BK Southie » MTA

Paterson dismisses Norman Seabrook

Posted by Nick at 4:00 pm MTA

Dec 142010

As a member of the MTA board, Norman Seabrook was the only voice for the working class man. That useless governor’s sad action of removing him from the board is a slap in the face to people trying to make ends meet these days. Seabrook had the guts to speak and tell the truth about the MTA and it’s mismanagement that leads to a whopping unfair fare increase. New York City has a nitwit mayor who tells us not to eat salty soups, drink sugary drinks, etc instead of fighting for the working class man. So I asked Norman about future plans and he responded by saying “Thank you for your kind words I will continue to fight for the people of this city and state, the best to you and yours during this season and in the future.” By the way the MTA raises fares December 30, 2010

Increased weekend service for “SoBro” riders and Vintage bus

Posted by Nick at 4:44 pm Featured story, MTA

Dec 012010

MTA will be offering more frequent weekend service along several subway lines as well as vintage bus and nostalgia trains. The service increases will be in place the weekends of December 4th and 5th, 11th and 12th, and 18th and 19th. During these periods, F train riders will also see trains scheduled to arrive every 7 1/2 minutes instead of every 10 minutes and Q service is also scheduled to run every 7 1/2 minutes instead of every 10 minutes. Vintage buses will operate along the B1route – Bay Ridge to Manhattan Beach. More information and nostalgia pictures at http://mta.info/news/stories/?story=152

Weekend Subway Alert: Diversion on the N-line

Posted by Brian Hedden at 9:59 am MTA

Nov 272010

Sorry for the late posting – I blame Turkey Coma. Although I’m starting to wonder, is the coma really caused by the turkey? Or the Lions game? Anyway, I apologize for the late posting, and also that I’m not coming up with any motivational slogans for James The Splendid Red Engine this week.

It’s a light construction week in South Brooklyn. Here are your subway advisories for the weekend of November 27th and 28th: Continue reading »

UPDATED: Weekend subway alert: all is fine on the F-line (as long as you weren’t planning to go very far)

Posted by Brian Hedden at 10:43 pm MTA

Nov 172010

UPDATED (Nov 17): The changes this week are exactly the same as last week, so I’m just bumping last week’s post back up to the top.

The biggest problem this weekend will be for F-train riders who intend to go to Manhattan or North Brooklyn this weekend - the F-trains are being replaced with shuttle buses from Church Avenue to Jay Street. Also, once again, both D- and N-train riders are half-screwed, depending on whether they’re coming or going.

Here are your subway advisories for the weekend of November 13th and 14th: Continue reading »

Weekend subway alert: Double-diversion for D- and N-trains

Posted by Brian Hedden at 3:30 am MTA

Nov 042010

It’s Marathon Weekend, y’all! Which means the buses are going to be a lot more frakked up than the trains. Not that you’d know by looking for a listing of affected lines on the MTA web site, or e-mailing their customer service center. That’s OK, we have common sense on our side. Good rule of thumb: nothing crosses 4th Avenue, anywhere, and if your bus is supposed to come to Bay Ridge, just assume it’s completely FUBAR this weekend.

Here are your subway advisories for the weekend of Saturday, November 6 and Sunday, November 7: Continue reading »

Weekend subway alert: shuttle buses for Bay Ridge, Coney Island-bound diversion on the D-line

Posted by Brian Hedden at 9:00 am MTA

Oct 282010

I’m thinking about making James The Splendid Red Engine the official spokesman of the South Brooklyn weekend subway alerts. Here are your advisories for Saturday and Sunday:

Affected train	Weekend service disruption
	Suspended in Brooklyn, beginning 11:30 Friday night. N-train makes all local stops between Whitehall Street (Manhattan) and 59th Street (Brooklyn) Shuttle bus replaces R-train stops between 59th Street and 95th Street in Bay Ridge
	Coney Island-bound trains run on the N-line from 36th Street to Coney Island, beginning at midnight. Coney Island-bound passengers: if you are traveling to 9th Avenue, Fort Hamilton Parkway, 50th Street and 55th Street, you should take a CI-bound D- or N-train to New Utrecht Avenue/62nd Street, and switch upstairs to a Manhattan-bound D-train to complete their trip If you are traveling to 71st and 79th Streets, 18th and 20th Avenues, Bay Parkway, 25th Avenue, and Bay 50th Street, you should take a CI-bound D- or N-train to Stillwell Avenue/Coney Island, and switch to a Manhattan-bound D-train to complete their trip Manhattan-bound trips are unaffected Trips to New Utrecht Avenue/62nd Street and Stillwell Avenue/Coney Island are unaffected

Staten Island Screws Us Back

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Bay Ridge, Belt Parkway, MTA, Not Brooklyn

Oct 272010

The MTA Board approved fare hikes for subways, buses, and commuter trains last month, but delayed action on its bridges and tunnels… until today. It is expected to approve a modified version of a plan presented by Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro that will largely save E-ZPass drivers at the expense of sticking it to cash customers. Of course he wants to spare E-ZPass drivers, since all Staten Island drivers getting the resident discount are on E-ZPass.

$13 to go to Staten Island. Not. Worth it. Ever.

A steep toll on par with London’s £10 congestion charge, but located nine miles from the downtown Manhattan business district, and charged in the opposite direction, no less.

A massive subsidy for mass transit on a route where mass transit options are almost non-existent (while scores of rush hour trains run over the untolled Manhattan Bridge).

And the thing that eggs my goat more than anything else: a 40% discount carved out to reduce the hardship of one of the boroughs connected by the bridge… as if the hardship is somehow not felt by the residents of the other. (“You poor, downtrodden Tottenville resident, what can we do to ease your pain?” “Oh, you’re from Bay Ridge? You can sod off.”)

A few weeks ago, Ned Berke of Sheepshead Bites remarked on the Staten Island Ferry – pretty much the only free transportation in the City, a gift for the benefit of Island residents subsidized by the taxes of everyone else, and said “Screw Staten Island!”

With the Verrazano Bridge toll, Staten Island is screwing us back.

Avenue U, Neck Road Q-train stations open in both directions

Posted by Brian Hedden at 4:00 pm MTA, Sheepshead Bay

Oct 252010

The Avenue U Q-train station, a week before its October 25 reopening

The Manhattan-bound platforms at Avenue U and Neck Road were due to reopen today. But I was at Avenue U last night – it sure didn’t look like it was ready to open. It even had contractors there. Working on a Sunday. Never a good sign. But I decided to check in with Stephanie11229, and she confirmed earlier that the Manhattan-bound station was indeed open for business for this morning’s commute.

So there you go. Two-way service restored. No more reverse-trip shenanigans at Kings Highway or Sheepshead Bay Road.

Now all we need is express B-train service back. Paging Hell To Freezes Over…

[UPDATE] GerritsenBeach.net and Sheepshead Bites are reporting the same, with a photo of the honest-to-goodness completed open station.

MTA Talk: the gubernatorial debate, math with Metrocards, and the biggest waste of all

Posted by Brian Hedden at 9:00 am MTA

Oct 252010

Buy a 30-day Metrocard? Use it less than 40 times a month? Don’t like being called out for stupidity? You might want to skip #3.

The New York Times and two of the city’s transit blogs had a few interesting bits and a few good points last week that I wanted to point out here.

1. Transit blog Second Avenue Sagas took a look at the gubernatorial debate and the answers relating to the MTA and was left wanting.

Take a listen to the seven minutes of criticism that the candidates for governor lobbed at the MTA on Monday night. If you can stomach the fifth mention of two sets of books — a claim disproved in court six years [ago] and debunked yet again last year — without wanting to throw something at these politicians, you’re a stronger person than I.

The “two sets of books” allegation came from former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi. Hevesi, you might recall, was not exactly a straight arrow himself, and I’m surprised that his entire body of work has not been automatically discredited. But discrediting the accounting of the turn-of-the-millenium MTA was not entirely without merit, and this has been the result:

Since then, the MTA has been submitting proposed budgets each July, a full five months before they go into effect, and publishing their four-year budget plans to give people an idea of how surpluses, and deficits, play out in the long term. (WNYC)

2. By people, they surely don’t mean candidates for Governor. SAS continues: Continue reading »

Weekend subway alert: turn around and bend over, D-train riders

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am MTA

Oct 222010

That’s right, it’s that’s time again – shuttle bus mania! No D-trains on their regular route this weekend from 36th Street in Sunset Park all the way to Coney Island. The D will run along the N-line between these two stops, which I imagine is small consolation to those of you going to-n-fro New Utrecht Avenue or 86th Street.

The fun begins at 11:30pm on Friday night and runs through the weekend. If you’re brave and actually plan to take the shuttle bus this weekend, be sure you know where to look for it.

This D-train station…	…is replaced with this shuttle bus stop:
36 St	on 4th Av between 35 St and 36 St
9 Av	on 39 St at 9 Av
Fort Hamilton Pkwy	Coney Island-bound: on New Utrecht Av at Fort Hamilton Pkwy Manhattan-bound: on New Utrecht Av at 45 St
50 St	on New Utrecht Av at 12 Av
55 St	on New Utrecht Av at 55 St
New Utrecht Av-62 St	on New Utrecht Av at 63 St
71 St	on New Utrecht Av at 71 St
79 St	on New Utrecht Av at 79 St
18 Av	on New Utrecht Av at 18 Av
20 Av	on 86 St at 20 Av
Bay Pkwy	on 86 St at Bay Pkwy
25 Av	on 86 St at 25 Av
Bay 50 St	on Stillwell Av at Bay 50 St
Stillwell Av	on Surf Ave at Stillwell Ave