A congestion-pricing tolling device looms over Third Avenue at 60th Street for now, but will it remain? US DOT Secretary Sean Duffy wants it removed immediately, as the MTA and NY State are relying on the courts to make sure it remains. Whatever decision is made should come relatively soon. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) Deadline Passes and Congestion Pricing Tolls Keep on Clicking . . . For Now The third federal deadline to take down the congestion-pricing tolls has passed and still the tolls remain. It could come... News 23 May 2025 | 07:27
The Robert F. Kennedy-Triborough Bridge on the UES is one of seven bridges and tunnels operated by the MTA that will install construction-zone cameras if the proms is approved by the MTA board. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman ) MTA Bridges and Tunnels May Add Cameras to Catch Speeders in Construction Zones Summer is coming up in a few weeks and the fines that have been levied for speeding in construction zones over the past years... News 16 May 2025 | 04:49
The MTA plans to spend more than $35 million to hire 1,000 security guards to watch emergency exit gates so they are not opened from inside, allowing fare evaders to enter. When the MTA studied the topic in 2022, it found it lost nearly $300 million a year to subway fare evaders. ( Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority) MTA Trying to Shut Down the ‘Superhighway of Fare Evasion’ in Subways Subway station emergency-exit gates have been dubbed “the superhighway of fare evasion” by MTA CEO Janno Lieber, who hopes... News 10 May 2025 | 02:57
Fare evasion costs the MTA $700 million a year, and the MTA says the problem is worst on buses where an estimated 40 percent skip out on paying the fare. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) MTA Gets Full Funding as Hochul Finalizes Budget, but It Counts on Feds Paying All of Penn Costs April 28 saw an early-evening update from Gov. Kathy Hochul about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and it was the... News 03 May 2025 | 09:40
Mayor Eric Adams shakes hands with the Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy before embarking on a two stop subway “tour” on the B Line on April 4. Duffy, who had earlier called the subway system a “shithole” apparently did not change his tune after the ride with hizzoner. ( Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office) MTA’s Lieber Vs Trump’s Transport Sec Duffy On April 4, US Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, rode our subway system on a mysterious ride with Mayor Eric Adams,... Voices 17 Apr 2025 | 03:18
Old subway map (right), meet new subway map (left). ( Photo: MTA NYC Transit) First New Major Subway Map Overhaul in Nearly Half Century Unveiled by MTA A new subway map, last redone during the Carter administration, is being rolled out in stations across the city, the first... News 07 Apr 2025 | 03:52
Fans on board a Redbird nostalgia train to Citi Field on Opening Day, April 4. ( Photo: MTA Photos via Flickr) Vintage Train Rides for Mets Opening Day, but Fans Learn No #7 Express This Season East side, West side, everybody’s coming down, to meet the M-E-T-S Mets, of New York town. On April 4, happy Mets fans boarded... Voices 06 Apr 2025 | 04:18
Governor Kathy Hochul, speaking at a Congestion Pricing Rally on March 21, has sent a letter to top Republicans in the Trump administration calling for the state to receive its “fair share” of federal mass transit funds. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy wants Hochul to turn off the congestion pricing cameras. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) Hochul Pleads for More Fed Funds for MTA; US DOT Pushes to End Congestion Pricing Tolls It looks like a standoff. Top elected Democratic leaders in New York in late March pleaded with the federal government for... News 02 Apr 2025 | 05:14
John Roebling’s 1888 masterpiece, The Brooklyn Bridge, the nation’s first suspension bridge, is under the watchful eye of the National Transportation Safety Board in 2025 for not having had a proper risk assessment for a marine bridge strike. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) Troubled Bridges over Waters? Six bridges that span either tidal waterways or major rivers in the five boroughs have been tagged as in need of evaluation... News 26 Mar 2025 | 07:26
On her way to attend a congestion-pricing rally at West 14th Street and Ninth Avenue, Gov. Kathy Hochul rode the M14D bus with regular passengers and media representatives. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) Trump’s DOT Head Rips Hochul Handling of Subways, Calls System a ‘Shithole’ A day after Gov. Kathy Hochul said she didn’t have to go to war with the federal government over the congestion-pricing question,... News 24 Mar 2025 | 01:20
The MetroCard killer is this latest OMNY Card machine. It works with all different OMNY cards, including Senior and Student cards, similar to a bank ATM, and is faster than the soon-to-be-scrapped MetroCard machines. Alternatively, riders can “tap” with their own credit cards at turnstiles. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) Bye-Bye to Metrocards The blue-and-yellow MetroCard, which has reigned supreme for bus and subway fares for over three decades, will be gone by... News 22 Mar 2025 | 01:16
NYC Transit president Demetrius Crichlow, donning an orange safety vest at the Mother Hale Bus Depot, helped out on National Transit Employee Appreciation Day March 18, by changing a bus’s broken mirror, under the guidance of a Hale Bus Depot mechanic. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) Wild Week for Mass Transit It was a whip saw week for NYC Transit, rosy optimism at mid-week and gathering storm clouds–all within one 24-hour period.... News 20 Mar 2025 | 12:01
Across Twelfth Avenue from the Intrepid Museum, a parking lot for museum employees and buses will be transformed into a mixed-use commercial/residential tower that will include affordable housing. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) From Gas Tanks to Tower: Hochul Plans Housing, Intrepid Parking for 12th Avenue Parcel One of the largest undeveloped parcels of vacant land on the far West Side of Midtown Manhattan, at 621 W. 45th St., is being... News 08 Mar 2025 | 09:58
Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair Janno Lieber, point to long-term benefits of congestion pricing at the MTA board meeting. Hochul said she would fight President Trump’s efforts to end the controversial toll. ( Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA) Congestion Pricing Still on Track–But Who Knows for How Long? Despite an order from the Trump administration to turn off the congestion-pricing tolls on March 21, Gov. Kathy Hochul told... News 28 Feb 2025 | 04:50
A visibly angered Gov. Kathy Hochul addresses the demand by the Trump Administration to cease the New York Congestion Pricing program. ( Photo: Office of NYS Governor) Hochul Fires Back after “King” Trump Pushes to End Congestion Pricing It is all out war over congestion pricing after President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation issued an edict to... News 23 Feb 2025 | 06:56
Opposition Growing Against NYPD’s Criminalization Push for Bike-Traffic Infractions