Alex Goldmark

In the city that never sleeps, the subway rolls on through the night, but with enough route changes to befuddle even the most seasoned straphanger. The result is passengers, guided by a daytime map, waiting on empty platforms for the trains that don't run, or equally frustrating, letting a train rumble past that could have worked while trying to sort out if the nighttime route would work, or why the A is on the F line in the first place.  So, for the first time ever, the NYC MTA has released a Late Night Subway Map (full size).

During the overnight hours three subway lines stop running, three become shuttles, six express trains go local and one extra shuttle poofs into nocturnal existence (at the Queens end of the A line). Now there's a map that shows all that. This map is in effect, roughly, from midnight to 6 a.m.

In text form, here's what's different at night, captured on the map:

• There are no B, C, or Z trains on the map, nor the 42nd Street Shuttle.
• Five subway lines offer shorter service than usual:
• The 3 terminates at Times Square.
• The 5 runs as a shuttle in the Bronx between E. 180 St and Dyre Av
• The M runs as a shuttle between Myrtle Av, Brooklyn, and Metropolitan Av, Queens.
• The Q terminates at 57 St/7 Av in Midtown Manhattan.
• The R runs as a shuttle in Brooklyn between 36 St and 95 St.
• Six lines make additional stops they don’t make during the daytime.
• The 2 makes all local stops in Manhattan.
• The 4 makes all local stops in Manhattan and Brooklyn and is extended to New Lots Av, Brooklyn.
• The A makes all local stops in Manhattan and Brooklyn; it runs to Far Rockaway but not Lefferts Blvd or Rockaway Park, which are served by shuttle trains.
• The D runs local via Fourth Av in Brooklyn.
• The E runs local via Queens Blvd.
• The N runs local via the Financial District.
• There is no skip/stop service on the J, which terminates at Chambers St on weekend overnight periods
• Six subway lines (the 1, 6, 7, F, G, and L) and Franklin Avenue Shuttle run their normal routes as local trains. (There is no 6 or 7 express service.)

Map.

(Photo (cc) by Flickr user davereid2)

Miami Beach has claimed the crown of first Florida city to launch a car sharing program. Hertz On Demand will begin operations there on January 24th. Four universities do already have campus-based car share in Florida. But none are city wide, and Florida is a big state. This raises the question, why has no other city in Florida gotten car share? Even Idaho already has several car share programs. So how do ZipCar, Hertz On Demand, Car2Go or any of the other car sharing startups pick between cities when plotting their exponential expansion?

According to the companies, mass transit is a big factor.

Paula Rivera of Hertz On Demand tells TN, "when entering new markets, Hertz on Demand likes to look at urban areas that have a well defined mass transit infrastructure." She also said that a car sharing company could go into any city, but in an ideal world they want to work in conjunction with the local government, and that can mean the difference when choosing one city over another.

For instance Hertz on Demand was keen to set up in Hoboken, New Jersey because of enthusiasm from the local government which made parking spaces available and facilitated increased visibility. But the company also launched across the river in New York City despite heavy competition. Zipcar already had a government partnership in New York, and their largest fleet of cars for a metro area. Add to that other car share companies targeting specific niches like the smaller Mint Cars on Demand, which courts the business community well. But Hertz ventured into NYC anyway because other conditions are ideal for car share: extensive mass transit, large numbers of non-car owners, and a high hassle factor and costs to car ownership.

In Miami Beach, car sharing will " integrate with other alternative modes of transportation such as transit and bicycle-sharing programs facilitating mobility throughout the city," according to the official announcement (PDF). Hertz On Demand won the right to operate out of municipal garages in a competitive bidding contract and will lease parking spaces at above market rates for private monthly users.

The company said they chose Miami Beach to make their first foray in Florida because of the city's enthusiasm for partnership.

Daimler's Car2Go similarly chose Austin because of a municipal plan to encourage government workers to switch from company cars to the shared electric fleet. It has since begun expanding the model elsewhere.

Boston and San Francisco each have several start-up car share companies testing new business models, in particular peer-to-peer options. Both of those cities are tech hubs and the founders of these companies live there.

Zipcar told Transportation Nation: "Zipcar typically targets large, densely populated markets with access to strong public transportation; and areas where it is hard to find parking and has high costs of car ownership." So, basically, where it's a pain to own a car with lots of people who already go without one. Universities are a major target for growth for the industry leader; Zipcar runs more than 250 campus programs, 36 of them added since Fall 2011 including several in Florida. The poetic spokeswoman added, "It’s also important to note that Zipcar pods grow in clusters, and they are spaced out like strings of pearls." There's never one lone Zipcar, they're always at least in pairs, and then grow from that.

A year ago President Obama announced his plans for high speed rail lines and other cutting edge transportation for the nation. But after many defeats in Congress, including the de-funding of high-speed rail, the President’s transportation initiative suddenly seems less futuristic and more focused on rebuilding the old highways of the past. 

KQED in Northern California takes stock of high-speed rail in California. As we reported last week, the California High Speed Rail Authority just lost several key leaders and is coming under increasing criticism, while Governor Jerry Brown is steadfast in his support for the idea of bullet trains from San Francisco to Los Angeles, he's planning an overhaul of the agencies charged with building the project.

The segment was produced by Roger Rudick and Luke Mines for KQED TV, as part of the "Train Wars" project, a forthcoming documentary on the battle over high-speed rail in America.

Top Stories from Transportation Nation:

Our interactive chart tracks Obama's shifting interest in different transportation issues since the last State of the Union. (Link)

Will carmakers and drivers warm up to solar-powered vehicles? (Link)

Pics/videos: A subway snow remover; Montana's version of a cold-weather plug-in vehicle, and a time lapse of a bike being stolen over 365 days.

(Calendar Girl: The Port Authority of NY/NJ released a 2012 calendar of the Bayonne Bridge)

The House will extend FAA authorization through February as they continue to "finalize" a multi-year re-authorization. (The Hill)

Talks have broken down between the NYC MTA and the Transit Workers Union. (NY Times)

GM takes over as world's top selling automaker. (Marketplace)

Solar energy got too popular in Germany and elsewhere fueled by subsidies, now it's a deflating investment. (Marketplace)

GAO study lends some support for policies like HOT lanes and congestion pricing. (GAO, via Politico)

"Biking and walking account for 12 percent of all trips and 14 percent of all fatalities but get only 1.6 percent of federal funding." Data from a new biking and walking study. (Alliance for biking and walking, via Politico)

Four people died in the NYC subway on Saturday in unrelated incidents. (Gothamist)

A new study finds sugar beets are more efficient for ethanol production than corn. (AutoBlogGreen)

DC sees a boom in green buildings. (WAMU)

Infrastructure is sexy. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey released a commemorative 2012 calendar of featuring pictures of the Bayonne Bridge connecting Staten Island, NY and Bayonne, NJ. (SILive.com)

Zen and the art of snow plow maintenance: a narrative gander at how cities deal with snow. (Atlantic Cities)

And if you are in DC, the Transportation Research Board holds its annual meeting with more than 4,000 transportation presentations on schedule. (TRB)

"57 years after radio engineer Lloyd Sigmon invented the SigAlert, the California Highway Patrol still uses that term to alert people to an unplanned lane closure of more than 30 minutes duration." (CBS Los Angeles)

Sure, every website needs a mobile version nowadays. But that's especially true if one of your target audiences is pilots and frequent air travelers.

Mobile traffic to the FAA's website just about tripled over the past two years, to about 4.4 million visitors a year. The new website, www.faa.gov/mobile has quick access to the most popular searches on the FAA website like checking for flight delays at your airport.

The other search features reveal what pilots and aviation buffs really want to search on the go. You can look up or report wildlife strikes--as in planes hitting birds--or check for FAA advisories to make sure you are complying with regulations. These are features pilots need.

You can also look up an aircraft's N-Number, the ID number for each plane that tells you who owns it and where it's from. Obscure minutiae, you say? Well it was N-Number tracking that led to the outing of the CIA in their prisoner "renditions" for torture beyond our borders.

Sleuthing isn't the top use the FAA expects the new website version to be used for of course,  just helping pilots on the go.

Red Peak Branding agency left this friendly but not flashy bike securely locked to a bike rack on New York City's busy SoHo neigborhood ... for a full year. Well, not quite a full year, because, as you can guess, it didn't last. Here's a day by day time lapse of the slow decay of a noble bike.

The project, called "LIFECYCLE: 365 days in the life of a bike in NYC" was conducted for Hudson Urban Bicycles.

President Obama began 2011 arguing in lofty terms for building 21st century infrastructure. He ended it pleading for the maintenance of our 20th century roads and bridges. Transportation Nation analyzed the number of times he mentioned various infrastructure-related words over the course of the year. As the chart shows, he shifted from regularly mentioning ambitious, long term projects like high-speed rail, to calling for repair of our roads and bridges as a means to spur construction jobs.

For a year in review of infrastructure and transportation policy extracted from this data, mouse over the chart month by month. Play with the chart to see how different issues trended over time. Here's the full dataset if you want to make your own charts, just credit us and let us know.

For more news and analysis on the world of transportation and infrastructure follow TransportNation on Twitter, like us on Facebook or subscribe to our RSS feed.

(Photo via Flickr user Amsterdamized -- where many more Dutch bike pics are posted)

The Netherlands are lauded the world over as a biking success story -- but as this documentary shows, it wasn't always that way. In fact, the model cycling culture that exists there today is the product of a protest movement to revive a historical bike legacy that had been lost.

In the early 1900s, bike use was so common that bike infrastructure wasn't needed because there were more bikes than cars.

"After World War II everything changed," the documentary explains. As the country grew in wealth, the Dutch could afford cars in record numbers, clogging old cities not designed for automobiles.  Buildings were torn down to make way, and "city squares were turned into car parks." The daily travel distance went from 2.9 miles in 1957 to 14.2 miles in 1975. The car took over.

A rash of children on bikes being hit by cars led to the protest movement in the early 1970s just as the oil crisis hit. The government began a concerted and creative push to remake city centers for pedestrians and bikes.

Watch the video for the rest of the details, and story of the protests:

An October post by Mark Wagenbuur on bike blog Hembrow has more history as well.

(Via Brainpickings)

The chair of the House Transportation Committee, John Mica (R-Fla.), has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Here's the full statement from his office:
CONGRESSMAN JOHN MICA ANNOUNCES SUPPORT OF MITT ROMNEY

ORLANDO, Fla. – Congressman John Mica announced today his support for Mitt
Romney for President of the United States.

“I am honored to have earned Congressman Mica’s trust and support,” said
Mitt Romney. “Like me, Congressman Mica understands that we need to cut
spending, reduce government regulations and lower taxes to spur economic
growth. With his help, I am confident we can spread this message across
Florida and defeat President Obama in November 2012.”

Announcing his support, Congressman Mica said, “It has not been my
practice to endorse candidates in primary elections, but as I look at the
direction our country has been taken under this President, I worry for our
children and our grandchildren about our future. And, as I look at the
field of candidates in this election, no one matches the outstanding
business and elected executive credentials of Mitt Romney. He has the
skills, experience and vision needed to defeat President Obama and turn
around our economy. As a successful businessman and a fiscally responsible
governor, Mitt knows how to balance budgets and he understands how to
create jobs. He has also laid out bold plans to cut taxes, shrink
government and control our national deficit. I am proud to endorse his
candidacy and I look forward to campaigning with him across the Sunshine
State.”

Background On Congressman Mica:

One of the I-4 corridors most recognized and popular conservative leaders,
John Mica has represented the 7th Congressional District of Florida since
1993.  Acknowledged as a national leader on transportation policy, he was
chosen by his peers to chair the powerful House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee in 2010.

Rep. Mica’s public service experience includes two terms in the Florida
House of Representatives and five years as Chief of Staff to the late U.S.
Senator Paula Hawkins. Mica also established several successful business
ventures including real estate, communications, international trade
consulting and governmental affairs firms. Rep. Mica and his wife, Pat,
were married in 1972 and have resided in Central Florida since they were
married.

East River ferry (photo by synergii1 via Flickr)

The nation's oldest ferry may have closed this year, but more than 40 others opened their doors and docks since 2008, according to a Department of Transportation census released today. Since 2008, there has been a net increase of 60 ferry boats chugging through American waterways.

The DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics biennial study, National Census of Ferry Operators finds the United States has 233 ferry operators reaching 520 terminals in 36 states and two U.S. territories totaling almost 640 active vessels.

Want more ferry facts? Head on over to BTS' Ferry Database or this handy chart comparing ferries and all other types of transit by revenue, passenger miles, and all kinds of other transit-y variables. Geek out and let us know what you find.

This train is not high speed. (Photo by Flickr user Robert Couse-Baker)

It's been a difficult season for California High Speed Rail. A budget revision that put the total price tab ominously close to $100 billion. Two congressional hearings pillorying the project.   Lots of noise by legislators positioning themselves against the project.

Now comes word the man in charge of California's high-speed rail project has resigned, dealing yet another set back to the nation's most ambitious rail project. Roelof van Ark took the CEO position at the California High-Speed Rail Authority in May 2010 after heading up the American division of a French manufacturer of high-speed trains. His resignation takes effect in two months, giving him a total of less than a year in the post. He said he resigned for personal reasons.

Van Ark was in charge of the agency when it revised the business plan, raising the cost estimate to just under $99.5 billion over 20 years, a move that detracted from popular support, though supporters said it gave a much more "realistic" assessment of the projects costs, which they argued was ultimately fairer to the state.

Van Ark wasn't the only leader to step down. Tom Unger will give up his seat as chairman of the Authority's board, though he will continue to serve on it. Last week the press spokesperson for the Authority quit as well.

The resignations follow what the Los Angeles Times called "a serious blow" earlier in the month when funding of the plan was put in jeopardy. A government-created review board voted to recommend the legislature not issue $2.7 billion in bonds to pay for early work on the rail plan. A study commissioned by the Authority found that ridership projections were inaccurate and overly optimistic.

Governor Jerry Brown remains supportive of the plan and said he will seek legislative approval for new state funding anyway. In fact, in some ways, he's doubling down, according to the AP. One of his two hand picked advisers on the Rail Authority board, Dan Richards, will replace Mr. Unger as chairman. Brown has a plan to shift high-speed rail planning and management to a new agency that includes CalTrans, the state department of transportation.

Calif. Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani issued a statement saying, “Today represents a turning point for the Governor to put his stamp on the project."

Standing in the way of that is finding a new bullet train boss. As the Sacramento Bee predicts, the turmoil around the plan, its string of setbacks, and declining public support will make it harder for the new agency to find a leader with credentials to match van Arks.

Voters authorized the plan, and backed it with the go ahead to issue $9 billion in bonds to get the project started. That was back in 2008 before high-speed rail became politically controversial and fears of cost overruns led two Republican govenors to cancel plans in their states.

Governor Brown's budget proposes $16 billion next year for the Rail Authority, as Bloomberg Businessweek reports in a detailed rundown of the shifting costs and budget projections for the California plan.

California's high-speed rail plan would connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a spur into the Central Valley, totaling 800 miles of track. Construction has already started on a 130-mile stretch in the San Joaquin Valley.

When New York wanted to spur developers to create transit apps, it offered up $15,000 in prizes. Boston is dangling free lunch ... and a lot of data.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and MassDOT launched a contest today looking for software applications and data visualizations that "show the power of Boston's transportation options." What that means is: apps that help riders merge their non-car transport, specifically connecting Boston's New Balance Hubway Bike Sharing program with MBTA's existing buses and trains.

The winner gets a free pass on CharlieCard LinkPass, a bike share membership and free admission to area food truck festivals. Before you turn your nose up at lunch truck tacos, consider that Boston's MBTA and MassDOT has already held two developers challenges yielding about 50 apps. Boston's transit system shares real time data on bus and train locations so there's a lot to work with. The New Balance Hubway Bike Share also offers real time data on which bike docks are full and which aren't, so it will be interesting to see what that bevy of multi-modal real time location information can facilitate. Assuming, developers are lured in by the yummy prizes.

Festively decorated vans and buses called tap taps comprise Haiti's most common public transportation and brighten the drab and damaged streets of Port-au-Prince. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Today is the second anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 200,000 people, left 1.5 million homeless and destroyed much of the poor nation's existing infrastructure. I visited Haiti last week to report on the recovery. Listen to that coverage at TN partner programs Marketplace and The Takeaway. Here is a visual tour of Port-au-Prince's transportation as I saw it.

A ride through Haiti's capital today is smoother than  in recent months. Rubble piles are mostly removed from roadways easing the chaotic flow of cars, trucks and bikes, though unpredictably vicious traffic jams remains the bane of any punctual visitor—a 20 minute ride can take two hours for no discernible reason. The photos and notes collected below of Port-au-Prince's vehicles and public spaces, are, for the most part, typical of what you'd see on a ride through town. The most vibrant vehicles in Haiti are by far the the tap taps--privately owned buses festooned with flags and coated from bumper to bumper with vivid designs, murals and bold slogans.

The roads are bumpy and inconsistent but repair work is happening in many parts of the city. And public space is coming back too. Almost every inch of plaza and parkland in Port-au-Prince was co-opted by displaced families in hundreds of makeshift tent cities. For almost two years, residents have lived without open gathering places. Some of those are just now starting to come back to life as most tent camp residents have found semi-permanent housing. See a sampling of public space, festive tap taps, chaotic traffic, and at the very bottom, my attempt to videotape a mototaxi ride through a dense traffic jam.

The Toussaint Louverture International Airport is rebuilt with a shiny new multi-level departures terminal with several food kiosks and shops. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Arrivals and baggage claim at the Port-au-Prince airport are still rudimentary.  (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

A common view from the back seat of a car in Port-au-Prince. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Some tap taps promote movie stars, or fictional characters, but religious imagery is most common. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

An influx of cheap Chinese motorcycles has allowed the moto-taxi business to boom. It is the fastest, though by no means the safest, way to navigate the capital's capricious traffic. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Port-au-Prince has been essentially without public space for two years as displaced families moved into more than 1,000 informal tent camps wherever they could fit. With two-thirds of them now in more permanent housing, some of the larger plazas are returning to normal, complete with tropical Christmas decorations. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

No square inch should be left unused on the brightly colored tap taps, Haiti's public transportation for both people and goods. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

An ambulance makes a noble effort to beat a traffic jam by driving on the wrong side of the crowded road. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Occasionally the religious slogans on bus marquees are in English even though few Haitians speak the language. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Though walking is common for residents of Port-au-Prince, sidewalks aren't always clear. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

With a continued heavy U.N. peace keeping presence, some buses need to remind passengers to leave their rifles behind. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Because many people choose to fill up their tanks a few cents at a time, entrepreneurs earn a living with makeshift gas stations. Those plastic containers on the homemade table are filled with gasoline, ready to be served to passing motorists for a slight markup over the official gas stations. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake. The 7.0 magnitude quake devastated the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and Haiti’s government estimates the death toll was more than 316,000 people. An international outpouring of support followed, with NGOs, human rights organizations, and the first mass text-based fundraising campaign bolstering the island nation. A little less than a year after the earthquake, an outbreak of cholera further devastated the country and set back relief efforts. So what has and hasn't been accomplished in the time since?

(Photo courtesy of govtech.com)

Cyclists have a new friend out there on the roads: microwaves. And the city of Pleasanton, California, is one of the first cities in the country to roll out this high-tech solution to help cars and bikes share the road.

The Intersector is a so-called intelligent traffic signal. It detects when bikes are coming and changes the timing of the green light to accommodate the slower-moving -- and more vulnerable -- cyclist. For instance, Pleasanton estimates that a for a given intersection a car needs four seconds to clear the intersection after a red light. So the cars get four seconds of green time. A bike, though, takes 14 seconds. That could be ten dangerous seconds for the cyclist as three lanes of cars prepare to dash across his or her path.

So Pleasanton has implemented the Intersector bicycle detection system in seven city traffic signals with plans to upgrade all others as replacement and repair is warranted. The city had used coils in the pavement and digital cameras to detect vehicles approaching traffic signals, but bikes are too light to set off the in-pavement coils, and automated cameras can't tell the difference between cars and bikes.

The Intersector uses microwaves to measure the size and speed of oncoming vehicles to determine which are cars and which are bikes. The signal adds on additional time to allow bikes to pass through safely. And when bicycles are stopped at the red light, they are recognized, and given 14 seconds of green light time to pass -- as compared to four seconds when only cars are waiting.

“To the City of Pleasanton, this is the best of both worlds -- providing additional green timing and green extension timing only when bicycles are present, while utilizing more efficient traffic signal timing more appropriate for vehicle traffic the remaining times,” said Joshua Pack, Pleasanton's senior transportation engineer in a statement.

The Intersector initiative was awarded ITS America’s Smart Solution Spotlight award for using innovative technology. "The ‘Intersector’ allows cyclists and vehicles to co-exist safely on the road and ITS America applauds the City of Pleasanton for working to become more bike friendly,” said ITS America President and CEO Scott Belcher.

The group said the "radar-style" device costs between $4,000-$5,000 per sensor, and can either work in conjunction with existing vehicle detection technology or can be installed as a comprehensive detection device.

Technology website GovTech notes that the Intersector has some drawbacks: fewer lanes and traffic actions can be monitored at once than by cameras.

Read more about the Intersector at GovTech, and check out the company datasheet.

(With AP) Federal authorities are shutting down a Pennsylvania-based bus company that operates in New York City citing safety concerns.

Authorities have ordered Double Happyness Travel to immediately cease operations declaring it an imminent hazard. U.S. Transportation officials say they found numerous violations related to vehicle maintenance. They also say the company failed to follow driver safety rules, including regular drug and alcohol testing and regulations governing the length of shifts.

Doubly Happyness takes passengers from Albany, Baltimore, and Wilmington, to stops in midtown Manhattan and Chinatown in New York City.

Calls by the AP to the company's headquarters in Huntingdon Valley, near Philadelphia were not returned. According to the government shutdown order, Double Happyness filed at least 49 false reports no driver activities, meaning that more than 20 percent of driver hour logs were falsified, double the number deemed "critical" to ensure drivers are getting enough breaks and rest to adhere to safety regulations.

According to a DOT press release, the Federal Motor Safety Administration has doubled inspections and safety reviews of the nation's 4,000 bus lines in recent years and "Roadside motorcoach inspections have jumped nearly 100 percent, from 12,991 in 2005 to 25,705 in 2010, while compliance reviews are up 128 percent, from 457 in 2005 to 1,042 in 2010."

Ridership has also spiked. Despite a series of high-profile crashes this year, a DePaul University study found the curbside bus industry, including "Chinatown buses," grew by almost 30 percent in 2011.

The Federal Department of Transportation teamed up with local law enforcement agencies to execute a crack down on bus carriers with about a week of ramped up surprise inspections around the nation in September.

The final stretch of road destroyed by Hurricane Irene is set to reopen this week, four months after the Hurricane wrought havoc on transportation infrastructure all along the Northeast.

Route 107, a major east-west artery follows the course of a river that gushed over its banks during the storm, taking the road with it. You can see video of the damaged Route 107 and other damage  here.

The AP reports: "In a storm that left a dozen Vermont towns cut off from the outside world for days, damaged or destroyed more than 500 miles of roads and 200 bridges, and reshaped much of the low-lying countryside, it was the Route 107 repair that posed the biggest single engineering challenge. The fix included 46 subcontractors and 20,000 hours of heavy equipment time."

Vermont Public Radio reports that rebuilding efforts of homes and other infrastructure is still underway, with some families who lost their homes living in RVs bracing for the cold bite of winter to come.

In the New York area, the Port Jervis line of the Metro-North Railroad took three months to repair. Both that, and the Route 107 rebuilding are evidence of the mounting price tag of climate-related costs for transit and transportation agencies.

Photo (cc) by Flickr user caribb.

Delta Air Lines will be the largest carrier from New York area airports by summer 2012. The airline announced a major expansion of service from New York's LaGuardia airport Friday, with the addition of more than 100 daily flights to 29 new cities.

The new routes target American Airlines and put Delta in a better position to compete against United, the current top airline by passenger seats in the region.

Delta says it plans to add four million passenger seats per year, in large part by using larger planes on the new flights. If the airline reaches that figure and competitors hold their passenger numbers steady, that would push Delta above Continental for the top stop in the New York Area. See current airline and passenger statistics at the Port Authority website.

Gail Grimmett, senior vice president for Delta in New York, wouldn't comment on the potential impact on fares. "We can't talk about future pricing, but I will tell you, this is a very competitive market and we do want to be... the carrier of choice for the people of New York."

Govenor Andrew Cuomo signed a law creating a new legal category of company in New York late Monday night: a Benefit Corporation. The companies that incorporate under the new law must prove they have social and environmental impact.