Tag Archives: mass transit

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas lawmakers could imperil the future of public transportation in two of the state’s largest urban areas, transit officials and advocates warn. Republican legislators are entertaining proposals to sap hundreds of millions of dollars from Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the state’s largest public transit system, and thwart the voter-approved expansion of public transportation in Austin known …

Gothamist reports: Commuters will notice something a little different the next time they’re at the 191st Street subway station in Manhattan. The Washington Heights stop now has platform barriers. It’s the first of four to get the new technology as part of a platform safety pilot program that could spread to the rest of the city. “It’s still in an …

Gothamist reports: Using data from Jan. 1, 2023 through the end of November, the MTA announced some of its most popular stops and stations of the year. The MTA said the station with the most MetroCard swipes was Flushing-Main Street, which clocked 6.3 million people using the traditional payment system. Meanwhile, the Grand Central Terminal subway station had a record …

Gothamist reports: The MTA will begin constructing protective doors at three subway station platforms “in the coming months,” agency spokesperson Aaron Donovan told Gothamist on Sunday. The protective barriers are part of a pilot program meant to stop riders from falling — or being pushed — onto the train tracks. The program, which was announced last year, comes in response …

Gothamist reports: New York City’s subway has 472 stations laid out across 665 miles of track. For decades, transit enthusiasts have jockeyed to set the record for the fastest time to travel through the whole system. Last month, Kate Jones, a New Yorker now living in Switzerland, set a new standard. She completed the journey in 22 hours, 14 minutes …

Gothamist reports: The MTA is planning the first major redesign of subway turnstiles in modern history, a change officials said is key to cracking down on fare evasion on the city’s mass transit system. Prototypes of the new fare gate designs were on display at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday. The equipment isn’t actually a turnstile that rotates as a …

Gothamist reports: More than 2,000 station agents will be stepping out of their subway booths starting Thursday, ending a decadeslong feature of the city’s transit system that has become obsolete. The metal and glass enclosures will not be removed but workers can return there during breaks or whenever they see fit. Commuters will find free-roaming service agents outside their kiosks …

New York City’s ABC affiliate reports: The wait is over for many commuters, as the LIRR finally begins service at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday. The station itself is called Grand Central Madison and it is built 17 stories below street level. That means it takes a few minutes to get there. From the street, most riders will travel down …

The Hill reports: This week, New York subway officials grabbed a woman passing the turnstiles at the 161st St.-Yankee Stadium station and announced she had won a prize for being their billionth passenger of 2022. That sounds like a lot of passengers, until you consider that the New York City Subway carried 1.7 billion riders in pre-pandemic 2019. The nation’s second- …

New York City’s NBC affiliate reports: The MTA is sniffing around on testing pee-detection technology that alerts staff to clean wet and smelly messes in subway elevators. Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit, said Monday at a City Council transportation committee hearing that the agency is exploring urine sensors in station elevators that sometimes double as de facto …

Gothamist reports: Subway station agents will leave booths to patrol platforms under a new policy announced by the MTA. The change goes into effect next year — and officials said the agents will be equipped with cell phones to notify MTA managers or the NYPD if they find problems in their stations. It’s a historic shift for the station workers, …

The New York Post reports: The MTA wants to redesign subway turnstiles and emergency exit gates — the “superhighway” for deadbeats — to crack down on fare evasion, CEO Janno Lieber said Monday. “The exit gate — which is nominally supposed to be for fire, exiting purposes, to comply with the fire code — has become the superhighway for fare …

Reuters reports: President Joe Biden’s administration will extend requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through mid-March to address ongoing COVID-19 risks, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. A formal announcement extending the requirements through March 18 is expected on Thursday, the sources said. The White House and Transportation …

Gothamist reports: The MTA has unveiled the first of the brand new subway cars that will begin replacing some of the system’s creakiest trains at the end of next year. At a rail yard in Sunset Park on Thursday, transit officials pulled back the curtain on a handful of long-awaited R211 cars. The new model — part of a $1.4 …

Gothamist reports: Major construction on East Side Access located under Grand Central Terminal is complete. The 15-year long, $11 billion terminal and concourse is seven stories underground, and will allow Long Island Rail Road trains to pull into Grand Central Terminal, reducing the burden on Penn Station—and ultimately shave up to 40 minutes off commutes into Manhattan. About half the …

The New York Daily News reports: A 40% cut in weekday subway service and layoffs of more than 9,000 transit workers are on the table as MTA honchos battle a COVID-19 financial catastrophe, the Daily News has learned. “This would absolutely be an end to the New York way of life,” said Andrew Albert, the non-voting rider advocate on the …

Gothamist reports: The MTA called an emergency board meeting on Wednesday to outline the most draconian cuts it would make if the federal government doesn’t deliver on its request for $12 billion before the end of the year. The agency says it needs the funds to balance the budget and get through 2021. In November, they will present next year’s …

The Washington Post reports: Amtrak is ending daily service to hundreds of stations outside the Northeast, and you can blame the coronavirus pandemic, the railroad said this week. Starting Oct. 1, most Amtrak long-distance trains will operate three times a week instead of daily, the company said in a memo to employees. The carrier is also planning to enter fiscal …

The New York Daily News reports: “Your subway pole reservation awaits.” That could be the new reality for straphangers as life in New York inches back to some kind of normal during the coronavirus pandemic. Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman Pat Foye said Thursday the agency is considering a form of “Ticketmaster technology” that would require riders to book a slot …

The New York Post reports: The transit system that never sleeps is taking a snooze. New York’s 24/7 subway system will shutter nightly from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. to facilitate coronavirus cleaning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday in a historic move. “You never had a challenge of disinfecting every train every 24 hours,” said Cuomo in an Albany press …