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Doomsday Redux? MTA and Transit Riders Squeezed on All Sides
Yesterday word surfaced that the MTA will receive $200 million less from the recently enacted payroll tax than the state of New York originally projected. The news came less than a week after Albany legislators slashed $143 million from the MTA so the state can keep paying its bills. Add it up, and the agency has about $340 million less than it expected to have just a few days ago. To put that in perspective, the "doomsday plan" that Albany supposedly averted back in the spring contained about $25 million in annual subway service cuts and $88 million in annual cuts to New York City bus service.
December 8, 2009
The Winning Transpo Formula for a Third Term: Sustainability + Populism
Following Tuesday's citywide elections, Streetsblog asked leading advocates and experts to lay out their ideas for the next four years of New York City transportation policy. What should the Bloomberg administration try to accomplish? Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and editor of its excellent blog, Mobilizing the Region, kicks things off with today's installment.
November 9, 2009
Jay Walder and NYC Buses, Part 2: What Can the MTA Do for Bus Riders?
"If I put train tracks down the street, you wouldn’t
park your car on them. If I said this is a bus lane, somehow it becomes fair
game. One person’s use of a road impacts upon another person’s use
of the road. My point is, if we have to make a choice, make the choice for the
bus, not for the car.”
October 26, 2009
The Jay Walder Compensation Confirmation Circus Gets Underway
Jimmy Vielkind at the Politicker files a dispatch from the first State Senate hearing about MTA chair nominee Jay Walder's severance package (yes, there will be more than one).
September 3, 2009
Q Poll: Car-Free Times Square a Smash Hit; MTA Skepticism Still High
If you're a livable streets optimist, you probably suspected that car-free Times Square critics like Andrea Peyser, Susan Dominus, and John Liu were out of touch. After all, most New Yorkers don't own cars, and many of those who do spend more time as pedestrians than drivers. And really, how many people were driving their own private vehicles right through the middle of Times Square, anyway?
July 29, 2009
Second Avenue Subway Keeps on Slipping Into the Future
Following another revision to the Second Avenue Subway construction timetable, the first phase of the mega-project remains, as ever, about seven or eight years away from completion. Pete Donohue reports in the Daily News:
July 21, 2009
Fare Hike Four to Paterson: Not So Fast
In case you've forgotten who's in charge these days, Governor Paterson's nomination of Jay Walder to succeed Lee Sander as MTA chief was quickly met with a joint statement from Malcolm Smith, John Sampson, and Fare Hike Four members Pedro Espada and Carl Kruger. In the interest of "transparency and accountability," the senators say they plan to put Walder in front of their committees before any decision is made. Kruger, for his part, tells The Daily Politics that he doesn't consider the backbone of the region's economy to be a particularly urgent agenda item.
July 14, 2009
Transpo Bills Gummed Up By State Senate Dysfunction
After spending the last five weeks affirming Albany's status as the nation's most dysfunctional state capital, the State Senate will have one last extraordinary session this Wednesday before calling it a year. The chamber is not expected to pass much in the way of transportation bills. (The Assembly wrapped up its session last month.) Here's a short summary of unfinished livable streets business which the Senate and Assembly will leave behind until the 2010 legislative session.
July 13, 2009
New Yorkers Taxed (Again) for Not Owning Cars
MetroCard machines aren't the only place where the price of transit is going up. Reader Steven O'Neill points out that New Yorkers who sometimes rely on rental cars are now being hit with an additional five percent "bailout" tax, bringing the total tax for renting close to 20 percent. Says Steven:
June 26, 2009
The Fuse Is Still Lit on MTA Debt Bomb
Flash back a few weeks to the heat of the MTA funding debate: Remember all the talk about long-term, sustainable funding streams for our transit system? That's what the Ravitch plan was supposed to deliver. We knew as soon as the deal went down last month that the state legislature and Governor Paterson flubbed their chance to make good on that promise. Now, writes Ben Kabak at Second Avenue Sagas, state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has issued a report that makes it official:
June 3, 2009