Graphic explaining trend of train delays from the MTA's capital plan presentation The MTA unveiled its 2008-2013 Capital Plan, which explained almost $30 billion will be needed to improve mass transit and complete projects like the Second Avenue Subway, the East Side Access plan and more by 2030 (many of those projects will also be delayed). Though the current MTA capital plan doesn't expire until next year, the MTA presented this plan because the......

Hoboken PATH, 1998, by Triborough at flickr One hundred years ago today, the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad opened for business with one mission – to get the passengers to and from the various railroad terminals on the Hudson County New Jersey side of the river to or from Manhattan who would otherwise have to take ferries. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the PATH, the Port Authority is giving free PATH rides today between 6AM......

Last week, the Senate passed the Transportation Appropriations Bill that includes some big bucks for NYC mass transit projects. There's $125 million for the Second Avenue Subway, plus another $200 million for the East Side Access Project (LIRR connection to Grand Central). Senator Chuck Schumer said, "The Second Ave. subway line will provide desperately needed relief to the severely stressed Lexington line," while Senator Hillary Clinton said, "Now that the ground has been broken......

It was originally named the 8th Avenue Subway, but the 'A' train turns 75 today, having opened September 10th, 1932. Officials are holding a ceremony at the line's northernmost station––Inwood/207th St.––and will be running six antique railcars from the 1930s during the day to commemorate the event. This is more than the Eighth Ave. Subway garnered on its opening day: Back in 1932, just before midnight, transit workers simply dropped chains blocking access to......

The MTA has actually done something to make the community along the in-progress Second Avenue Subway happy. They have decided not to acquire two Food Emporiums for space and will instead design around them. The NY Sun reported after community opposition, a station entrance at 86th Street will be redesigned while a ventilation system at 63rd Street and Third will be repositioned. Not only that, the MTA says it will save money from not procuring......

Work on the 2nd Avenue Subway line has barely started and costs are already getting out of control. The much publicized groundbreaking, which was at least the 4th one for the perpetually-delayed line, cost the MTA $89,000. While an $89,000 groundbreaking may not make the most fiscal sense, wait until you hear what the agency actually spent the money on. $61,000 - hiring a contractor to clean, renovate and build a stage $16,000 -......

Now that MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow has announced his resignation, the newspapers are assessing his tenure. And the verdict is that Kalikow did usher the MTA into an era of high ridership and capital improvement and help ed set up many big projects (Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access). But he also oversaw the agency during the transit strike. The Straphangers Campaign's Gene Russianoff tells the NY Times, "He ended up with probably what was......

MTA Chairman Peter S. Kalikow announced that he is stepping down from his position as chairman of the MTA. Kalikow, who was appointed by then Governor George Pataki back in 2001, was reappointed to a 6-year term last summer, which suggested there might be battles ahead between him and new governor Eliot Spitzer. But at the end of 2006, Kalikow said he would step down during the second quarter of this year, after finishing up......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

Yesterday's Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking was notable for a few things: First of all, as we all know by now, it's was the fourth groundbreaking - three occurred in the 1970s, so yesterday's event was an introduction to the pomp and pageantry of subway groundbreakings for many of us. Second, it was pouring. When it rains at weddings, some people say that's lucky (though we suspect it's just to make the couple feel better).......

Mayor Bloomberg missed the Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking yesterday morning because he was in Cincinnati to unveil the latest part of his campaign fight illegal guns. And, yes, Ohio is a swing state. The Mayors Against Illegal Guns group that the Mayor founded last year will be rolling out TV and Internet ads to, as the NY Times reports, "pressure Congress into rescinding the so-called Tiahrt amendment, a measure attached to spending bills each year......

It's been 33 years since the last Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking, so it's high time for new generations of straphangers to revel in the hope of a new subway line. We also expect the public -- especially the Upper East Side-residing public -- to become jaded with construction delays, traffic issues, and noise. Here's the press release from the MTA:Tomorrow morning's historic groundbreaking ceremony for the Second Avenue Subway can be seen by all......

As we mentioned yesterday, it's wet today. However, there's an URBAN FLOOD ADVISORY issued by the National Weather Service for all of NYC through 11:15AM. "Moderate to heavy rain falling across the area, causing street, highway, and poor drainage flooding." This can only mean annoying things for subway service -- let us know if there are any issues. And we hope the Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking isn't too soggy. Cool photograph of a flash flood......

When the chief suits and ties take a few symbolic jackhammer swipes on Thursday to relaunch construction on the Second Avenue Subway, they won't exactly be breaking new ground. A 3-minute video from NY Times shows the history of three previous groundbreaking ceremonies held in the 1970s. "Groundbreakings are meant to symbolize progress and things actually getting done," narrates William Neuman. "In the case of the Second Avenue Subway, that has not always been......

Since the MTA is close to signing a contract for the first phase of work for the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway (the T line), we were perusing MTA's presentation to Community Board 8 about the "Constructability Approach." The presentation was given last June, with hopes a slurry wall and a 96th Street "Launch Box" could be built by the end of 2006; since that never happened, the timelines are negligible. But what was interesting......

amNew York reveals that the MTA will sign a construction contract for the Second Avenue Subway on March 29. We can't believe that the MTA is actually signing a contract - it's only been about four years since the first of the recent-Second-Avenue Subway public hearings! Heck, the Second Avenue Subway was a cover story for New York in 2004. The MTA hopes to have a groundbreaking ceremony in late April or early May......

Ah, the first rumble between MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander and the city! Sander has threatened to stop the 7 line extension if the city won't pay for cost overruns. Because Assemblyman Richard Brodsky asked about the project's budget, Sander wrote a letter to him (which he made public), stating, "It is M.T.A.’s position that we are under no legal obligation to absorb any additional costs or overruns." Ha! As we all know, MTA projects......

Telling us what most any subway rider suspected, City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. issued a review of the MTA's "State of Good Repair" capital expenditures and found that the MTA isn't very committed to making sure subway and bus service is in a "State of Good Repair." For instance, the MTA is 10-15 years behind making NYC Transit assets reach a State of Good Repair: 40% of lettered lines have 70 year old......

We all know the Second Avenue Subway project will be very costly. But we didn't know that the MTA was thinking about leaving the 300-foot tunnel boring machines underground when the project is done. The NY Sun reports that abandoning the $15-20 million machines may be "more efficient and cost-effective" rather than hauling them out. Apparently there's a precedent for this: The TBMs used for the Chunnel excavation were left there (however, other U.S.......

Op-ed pieces are always very hopeful, but we will remain optimistic that Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer will be able to take the one written by lawyer Gene Russianoff of Straphangers' Campaign seriously. Russianoff offers a roadmap to help navigate the MTA, given the huge deficits ahead and the reliance on mass transit that many New Yorkers enjoy. You should read the essay yourself, but here are the points: 1. Appoint transportation professionals - "not political......

In November, it was reported that, in spite of a lack of news, cell phone bids to wiring subway stations were still alive. But the Sun reports that they may actually be "dead in the tracks", as MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow isn't sure if the agency will pick a vendor:The service providers want riders to make calls while in the tunnels. The MTA has remained adamantly opposed to chatting in transit. "The position is customer......

Whoa, is this an early holiday present to Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer? Or is this a fake-out to appease him for now? MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow told a state Assembly oversight hearing that he'll leave office "sometime in the second quarter": "There are things that I want to get finished. When they are finished I would like to resign." Those things being getting funding for the Second Avenue Subway and other capital projects secured. Kalikow was......

Newsday has a good article looking at the transportation issues the next governor will deal with - the biggest being the MTA. The MTA, which already announced fare hikes for next year, faces insane budget deficits in the coming years: $905 million in 2008, $1.13 billion in 2009, $1.48 billion in 2010. The Straphangers' Campaign's Gene Russianoff says of the MTA, "They borrowed a ton of money to fix a system, and now the bill......

The year 2030 is in the MTA's sights, as it starts to work on solutions as the city will grow and change. AMNY was at the briefing panel, where director of planning William Wheeler said, "I've never seen a more exciting time in terms of growth in the region." Exciting, yes, but it's also scary when we think about what the MTA will need to do to accomodate for the expected 1.5 million increase......

Sweet fancy Moses, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow might leave the MTA to take a job as the head of the Real Estate Board of New York, the big real estate lobbying group! Sources tell the Daily News that Kalikow, a real estate developer in his own right (his MTA salary si $1), would only leave after securing Second Avenue Subway funding. Someone in the federal government - fund that project! Likely future governor, Attorney General......

For those who plan on commuting to or from the Upper East Side many years from now, you have something to look forward to - oh, and those of you living along Second Avenue, you might be annoyed - the MTA is getting ready to award a tunneling contract for the Second Avenue Subway's first phase this year, with digging actually starting in 2008, which means there's still time to relocate! Phase 1 of the......

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan is probably turning in his grave right now. Plans for the Moynihan Station have been "derailed" as plans to discuss it have been postponed. Officials had been hoping that the Public Authorities Control Board would approve the project this year, so it would happen under Governor Pataki's term. But with opposition to and many questions surrounding the project, the NY Times reports "the Pataki administration took the proposal off the table......

Hello and welcome to New York City. Today I'd like to introduce you to one of our city's crown jewels: the subway. A glorious municipal means of transport the subway and its siblings the bus and the ferry, can take you almost everywhere in Gotham. Literally from the canyons of Wall Street to the beaches of Rockaway all for the low, low price of $2.00 - even lower if you ride enough and purchase......

Attorney General - and frontrunner in the NY State gubernatorial race - Eliot Spitzer laid out his transportation priorities to the Regional Plan Association yesterday, and on the list: the Second Avenue Subway, the LIRR link to Grand Central, and replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge. But he's less enthusiastic about the JFK rail link from downtown Manhattan. Pataki's been hot on the idea of a rail link since 2004. Could it be because the federal......

The Federal Transit Administration has approved the first part of the Second Avenue subway, and the Post reports that it means the MTA can start using $1.3 billion (of the $5 billion it'll take to create the 63rd to 96th Streets part; $13 billion for an entire East Harlem to downtown Manhattan) for design and engineering. The quote the Post has from Representative Carolyn Maloney is "The wheels are turning on the Second Avenue subway......