MTA

Starting in January 2019, service on the L train west of Bedford Avenue will be suspended for 15 months to allow for Sandy-related repairs. The only way to keep hundreds of thousands of people moving is to dedicate significant street space to buses on both sides of the East River. But at a presentation to elected officials on Friday, the MTA and DOT did not indicate that bus lanes are part of their plan, except on the Williamsburg Bridge itself.

Off-board fare payment is a huge time saver for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who ride the city's Select Bus Service routes. It cuts out the time-consuming process of each passenger dipping a MetroCard one by one. But the technology that off-board payment relies on could be better.

While bus ridership is down citywide -- and especially in Manhattan -- there are some routes that are bucking the trend. One that's gaining riders is the M86, which got a package of upgrades from DOT and the MTA in 2015. The improvements included off-board fare collection and queue jumps -- short bus lane segments that enable buses to cut ahead of other traffic at signals.

Some streetscape improvements are planned for the Bronx portion of the route. The biggest changes are proposed for 161st Street, where DOT would widen sidewalks and limit eastbound traffic in the tunnel under the Grand Concourse to buses.

There was a little bit of everything at today's City Council transportation hearing -- and we have the highlights for you right here.

If the first step to better citywide bus service is admitting that NYC has a problem, yesterday's MTA Board meeting was a breakthrough.

As MTA fares went up yesterday, straphangers and elected officials rallied outside Atlantic Terminal yesterday to bring them down for low-income New Yorkers. The "Fair Fares" coalition is calling on Mayor de Blasio to fund half-priced MetroCards for the 800,000 New Yorkers living below the federal poverty line.

More than two-thirds of the City Council has signed on to the Fair Fares campaign since it launched a year ago. But Mayor de Blasio declined to include the $212 million needed for the program in his preliminary Fiscal Year 2018 budget.

Congestion is growing and transit ridership is falling in NYC. But at a moment when transit desperately needs smart stewardship, the city's political leaders, especially Governor Andrew Cuomo, are nowhere to be found.