MTA

The $2 billion transit operating aid bill unveiled by Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd today could set the stage to stave off major MTA service cuts slated to take effect next month.

Prospects for safer cycling on the east side of Midtown got a boost last night, as Manhattan Community Board 6 strengthened its support for uninterrupted bike lanes as part of NYCDOT and the MTA's redesign of First and Second Avenues. 

In January, the MTA took the long-awaited step of opening up its data to software developers, clearing the way for third parties to devise new and innovative ways to put current information in the hands of transit customers. Since then, the agency has received some 1,100 requests for data, reports AMNY. New apps provide everything from the location of the nearest subway stations, like acrossair, demonstrated above, to history trivia along bus routes.

Last December, John Samuelsen was elected president of TWU Local 100, the union that represents 38,000 subway and bus workers in the New York City region. He assumed the leadership from former president Roger Toussaint at a troubled time for the transit system. With transit tax revenues in free fall and state lawmakers raiding MTA coffers to plug holes in the general budget, transit riders and transit jobs were under threat.

Without its transit system, the New York region would emit 17.4 million more metric tons of greenhouse gases each year, the MTA announced yesterday. By taking cars off the road, decreasing congestion so the remaining cars emit less, and promoting dense land use patterns, the MTA is making a major dent in the region's carbon footprint. As a result, the authority is making the case that transit agencies should receive revenue generated by potential federal climate legislation. 

Even when there's no breaking news at the RPA's regional assembly, the annual get-together at the Waldorf Astoria is a good time to gauge the collective mood of the people who run the region's transportation systems and think about planning for New York City's future. How often do you get the heads of the MTA, NYCDOT, and the Port Authority all in the same room?

Two months after the MTA and NYCDOT first presented East Side Select Bus Service to Manhattan Community Board 6, officials were back with a modified plan last night, hoping to get a vote from the transportation committee. After a combative couple of hours, they didn't get one. The committee chose to put off a vote until its next meeting rather than come to a decision. The big news to emerge was the announcement of a specific launch date for the first phase of Select Bus Service on the corridor.

A burgeoning congressional push to let urban transit agencies tap federal funds for operating their systems is not sitting well with the transit industry's largest D.C. lobbying group, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

No, it's not April First.