.
On Tuesday, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein along with residents and advocates rallied outside the MTA HQ on Broadway to call for greater community input to mitigate the ongoing impact of the L-train renovations underway on 14th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A.
This past summer, residents learned that this corridor is not only the main construction zone leading up to the L-train closure, but also during the 15 months the MTA expects the trains to be offline between Bedford Avenue and Eight Avenue.
As one 14th Street resident told me about Epstein's press conference: "He got really annoyed with the MTA's intransigence about the ongoing work. Same issues: loud noise, accessibility issues, late hours — going to 24/7 — and general horribleness."
Here's part of the press statement released by Epstein's office (and NY1 has a recap here ... and Town & Village here)...
Assembly Member Harvey Epstein advocated with residents and business owners of 14th Street to draw attention to concerns over air quality, noise, and dust mitigation as a result of the L Train renovations. Tenants, business owners, community groups, elected officials, and others gathered to hold the MTA accountable to the repercussions of ongoing construction, which have hurt small businesses and created innumerable nuisances for local tenants.
Local residents have raised concerns about the MTA’s limited engagement. Without any input from the community, the L Train construction has created huge impediments on 14th Street. Small businesses are obstructed by sidewalk closures and barriers, and many local owners have reported a decrease in business since construction began. Tenants have been harangued by constant white noise, traffic jams, and dust and debris that have impacted air quality. There’s also been little consideration for accessibility, and sidewalk closures have made it difficult for people with disabilities to access the affected area.
The press conference was held to highlight these ongoing issues and bring the stories of 14th Street residents to the forefront. With the support of Assembly Member Epstein, advocates demanded that the MTA take definitive steps to address community concerns, including: holding monthly meetings with 14th Street residents; implementing shorter hours of construction, including prohibiting work on Sundays; instituting an independent monitor for air quality and environmental concerns.
“We're calling on the MTA to be a better neighbor to folks on 14th Street” Epstein said. “We're not trying to stop the MTA from doing the necessary work to improve the L train line and the 14th Street and First Avenue, but we do expect the MTA to seek community input in order to minimize the impact of ongoing construction on local residents."
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and City Councilmember Carlina Rivera also called for more accountability from the MTA.
MTA spokesperson Shams Tarek provided this statement to Gothamist:
"We have had dozens of meetings with neighbors of the L Project, have developed extensive procedures to minimize the impact of construction, and welcome practical ideas on how we can further protect local quality of life," Tarek said. "We require our contractors to uphold strict guidelines regarding noise, vibration, air quality, and safety, are monitoring all of these impacts, and any suggestion otherwise is just false."
Meanwhile, Gothamist has a piece from Wednesday focusing on the green stuff (upper-left-hand corner in that photo above) that workers are dredging up from the bowels of the L tube.
Transit Authority President Andy Byford had pledged to be transparent about what materials workers would dispose of and how. As for the green substance, officials said that it was water, concrete and dirt, per Gothamist.
"I don't believe anything the MTA says," resident Penny Pennline said Tuesday. "I'm not buying it, they also said 9/11 was safe for the first responders, where are those people now?"
L-train gunk aside, there are other quality-of-life issues, such as the constant noise. A resident who lives adjacent to the construction site shared this video from Wednesday...
Here's 14th Street resident Patrick Ryan from Tuesday: "Everyone who lives on East 14th Street understands the L train has to be repaired, but the conditions that the residents and schools and small businesses are living under are untenable and dangerous. The air quality in our area has suffered immensely due to the continuous use of diesel run machinery, a constant flow of trucks, and fifteen uncovered industrial dumpsters regularly being filled and emptied and overflowing into the streets.”
In another development, Gov. Cuomo was scheduled (at the last minute) to tour the Canarsie tube overnight "so that he and his experts can decide if repair work really needs to take 15 months," the Postreported.
“This is a vital and complicated project. We’re talking about a hundred year old tunnel. This is highly disruptive to New Yorkers,” Cuomo said after the tour. “I want to be able to look New Yorkers in the face and tell them that this is the best possible way to have done this.”
All photos courtesy of the 542 E. 14th St Tenants' Association
Derek Berg spotted one of the MTA's vintage buses that have been in circulation this holiday season on Fourth Avenue near 14th Street.
Here's more about this ride via the MTA:
Bus Number 3100 (1956) was the first air-conditioned bus in the United States used for public transportation. The bus was designed and built as an experiment, with this single example was purchased by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company about a year after its manufacture.
It has other features first introduced in the 1950s: a push‑type rear exit door, wrap-around seating in the rear portion, soft seating, and fluorescent lighting. After two decades of passenger service, this vehicle was assigned to the Transit Police; it was retired from all service in the mid-1970s.
Sounds luxurious, though there's no WiFi or those soothing repeat "Caution bus is turning" messages.
The buses — 11 models in total — are scheduled to be here for boarding though Dec. 21.
And you can also ride the Nostalgia Train on Sundays starting at 10 a.m. through Dec. 30 at the Second Avenue F stop. This link has the schedule and more info.
ICYMI: On Friday, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota resigned — effective immediately — after just 16 months on the job. (Lhota’s other full-time job is as chief of staff of the NYU-Langone hospital system.)
Here's some more reaction to the resignation via the Twittersphere...
Joe Lhota resigned from the MTA to spend more time with his signal problems
I want to thank MTA chairman Joe Lhota. Without his tenure I would never have adopted the habit of biking to work. #FixTheSubwayhttps://t.co/w46Euv8AEZ
— 🌹 No Friend of Kissinger Scott Wooledge (@Clarknt67) November 9, 2018
Congrats to Joe Lhota and Cuomo on stabilizing the subway. The L train I took during this AM rush hour was extremely stable, in fact it stayed at Lorimer for 15 minutes in a dramatic showing of stability. https://t.co/RK6BpCuPbv
Joe Lhota resigned as chair of the MTA today. Could scenes like this be the reason why? (Courtesy of this morning’s F train) 👇 pic.twitter.com/YOw4KoMXAX
And across the Avenue, A & C Kitchen is standing in for the Avenue C Deli (signs include a double cheeseburger for $6.50 and Molten Velvet in concert)...
If you take the subway on a regular basis, then you know that every once in awhile there might be a slight delay with a train or even be some track repair work that alters the schedule.
Anyway! This new map might help. Developer Eric Markfield from Unfounded Labs shared this with me (and a few other people) — the Real MTA map, which shows delays and track work in real time.
The website features a near carbon copy of the MTA’s subway map, but it removes each line that’s currently experiencing delays, planned work, or service disruptions. What’s left is a network that’s far less expansive, but more accurate in real time for commuters.
The site also makes it easy to see what, exactly, is happening to the lines that are experiencing problems. The side panel lets you to click on each hidden line, taking you directly to the MTA Service Status report for those trains.
As the above screengrab shows, there are only a few lines without any kind of delay or schedule change as of 1:09 p.m. today... and likely for the remainder of the weekend.
You may also follow along on the Twitter — @realmtainfo.
Earlier this evening, a USPS truck broke down on Ninth Street just west of Avenue A (top photo).
Meanwhile, a westbound M8 made the the turn onto Ninth Street... the bus driver determined that she couldn't make it through the space without hitting either the postal truck or the parked cars...
This was despite the fact that bystanders figured there was plenty of space to squeeze through... and so the bus sat there while the bus driver waited for someone from the MTA to show up to assist...
Some 45 minutes later, the MTA employee who arrived on the scene successfully navigated the tight space... and everyone was on their way again...
All the while, a resident who lives on the block directed traffic ... to keep vehicles from turning onto Ninth Street and getting stuck behind the bus.
Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office released details back on Friday on the city's slowest and most chronically late bus routes.
A familiar route is atop one of the lists. As the Postreported, the analysis tagged the SBS15, which goes between East Harlem and South Ferry via First or Second Avenue, with the worst on-time performance: 34 percent.
As you may have heard, the MTA is finally ready to phase out the MetroCard ... and yesterday, the MTA board approved a $500-million-plus contract for a new payment system. Instead of riders swiping their MetroCards, the new system will allow them to use their cellphones or certain types of debit or credit cards to pay their fares directly at turnstiles.
We got a news release about it from Cubic, the company who was awarded the contract, worth $573 million and change.
To the EVG inbox!
The new system allows customers to create personalized transit accounts to see ride history, check balances, add value as well as report lost or stolen cards to protect their funds. They will also have the option of using payment media such as credit and debit cards and mobile devices at the bus or turnstile, instead of purchasing and adding value to a separate fare card, to offer a retail payment experience to transit.
For those customers without a bank card or who prefer not to use one, a contactless card option will still be available with the same account management convenience features. Mobile phones can also be used like ticket vending machines to check account balances and recharge fare accounts anywhere. As a result, customers will experience greater convenience and shorter lines, allowing them to move faster through the transit system.
The initiative will reduce costs for the MTA by significantly reducing the dispensing of fare media, will streamline fare calculation and phase out 20-year-old equipment that is more costly to maintain each year. Ultimately, the new system will provide an enhanced and integrated travel experience across the region including seamless access to Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Rail Road.
Cubic will be responsible for the design, integration, supply and implementation of the new fare payment system; associated services for platform hosting, hardware and software maintenance; and transition services including supplemental call center support. Equipment will include fare validators and new configurable ticket vending machines in the MTA’s 472 subway stations and 6,000 buses. The contract includes an option to support LIRR and Metro-North Rail Road with the purchase of additional validation and vending equipment.
Cubic’s partners statewide will provide manufacturing, call center and marketing services to the MTA. Transport for London (TfL), operator of the world’s largest open payment and contactless-based fare collection system, and Mastercard ... are also Cubic partners in the contract.
Officials say the plan is to fully retire the MetroCard by 2023.
The MTA has announced plans to roll out several new features, including barriers to protect riders. As DNAinfo reported, the MTA will test platform safety doors at the L train's Third Avenue station. (These will be similar to those used on the AirTrain to and from JFK.)
The doors are designed to prevent the cars from hitting people who jump or fall onto the tracks. There isn't a timeline for when these might arrive at the Third Avenue stop, per DNAinfo.
Aside from barriers, the MTA debuted foldable seats on the L train that lock into place during rush hour to give riders more standing room. As the Postnoted, there were reports that the seats were still locked in during non-rush-hour times.
You may have noticed the MTA signage that arrived last week along 14th Street at Avenue A...
...announcing [the obvious] that preliminary work is underway for building new entrances at Avenue A and a new power station at Avenue B for the L train.
The renderings provide a sneak preview of what's in store here...
... and a closer look at the rendering scalies... a happy-looking lot who must not think that they'll be experiencing delays due to, say, signal and switch problems or track fires...
And on 14th Street at Avenue B... presumably the new power station for the L will be going in along here somewhere...
As you likely know, this work is starting ahead of the L train shutdown between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue to repair the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel. The shutdown of the L is expected to last 15 months with a start date of April 2019.
Speaking of the MTA and the M14A... During CB3's Transportation, Public Safety & Environment Committee meeting tomorrow night, State Sen. Daniel Squadron's office will provide an update on requests for improved M14A service — specifically the frequency of the buses.
This is also a chance for residents to speak out about the issue. CB3 tweeted last week: "Concerned about frequency & reliability of M14A bus in your neighborhood? We need 2 hear from u!"
Upon continuing to hear complaints about the frequency of the M14A, Squadron took another crack at improving service late last year. Per The Lo-Down last November:
In a letter to Veronique Hakim, president of New York City Transit, he explained, “M14A and M14D bus service is critical to the Lower East Side community. These lines provide much needed public transportation to a transit-starved area. My office receives complaints about long wait times for buses, bus bunching, and unexpected scheduling of the two lines.”
Cooperatively Yours, the LES-based blog for tenants, had this to say about the situation the other day:
It’s happened to all of us: waiting 30 minutes or more for the M14A at Union Square while watching bus after bus after bus marked M14D pick up passengers. The MTA says there’s a 3-to-1 ratio. The question is, why the disparity?
The MTA then reviewed ridership and decided that the frequency of buses was consistent with the count of riders. Advocates ... said those counts were flawed because of how many people at Union Square just give up on getting an M14A and hop on the M14D instead.
The committee meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday!) night at 6:45 at Downtown Art, 1st Floor Theater, 70 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. This is the third item on the meeting docket.
After the initial delivery of 3 buses this week, units will arrive at a rate of approximately 3 to 5 buses per week. All 79 buses will be in service by the end of this year and will be based at the MTA’s Tuskegee Depot, running on the M14, M15, M101, M102 and M103.
Anyway, I finally saw one out in the wilds ... on Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place... Go Big Blue!
Per the MTA:
The addition of Wi-Fi provides a new level of connectivity to New Yorkers, bringing ease and convenience to those working, reading emails, or checking in on their social media accounts without impacting their cellular data plans. The number of USB ports on buses will range from 35-55, depending on the make and model, and will be conveniently located throughout the bus.
As for the non-blue-and-gold buses, the MTA is retrofitting the existing fleet with the same "digital-age amenities" as the new ones.
Hopefully Cuomo and Co. will come to their senses and bring back the two-tone green ones...
Just before 9 p.m. Monday, police said the M14D was traveling south on Avenue D and hit a 61-year-old woman while making a right turn to head east on Houston Street.
The pedestrian had been walking south within the crosswalk, according to the New York City Police Department.
Her left leg was trapped under the bus and was later freed by emergency workers.
The pedestrian, Aurora Beauchamp from Miami, was taken to Bellevue with a broken hip, pelvis and ribs and a bruised bladder, according to her daughter.
[H]er daughter says she fears recent chemo treatment for her mother's cancer will complicate surgical efforts to repair the broken bones she suffered in the collision.
The driver, 41-year-old Eduard Khanimov, was arrested on a charge of failing to yield to a pedestrian.
...one Lower East Side resident has created a T-shirt.
Via the EVG inbox...
We figured you've seen all the hype around the Supreme metrocards this week, and thought you might be interested in our new Fuck Supreme Metrocard T-shirts that we developed in response. The custom printed, hand embroidered, tongue-in-cheek shirts are now available through our instagram @fuckmalkam.
The Storm of Feb. 9™ (Niko if you're nasty) claims a victim — the MTA's first public workshop to discuss the upcoming (2019!) L train shutdown has been cancelled tonight at Town and Village Synagogue on East 14th Street...
The city's first solar-powered bus shelter has gone dark after just nine months in operation, DNAinfo reports.
And it only took seven years to get any kind of lighting here at the southbound M9 bus stop on Avenue C and East 16th Street. The shelter has been dark since 2009, when a Con Ed crew reportedly disconnected lights from its power source.
The solar-powered lights were part of a pilot program. Per DNAinfo:
Lawrence Scheyer, a Stuy Town resident and Community Board 6 member who had campaigned for years to get lights at the bus stop, said he's frustrated the city's fix fell apart so quickly.
“I was happy to see a creative solution, but disappointed that it only lasted a few months until the lights failed,” he said.
And...
Scheyer said the area’s relative lack of lighting and the use of Avenue C by Con Ed trucks makes it a danger to anyone on their way to wait for a bus — including his wife, who was almost run over by trucks there.
Well, sort of. @ImPaulGale shared this photo from the Second Avenue F stop this afternoon... showing MTA workers putting in new maps to reflect the Second Avenue Subway ... the new line, set to commence on Jan. 1, will bring Q train service to 63rd Street, 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street.
As you may have read, the MTA and New York Transit Museum rolled out a vintage fleet of subway cars (and buses) once again this holiday season,... EVG reader Mike House shared these photos from the the Second Avenue F stop today... the fourth of four Sundays that the trains were in use...
