NEW YORK | Second Avenue Subway

[chris08876]

Gov. Cuomo approves MTA’s $27B repair and upgrade plan

The long wait for transit riders is over — the MTA’s $27 billion repair and upgrade program was finally approved in Albany, Gov. Cuomo announced Tuesday.

The money covers everything from track and station repairs to new train cars and buses.

It includes big-ticket projects like the start of Second Ave. subway’s next phase into East Harlem, East Side Access for Long Island Rail Road and the replacement of the MetroCard.

“The MTA is the lifeblood of the New York metropolitan area’s transportation network and we must ensure it has the capacity to meet the travel demands of the next generation and fuel one of the largest economies on the globe,” Cuomo said in a statement. “By investing in the most robust transportation plan in state history, we are reimagining the MTA and ensuring a safer, more reliable and more resilient public transportation network for tomorrow.”

The capital plan is the MTA’s largest, but took months of political wrangling on a price tag and financing before approval at a time when the transit system is buckling under a large number of riders.

Cuomo has promised an $8.3 billion contribution to the plan in a deal with Mayor de Blasio, who will put $2.5 billion towards the MTA’s program.

The source of those funds has yet to be determined. But the MTA will have to exhaust its financial resources before the state and the city kick in its portion.

[Aviemore]

Interesting find. Where will these funds come to be precise? It doesn’t say but I’ll guess that it will be in the form of more debt for the Mta. That will be really bad down the road for the mta and riders.

[chris08876]

Just some general transit stats:

[QUOTE]The New York City subway accounts carries nearly 2.5 times the annual ridership of the other nine largest metro systems in the nation combined (Figure 2). This is 10 times that of Washington’s Metro, which is losing ridership despite strong population growth , probably partly due to safety concerns (see America’s Subway: America’s Embarrassment?). Things have gotten so bad in Washington that the federal government has threatened to close the system (See: Feds Forced to Set Priorities for Washington Subway).

The New York City subway carries more than 11 times the ridership of the Chicago “L”, though like in New York, the ridership trend on the “L” has increased impressively in recent years. The New York City subway carries and more than 50 times the Los Angeles subway ridership, where MTA (and SCRTD) bus and rail ridership has declined over the past 30 years despite an aggressive rail program (See: Just How Much has Los Angeles Transit Ridership Fallen?).

With these gains, the New York City Subway’s share of national transit ridership has risen from less than one of each five riders (18 percent) in 2005 to more than one in four (26 percent) in 2015. This drove the New York City metropolitan areas share of all national transit ridership from 30 percent in 2005 to over 37 percent in 2015.

Subway ridership dominates transit in the New York City metropolitan area as well, at 67 percent. Other New York City oriented transit services, including services that operate within the city exclusively and those that principally carry commuters in and out of the city account for 28 percent of the ridership. This includes the commuter rail systems (Long Island Railroad, Metro-North Railroad and New Jersey Transit) and the Metro from New Jersey (PATH) have experienced ridership increases of approximately 15 percent over last decade (Note 2).

Other transit services, those not oriented to New York City, account for five percent of the metropolitan area’s transit ridership (Figure 3). By comparison, approximately 58 percent of the population lives outside the city of New York. The small transit ridership share not oriented to New York City illustrates a very strong automobile component in suburban mobility even in the most well-served transit market in the country.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.newgeography.com/content/005255-new-yorks-incredible-subway[/url]

[Vertical_Gotham]

I’m eagerly anticipating the opening of the 2nd Ave. I can’t stand the Lex line during rush hour & I avoid it all cost.

[MrVenaCava]

A national decline of mass transit usage is disgusting. New York City metro, thankfully, is in its own league and will continue to grow its transit, however logistically difficult it may be to do so. But on the national level, you have states like Texas that encourage automobile-dependent suburban sprawl. I believe Texas is considered to be severely underdeveloped regarding passenger railroads and mass transit for a developed country. The state also has the largest city in the nation that doesn’t have ANY public transportation system (Arlington). I’m sure they contribute to the national trend significantly.

[Aviemore]

Q trains headways along 2nd avenue
http://cdn-sas.secondavenuesagas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/NorthboundQ-600x187.jpg

http://cdn-sas.secondavenuesagas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/SouthboundQ-600x208.jpg

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2016/05/23/w-train-revival-set-board-approval-2nd-ave-subway-operations-come-view/

[Aviemore]

The subway map will also be updated

http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.11847953.1464379389!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_1280/image.png

Second Avenue line, W train depicted in new MTA subway map

By Nicole Brown May 27, 2016

A subway map that includes a portion of the Second Avenue subway line, as well as the addition of the W train, was released by the MTA after its board meeting Wednesday night.

The map shows the new Q train stations at 72nd, 86th and 96th streets along Second Avenue, which is the first portion of the line scheduled to open in December 2016. It also adds the W train in Queens and Manhattan.

The MTA voted Wednesday to revive the W train beginning in November of this year. It will run local between Whitehall Street in Manhattan and Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard in Queens on weekdays. The Q train would temporarily stop at 57th Street before the Second Avenue line opens and the N train would run express in Manhattan.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said new maps will be printed closer to the implementation day, but did not provide a specific day when the maps will be available.

The official opening day for the Second Avenue line has not been set yet, and the map could change before it is printed, a source said.

Second Avenue line, W train depicted in new MTA subway map | amNewYork

[Tectonic]

N & W should be going to LGA. Seems like a no brainer but…

[Aviemore]

Agreed! But there would have to be a branch heading off to LGA. It almost had had the funding a decade ago

NEW YORK | LaGuardia Airport Access / AirTrain

N Train Extension To LaG Scrapped By John Toscano 2003-07-16 / Front Page http://www.qgazette.com/sites/www.qgazette.com/files/images/2003-07-16/002p1_xlg.preview.jpg No tears were shed in Astoria over a reported decision by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to derail the plan for extending the N train to LaGuardia Airport linking the airport with Manhattan. In fact, considering the long and strong united opposition to the proposal in the Astoria community, the MTA had to b…

[nyc1]

Didn’t really know where to post this, but i’ll just do it here. A train riders have something good to look forward too, as the MTA unveiled plans for new subway cars that are to come. They will be open gangways, as most European cities already have incorporated, they will also have wifi and electronic station announcements/signs. The MTA is going to order about 1,000 of these new cars and will apparently also put them into effect on the R line as well. In addition, the MTA is looking to repair 31 stations across the city. I’m hoping we’ll see some new subway cars within two years.
http://www.amny.com/transit/new-mta-subway-trains-majority-will-feature-open-gangways-1.12058792

[JC_Heights]

I really like those open car/open gangway subway cars. I just assumed they were not feasible in nyc for some reason. Cant wait to see these!

Plus new stations will be awesome. I really love the new station at Hudson yards ( despite all the delays and problems they have had, it is nice and modern and seemed pretty clean to me. Plus it is neat how ridiculously deep underground it is.)

[Emoglez]

Transit Pros Rebuild the NYC Subway—in an Online Game

http://brandnewsubway.com/

^^^ Have fun

[Vertical_Gotham]

Test runs!!

⁴ᴷ Second Avenue Subway Test Train Action

[nyc1]

So today I toured second and third avenues from 96 to 59 streets. Second avenue was nicely cleaned up and renovated for normal traffic flow between 96st and around 87st. From 87st and bellow, there was still construction vehicles on the street and two lanes of traffic open. The 3 stops all were being worked on, in terms of finishing touches. Like putting glass on the 86 st elevator. Third avenue has stops and they were being worked on as well. To me it seems that we may actually see a December 2016 opening. Let’s hope so.

[Tectonic]

I was in the area as well yesterday. It honestly does not look like they will be ready in time. They literally looked like they were rushing. So if they do open before 2017, brace for issues.

[nyc1]

This is opening on schedule first ride Jan.1 at noon.

New York’s Second Avenue Subway Will Open Jan. 1

`By MIKE VILENSKY

Updated Dec. 19, 2016 3:02 p.m. ET
10 COMMENTS
After nearly a century of planning and construction, the long-gestating Second Avenue subway has an opening date: Jan. 1.

A ceremonial ride will take place Dec. 31, which had been the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s deadline for the project’s opening.

The subway line’s $4 billion first phase will run from 63rd Street to 96th Street along Manhattan’s East Side. Its three new stations are expected to relieve crowding on the nearby lines along Lexington Avenue.

The new stations are located along Second Avenue at 72nd, 86th and 96th streets.

They have been under construction since 2007, though planning for the project as a whole dates back to the 1920s.

Additional phases that would include new stations along second Avenue as part of the project are still in the planning stages.

The MTA had initially set a 2013 deadline for the project’s first phase before pushing that back.

Up until Monday, the agency had declined to set an opening date for the subway system as its internal watchdogs expressed skepticism about finishing work in time. More recently, the auditors had said testing could potentially be completed by the end of December, but still expressed caution.

MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast appeared with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, at the Museum of Modern Art on Monday for the announcement of the date.

Mr. Cuomo and the MTA that he oversees also previewed some the artwork that will be on the display at the new stations.

The MTA commissioned four artists—Chuck Close, Vik Muniz,Jean Shin and Sarah Sze—to create works in glass, mosaic and tile at the new stations.

The public art project cost $4.5 million, officials said.

On Monday, the subway project seemed to suffer still one more delay.

Mr. Prendergast had initially said the first train, on the Q line, would leave 96th Street for passenger service at around 6 a.m. on Jan. 1.

But the MTA later bumped that back to noon.

—Charles Passy contributed to this article.

Write to Mike Vilensky at mike.vilensky@dowjones.com`

Also the below article has some nice info for the art project.

Art Underground: A First Look at the Second Avenue Subway (Published 2016)

[streetscaper]

I went to the opening of the 2nd Ave subway today. All in all, I think it’s a very decent addition. I thought they could’ve pushed the envelope with the design a bit more (in terms of finishes), considering how much money it cost, but I’m most happy that we now have a 2nd line in the densest part of the city and to alleviate the busiest line in the system (the 4-5-6). My favorite by far is the 86th St station. Beautiful mosaics all around!

Here are pics of each station:

2nd Ave Subway - 96th St Station

[streetscaper]

2nd Ave Subway - 86th St Station

[streetscaper]

2nd Ave Subway - 72nd St Station

[streetscaper]

2nd Ave Subway - 63rd St Station (Transfer)

Marketing on the subway

A free and clear 2nd Ave