Tag Archives: mass transit

Gothamist reports: Governor Cuomo announced on Wednesday that he is spearheading a comprehensive overhaul of Penn Station. In conjunction with Amtrak and the MTA, the renovation will seek a private developer to convert the Farley post office building on Eighth Avenue into a grand, sun-soaked waiting area. Maybe this time the stories will be true? The project—dubbed the Empire Station …

Midtown Manhattan’s infamously seedy Port Authority Bus Terminal, the busiest such station in the world, will be demolished for a replacement that may cost up to $10B. Via the New York Post: Thursday’s vote authorized the Port Authority to hold an international design competition and choose a winner by September 2016. The project is expected to cost from $7 billion …

A few weeks ago I posted a tentative look at Philadelphia’s “vehicle exclusion zone” for the visit of Pope Francis. Above is the final map. The rules: Drive your car outside the green box above after Thursday, Sept. 24, and you can’t drive it back in until sometime Monday, Sept. 28. If your car is parked either within the area …

Two years behind schedule and $400M over its $2B budget, the 1.5 mile extension of the 7 line to Hudson Yards finally opened yesterday. The New York Times reports: In a West Side neighborhood long isolated from the rest of Manhattan, crowds gathered on Sunday for a truly rare sight in New York City: the opening of a new subway …

Back in December 2013 then-NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg rode the 1.5-mile extension of the 7 line from Times Square to Hudson Yards and held an “opening ceremony” in the new station. More than 18 months later after numerous issues and a $400M overrun on the $2B budget, the station will finally open this Sunday.  Allegedly. Crain’s Business reports: The subway …

“Evangelist Tamesha Morgan preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the NYC Transit. A Must See! Thank you Yeshua.” Including speaking in tongues. (Tipped by JMG reader Kent)

Via the right wing Daily Caller: Activist and blogger Pamela Geller is suing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority after the agency refused to run her ads with a drawing of the prophet Muhammad on public transportation in the District of Columbia. On May 20, Geller submitted her ad to WMATA to be placed on buses and in train stations …

Pink News reports: London’s transport authority has introduced a number of high-profile rainbow stunts – last year rolling out a rainbow crossing for Pride in London. TfL later expanded its efforts, showing its pride earlier this year by making over a London bus and a traditional black taxi. Ahead of this week’s Pride parade, it has gone even further – …

Fox News’ right-hand-homocon is ever so pissed that Pam Geller won’t be able to incite bombings on DC public transit. From the Hot Air piece he links to: She’s forcing the state to admit that the threat of violence is so great that, as a matter of pure public safety, they’d rather give up easy revenue than take the chance …

“Because the media and the cultural and political elites continue to self-enforce the Sharia without the consent of the American people by refusing to show any depictions of Muhammad or showing what it was in Texas that had jihadists opening fire, we are running an ad featuring the winning cartoon by former Muslim Bosch Fawstin from our Muhammad Art Exhibit …

A New York City-bound ten-car Amtrak train out of Washington DC derailed tonight in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia. On board was former US Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), who is assisting the injured. No fatalities are being reported at this writing. The top photo above was taken by Murphy, who estimates that the train was “traveling 60-70 mph” at …

The long-delayed PATH train hub at World Trade Center partially opens today. At the center is the Oculus, which from the outside looks like the spine peeled out of a fish. Below, with half of the glass installed, light shines through its ribs, the longest one reaching 202 feet in the sky. “It’s awesome and I mean that in the …

Pam Geller is very unhappy: A century of free speech in New York’s most public square — the streets, the buses, the subways — came to a screeching halt last Wednesday when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) voted to ban all issue and political advertising, solely in order to silence me. Baltimore burning is “free speech.” But our ads get …

Via CBS New York: The nation’s largest mass transit system is preparing to ban all political advertising on its subways and buses after a judge ruled that a pro-Israel group was allowed to display an advertisement containing the phrase “Hamas Killing Jews” on New York City buses. The resolution is expected to pass Wednesday at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board …

Via the New York Times: A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to display an ad from a pro-Israel group on buses after the agency declined to run it last year. The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sued the authority in October, saying it had infringed on the group’s First Amendment rights by rejecting …

The BBC reports: A Japanese magnetic levitation train has broken its own world speed record, hitting 603km/h (374mph) in a test run near Mount Fuji. The train beat the 590km/h speed it had set last week in another test. Mag-lev trains use electrically charged magnets to lift and move carriages above the rail tracks. Central Japan Railway (JR Central), which …

Via the Wall Street Journal: New York City’s subway system carried 1.75 billion customers last year, as ridership grew by the highest annual amount in more than 65 years, according to new figures released Monday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority data show ridership grew 2.6% in 2014—some 5.6 million customers rode the system on an average weekday and six million people …

Crackpot Pam Geller has won yet another court battle, this time against Philadelphia’s public transit system. Last June, SEPTA rejected the ads from New Hampshire-based American Freedom Defense Initiative by pointing to the transportation authority’s “anti-disparagement standard,” rules attempting to limit inflammatory messages. But the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a pro-Israel group headed by conservative blogger Pam Geller, challenged SEPTA’s …

The wind chill this morning was a record-setting -15.

Via Gothamist: The East River ferry, launched by de Blasio’s predecessor, currently shuttles passengers to a limited number of stops in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan along the East River, for $4 a ticket on weekdays and $6 on weekends. The new ferry service will be cheaper—Blasio promised yesterday that “new ferry rides will be priced the same as a MetroCard …