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MTA Chairman Announces Sweeping $836 Million Plan to Stabilize Subway System


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MTA Chairman Joe Lhota has announced an immediate $836 million subway stabilization plan that will include sweeping repairs and cleaning of subway trains and stations, added personnel, and longer trains, more countdown clocks and clearer service updates.
 "The subway system is no doubt in distress and we're here for solutions," Lhota said at the MTA headquarters Tuesday.
 Stabilizing the problem-plagued subway will be Phase One of the overall plan. Phase Two will be modernizing it -- "get it out of the late 19th century and get it into the 21st century quickly," according to Lhota.

 

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Good now it's de Blasio's turn to zip his big mouth and open up the wallet.  <_<

 

 

What is this longer train solution they’re posing? It would only work for the  (G).


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It seems pretty clear to me.  I don't know why they didn't have full cars on the (C) to begin with...

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The (C) doesn't have the ridership for full 10 car trains. 8 is perfectly fine for that line.

Well apparently the (MTA) thinks it does, which is why the article notes that they're adding cars to the (C).  It actually does get pretty crowded at times.  What I've been noticing is more and more people stay on the local to get to 125th and above, and now they're actually crowded, so that means the (A) and (D) are not performing as well as they should, or people find them too crowded or both.

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Well apparently the (MTA) thinks it does, which is why the article they're adding cars to the (C)

 

Ah, but there's one problem with that, which they apparently overlooked...

 

1. we've had a car shortage in the B Division since 2010 and 2. We don't have extra NTT B cars sitting around to expand (C) trains.

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I have a feeling that this will be either rolled into the order for 211s or somehow tacked onto the 179 contract (if such a thing is even possible)...

 

On the whole, I thought his solutions were detailed, well thought out and practical. He also acknowledged the politics of it all which I give him credit for.

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Ah, but there's one problem with that, which they apparently overlooked...

 

1. we've had a car shortage in the B Division since 2010 and 2. We don't have extra NTT B cars sitting around to expand (C) trains.

Who knows. Maybe they'll accelerate a train order or something.  They need to do something. One thing I've really been concerned about are all of these delays because of "mechanical problems".  I find it unacceptable to have so many delays because of that and it seems to be happening more and more frequently.  This morning my express bus was caught in a ton of traffic, so I got off but hesitated thinking but what if my train is stuck making me even later than what I am already? Smh Everything worked out for the short distance, but I had all of these thoughts in my mind about being delayed or stuck on the train.  

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That's what you think...try riding that line out of Brooklyn in the mornings...

 

I have. It's really not that bad if you ride in one of the middle cars. The (A) out of Brooklyn is far, far worse, and those R211T cars can't come soon enough.

Isn't there an option order for the R-179? Tack on some extra B cars, if possible.

No there isn't. It's 300 cars flat, no options.

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That's what you think...try riding that line out of Brooklyn in the mornings...

Umm I ride the C often my perception is riders bunch up around the 1st and 8th cars so it appears abit crazy. So yeah 10 cars would spread things out.It’s a heavy used line don’t get me wrong but it’s no (L).

 

 

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I was wondering how they were going to increase the overhaul capabilities by 150 cars per year. I guess staffing the shops for full 24/7 shifts should do the trick.

 

Anyone looking to get their foot in the door, now's your chance.

 

The station-based EMTs is a good idea. Here in DC if a sick customer is ambulatory and can be moved, they will usually have a station manager at the closest station remain with the customer on the platform until help arrives and takes the customer away or releases them. That way trains can keep moving if there are no other issues.

 

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The 10 car (C) can work once all the R179's are in. The (G) can be expanded to 8 cars (R160A-1's Or R179's) The R32's will have to go back to 207th since the inspection barn can only fit 8 cars. The (A)/© can finally share their equipment.

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This sheds some light on where the (MTA) expects to get the money from, and they want the City to put up 50% of the funds:

 

Subway rescue plan: 2,400 new hires, $836 million in new spending MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said if Mayor Bill de Blasio does not contribute funding, he will ask Albany to intervene


 
AR-170729921.jpg
Photo: Associated Press
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota

 

The beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority will add 2,400 workers to alleviate subway delays, Chairman Joseph Lhota announced Tuesday afternoon.

 

New, strategically placed units responsive to everything from signal malfunctions to sick customers are at the core of the new chairman's "emergency" plan ordered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The program will require an injection of some $836 million of new operating and capital funds, which Lhota said the state aims to split with the city.

He did not specify how much the city should pay, but Cuomo said the report seeks 50/50 share. That would cost the city $418 million.

 

Mayor Bill de Blasio has not been amenable to Cuomo and Lhota's calls for City Hall to give more funding to the authority, saying it has yet to spend what the city has already given it and siphoned money away from subway maintenance. But the mayor has not outright rejected the idea of contributing more. He scheduled a media availability late Tuesday afternoon to respond to the MTA plan.

 

Lhota left open the possibility of appealing to the state Senate and Assembly for more money should the mayor refuse to cooperate—and foreclosed on the notion of increasing the cost per ride.

 

"Raising fares is not an option," he said at the press conference at the MTA's lower Manhattan headquarters. The agency is expected to keep to its preset schedule of periodically raising fares.

 

The plan's initial phase will address what causes 79% of the major incidents that delay trains, including signals, track and power problems.

 

This plan will bring the first breath of relief for beleaguered transit riders, if the money is actually there to make it happen," said John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, an advocacy group. "The MTA has come up with smart measures that can reduce delays and improve the riding experience in the near term."

 

But he added that unless Cuomo comes up with a reliably funded long-term plan for transit, "we’ll be right back in emergency mode next year."

 

Other Cuomo critics took a dimmer view of the request for funds from New York City.

"“If Chairman Lhota thinks he needs more money for this plan, he shouldn’t demand it from the most overburdened taxpayers in the country," said Brandon Muir, executive director of Reclaim New York. "He should pick up the phone, call his new boss and demand some of the billions the governor is wasting on bridge light shows, failed economic development programs and a glorified hiking trail."

 

Lhota has been snippy with the mayor in recent days, but on Tuesday said he has "tremendous respect" for de Blasio, who defeated him in the 2013 mayoral race. Lhota then hit perhaps the most conciliatory note between the Cuomo administration and the mayor in weeks, although it could be interpreted as a nice way of asking for money:

"We need to be partners on this," he said. "More than anything else, we need to be partners."

 

He even backed off the his and the governor's earlier assertion that the city bears ultimate responsibility for the subway system due to a clause in the charter documents of the New York City Transit Authority, which formed to run the trains in 1953 and which the MTA absorbed in the 1960s. The PowerPoint presentation he gave Tuesday included a line emphasizing that the city was the legal owner of the system, but Lhota declined to read it and denied the city was liable for the full cost, as Cuomo had claimed last week.

 

"The city is not responsible," Lhota said. Cuomo later commented, "Now is not the time for pointing fingers, but for moving forward—together as New Yorkers."

 

Lhota said the MTA would look to collaborate with Transit Workers Union Local 100, which represents manual workers and station agents. Some advocates have argued the authority should look to push the union to accept different contract terms to save time and money.

 

Instead, Lhota has appointed its president, John Samuelsen, to the new advisory board alongside other labor and civic leaders.

 

"The last thing in the world I want is any kind of labor dispute," he said.

 

Source: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20170725/TRANSPORTATION/170729921?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

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MTA Chairman Joe Lhota has announced an immediate $836 million subway stabilization plan that will include sweeping repairs and cleaning of subway trains and stations, added personnel, and longer trains, more countdown clocks and clearer service updates.

 "The subway system is no doubt in distress and we're here for solutions," Lhota said at the MTA headquarters Tuesday.

 Stabilizing the problem-plagued subway will be Phase One of the overall plan. Phase Two will be modernizing it -- "get it out of the late 19th century and get it into the 21st century quickly," according to Lhota.

 

 

In unrelated news from the future, scores of politicians have sued to stop the (MTA) from depriving them of campaign (and fund-raising) material by maliciously improving the subway system.

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Where is the money for this coming from? Is the MTA just going to issue more bonds, again?

 

 

How much are these improvements costing?

In order to stabilize the system as we modernize, we will need to invest immediately $456 million in operating costs and make a $380 million capital investment.

I think that it is great that they will be expanding the C to 10 cars. What I think will happen is that once all R179s are in, no R32s will be retired, and perhaps no R42s. The R32s that won't be used for the B, if that is still the plan, would be used on the C. I think that this is a great plan, and I hope it gets implemented as soon as possible.

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I think that it is great that they will be expanding the C to 10 cars. What I think will happen is that once all R179s are in, no R32s will be retired, and perhaps no R42s. The R32s that won't be used for the B, if that is still the plan, would be used on the C. I think that this is a great plan, and I hope it gets implemented as soon as possible.

 

That was already the plan to handle the (L) closure. Still not enough for ten car (C) trains.

 

Oh, and if the (B) does get R32's, then there wouldn't be any left over for the (C). Currently 152 R32's enter service each rush hour and the current (B) uses 200 R68/As.

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How much are these improvements costing?

In order to stabilize the system as we modernize, we will need to invest immediately $456 million in operating costs and make a $380 million capital investment.

 

 

That says where the money is going, not where it's coming from.

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