Governor David A. Paterson today announced that he will put forward proposed improvements to the MTA mobility tax in his 21-day amendments to the 2010-11 Executive Budget that will help preserve that transit system as the economic lifeblood of the metropolitan region. This revised proposal would ensure that the MTA will receive previously projected mobility tax revenues in 2010 and in future years in order to help mitigate the impact of the authority’s budget difficulties on straphangers; improve regional equity by introducing a two-tiered tax rate that brings tax collections more in line with local ridership; and deliver substantial additional tax relief for small businesses during the current economic downturn.

“The new proposal I am putting forward will provide relief to straphangers, as the MTA makes the difficult decisions necessary to balance its budget during an historic fiscal crisis that is significantly impacting all levels of government,” Governor Paterson said. “In addition, it also makes key improvements to the current tax structure, promoting regional equity and delivering relief to small businesses.”

The new structure will restore 2010 MTA mobility tax revenues to $1.54 billion, which is equal to original projections (net additional revenue of approximately $230 million for MTA). It also addresses projected out-year deterioration, providing more than $200 million in additional annual revenue on an ongoing basis in 2011 and beyond.

Click here for the complete press release.

Now here is a statement the MTA sent out via e-mail in response to these amendments:

“The MTA is grateful to Governor Paterson for his continued focus on funding the MTA and the critical service we provide to 8.5 million New Yorkers every day. The MTA’s revenues have taken two significant hits since December: a nearly $400 million deficit was closed in December with administrative reductions and service cuts; and just last week we learned of a new approximately $400 million shortfall due primarily to reduced State projections of the payroll mobility tax.

Based on the estimates provided by the Governor’s office, the changes to the payroll mobility tax proposed today would provide $230 million to recover much of the latest $400 million in deterioration and could lessen the need for additional cuts on top of those passed in December. It would not eliminate the need for the service cuts and administrative reductions included in the MTA Budget passed in December.

The proposal also changes the structure of the payroll mobility tax, which is a decision to be made by the Governor and the Legislature. Even if this restructuring is enacted, the MTA will remain focused on overhauling how it does business to reduce costs and operate within the funding provided.”

Am I the only one who is not excited about this? Don’t get me wrong, any sort of positive financial news for the MTA is good but I have to call these amendments for what they are. They are nothing but a game being played by Gov. Paterson has he faces a horrific approval rating across the entire state. I & anyone else who follows politics can see this move coming a mile away.

Well I am sorry Governor Paterson, I will not cheer you for your amendments. Instead I will say that you need to stop playing the typical political games & along with elected officials from the city to state level, find legitimate ways to provide funding for the MTA.

When political leaders such as yourself do what is good for the transit agency, its riders, & the entire region for the right reasons & not just for style points, I will then cheer you on. Until then, I don’t think so……

xoxo Transit Blogger

The mayor took his opposition one step further on his weekly radio show calling into question why retired employees could still receive free rides but not students. Pete Donohue & Kate Lucadamo of the New York Daily News has more in this report:

If students can’t get a free ride, MTA retirees shouldn’t either, Mayor Bloomberg said Friday.

The mayor called into question the policy of giving retired transit workers free bus and subway rides since free and reduced cards for city students are on the chopping block.

“Does it make any sense to give retirees passes for the rest of their lives and not give our kids passes so they can go to school? No,” Bloomberg said during his weekly radio show. “It’s pretty hard to argue that that is an intelligent policy.”

Click here for the complete report.

Sorry but I must call the Mayor out for playing both sides to the middle here. On one hand, his entire reign as mayor has seen year after year of inadequate funding provided. Yet he wants to turn right back around & question a plan that would help the beleaguered agency save money. This is the same agency he has continuously abused for not doing what it can to cut costs.

Instead of acknowledging his failure at making sure the city puts in its fair share, he rather play political games & go to the tired routine of piling on to the MTA. His comparison of free riders taken by retired employees is beyond ridiculous. Does he truly believe the MTA spends more in giving away free rides to retired employees versus school children? If he does, he clearly has no business being the Mayor of New York City.

I do not support cutting Student Metrocards unless absolutely necessary. However instead of bashing the agency publicly as part of the status quo politcal games, how about properly funding the MTA. In case he does not get it, here is a clue for Mayor Bloomberg. Most employees who retire don’t use the system much, if at all in some cases. They tend to live outside the region & have no use for it & don’t want to ride it for that matter.

Lastly, why of all times call into question a perk given to workers for years? If it was such a huge concern, wouldn’t you have raised concern during past negotiations. Instead you wait until it is convenient to throw that out for the mostly anti-MTA public to feast on. Stop playing games Mayor Bloomberg & find a way to pony up a fair share of money for the Student Metrocards if you really believe in them so much. Anything less & you are just using students as a chess piece in your public game against the MTA.

xoxo Transit Blogger

With such a huge project & closure involved, it came as no surprise when MTA NYC Transit sent out a press release with more information:

MTA NYC Transit announces the next phase of a major $89 million construction project to reconstruct and rehabilitate five stations on the Pelham 6 line. They are Whitlock Avenue, Elder Avenue, Morrison Avenue-Soundview, St. Lawrence Avenue and Parkchester.

The first two stations to close for rehab are Whitlock Avenue and Morrison Avenue-Soundview. The stations will close beginning 5 a.m. Monday, February 8 and will remain closed until Monday, September 13, 2010. The rehab work at all five stations will include the complete replacement of the mezzanines, canopy roofs, track beds, platform edge safety tiles, and public address systems. The stations will also undergo an electrical upgrade and the installation of fluorescent lighting.

In order to accomplish this work within a safe environment, each station, with the exception of Parkchester, will be closed for seven months. At Parkchester, the northbound and southbound platforms will be closed separately for three months each.

Customers who usually use the Whitlock Avenue and Morrison Avenue-Soundview stations may take the Bx4, which operates along Westchester Avenue, to the Elder Avenue 6 station or the Simpson Street 25 station. The bus ride is free from these four stops on Westchester Avenue: Simpson Street 25, Whitlock Avenue 6, Elder Avenue 6, and Morison Avenue-Soundview 6. Please note that between 12:01 a.m. and 5 a.m., the Bx4 operates every 20 minutes and only at these four stops.

Station posters and “Take-One” brochures are available at Pelham 6 line stations. Customers may call our Travel Information Center at 718-330-1234 from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, or log onto www.mta.info for more information.

xoxo Transit Blogger

Due to inclement weather all weekend subway work has been cancelled with the exception of the project on the 7 line which remains the same (see below).

7
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, February 5 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 8, there are no 7 trains between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza due to track panel installation on the Davis Street curve. The NQ and free shuttle buses provide alternate service. Note: 42nd Street Shuttle S runs overnight. Q trains are extended to/from Ditmars Blvd.

All other lines will operate according to the usual weekend schedule. Please note: At all times until Fall 2010, the Coney Island-bound Q platforms at Avenue H and Avenue M are closed for rehabilitation. At all times until December 2010, the Manhattan-bound Q platforms at Avenue U and Neck Road are closed for rehabilitation. At all times for approximately four months, the Manhattan-bound A platforms at Beach 25th and Beach 67th Streets are closed for rehabilitation

So keep this information in mind when traveling this weekend. Most importantly, stay safe out there & have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo Transit Blogger

xoxo Transit Blogger

Due to problems with equipment availability, MTA Bus officials announced that the maintenance work scheduled for Wednesday, February 3, Thursday, February 4 and Friday, February 5 on the Cross Bay Bridge is postponed.

The intermittent closures will now take place on Wednesday, February 10, Thursday, February 11 and Friday, February 12. All northbound lanes of the Cross Bay Bridge will be closed for 20 minute intervals between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on those three days. These closures will affect all traffic traveling to Broad Channel from the Rockaways. Q53 and Q21 customers should expect delays and plan accordingly.

xoxo Transit Blogger

Newly installed PA/CIS Board at the Middletown Road station. Photo courtesy of MTA New York City Transit.

On Christmas Eve, I wrote an entry about how MTA New York City Transit was rolling out real time information boards at some Bronx 6 line stations. Earlier today, they announced a continued rollout of these boards via a press release. Here are the complete details:

MTA New York City Transit officials today announced that real-time train arrival message screens are now operational and being tested in the Buhre Avenue and Middletown Road stations on the 6 line.

The Public Address Customer Information Screen (PA/CIS) provides train arrival messages in audio and video. The messages indicate when the next two trains are due to arrive at the station and their destinations. Though still in the testing phase, this marks an important milestone in the effort to provide MTA New York City Transit’s subway customers with up-to-date travel information employing 21st Century technology. It is also a major component of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s effort to substantially upgrade customer communications across its entire network.

Aside from train arrivals, the system also allows NYC Transit to provide both audio and visual messages to customers, keeping them fully informed about service delays or emergency situations. PA/CIS will be rolled out incrementally with 152 stations on the numbered lines operational by the first quarter of 2011. PA/CIS was first introduced along the Canarsie L line in January 2007.

The information distributed through the PA/CIS system originates from NYC Transit’s Rail Control Center (RCC). From the RCC, Customer Service Agents provide subway customers with service status and other information either as audio only, visual only, or as synchronized audio and visual information.

In addition to Buhre Avenue and Middletown Road stations, PA/CIS equipment is also operational in the Brook Avenue, Cypress Avenue, E.143rd Street-St. Mary’s Street, E. 149th Street and Longwood Avenue Stations, as well as all the stations on the L line. The system includes signs and speakers which are located on the platforms and in the fare control areas prior to entering the station. PA/CIS will be activated in more stations throughout the coming weeks.

The announcement of this is good timing as I have been meaning to write an entry about them. I took a visit to a station along the 6 recently to photograph them in action for Eye On Transit. I took a few photos & will share my thoughts later tonight.

xoxo Transit Blogger

MTA Bus officials announce that on Wednesday, February 3, Thursday, February 4 and Friday, February 5, the Q53 and Q21 will experience intermittent delays in order to accommodate maintenance work on the Cross Bay Bridge.

All northbound lanes of the Cross Bay Bridge will be closed for 20 minute intervals between 9 a.m. and 12:01 p.m. on those three days. These closures will affect all traffic traveling to Broad Channel from the Rockaways. Q53 and Q21 customers should expect delays and plan accordingly

xoxo Transit Blogger

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is struggling with a whopping deficit.

The agency is looking for new efficiencies and administrative overhauls, but it also has proposed three awful steps in 2010. These include $62 million in drastic service cuts; $31 million from beginning the phaseout of student MetroCards; and $40 million in savings from reduced paratransit service.

Millions of subway, bus and commuter riders are the victims, virtually lashed to the tracks as a trainload of misery bears down on them.

We have proposed several reasonable actions to prevent these proposals and are urging the MTA to use federal stimulus funds and other operating money to prevent service cuts this year.

Here’s what should be done:

• Use up to $121 million in federal stimulus funds for service in 2010. Federal law permits up to 10% of its stimulus funds to be spent on operations. Transit systems around the country – including Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle and St. Louis – are facing the same financial crises and are using stimulus dollars.

• Reprogram for service up to $50 million in operating funds. Right now, the MTA is planning to spend $50 million in operating funds on capital projects. At a time when the operating budget is badly pinched, it makes no sense for the MTA to direct operating funds to capital and worsen service cuts.

It’s just not correct to say the first two steps are taking transit capital dollars to pay for operations, as the MTA has argued.

Federal law specifically allows a small portion of transportation stimulus money to pay to keep the system running. Congress and President Obama saw it was in the national interest to help maintain service in this troubled economy. Transit agencies around the country are using this option to maintain vital service and jobs.
There is a way out. The MTA can use the authority Congress gave it to spend federal stimulus funds for service. This temporary measure will buy the MTA a year to begin tackling the real and lasting reforms Chairman Jay Walder has already laid out in his recent report, “Making Every Dollar Count.” With our plan, the agency can act in the interest of the riding public, untie them from the tracks, and save them from these devastating cuts.

Click here to read the complete editorial.

The 3 of them make a compelling case for the call of using a block of stimulus funds to fix holes in the MTA’s financial budget. However I am not sure this is the right way to go about doing things. As we saw during the whole battle over the “doomsday scenario“, & subsequent “rescue package“, politicians are always looking for quick fixes.

Using money tailored for future capital projects seems like a bad idea from where I sit. Although the argument can be made that a fiscally healthy MTA in the current day is just as important as a better developed system in the future, I worry about politicians not understanding what is needed for both to become a reality.

It seems anytime they can go for the quick fix to plug holes at the risk of the future they will. When the future becomes the present, the cycle repeats itself & so the story goes. What they need to understand is that going the quick fix route whether it be stimulus funds or anything else is not what they should be concerned with. They need to find a way to pony up the city & state’s fair share of funding on a regular basis. This is the real goal that should be on their minds today, tomorrow, & forever.

xoxo Transit Blogger

you hear something, say something.

Recent track work by the MTA on an elevated line in Bensonhurst has left locals covering their ears because of an ear-splitting, screech from overhead trains.

“I’ve been here 30 years. It used to be noisy, but livable. Now, it’s killing me,” said Hilna Motors owner Louis Gellman, whose auto repair shop is beneath the D train at 86th St. and Stillwell Ave.

“I can’t even talk to people outside. I have to bring my customers into my office,” added Gellman, who believes the racket has caused hearing loss.

The disturbance began last year when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority installed new tracks along the route.

A TA spokesman said the increased volume was a temporary headache because the track work required that they stop greasing the rails, which reduces the din.

After a series of noise complaints were lodged with the MTA, the agency inspected the site on Dec. 21, prompting the agency to add extra lubricant to the rails to fight the problem.

“These corrective measures have greatly reduced the noise level,” said TA spokesman Charles Seaton in a statement. “We expect further reduction as the new track wears in.”
Assemblyman William Colton (D-Brooklyn) said that noise is not just a public nuisance: It’s also a symbol of financial waste at the MTA.

“Noise is not only something that’s detrimental to people’s lives and health, but it’s also detrimental to the system” he said.

Click here for the complete story.

Seriously I am starting to get sick of locals always finding something to complain about. Construction on a system 100+ years old is inevitable so noise is a natural part of the process. While it can be disturbing, it is just part of the pain you must endure for the better good of everyone.

If they had it their way, the construction would stop so the noise could go away. However we all know that these same people would be complaining about things not being fixed. Sorry, you can’t have it both ways so deal with it & find something else to worry about.

xoxo Transit Blogger