Andrea Bernstein

Yet another New York City mayoral candidate is trying to parse the bike issue. Republican Joe Lhota used the shock some people felt at the sudden arrival of docking stations as a way to distinguish himself from Mayor Bloomberg's management style. But, Lhota said, he's "absolutely in favor of" bike share, and in "no way, shape or form" means to criticize bike share or bike lanes.

Applause, giant ribbons, politicians and working escalators were in abundance Friday as MTA officials re-opened the Smith-9 Street subway station on the G and F lines after 22 months of renovations. But for area residents, the word most associated with the re-opening was "finally."

NYC's bike share program is accepting registrations, and docks are already installed in some locations. WNYC's metro editor, Andrea Bernstein, explains what you need to know to register for the program.

 

UPDATED. Registration for New York's bike share system officially opened at 11 am Monday, and by 3 pm, some 2500 people had signed up. By 3:30 pm Tuesday, 5000 people had purchased $103 annual memberships, according to DOT spokesman Scott Gastel.

New York city's bike share program is now accepting registrations. The Citi bike website is now adorned with an orange bubble that urges visitors to become "founding members."

This week in politics, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn came under fire from animal rights activists and some union members, and her poll numbers ticked down. Former Congressman Anthony Weiner emerged to tell all -- and perhaps run for Mayor. And John Liu got a chilly reception from business leaders, a week before two of his former campaign staffers go on trial for illegal fundraising.

Governor Cuomo has hired in-house and tapped Tom Prendergast  to be the new chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.  Prendergast is already president of New York City Transit, the part of the MTA that runs subways and buses.

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner says he’s interested in running for New York City mayor, two years after a Twitter sex scandal derailed his career. Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, granted an extensive interview to The New York Times Magazine, and swam right back into the political waters this week.

For the second time this week, a bribery scandal has ensnared elected officials in New York. On Thursday, federal prosecutors charged Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, who they say accepted cash bribes to help businessmen set up an adult day care center in the Bronx.

Most mayors get to persuade by the power of their ideas — and whether they work. Bloomberg gets to do that, as well, but his soaring fortune and willingness to lavishly dollop it ac...

Crowded L train platform at 1:30 on a Saturday night (Sunday morning)

New York City's subway ridership rose 0.8% in 2012, despite storm Sandy-related shut downs and service disruptions.  According to figures released by the NY MTA Monday, some 1.654 billion riders rode the subways in 2012, 13.7 million more trips than in 2011.

Weekend ridership grew by 3 percent, matching the all-time historic high for weekend ridership set in 1946.

Word comes as the American Public Transit Association reports a record 10.5 billion trips on public transit.

The system was shut for two days around storm Sandy. Eight tunnels flooded, and many lines from Brooklyn to Manhattan were shut for a week.  The system is still not completely restored.

More soon.

(photo: Wikipedia/Creative Commons)

The old, short, narrow and curving South Ferry station at the end of the number 1 line in Lower Manhattan is being brought back to service, just four years after it was decommissioned, as hopes for the relatively speedy restoration of the storm-ravaged newer station have receded.   Officials say the older station will be ready for service by the beginning of next month.

The newer station was built with $530 million in 9/11 World Trade Center reconstruction funds.  Though the old station suffered no 9/11 damage, replacing it was a long-sought after goal of Staten Island politicians, whose constituents were squeezed onto the older platform as they transferred from the Staten Island Ferry.

But storm Sandy completely submerged the new station (startling video here) , destroying the new signalling system. The new station, which connects with the R line, was built far deeper than the old one.

NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials estimate it will cost $600 million to restore the new station, and have said the project can't be launched until the authority develops a plan to protect it from future storms.  It has recently become clear that the new station won't be up and running for at least two years.

The old station is a different, and cheaper, story. Putting it back into service, including a rehab of the gap fillers that expand and contract to fill the space between the curved platform and subway train doors, costs just $2 million.

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan says restoring the newer station is still on the boards.  The authority expects to receive federal Sandy aid funds for that project.

At a city council hearing last month, Acting MTA Executive Director Tom Prendergast said it would be at least 24 months until the old station could be up and running. But he hinted then that the old station could be ready "in two, three months."

Secretary Ray LaHood at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC (Photo: US DOT)

It was a wistful good-bye for transportation secretary Ray LaHood at the 2013 National Bike Summit.

The Secretary, who began with a low-profile that he quickly raised in the biking community by, among other things, jumping on a table at the 2010 Bike Summit Meeting to promote bikes, gave a long a loving paean to his administration's efforts to promote bike share, bike lanes, and safe biking.

"I guarantee you this," LaHood said, close to the beginning of his speech. "Whoever my successor is. You'll not have a secretary of transportation stand on the table and speak to you, that will never happen again."

"Since he was appointed in 2009, LaHood has been a true believer in the power of biking and has raised the credibility of bicycles as transportation at the federal level," the League wrote in its blog. “Ray LaHood is the first and only transportation secretary that keeps talking about bikes — even after we’ve left  the room,” said League President Andy Clarke.

"The President recently told me that he ran into someone who said something about Ray LaHood,” the Secretary said in his speech. “The president said, ‘You must be a cyclist’ — and he was.”

LaHood has promoted bike share, bike lanes, and biking to work, and has argued -- often to unsympathetic former Republican colleagues in the House -- that biking should be given respectability as a mode of transportation.

For that, he'll be missed in biking circles. "What a ride these four-and-a-half years with all of you. You’ve made a great difference; you really have," LaHood told the cyclists.

To which the League replied: "Right back at you, Mr. Secretary."

 

 

Beginning Sunday, monthly MetroCards will cost $110, single fares will cost $2.75, and each new MetroCard you buy will cost you $1. Long Island Railroad, Metro-North, express bus and MTA bridge tolls also rise.

The fare hikes have been planned since 2009, and were confirmed last summer.  They were adopted on December 19, the same day Joe Lhota announced he was leaving the MTA to run for Mayor.

Here are the details, from the MTA.

New York City Subway, Buses in New York City, Staten Island Railway & Access-A-Ride

New fare rates for subways, buses, Staten Island Railway (SIR) and Access-A-Ride will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, March 3.

 

The base fare for subways, local buses, SIR and Access-A-Ride is rising to $2.50 from $2.25; the base fare for express buses is rising to $6.00 from $5.50. The pay-per-ride bonus discount will be reduced to 5% from 7%, but will now be available for adding as little as $5 onto a MetroCard, down from $10 previously. A Single Ride Ticket purchased from MetroCard Vending Machines is rising to $2.75 from $2.50.

 

The 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCard will cost $112, up from $104. The 7-day unlimited-ride MetroCard will cost $30, up from $29. The 7-day express bus plus MetroCard will cost $55, up from $50. Unlimited-ride MetroCards purchased on March 2 or earlier must be activated by Sunday, March 10, to obtain full value. Those activated after that date will allow travel through April 9 for 30-day cards and March 17 for 7-day cards. Any remaining time will be refunded on a pro-rated basis.

 

A $1 fee will be charged for each new MetroCard purchased at a MetroCard Vending Machine or station booth. At commuter rail stations, the $1 card fee will be applied to MetroCards providing bus and/or subway travel only; the $1 fee will not be applied to Joint Rail MetroCards providing subway, bus and commuter rail service. Customers can avoid this fee by keeping their MetroCard and refilling it at any vending machine or station booth. MetroCards now can be refilled with any combination of unlimited-ride time and/or pay-per-ride dollars. Customers turning in an expired or damaged card will be provided a new card at no charge. There are also exemptions for those who buy cards at out-of-system merchants or participate in the EasyPayXpress program or a pre-tax benefit program.

 

More information about fares on subways, buses and SIR can be found here: http://mta.info/nyct/fare/NewFares.htm

 

Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad

 

New fares will go into effect on the LIRR and Metro-North on Friday, March 1, for monthly, one-way, round-trip, and 10-trip ticket holders. For those using weekly tickets, which are always valid from Saturday through the following Friday, new fares take effect on Saturday, March 2.

 

On average, most commuter rail tickets will increase between 8.2% and 9.3%, depending on ticket type and distance traveled. The discounted CityTicket fare for one-way weekend travel within New York City will rise to $4.00 from $3.75, starting March 2.

 

More information about fares on the Long Island Rail Road can be found here:

http://mta.info/lirr/about/TicketInfo/LIRRFares.htm

 

More information about fares on Metro-North Railroad can be found here:

http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/fares_new.htm

 

MTA Bridges and Tunnels

 

New toll rates on the seven bridges and two tunnels that are operated and maintained by the MTA will go into effect at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 3. At most crossings, tolls are rising to $5.33 from $4.80 for E-ZPass customers and to $7.50 from $6.50 for cash customers. 

 

For more details about ways to save on tolls, please see the attached press release.

 

President Barack Obama's new $50 billion infrastructure plan -- a remarkably consistent number he's pushed several times before -- has a twist.  This time, the President wants to prioritize fixing roads and bridges over building new ones, which has been the previous focus of most U.S. government transportation spending.

"The new plan focuses on 'fix-it-first,'  according to a U.S. DOT spokesman, "prioritizing the most crucial repair projects that we can fix right away to keep our economy moving. "

In his state of the union speech, the President raised the specter of 70,000 structurally deficient bridges.  That's not a new number--nor does it mean those bridges are in danger of imminent collapse--but it's an alarming one.

President Obama has long argued for infusions of infrastructure spending to jump-start the economy, and to, um, pave the way for a more economically secure future.

But Congress hasn't passed any of them, and now Washington is deeply mired in strategies to avoid the cuts brought on by the so-called "sequester," a provision of the 2011 debt deal.

"The more the President talks about 'fix-it-first,' the better," said Phinneas Baxandall of U.S. PIRG.

Fifty billion dollars, by the way, is just about the same amount Congress just approved to fix damage caused by storm Sandy.

Former MTA chief Joe Lhota, currently a GOP candidate for mayor in New York City, offered fresh details on how the nation's largest transit authority prepared for the state's most destructive storm.

Speaking on the Brian Lehrer Show, Lhota said there were "numerous different planning events, tabletop exercises, including management as well as labor.  That's a very important part of why the system came back as quickly as possible."

Lhota said that as soon as the extent of the storm surge became apparent, the MTA removed electronic relay boxes in the subway tracks.  "By virtue of taking them out they weren't affected by the salt water. It made all the difference in the world."

Lhota resigned as MTA chief December 31 to run in the 2013 mayoral election as a Republican. He said Wednesday that he was in discussions as early as last June about running, but that he didn't make up his mind until after Sandy.

Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota said Wednesday that he began having "discussions" about running for office as early as last June, just months after he was sworn in as MTA chief. But Lhota said he made no decision until after Sandy.

In his final State of the City address Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the long view. He spoke boldly of his administration’s accomplishments after 11 years in City Hall, and...

Photo: Kate Hinds

For New York mayoral candidates, bike lanes are complex. That's why City Council Speaker Christine Quinn proclaimed them off-limits for dinner party conversation.  It's why Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who's criticized the way the city approves bike lanes, leapt Wednesday to issue a statement proclaiming "bike lanes make NYC streets safer."

On the one hand, some of the Democrats running for mayor use bike lanes as a signifier for what they see as Mayor Michael Bloomberg's high-handed, top-down approach to decision-making.

On the other hand, polls show New Yorkers like bike lanes--particularly environmentalists, Latinos, young people, and techies, all of whom may play unpredictable roles in the 2013 vote. Independent polls show pretty consistent majorities in almost all categories approving of bike lanes, and an even bigger majority approving of bike share.

And yet every single one of the major Democrats has at some point criticized the mayor for not fully consulting communities about where to install new bike lanes, even though the plans for such lanes must be approved by community boards.

So while today's New York Times article--headlined, "Anxiety Over Future of Bike Lanes"--captures a real fear among bike advocates that the next mayor may not be as friendly towards biking as Mayor Bloomberg, this dance isn't over yet.

"The need for safer streets for bikers, walkers, and drivers is one I feel in my core," de Blasio said in his statement. "For that reason, I fully support bike lanes and I want to see them continue to expand around the city. They are clearly making many NYC streets safer."

Okay, now wait for it:

"But I think we need to take an approach different from the Mayor’s. While more and more communities and riders want bike lanes, the City still hasn’t come around to proactively engaging those who are concerned by them. We need to increase our outreach and bring more residents and small businesses into the discussion early so we can fine-tune designs and parking rules from the get-go. Just going to community boards is not enough. Proactive outreach seems to be the Bloomberg Administration’s last resort. I think we need to make it uniform practice, and put it at the front end of every project.”

Watch this space. This is going to get interesting.

(click for link to map)

From the Department of Small but Useful Changes:

The MTA's got a new interactive map, though it's so basic you can't believe they didn't have it already.  At the MTA.info site, the subway map is now "interactive," meaning you can move it around and zoom in on parts of it, for "easier viewing of fine grain details," as the MTA put it in a press release.  Which also makes it easier to view on a tablet or smart phone. Before, there was just a static PDF.