Union Tpke

7 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

Not sure. Nothing concrete has been spoken about that yet. I doubt they'll actually get kicked out.

Do you think the redesign is dead? That is my bet.

4 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

Which reminds me.

Word is that NICE Bus is getting kicked out of the terminal once it's all said and done to make way for articulated buses.

Where would NICE go?

On 5/24/2020 at 11:58 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

I remember it being brought up at the meeting back in Jamaica in January. I could've misunderstood but I believe they mentioned they were closing it.

Hopefully they do extend the QT47 to Lefferts AirTrain or Federal Circle. The proposed terminal is in the middle of nothing in particular (I believe there is a Sanitation Garage around there). 

And yeah they said Jamaica/Merrick was just a general idea for where they would terminate those buses that used to end at 165th Street. As I said I could be wrong but my understanding was they planned to close that terminal.

Thinking about it, it almost seems like they are thinking of Linden Blvd in Queens the same way as Linden Blvd in ENY (a super-wide street where the concept of a super-limited might make sense). The thing I do like about this route is that it makes it easier to get from SE Queens to Downtown Brooklyn & Lower Manhattan via the instead of forcing everyone to go up to Jamaica for the or LIRR (I know with Freedom Ticket it makes the LIRR more attractive than before but I still). I'd be curious to see how much of the demand from that portion of SE Queens is actually for Jamaica itself vs. people who would be willing to (or even preferring to) transfer in another area. 

They are renovating 165th, not closing it. By through-routing routes on either side of 165th, the terminal can be renovated.

http://web.mta.info/capitaldashboard/allframenew_head.html?PROJNUM=t6120420&PLTYPE=1&DISPLAYALL=Y

Project:    T6120420    
Description:    Jamaica Bus Terminal    
Category:    Depots    
Element:    Depot Improvements    
xxxxxxxxxx
...
This project will support efforts to reconfigure the Jamaica bus terminal located in Queens. The existing terminal is shared by NYC Transit, MTA Bus, and Long Island Bus. The reconstruction will improve pedestrian and passenger safety by eliminating bus back-up moves in the terminal and controlling pedestrian traffic in the terminal area; this work will be addressed in a future capital program.

On 5/30/2020 at 5:42 PM, CenSin said:

The topology may be correct, but keep in mind the track map is not 100% accurate with regards to scaling and relative positioning of the elements. Take the Broadway switches north of 34 Street–Herald Square for example. Those are a little further north than the diagram would lead one to believe. The representation of the curves and switches around the Coney Island area are also somewhat distorted. That switch connecting the northbound West End () track to the yard from Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue a left-handed switch and not a right-handed switch as depicted in the diagram.

You can email him with corrections. I have emailed him things that he has corrected.

On 5/30/2020 at 3:39 PM, Collin said:

The QB Express is currently scheduled for 30 tph, 15 each .  Everywhere I've seen has said 10% increase, so that brings it up to 32-33 tph.

Lies. There won't be an increase in scheduled service, but there will be an increase in actual throughput, with an actual 30 TPH running vs. the ~26 that run during a normal rush hour. Unless the agency moves to increase schedule resolution to every 5 seconds, the scheduling won't really work out.

@MHV9218 This is an image of the passageway to 175th Street. The sign looks like it is relatively recent. Does this look like it is from the 1990s to you?

45 minutes ago, bobtehpanda said:

New York State puts a Constitutional Convention on the ballot every 20 years to rewrite the entire NYS Constitution. The last one that successfully passed was held in the '30s.

Generally speaking, every special interest group has their own reason for hating it:

• if you live upstate, you generally are against it because any rewrite has a decent chance of giving NYC even more power, which in their eyes is a bad thing
• if you work in a union, you generally are against it because the constitution has a provision that you can't rescind pension benefits after they are given, which has a decent chance of being tossed out if the constitution gets rewritten
• etc

So every special interest group takes the position of "devil you know is better than the devil you don't", even though the document is, for all parties involved, worse than the sum of its parts. Therefore the system will never be fixed.

I was furious that that was voted down.

https://www1.nyc.gov/html/brt/downloads/pdf/bx-cb1-projects-may2020.pdf

 East 149th St Bus Priority Improvements

Another great breaking story by Dana Rubinstein, now at the Times!

This is amazing. I am so glad that he got the post. He will do a lot to help their system, and will show use what we missed. Even more amazing, he will show what can be done when transportation (bus, rail, streets) are all done under one roof, being that of a city.

I wish he would have come back, but I am so so happy for him. He deserved this.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/nyregion/andy-byford-mta-london.html

By Dana Rubinstein
May 27, 2020
Updated 9:09 a.m. ET

New York City’s former subway chief, Andy Byford, won’t be returning to New York City after all. Instead he is going back to the European city where his transit career began.
On Wednesday, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, confirmed Mr. Byford’s appointment as commissioner for Transport for London, the agency that runs that city’s sprawling subway, bus, and road system.
“I am delighted to be taking up the role of Commissioner and to have been chosen to lead the organization where I started my transport career over 30 years ago,” Mr. Byford said.
Major transit agencies in London, New York and elsewhere around the world have seen their ridership and revenues plunge as the coronavirus pandemic prompted stay-at-home orders and people avoided subways and buses.

Now, as the pandemic eases its grip in many places, transit agencies face the challenge of regaining the confidence of riders and finding ways to protect the public’s health.
Mr. Byford, one of the most revered transit leaders in recent memory, left the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in January, after clashing repeatedly with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Critics faulted Mr. Cuomo for failing to embrace the man he had hired to run the foundering system. But Mr. Cuomo’s allies faulted Mr. Byford for not doing more to find a way to get along with the governor, who controls the system.

At the time of his resignation, Mr. Byford said he would like to remain in New York, a city he had grown to love. Mr. Byford had already worked as a top official transit official in London in the years before coming to New York.  
He was credited with helping improve subway service in New York,  including on-time performance, after Mr. Cuomo had declared a state of emergency.
 

“Andy Byford did wonders for New York and put us on a track that will serve us well for a generation,” said Danny Pearlstein, the policy and communications director for Riders Alliance, an advocacy group. “London is very lucky to have him.”
Mr. Byford is scheduled to start his new post on June 29.

On 5/12/2020 at 4:07 PM, 4P3607 said:

So I'm at the Pat Dolan trail (Willow lake reserve) and the South end borders the Jamaica train yard. As I'm at the end of the path where it meets Jamaica yard I see at least 4 firetrucks show up racing to the other side of the yard. Hope everything is alright.

I believe the path is open 24/7 and it's a great place to go during this time (open space full of nature and not many people go here. Just make sure to enter on the Park Drive (Van Wyck) side unless you're willing to go through a very muddy trail from the Grand Central Pkwy side.

I got a pic of the last R46 set while it was still in the yard, now if I knew of a free image service to upload and share here I would post it. 

As I type this a 5th truck showed up. Yikes.

I have been on that trail. I have entered on the GCP side. You can get a great view of all the yard tracks by walking along the fence (within the park). I got a picture of an R42 with a broke window there a few years back.

1 hour ago, Jsunflyguy said:

Why are you comparing the seated load of an M7 to the seated AND standing load of a Class 700? 

Also with roughly half the seats per car I'm sure New Yorkers will not be entertained by this 'efficiency'. They already complain about 'dangerously crowded' trains when people are standing in general. So doubling that is surely a political non-starter.

The middle seats on trains are never used. Eliminating the seat cushion on the aisle seat didn't do anything. In addition, dwell times are ridiculously high because it takes forever to get add. Add people's unwillingness to be on public transit in years to come due to COVID.

I am glad that they are being smart.

EXiX8agWoAECyDo by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

https://twitter.com/pete_manhattan/status/1258923170784063489

@Around the Horn Here are some stringlines of the subway "shutdown".

Yeah,  trains are not starting at Houston Street

"Shutdown" by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

 trains are not starting at 103rd

"Shutdown" by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

s are not starting at Halsey

"Shutdown" by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

s are not starting at Newkirk Plaza

"Shutdown" by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

s are not starting at 25th Street

"Shutdown" by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

There is not an  shuttle between 86th Street and Coney Island

"Shutdown" by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

And, no,  trains are not starting at Park Place

"Shutdown" by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

Stringline_Northbound_E_Train_4Hours_5-6-2020_4-53-21-AM by Union Turnpike, on Flickr

We’re dramatically increasing bus service to make sure essential workers like you can still get where you need to go in a reasonable amount of time. We’ve added 344 buses to the 235 that already run overnight. Those new buses will make 1,168 additional bus trips on 61 routes:

13 local routes with new overnight service
37 local routes with enhanced overnight service
11 interborough express routes with new overnight service
All bus service between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM will be fare-free
 

Here are the numbers on increased service from an email.

4 hours ago, Collin said:

So Archer was considered the more desirable terminal when compared to 179th Street.  Does that have something to do with the airport being off of Archer?

This is what I added to Wikipedia after looking at the "Archer Avenue Corridor Transit Service Proposal" document from Operations Planning:

It was decided that the E would serve Archer Avenue, rather than the F, to minimize disruption to passengers who continued to use Hillside Avenue; to maximize Jamaica Avenue ridership; and to take advantage of the length of the peak ridership period, which is longer on the F. It was found that most riders using bus routes that now served Archer Avenue used the E, while most passengers on buses to 179th Street used the F

4 minutes ago, Wallyhorse said:

I don't think 57th-6th was ever intended to be a long-term terminal.  The lengthy delays in getting 63rd Street done were why that happened.

It was initially a short-term terminal for additional Sixth Avenue service through the Chrystie Street Connection and the new Sixth Avenue express tracks. Before the extension to 57th was built, there was a provision in the tunnel for a northward expansion.

@Trainmaster5 I was doing more research for my list of closed subway entrances and found this post of yours, in which you described the Junius Street exits.

Quote

There used to be an exit at Junius St and Livonia Ave but it was removed many years ago. If you check the s/b platform the staircase was (approximately) where the flyover to Linden Yard is now. The platform was cut and shortened to make room for the flyover. From the s/b platform you can look at the n/b side and see the original length of the station before the cut job. The n/b platform has a fence blocking off the full length of the station. As for the bridge over the Bay Ridge branch RR tracks connecting the Canarsie and Livonia lines stations it used to be notorious for muggings and pocketbook snatchings so most law abiding neighborhood residents avoided it, especially after dark. I remember the Guardian Angels were the only ones providing constant security on the bridge and surroundings at night. You very rarely saw a police presence at that location, NYPD or Transit Police.

What yearr would you say that the Junius Street exits were removed?

Thanks.

Great catch!

9 hours ago, MeeP15-9112 said:

There are entrances on both mezzanines to the underpass. The one on the west mezzanine (Q46 side) is there and intact- it even has a station sign that reads  (pre-87, someone verify) on the outside!

The East mezzanine (elevator side) has the glass blocks which could be punched out to make an entrance identical to the west side. I think at one point that side was just like the west side until the  built that entrance with the elevator(everything looks recent in that entrance).

Also: Does anyone have any footage/pictures of NYCT equipment traveling on the Bay Ridge Branch when the Willy-B was closed for rehab?

Those signs are c.1985.

This is idiotic.

17 hours ago, Lance said:

Slowly but surely getting back to normal. Or something resembling it.

Shifting back to the 53rd Street/63rd Street switcheroo for a minute, does anyone know if the riders in the area affected were informed of this planned service change? For 63rd Street riders, switching the F and M is a significant service cut, especially at the increasingly popular Lexington Av station. On the same vein, wouldn't switching the two routes create a bit of a line imbalance between the two tunnels? Right now, the combined output of the E and M through 53rd Street is roughly 23 trains per hour at the height of the rush with the F running 15 through 63rd Street. If this switch were to be put into effect, that'd be 30 trains through 53rd Street and at most, eight running across 63rd Street. Really makes an already under-utilized tunnel even more under-utilized. That's why I'm a little hesitant to take this as a finalized and permanent service change, but rather a possible pilot program to see if it's a viable solution.

It would be a six-month pilot.