Transit

Brooklyn commuters -- already some of the biggest transit riders in the country -- are opting for transit at ever higher rates. New numbers from the Center for the Study of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College, first highlighted by City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau, crunch Census data to reveal the evolving commuting patterns in the borough's 18 community board districts. (To see the citywide breakdown of these numbers by state legislative district, check out Streetsblog's prior coverage.)

Governor Cuomo, your neighbors have something to tell you.

The MTA needs new revenues, announced chairman Joe Lhota during a broad-ranging panel discussion at Fordham University this morning. "There's going to be the need for broad-based tax revenue somewhere within the system over the next couple of years," Lhota said, noting that he's generally the kind of conservative person loath to call for tax increases.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2012 budget, released this afternoon, offers what now passes for good news for transit: maintenance of the status quo.

This piece of City Council scheduling hit the Streetsblog inbox on Friday and was too groan-inducing not to share:

New York's infrastructure is dangerously underfunded and threatening to cripple the region's economy, warned former lieutenant governor and MTA chairman Richard Ravitch in a speech on Thursday.

Real-time bus information, previously only available on two routes, is now live for every bus in the borough of Staten Island. On an average weekday, that means 127,000 local and express bus riders will be able to find out exactly how far away their bus is.

Between continued raids on dedicated transit funds, a cut to the MTA payroll tax, and the state's decision to pay for the last three years of the MTA capital plan with debt, 2011 wasn't a good year for the MTA's finances. The New York League of Conservation Voters is hoping that 2012 turns out to be kinder to transit riders.

Out of 11 transportation-related measures that were voted on Tuesday, seven represented a victory for transit, two were losses to learn from, and two more aren't really a win one way or another but are worth noting. According to the Center for Transportation Excellence, these numbers bring the year’s total to an impressive 79 percent win rate for transit. Especially impressive is the fact that most of these measures involved a tax of some sort, and people were willing to pay it if it meant better transit service – even in tough economic times.