Photograph of the crowd waiting for a 1, 2 or 3 train at Times Square by ianqui on Flickr New data supports what everyone's been thinking: Ridership for the subway--and almost every other mass transit option--is up versus last year. So far, subway ridership is up almost 5% for the first three months of 2008 versus same period last year, and bus ridership is up 1.1%. Metro-North and LIRR both have seen ridership increases......

This morning, New York Water Taxi introduced their new commuter ferry route for residents of the Rockaways in Queens. While it's not a straight shot--it stops once at the Brooklyn Army Terminal--it will move up to 400 commuters from Riis Landing to Wall St.'s Pier 11. The ferry service can almost guarantee a commute time of 60 minutes--there's not a lot of traffic on the water that can't be avoided. The return trips depart Manhattan......

Photograph by Sacha Lecca, which Gothamist published in 2006. Today it’s on the cover of amNY. Flooding. Crowding. Filth. These are just a few of the “ten plagues” being visited daily upon New York commuters, according to transit activists at the Straphangers Campaign. Unlike the ten plagues that cursed the commute of ancient Egyptians, New Yorkers have – so far – been spared swarms of locusts on the L; though bed bugs have been......

Photograph of subway bench by Triborough on Flickr; additional bedbug plushes added (plushes by Giant Microbes) Warning: You may feel itchy after reading this. A city bedbug expert has seen bedbugs on the subway benches at the Union Square subway station and the Fordham Road station, according to the NY Post. The Post also adds that Edward Brownbear also saw a bedbug, "in one case, catching a ride on an unsuspecting straphanger's caboose at......

The long-neglected F train station at 4th Avenue and 9th Street in Brooklyn will be refurbished starting in the fall, according to amNY. Built in 1933, the Art Deco station is on the National Register of Historic places, and the north end of the platform offers an impressive view of the Statue of Liberty. But the station has been falling further into disrepair for years; plywood hides the most neglected attribute, an arched bank of......

The presence of oil in parts of Greenpoint is well documented, but it looks like someone wants the oil to be cleaned up. This morning there was artwork in the Queens-bound Nassau Avenue G stop asking for a stop to the oil spills. The artwork shows drops of oil on the walls of the station, pools of oil collected on the floors, and paper towels for straphangers to clean up the spill. Reader Shannan tells......

First NBC announces it's starting a 24-hour local NYC news channel yesterday--a possible competitor to NY1-- and now Matt Lauer is invading the turf of NYC TV's Kelly Choi by heading to the "secret subway station" under the Waldorf-Astoria! In the Today's show "Access Granted"series, the Today show personalities are getting behind-the-scenes looks at private places (Meredith Vieira visited the Vice-President's mansion yesterday and Al Roker visited the Malstrom Air Force base on Tuesday).......

At least one subway car on the N line derailed near 57th Street and 7th Avenue around 5 p.m. this afternoon. WABC 7 is reporting the incident involved one car while WCBS 2 says two cars derailed and WNBC 4 notes at least three cars were affected. The train was traveling southbound and no passengers seemed injured--just a little shaken up. The hundreds of passengers were evacuated by a rescue train which took them......

The MTA's Poetry in Motion program, which features bits of poetry on the "Subtalk" posters in subway cars, has expanded its offerings to include quotes from history, philosophy, literature, and science. The Train of Thought first selections are quotes from Galileo, explaining the role of math in science and E.B. White, from his wonderful book Here is New York. Columbia University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is in charge of choosing the extracts,......

Today, more than 50 musicians and musical acts gathered on the northeast balcony of Grand Central Terminal to audition for spots in NYC Transit's Music Under New York program. MUNY grants buskers spots in subway stations to entertain commuters and make a little cash in the process. There were about 25 judges--almost as many members of the media on hand to capture the event--who will select 20 performers to be a part of Music Under......

One positive addition to Coney Island recently took place, as Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr. dedicated the corner of Stillwell and Mermaid Avenues to Granville T. Woods Way. Woods not only invented some of the technology that keeps the subways running, but he also helped bring us the roller coaster -- an invention he debuted at Coney Island in the summer of 1909. A little bit more about the man:In 1887, he patented the Synchronous......

Design geeks and subway enthusiasts, time to swoon: Massimo Vignelli, whose beloved and controversial 1972 subway map is in Museum of Modern Art, has updated his map for 2008 for Men's Vogue. Men's Vogue revisited the 1972 map's path:The plan was as visually utopian as it was elegant — paths running on 45- and 90-degree angles, an understated gray square marking Central Park, and type set in clear Helvetica. It was hailed as an......

Starting today, teams of six NYPD officers will be patrolling the subway system in 12 hour shifts to thwart would-be terrorists. You’ll be able to easily identify the squads – called “Torch Teams” – by their rifles, MP5 submachine guns, handguns, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs. The program is being paid for with $151 million from taxpayers nationwide, allocated through D.C. The Torch Teams will function like the similarly equipped NYPD “Hercules Teams” (pictured) above......

Last month came the video of an inflatable polar bear set over subway grates would rise and fall as trains passed underneath. The shopping bag art came from Joshua Allen Harris, and he's at it again with a subway monster that you won't need a Subivor kit to survive. Looks like Nessie has found herself a new 'nabe right here in New York; this one was up at 21st between 6th and 7th Avenues.......

Scaremongering just hit a whole new level underground, with Subivor -- the subway survival kit. The website (after a short video montage of all the ways the subway will ultimately become your tomb) warns straphangers:Dear Subway Commuters, Did you know that there are hundreds of subway related fires that occur each year? Did you know that there are 27,817 structural fires that occur each year, that's an average of 2,318 per month?And there's always......

Subway ads are always undergoing transformation, but And I Am Not Lying recently spotted a more advanced form of subway ad art. He reports:Those great big billboard ads you see on the subway are nothing but giant peel-and-stick Coloforms, really. I love the accidental collages you see when people randomly pick and peel those thing like they’re great big scabs, and I just knew it was a matter of time before someone started making art......

Usually blog Guest of a Guest entertains us with a look at night life and social news. But today, there's an account of how crappy it is to be a subway rider. And how crappy it is to be the subway rider who sees someone pee on the platform and poop on the train. The West 4th Street station was where an old man was seen peeing into a cup (he later "flung the contents......

The MTA will observe Earth Day (April 22nd) by stocking MetroCard vending machines with five million limited-edition green MetroCards. The cards aren’t “green” in the eco-friendly sense – they’re still not made from recycled material – they’re just, you know, green colored. So they’ve got that going for them. Oh, and some environmental factoids will be printed on the back. Governor David Paterson joined MTA officials at Grand Central Terminal yesterday morning for a......

How does a guy who molests women on the subway get started? The Daily News found the disturbing answer to that and other questions with a jailhouse interview with serial subway pervert Freddie Johnson. Johnson was arrested for the 53rd time--and the 29th time for a sexual offense--last week when undercover police saw him rubbing up against a Hunter College freshman. His life of crime origin story: Seeing a man rub against a woman on......

The serial sexual predator, who had been arrested 52 times (29 were for sexual offenses) and was arrested for a 53rd time on Wednesday after sexually assaulting a woman on the 6 train, was eligible to be legally institutionalized. However, a State Supreme Court Judge decided to parole him. The state's attorney general argued for institutionalization under a new law to keep uncontrollable sex offenders off the streets. But Judge William Wetzel compromised by setting......

A man who repeated assaulted women on subway trains was arrested yesterday. The Daily News reports that while Freddie Johnson has a 57-page rap sheet and was only out of jail for 15 days (for prior sexual offenses--he was even wearing his electronic monitoring anklet!), he still decided to molest a Hunter College freshman on the 6 train. Johnson, per the Post, rubbed "his genitals against a horrified woman" during yesterday's morning rush hour. Undercover......

Photographs by Alex Nathanson on Indymedia Over the weekend, on a select group of subway lines, a group of subway stewardesses tried to introduce straphangers a more civilized commute. Four performers from Boring Inc. became "MTA Service Specialists" wheeled trolleys of snacks, tissues and more into stations and onto trains. According to their website, the MTA Service Specialists believe "If you need something, you say something." And Kae Burke, who organized the project, told......

Art by John Blackford and James Fisher, photo courtesy John Barnes. The decision to create artificial reefs off Delaware's coast using discarded “Redbird” subway cars from New York City has proven so successful that marine officials are struggling to cope with overcrowding. Since the state first began dropping the cars to the ocean floor, the formerly barren area has become an underwater metropolis for countless tuna, mackerel, flounder and bass. And with that comes......

Photograph of subway service changes by jschumacher on Flickr Perhaps because the MTA signs trying explain weekend subway service diversions are confusing--like this weekend F service sign--the MTA has put up some maps to try to explain changes, too. For instance, here's a map explaining service updates for the 2 and 5 lines. While the 2 usually goes up the West Side and the 5 the East Side, the uptown 5 is running on......

If you were planning on taking the F train anywhere this weekend, better put on your reading glasses -- Gowanus Lounge spotted commuters stalled in front of the following sign. The 9-year-old should attempt this for his next subway challenge: Transfers and shuttles and buses, oh my. Read the MTA advisory here, or just slide on those walking shoes and stay above ground.......

One New York mother decided to let her 9-year-old son fend for himself in the city, and that mom would be NY Sun columnist Lenore Skenazy. In today's Sun, she gives the the play-by-play. Apparently the little guy had been craving some independence, so Seknazy left him at Bloomingdale's one afternoon with nothing but a map, a MetroCard and $20 -- including some quarters if he needed to call ("No, I did not give him......

Re-enactment of pole-hogging behavior During the lively debate spurred by our man-sitting post yesterday, quite a few readers complained about pole hoggers/ pole leaners. So, we bring you another logo, designed by Catherine Weaver. Sometimes pole obstructing straphangers get into fights, sometimes subway poles are used for dancing. Here's one approach to turning pole huggers into holders.......

Photograph from the a Close Your Damn Legs on the Subway So I Can Sit Down Already!!! Facebook Group; logo, below, by Catherine Weaver The NYC Transit's Rules of Subway/Bus Conduct note that it is a violation to:Place one's foot on the seat of a subway, bus, or platform bench; occupy more than one seat or place bags on an empty seat when doing so would interfere with transit operations or the comfort of......

The Wooster Collective recently featured video of a piece of street scultpure by Joshua Allen Harris. It could be describe as kinetic pneumatic art, and features an inanimate pile of material attached to a subway grate. When a train passes in the tunnel beneath the grate, the upward flow of displaced air fills the material and produces a medium-sized bear. The continued flow of air makes it appear as if the bear is actually......

Coming up on April 29th is the latest Grand Theft Auto extravaganza. The game wreaks havoc on Liberty City, which is essentially a not-quite-gentrified New York City (though it takes place in the current year). The latest leak from the anticipated game is a city map (we spy Roosevelt Island) and a map of the subway system, which has everyone opining. How does the Rockstar Games version of our 722-mile, 468-station subway system with 22......