Today’s Headlines

  • MTA Pledges Action to Speed Up Buses, But Will It Be Enough? (NY1)
  • Charles Moerdler Has No Confidence in Judlau Contracting Not to Botch L Train Rehab (AMNY)
  • East Side Access Reportedly Becoming Even More of a Boondoggle (NY1)
  • Don’t Count on the Cortlandt Street Subway Station to Reopen on Schedule (AMNY)
  • MTA Construction Chief Is Stepping Down (News)
  • De Blasio Nominates Carl Weisbrod for MTA Board (News)
  • Crowding on NJ Transit’s Penn Station Platforms Reaching Crisis Levels (WSJ)
  • Daily News Cheers for the Sheridan Teardown
  • Alt-Side Parking Returns — Let the Whining Commence (WNYC)
  • Are the Bike Lanes Clear? Check Bike Snob’s Daily Forecast at TransAlt
  • While You’re Waiting for a Bike Lane on the Brooklyn Bridge Main Deck, Try This Weird Trick (Gothamist)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • Larry Littlefield

    Let’s hope East Side Access opens before the Hudson tubes shut down so Manhattan workers who want to live in the suburbs can live somewhere.

  • stairbob

    I like the article about singing in the Brooklyn Bridge bike lane. I’ve been recently saying “Good Morning” to alert pedestrians to my presence on the road. It sometimes has the same effect on them as yelling something sarcastic (i.e., none) but at least I feel more pleasant in the process.

  • Jim11217

    “Some may be our fault, some may be Amtrak’s fault and some may be the contractors fault” – but it doesn’t even matter!

  • Cuomo Cuomo Cuomo

    from the WSJ article on Penn Station overcrowding:

    “A person familiar with the project said the construction of the first
    phase of the Moynihan project largely was completed about six months
    ago, but its opening was delayed by additional improvements that were
    ordered. This person didn’t immediately know who called for the late
    changes, which include the installation of monitors.”

    Don’t know who this mystery person who ordered monitors was either, but I know it rhymes with “Duomo.” If you haven’t noticed a pattern with this arrogant sociopath, well…

    Governor’s tweaks may have caused delays in Penn Station upgrade: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20170125/TRANSPORTATION/170129917

  • Cuomo Cuomo Cuomo

    For those who can’t read the article, it says that Cuomo’s decision to put in flashy monitors for his inevitable photo-op is causing the delays leading to overcrowding:

    “Construction of the new $147 million West End Concourse, being built by
    Empire State Development Corp. as part of the larger Moynihan Train Hall
    project across Eighth Avenue from Penn Station, affects tracks 5
    through 21 and all three rail operators.

    Several sets of closed stairwells lead from the platform to the new
    concourse, which are a particular nuisance to NJ Transit riders who
    could otherwise get to a concourse and then easily out to the street.”

  • Cuomo Cuomo Cuomo

    “After all, it’s not our money, and hell, wasting extra money gibes well with the main objective of the MTA, which is to give money away to our political allies in the unions and contractor shops. On an unrelated note, I wonder what the “T” in “MTA” was supposed to stand for… “

  • elvevaag

    These days, it’s not even about *wanting* to live in the suburbs. That was a different generation. When young people talk about moving to the suburbs today, most of the talk is about affodability. Ideally, people want to live near good rapid transit, in urban neighborhoods that don’t require cars. But we’re not building any more subways, and at the same time we drastically restrict construction of dense walkable urban neighborhoods though draconian zoning. Add high construction costs and red tape, and it’s so prohibitively expensive to live in the city that young people have to make a choice to either limit their family sizes drastically, or move to the suburbs and endure the commute.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/realestate/how-to-pick-the-right-new-york-city-suburb.html?_r=0
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/realestate/home-sales-brisk-and-prices-stable-in-new-york-citys-suburbs.html

    And now, to add to the indignity, the people crowded out to the suburbs are made to suffer ever more hellacious commutes.

  • AMH

    “ceiling-mounted LED display” — is that the stupid blue-sky screen? What a waste. How is he even allowed to delay projects for such trivial crap?

  • Larry Littlefield
  • bolwerk

    I wonder how many of them voted for Christie the first time. Or, more interestingly, the second time, when the press’s Christie-is-competent propaganda machine was cranked into full gear, but he had already screwed Manhattan commuters.

    Either way, it’s like I keep saying about the L Train. There is nothing you can really do about it. They’re fucked. Not everyone can move. They’re going to have to bus it, take PATH, bus to PATH, (usually roundabout) commuter train to PATH, come in at another hour, or not come in.

    Moving has another implication: if they do move, it’ll probably take years for ridership to recover.