Growing Pains, Fulton Rains

I passed through the recently (and aptly) re-named Fulton Street (formerly Broadway-Nassau) subway station for the first time in months on Tuesday.  Due to the construction work overhead it was actually raining on the platform in places.

While this project has taken forever, I am really looking forward to seeing and using the finished product.  This place used to be a stinking dungeon - I can't wait to see a more open layout with some natural light.

Also finally had a chance to use the Jay-Street Metrotech connection to the R an hour later.  Very nicely done, and actually more convenient than I had imagined it.

Petition to Temporarily Extend B68 Bus Route During Culver Viaduct Work-Related Station Closures

Councilman Lander has a petition up asking the MTA to temporarily extend the B68 to 9th Street and 8th Avenue to alleviate the impacts of the Culver Viaduct reconstruction.  From Lander's email:

MTA representatives (including Thomas Pendergast, President of New York City Transit) told us that they believe that “backriding” (i.e. taking the train south) to Church Avenue, and then switching to the northbound trains, will be the fastest option for F/G riders.  That may be true for some, but I strongly believe that extending service on existing bus routes would be quicker for many others who will be extremely inconvenienced by the station closures, and is the right thing for the MTA to do. 

One great suggestion I have heard from many of you is to extend the B68 bus (which runs along Prospect Park Southwest and Coney Island Avenue) past its usual terminus at Bartel Pritchard Square (at the 15th St/PPSW Station), to 9th St and 8th Ave, where riders could pick up the F train. This would make for an easier commute into Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn for many in Windsor Terrace and Kensington. MTA officials agreed to take another look at this idea. 

So I have set up a petition, and my staff and I will be out on Tuesday morning, together with the Straphangers Campaign, at the 15th Street and Ft. Hamilton stations gathering signatures. Please stop by on your way in, or sign the petition online.

The MTA did agree to a few small modifications, including:

Monitor the B61 bus and increase service if necessary

Add a stop on the B35 Limited (express) bus at Church Avenue and Ocean Parkway/E. 7th Street

Ask the NYC DOT to add bike parking at the Church Ave and 7th Ave stops

Distribute more information on existing bus routes that connect these lines

By themselves, though, these are not enough.  I know that this is an extremely frustrating situation for transit riders in Windsor Terrace and Kensington. The station closures are part of a project necessary to rehabilitate the aging F/G line. But the MTA can do better to provide some alternatives. I will continue to push, and hope you will join me.

I've signed on.  I hope you will too.

F/G Service Disruptions Starting . . . Now

I'll have more on this later, but for now two things.

1.  Shuttle buses replace subway service on the F/G lines between Jay Street and Church Avenue this weekend.

2.  Four months of pain for riders at the Fort Hamilton Parkway and 15th Street F stations begin early Saturday (midnight Friday night).  Even greater hardships await users of the Smith-9th Street station over the next two years.

Both 1 and 2 above are due to necessary work on the Culver Viaduct Rehabilitation.  For more on the these disruptions, and indeed for all your weekend service advisory needs, head to Second Avenue Sagas for the scoop.

Image credit - MTA via Second Avenue Sagas.

Chris Christie, Colossal Failure

Another indication of Chris Christie's contempt for transit, or merely an unfortunate lapse?

The NJ Transit site is down, because the domain lapsed on January 7th and wasn't renewed.

Of course, this is the one day I have to take an NJ Transit train.

New Van Service Along Old B71 Route

TLC Commissioner David Yassky came to the CB6 Transportation Committee to introduce this service on the night of the tornadoes.  It is very much a work in progress.  We all wish to have the B71 back.  In the meantime, Council Member Brad Lander sent out this note to mark the start of the new service - and to ask for your feedback.  So tell him (and tell me in comments, for that matter) - how is it?  Your feedback will help make the best of a difficult situation.  Brad's note to constituents is below:

Today is the first day of the new "Group Ride Vehicle Pilot Program" that the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (NYC TLC) has launched to provide shared ride van service along the former B71 route bus route.


As I am sure you know, the B71 bus route, which ran along Union Street and Eastern Parkway, was eliminated by the MTA in June, over the vehement objections of neighborhood residents, as well as myself and my colleagues. This new "group ride" service will never be a full replacement for the B71 bus service, as it does not meet the needs of disabled commuters and does not take MetroCards or allow transfers. I plan to keep fighting for the restoration of the B71 and other essential bus routes.

Nonetheless, given that the MTA has eliminated the route, I am grateful to the TLC for offering this new service in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, the Columbia Waterfront District and Park Slope.

The vans will charge a flat fare of $2 per ride. Vehicles will be clearly marked with the words "GROUP RIDE VEHICLE" on their exterior, and will have unique identifying decals in several locations, so be sure to check for these markers before you get on board.

The new vans will make the following stops, although riders may also request to be dropped off at locations along the route that are not among the specified stops.

This is a pilot program, so we are eager to hear your feedback. Please contact my office at 718-499-1090 or lander@council.nyc.gov to let us know your experiences, opinions and ideas regarding this new program.

My colleagues and I will continue to fight for restoration of more complete MTA service throughout Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, the Columbia Waterfront District and Park Slope, but in the meantime I hope you will find the Group Ride Vehicle Pilot Program useful.

YES! Espada Slush Operation Raided By FBI, IRS

Fare Hike Four member and Senate turncoat cum Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada may finally face justice. In a state with no shortage of seedy political actors, Pedro Espada may be the sleaziest of them all. He is an out and out scumbag, thief, liar, and worse.

Espada conspired with Hiram Monserrate to swing control of the Senate to the Republicans, and ultimately extorted his current leadership position. He conspired with Monserrate, Carl Kruger, Ruben Diaz (each of whom have primary challengers I'm supporting this year) and Senate Republicans to block sustainable transit funding last year. He is directly responsible for the upcoming bus service cuts in Brooklyn.

Espada claims to represent a Bronx district, but in reality lives in a fancy house in Westchester. Perhaps that's why he has shown little sympathy for the needs of working New Yorkers: he lives in the suburbs! And for many years Espada has been operating a crony and family controlled slush fund in the form of Soundview Healthcare Network, which he has bled millions in public funding.

I am excited beyond words that Espada, a public menace, might finally be brought to justice. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's actions yesterday and the raids by federal agents this morning give me a renewed sense of hope.

FBI, IRS raid state Sen. Pedro Espada's Bronx clinic
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/fbi_irs_raid_ny_state_senators.html

The Future of 4th Avenue Forum - March 4

The Park Slope Civic Council is hosting a forum on the Future of 4th Avenue this Thursday night. The event is being coordinated by PSCC Livable Streets Chair and transit guru Michael Cairl, and will focus on a vision for the future of this key Brooklyn artery. The forum goes beyond Park Slope/Gowanus to include Sunset Park and look at the broader picture presented by this key piece of connective infrastructure.

As Cairl says, this will be the beginning of a conversation about the future of 4th Ave. There is a tremendous potential here, but the corridor is currently facing a number of issues, from traffic to streetscape to zoning. The most recent (and controversial) rezoning, for example, has had the paradoxical consequence of creating dead spaces on the street where new residential towers have gone up, due to ground level parking and mechanicals.

And given that 4th Avenue features excellent subway access, these structures point up the absurdity of requiring onsite parking construction in new buildings. City Planning currently forces developers to suburbanize New York - a practice that must end.

This should be an excellent forum.

The Future of 4th Avenue
Thuresday, March 4, 2010, 7-9pm
St. Thomas Aquinas Church @ 4th Ave and Ninth St.

More:
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/02/14/park_slope_courier/news/courier-yn_park_slope-psfourth.txt

Mayor Endorses Gary Reilly's Proposal for F Express / V To Brooklyn

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg announced a number of proposals for improving transit service (which I'll get into in more detail later).

The headline for the city-wide media is the proposal for free cross-town bus service in Manhattan (a good idea). But the big news for Brooklynites is the Mayor's belated support for enhanced F/V service on the Culver Line in Brooklyn, which I and other transit advocates have been calling for for years. From the Brooklyn Paper,

“Closer to Downtown, you’re talking about a couple of minutes. As you get farther out towards Coney Island you’re talking about potentially saving 20 minutes — that’s huge. But it’s also about the possible alleviation of crowding everywhere,” said Gary Reilly, a Democratic candidate for City Council in Carroll Gardens, who has advocated for years on behalf of the F line. “We need this and we deserve it. It’s a low–hanging piece of fruit.”

Back in 2007, over 4,300 people signed on to my petition to restore F Express service and extend the V line out to Brooklyn. Ben from Second Avenue Sagas, Jen from KensingtonBrooklyn and I have kept the pressure on the MTA and elected officials over the years to ensure that Brooklyn gets these despeerately needed transit improvements when the Culver Viaduct reconstruction is complete - and we led the fight to ensure that the Viaduct reconstruction would include the necessary track and signal work to accommodate express service.

In the summer of 2007, I held a press conference at the Church Avenue F station with Councilmen Bill deBlasio, Simcha Felder and Domenic Recchia, along with Paul Steely White from Transportation Alternatives and Gene Russianoff from the Straphanger's Campaign to demand enhanced F/V service fro Brooklyn.

In these difficult times we need to make the most of our transit infrastructure. The restoration of express/local service on the F/V to Brooklyn is a relatively cheap and efficient way to not only improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of Brooklynites, but also to aid in the revitalization of Coney Island and South Brooklyn.

Brooklyn deserves enhanced F/V service. And our time is coming.

All posts on the F/V Petition

The battle for better transit service is what inspired me to run for City Council - if you care about improving the state of our transit system, visit my campaign website at www.garyreilly.org. Our team is growing every day, and you too can help to make our city a better place to live.

Ravitch Named Lt. Governor

What in the name of all that's holy . . . finally some good news out of Albany!!

Governor Paterson has named Richard Ravitch, of late renown as the head of the Ravitch Commission (whose suggestions were largely stymied by the Fare Hike Four, resulting in last month's fare hike and continuing the MTA crisis at a lower boil)

If Paterson can break the logjam in the Senate with this appointment (and a terrific choice, by the way) he deserves some praise. Gatemouth likes this appointment as much as I do . . . while paying a - I'm not sure backhanded compliment is the right term, but I'm not coming up with a better descriptor - to Governor Paterson for the effort.

Now if Ravitch can get a second bite at the apple with the MTA funding situation (bridge tolls et al) we might have some hope yet.

Rallying Cry For Transit Advocates

What Ben said.

When the MTA had to turn, cap in hand, to Albany this year, politicians trotted out the old tired tropes in an effort to portray the MTA as a less than scrupulous organization. Some claimed the MTA keeps two sets of books, a charge found to be untrue in a court of law. Others called the agency heads “untrustworthy and corrupt,” as Sander puts it an Op-Ed in The Times today. In the end, the MTA, a transit agency entrusted with making the trains on time, were no match for a bunch of politicians whose specialties all seem to be making themselves look good even when approving poorly-constructed funding fixes.

The politicians are the problem - not the MTA. The MTA has been used as a scapegoat for politicians in Albany, aided and abetted by years of journalistic malpractice. We need to elect people to office that understand the importance of transit, and that the root of our current problems lies not at the MTA, but in Albany. That's one reason I am running for office myself.

Fare Hikes & Service Cuts

Lest anyone think the MTA funding crisis is over, it is not. Many of our elected officials are patting each other on the back for averting a full scale meltdown, but the can has just been kicked down the road. And while the fare hike is not as dramatic as feared, fares are going up more than 10% next month, with projected increases every year.

We're keeping our buses - for now. But we still do not have a funded 5 year capital plan. And now we learn that many station agents, who provide a human presence in the system, will be cut. Comptroller Thompson's office has a handy tool you can use to see how your local station will be affected.

As an example, the Carroll Street station is set to lose 1 part time station agent from the cuts. No station agent means no one to release the gate when you need to get a package or stroller through. No one to answer questions about service outages or directions. No one with a line to call for aid or report suspicious/criminal activity. I'm a believer in adding cameras to the subways for security, and in adding computer based train controls to improve efficiency. But station agents provide a valuable human element to the system that is hard to quantify, but improves the safety, accessibility and convenience of the subway system. These cuts are penny wise and pound foolish, but they are being forced by the same Assembly and Senate members who failed to pass a real transit funding bill this year.

It has become fashionable to blame the MTA for all manner of shortcomings - but the fault lies in Albany. Only your elected officials can fix the problems our system faces. Demand it!

Cuts on the F line:

Proposed Changes to Service on the F
Station Changes on the F
STATION CHANGE
2nd Ave / Lower East Side One full-time agent eliminated
W 4th St (B,D,F,V) One full-time agent eliminated
23rd St (F,V) One full-time station booth eliminated
East Broadway (F) One part-time agent eliminated
169th St (F) One part-time agent eliminated
Carroll St (F,G) One part-time agent eliminated
Jay St / Borough Hall (A,C,F) One part-time agent eliminated
Bergen St (F,G) One part-time agent eliminated
Essex St / Delancey St (F,J,M,Z) One part-time agent eliminated
179th St / Jamaica (F) One part-time agent eliminated
Coney Island / Stillwell Ave (D,F,N,Q) One part-time agent eliminated
34th St / Herald Sq (B,D,F,N,Q,R,V,W) Three part-time agents eliminated
47th-50th Sts / Rockefeller Center (B,D,F,V) Two part-time agents eliminated
Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Ave (E,F,G,R,V) Two part-time agents eliminated
42nd St / Bryant Park (B,D,F,V) Two part-time agents eliminated

MTA Fare Hike, Service Cut Rollout Schedule

Second Avenue Sagas has the breakdown.

For anxious Carroll Gardens residents: Fare hike happens May 31st; the B75 sleeps with the fishes June 28 . . . . if the Senate Republicans and the Fare Hike Four (or six, or whatever it is today) don't knuckle down, face reality, and enact the Ravitch Commission Plan or similar.

I've said in other places, the Ravitch Plan could be tweaked slightly by applying the payroll tax to employees, rather than employers. Every economist will tell you, the employees will bear the cost either way . . . this does, however, eliminate the "anti-business!!1!" disingenuous rhetoric from opponents of the plan.

I understand many drivers do not want to pay tolls on the bridges. But the reality is we need the revenue from those tolls. And tolling the bridges will reduce traffic through our residential neighborhoods, giving us safer streets, by eliminating the perverse incentives for commuters to avoid tolled crossings like the Batrtery Tunnel in favor of "free" routes like the Brooklyn Bridge.

CGNA TONIGHT

The big item on tonight's agenda is a forum for elected officials and their representatives to hear from you on the MTA funding crisis and Albany's inaction.

Date: Monday April 13, 2009
Time: 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Location: Hannah Senesh Community Day School, 342 Smith St

The Ravitch Commission set forth a clear roadmap, including bridge tolls, to avert the catastrophic fare hikes and service cuts that WILL take place if we don't act. But our elected officials need to hear our voices on this.

What do you think of $3 subway fares and drastic bus service cuts? Come to CGNA tonight.

New F Train Cars; MTA Testing 11 Car Trains

Second Avenue Sagas posts on the new subway cars on the F line:

Last week, New York City Transit rolled out some new rolling stock along the F line. Riders from Jamaica to Coney Island-Stillwell Ave. will now enjoy the clean, sterile comfort of the new R160s and the crisp announcements that come along with it.

I've ridden a couple of these new trains, and they are a vast improvement over the old ones.

Meanwhile, the Daily News reports that the MTA has tested an 11 car train configuration on the F line.

"We obviously neither have the capital nor operating funding to implement anything like this in the foreseeable future," NYC Transit President Howard Roberts said.
"We are just looking at feasibility for planning purposes," Roberts added.

My initial sense is that upgrading the signaling would be a better solution than undergoing construction to extend platforms at multiple stations as would be necessary to run an 11-car configuration. But I'm open to the possibilities if the numbers work out.

Breakfast-of-Candidates (39th Edition): Gary Reilly

Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn is running a series of profiles of candidates for local office, including yours truly. We had a good long chat about my background, the issues facing the district, and how I came to be a candidate for City Council. An excerpt:

Thousands of F-train commuters signed Gary's petition. Later he testified before the MTA Board and at City Council and State Assembly hearings on transportation issues.

As an advocate for public transportation, Gary found his issue and his voice. This powerful experience also cemented his belief that public transportation is an equalizer and an important engine of democracy. "It creates mobility which equals opportunity," Gary told me. It also ties in with environmental sustainability, another issue close to Gary's heart.

"Transportation policy dovetails with development policy, land use, how we view our streets, how we share our space and making the city safe for pedestrians and cyclists," he said. The F-Train petition experience also convinced Gary that he would one day run for office. But he didn't think it would happen quite so soon. It was when he realized that Bill deBlasio was at term limit that he decided to jump in. But not before asking his wife how she felt about it. "Let's do it," she said. And that was that.

I highly recommend reading the entire series as they are posted. I've also read her profile of Bob Zuckerman, and it is a refreshing to get a look at the candidates in their own words. I know I am eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Bus Rapid Transit and NYC

Tonight I attended the meeting of Auto-Free New York, which as you might imagine is a transit advocacy group. The focus of the meeting was a presentation on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) by Joan Byron of the Pratt Institute.

Byron started off with an in-depth introduction to the subject matter that focused on inequity in transit accessibility and commuting times across the city. The summary is that for a high percentage of poor and/or minority residents, commuting times often exceed an hour, whereas accessibility to white collar jobs and the homes of (largely) white people is far better.

The solution put forth by Pratt together with COMMUTE, is BRT. Byron pointed to BRT programs in Curitiba, Brazil and Bogota, Colombia as examples of BRT success, along with the "Select Bus Service" operated along the B12 line in the Bronx. The B12, however, is not a BRT system; rather it incorporates a few aspects of BRT service that are more suited to a New York environment. First, the B12 lets riders purchase tickets in advance and board from both doors on an "honor system" that is enforced with spot checks and summonses for farebeaters. Second, parts of the bus route are painted and enforced as bus only lanes. Third, technology on board the bus can make sure that the bus always gets a green light at intersections. prioritizing transit over individual vehicles.

Here's the rub: as Cap'n Transit has laid out in excruciating detail, THIS IS NOT BRT. It's also no replacement for rail transit, which while expensive, is the efficient core of a successful transit system.

I encourage Pratt and COMMUTE to focus their advocacy on driving the following improvements to the entire MTA Bus system: (1) off-board payment and dual door boarding, (2) signal prioritization for buses, and (3) bus lane enforcement cameras mounted on MTA buses. These are fairly cheap, readily implementable improvements to the existing bus system that would dramatically improve bus service, and bus utilization, throughout the city.

I would hate to lose sight of the goal of improving transit outcomes for poorly served areas by focusing on a concept (BRT) over results. We can make incredible service improvements to our bus system - and we don't need "BRT" to do so. Our bus system is an essential complement to our rail network that can and must be improved, dramatically. But to maintain a sustainable transit system that can serve the needs of a growing city, we will have to continue to expand our rail network.

Lastly, it is worth noting that one of the primary success stories held up as a BRT exemplar, Curitiba, is replacing it's BRT system with . . . subways!

I've got a lot more to say on this syubject, but I wanted to put something up while the meeting was still fresh in my mind. Good night!

MTA Telethon: The Ghost of Transit Future?

Transportation Alternatives takes a look at what the future might hold if the Senate continues to fail spectacularly to address the MTA finance crisis. It ain't pretty!

ESTA Unveils New Ad, Website Calling For Reliable Transit Funding

The Empire State Transportation Alliance and campaign for new York's future rolled out a new ad campaign and website to support reliable, adequate funding for NYC's transit system. Take a minute to visit the website, Keep New York Moving, and tell your elected officials that NYC needs reliable transit, and we can't balance the budget on the backs of riders.

Schumer and Nadler Tip o' The Spear For Transit

From Bloomberg:

The Democrat’s amendment to the bill would increase funding to $14.9 billion from $8.4 billion, including $2 billion for capital transportation needs, $2 billion for railways and $2.5 billion for new transit projects.

The extra funding may mean hundreds of millions dollars more for New York City transportation, Schumer said. The region typically gets about a fifth or more of federal transportation spending, he said.

“We want to make sure that this stimulus plan helps mass transit as well as highways,” Schumer said in a press conference outside Grand Central Terminal today. “We all know how important it is to help mass transit; it’s the lifeblood of our metropolitan area.”

I'd like to see more efforts like this from the rest of our delegation.

Bear in mind, these funds are strictly for capital improvements . . . this will do nothing to plug the gap in the operating budget. For that we need our City and State elected officials to act.

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council members: Act now to transfer the city-owned bridges to the MTA so that all river crossings can be tolled at parity. This would (1) raise vital reliable funds for transit, (2) reduce traffic congestion and (3) eliminate perverse incentives for motorists to avoid, e.g. the Battery Tunnel and create traffic bottlenecks at free crossings such as the Brooklyn Bridge.

Governor Paterson, State Senators and Assembly Members: Bring back the commuter tax and dedicate these funds expressly for transit and retirement of transit-related debts, when possible. Enact legislation to allow NYC to institute a residential parking permit program, again with permit fees dedicated to transit.

The MTA has plenty of faults, but the root cause of the current crisis was the failure of the State and City to adequately fund capital needs. Instead, MTA investments were paid for with debt, and that debt burden is now crushing the MTA. Thank you, George Pataki, Rudy Giuliani, and yes, Mike Bloomberg.

We are at a crisis point; we need our politicians to step up and show some real leadership on this issue. Otherwise, as one less than venerable statesman put it in another context, this sucker's going down.

National High Speed Rail: New Site

Via Streetsblog, there are some great new posts up at The Transport Politic for those who fantasize about an adequately funded, well designed high speed rail network in North America. Check out them out here and here.

By national of course, we're really talking more about a series of connecting regional systems. The possibilities are really incredible if we make this a priority. A great way to reduce our reliance on imported oil, as well as free up capacity at airports for those flights that are not practical even with high speed rail (coast to coast, most international).

More on this later. And while we're flogging Transport Politic's posts, Senator Schumer has expanded on Congressman Nadler's efforts to increase transit funding in the stimulus package. Still only crumbs, but gradually improving.