Please Stand Clear

In order to "reduce dwell time" in the stations, the MTA is testing a shorter announcement on the 2 and 5 lines. Normally you hear a sonorous male saying "Stand clear of the closing doors, please." The test voice is a female who simply says "Please stand clear." The MTA says they hope to "shave 2-3 seconds off station stops."

Breitbart Headline Of The Day

Pam Geller is very unhappy:

A century of free speech in New York’s most public square — the streets, the buses, the subways — came to a screeching halt last Wednesday when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) voted to ban all issue and political advertising, solely in order to silence me. Baltimore burning is “free speech.” But our ads get banned. Got it? We are marching to totalitarianism. New York City is the capital of the free world. The world looks to us. What message did the MTA send Wednesday? Every city will follow suit. It was a dark day for freedom but have no fear. But this is not over. Not by a long shot. We have already begun to pursue this legally; our lawyers David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise have already written to the MTA asking that our ads be put up forthwith, as they are not political. The rich and powerful trumped our unalienable rights in New York City, April 29, 2015. But rewarding savagery with capitulation and fear will only bring more bloodshed and more terror. You haven’t seen anything yet.

NYC Transit To Ban All Political Ads Just To Stop Pam Geller's "Killing Jews" Campaign

Via CBS New York:

The nation's largest mass transit system is preparing to ban all political advertising on its subways and buses after a judge ruled that a pro-Israel group was allowed to display an advertisement containing the phrase "Hamas Killing Jews" on New York City buses. The resolution is expected to pass Wednesday at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board meeting after the finance committee approved it earlier in the week. The cash-strapped agency says such advertising only accounts for less than $1 million of its annual advertising revenue of $138 million. "Advertisements expressing viewpoint messages, regardless of the viewpoint being expressed, would no longer be accepted," the MTA's general counsel, Jerome Page, told the committee on Monday. New York is following in the footsteps of cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, which already have banned political ads on public transit, Page said. Philadelphia banned political ads after a federal court judge last month sided with a New Hampshire based non-profit on its claim that it has a first amendment right to run bus ads linking Muslims to Hitler.

(Tipped by JMG reader Todd)

NEW YORK CITY: Pam Geller Wins "Killing Jews" Transit Ads Battle With MTA

Via the New York Times:

A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to display an ad from a pro-Israel group on buses after the agency declined to run it last year. The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sued the authority in October, saying it had infringed on the group’s First Amendment rights by rejecting the ad. The authority had argued that the ad could be seen as a call to violence against Jews. The ad shows a man with a scarf across his face next to the words, “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,” attributed to “Hamas MTV.” Below that, it reads: “That’s his Jihad. What’s yours?” The judge, John G. Koeltl, of United States District Court, ruled that the ad qualified as protected speech and granted a preliminary injunction ordering the transportation authority to run the ad. He said the order would not take effect for 30 days so the agency could consider whether it would appeal the decision.

In 2012 Geller first prevailed over the MTA and was allowed to post subway platform messages that called Muslims "savages." Geller has won similar court cases against transit agencies in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

NYC Subway Ridership At 65-Year High

Via the Wall Street Journal:

New York City’s subway system carried 1.75 billion customers last year, as ridership grew by the highest annual amount in more than 65 years, according to new figures released Monday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority data show ridership grew 2.6% in 2014—some 5.6 million customers rode the system on an average weekday and six million people rode it on the average weekend. Not that riders need a reminder, but the increased numbers aboard the city’s subway system are a direct reflection of new residential development, redevelopment and growth in certain population areas, according to the MTA’s New York City Transit division. Weekday ridership has risen by more than 500,000 over the last five years, the MTA said, with weekday ridership up systemwide by an average 132,000 last year alone.

Ranked by average daily ridership, these are the five busiest stations in the NYC system.

Anguish Looms For The Hipster Express

Gothamist has unfortunate news for Billyburg nightlife:

Brokelyn reports that the L will not run overnight between 8th Avenue and Bedford Avenue on weeknights from March 24th to May 22nd. Indeed, it will turn into a pumpkin from midnight to 5 a.m., Tuesdays through Fridays, for six weeks. Hope you don't work in the service industry! And again, there will be no L service between 8th Avenue and Bedford Avenue on weekends from April 11th to May 18th. That joy kicks off at midnight on Saturday and ends at 5 a.m. Monday. The good news is, this track work will improve infrastructure on the L. And as always, there will be shuttle buses at Lorimer, and the JMZ/G trains will (hopefully) be running, but whatever, we're all dead when the East River overflows.

Cuomo Proposes Rail Link To LGA

During his State Of The State address, yesterday New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed connecting LaGuardia Airport to New York City's rail system via a new AirTrain line. Adding rail service to LGA is an idea that has been pitched and abandoned several times in recent decades.

Cuomo’s plan involves a 1.5 mile long LGA AirTrain running over the Grand Central Parkway, connecting with MTA’s 7 subway line, as well as the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington branch at the Mets-Willets Point station. A typical ride from Grand Central Terminal to Willets Point is about 30 minutes via the subway, while the Long Island Rail Road currently only stops at the station during sporting events at Citi Field or Arthur Ashe Stadium. The AirTrain plan was just a small portion of a larger speech given by Governor Cuomo on Tuesday morning, with only a few details set in stone as of yet. The joint Port Authority and MTA project is initially estimated to cost $450 million, and construction could be completed within five years after all approvals are granted, according to a short statement released by the Port Authority.

Cuomo did not elaborate on a source of funding for the project. Next week the MTA is expected to authorize a subway and bus fare increase, raising the single-ride price to $2.75 and the price of a monthly pass to $116.50. Cash tolls on the Verrazano Bridge will rise to $16.00. (The Port Authority operates the bridges and tunnels to Jersey.)

RELATED: AirTrain service to JFK launched in December 2003 after five years of construction that ended up costing nearly $2B. That line, however, is much longer than the one proposed for LGA.

NYC Subway Breaks Ridership Record

Via the New York Daily News:

If you think the subway is more crowded than ever you’re right: The MTA set a ridership record last month. Subway trains carried 149 million passengers in September — the most of any September in more than 60 years, according to the MTA. The newly available figures also show 6.1 million people rode the subway on Tues., Sept. 23, making it the highest daily ridership since reliable numbers were first recorded in 1985, according to the MTA. The subways swelled during the People's Climate March last month. There were 2.9 million riders on Sept. 21 — the highest for a Sunday since the 1940s, the MTA said.

Twenty years ago the daily ridership averaged a "mere" 3.9M.

New NYC Transit Ads From Pam Geller

Having won a 2012 court battle to place anti-Islam ads on New York City transit, the above banners from blogger Pam Geller began appearing this week on buses and subway platforms. Today Geller agreed to pull the top image from the campaign after receiving complaints from the family of beheaded journalist James Foley. As part of the 2012 ruling, the ads appear alongside a disclaimer from the MTA. Geller is suing again because the MTA rejected one ad from the new campaign because it contains the words "killing Jews."

Photo Of The Day

Gizmodo reports:

NYC's East Side Access Project continues apace, and these recent images, taken last month by MTA photographer Rehema Trimiew, show a whole new view of the mind-boggling underground caverns now being constructed beneath Manhattan. From raw walls of exposed geology to this, the space is finally taking on the look and feel of architecture. The titanic yellow facility—its walls secured behind waterproofing geotextiles that will, of course, eventually be covered over altogether, meaning that this surreal yellow scene is just a temporary state—is on the Grand Central side of the project, and will be part of a huge new underground terminal increasing access for the Long Island Railroad.

The tunnel and terminal which will connect Long Island Railroad to Grand Central is one of the two largest public works projects underway in the United States. The other, of course, is the Second Avenue subway on the Upper East Side. The Second Avenue line, which will be called the T train, will run at an average depth of 80 feet below street level. The East Side Access terminal will be a staggering 180 feet below Park Avenue. That'll be a lot of escalators. 47 escalators, in fact.

NYC Subway Breaks Single-Day Record

For those that are interested in mass transit trivia:

The weather was mild on the subway system’s perfect day — clear skies to coax New Yorkers outdoors, paired with a breeze that discouraged long walks. There were probably few vacations planned, with summer a recent memory and the year-end holidays looming. It was, perhaps most important, a Thursday. And so, on Oct. 24, 5,985,311 subway rides were taken in New York City, the most in recorded history, according to an internal memo prepared by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week. (The authority began keeping daily records in 1985.) Last year, the authority said, the subway recorded more than 1.65 billion rides, the most in 62 years. Still, the singular triumph of Oct. 24 remains difficult to decode. There was no major citywide event, no stadium full of baseball fans to carry home, with the Yankees and the Mets long since eliminated from championship contention.

New York City's metro system is the seventh-busiest in the world The next US city on the list, Chicago, is 47th.

HomoQuotable - Josh Barro

"The next mayor of New York, if he or she is to do a good job, will have to say 'no' a lot. Only Lhota gave the correct answer: No, you do not strand thousands of New Yorkers for 90 minutes in a futile effort to herd two cats whose lives we are inexplicably prioritizing over the rats who are run over, or drowned, or exterminated in the subways every day. The most terrifying aspect of this campaign is that New York is poised to elect its first non-asshole mayor since Abe Beame. There’s a reason big cities elect mayors like Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani and Rahm Emanuel and Richard Daley and Ed Rendell. The mayor’s main job is to say 'no.' Those guys are good at saying 'no.' Lhota is the only person in the field who resembles them." - Josh Barro, writing for Business Insider.

NEW YORK CITY: MTA Considers Selling Naming Rights To Subway Stations

The New York Times reports:

More of New York City’s subway stations could eventually bear the names of deep-pockets sponsors — for the right price. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has for the first time proposed a formal set of rules for renaming its facilities, and the authority’s board is expected to discuss the proposal at meetings next week. The authority cautioned that no name changes were imminent, and many board members have long expressed concerns about selling some of the subway system’s most significant elements to the highest bidders. But officials said that given the authority’s perpetual quest for revenue streams, the option could not be overlooked.

The MTA "experimented" with naming rights in 2009 when they sold the name for the Brooklyn's Barclay's Station for a mere $4M to be paid over 20 years.

Cell Service Expands On NYC Subway

You'll be able to use your cell phone in another 30 Manhattan subway stations beginning today.  Probably.

Anyone using subway stations between 18th Street and 96th Street on the Manhattan's West Side should be able to go online or have a conversation on their AT&T, T-Mobile or Transit Wireless phones. It is unclear when other networks, including Verizon Wireless, will come on board. It's all part of the completion of Phase 1 of the grand plan to provide wireless service to entire subway system by 2016. Phase 2 is expected to focus on wiring stations in Queens and Midtown Manhattan. The East Side of Manhattan and the Bronx will follow.

NYC Subway Launches Touchscreen Maps For Maximum Germ-Spreading

New York City's subway system is launching interactive touchscreen maps that will tell riders the best route, where to transfer, and an estimated travel time. The cost of the screens, of course, will be covered by video advertising.

Dozens of 6-foot-4-inch stainless-steel kiosks are to be installed in 19 subway stations in the next few months in what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority calls its “On the Go! Travel Station” program. They will replace some of the poster-size paper maps on platforms, mezzanines and turnstile areas, and also cut down on notices that sometimes proliferate to the point that they look like wallpaper.

Each kiosk will have an interactive display screen, measuring 46 inches diagonally, that can help riders navigate the system. The kiosks will also inaugurate a new kind of luminous, kinetic advertising that will be hard to avoid and almost impossible to ignore. Straphangers waiting for trains to arrive will be pretty much captive audiences. Who knows, though? Deep in commuting tedium, they may welcome a few minutes of diverting commercial video.

Gizmodo took a prototype for a test drive and their conclusion was that "these screens are freaking indestructible." (That line will doubtless challenge the city's hoodlums.) Despite my headline, germaphobes should know that the screen works by pressure and reacts more quickly when tapped with a coin or pen. They can also be washed with the same power hoses the MTA uses on the platforms once every quarter century.

MTA Union Hands Out Bloody Cards

Members of NYC's subway workers union are handing out fake MTA cards today in a campaign urging to the city to act on the rising number of passenger deaths and injuries. Several riders have been murdered in recent months by being pushed onto the tracks by mentally ill people.

"The union is sponsoring the outreach to bring public attention to the grave dangers facing passengers every day on the tracks," said a union spokesman, who said that, while the MTA is investigating "numerous high-tech solutions that would cost billions of dollars and take decades to implement," the union already has "a quick, easy and no-cost solution." Subway deaths spiked in 2012, with 55 people killed, up from 47 in 2011 — the highest number of deaths since 2007, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority stats.

The deaths have sparked interest in potential protections for straphangers, including calls to install pricey platform screen doors, like the ones seen in some European cities and on the JFK AirTrain, plans to rig subway platforms with “intrusion technology” that would sound alerts when someone steps onto the tracks, as well as the union's slow-down plan. The union, which is currently in contract negotiations with the MTA, also wants the MTA to put agents on crowded platforms and install emergency shut-offs to tracks in station booths.

MTA officials have said that installing platform-long barriers and doors is unworkable because the system presently uses several different models of cars, meaning that the doors would not line up for some trains. The MTA is considering testing such a system on the L line, which does not share tracks with other lines and uses only one model of train.

NYC Subway Pusher Caught, Tells Cops: I Want To Kill Muslims And Hindus

New York City police today apprehended the woman who pushed an Indian immigrant to his death under the 7 train in Queens on Thursday. Reportedly, the victim was chosen because his killer believed him to be Muslim.

In a statement released by the district attorney’s office, Mr. Brown quoted Ms. Menendez, “in sum and substance,” as having told the police: “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.” Ms. Menendez conflated the Muslim and Hindu faiths in her comments to the police and in her target for attack, officials said. The victim, Sunando Sen, was born in India and, according to a roommate, was raised Hindu.  Mr. Sen “was allegedly shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself,” Mr. Brown said. “Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant’s actions should never be tolerated by a civilized society.” Mr. Brown said he had no information on the defendant’s criminal or mental history. “It will be up to the court to determine if she is fit to stand trial,” he said.

Menendez will likely be charged with murder as a hate crime.

RELATED: After two such pushing deaths in the space of several weeks, the MTA says they are reconsidering a plan to install sliding barricades on some subway platforms.  Such barriers are in place on major subway systems around the world.  The MTA had previously estimated that it would cost at least a billion dollars to retrofit most of its 468 stations. About one person per week has died on the subway tracks this year due to suicide, falls, and more recently, murder.

UPDATE: The New York Post reports that a relative claims that the killer has a history of mental problems.

Menendez could have a criminal background -- and possibly a history of mental health issues, the sources said. She has recently been living in homeless shelters. The suspect was taken to the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills. "All I know is that she's bipolar and as far as seeing the footage, I'm pretty sure it was her," said a cousin of the suspect who declined to give his name. "I don't know much about her whereabouts or what she's been up to these past few months."

UPDATE II: Pam Geller says she has no responsibility in the murder because her latest round of anti-Islam subway ads have not yet been posted.

First off, my ads are not up yet in the subways. They are not scheduled to go up until January 7, 2013. And even if they were, how does that make me responsible? This murderess states most emphatically what her motive was: September 11. Why aren't the Islamic supremacists blaming jihad? Al Qaeda? Because they share AQ's ideology and goals and they are going to try to use this senseless murder to silence critics of genocide, ethnic cleansing and anti-humanism. Jihadists can kill thousands in the cause of Islam and the media, the left and political elites are OK with that, but some nut does something nuts and I am responsible? That's the war that we are in.

Below is Geller's subway ad which ran earlier this year.

Billboard Of The Day

The above message from wingnut Atlas Shrugs blogger Pam Geller goes up on fifty New York City subway billboards next week. Note the disclaimer added by the MTA.

Pamela Geller is at it again. The outspoken blogger and Executive Director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative has just purchased a slew of advertising space in several subway stations and on numerous Metro-North platforms in order to display her newest anti-Islam message. Her latest ads, shared exclusively with The Observer, will feature a panorama of the sky the moment the World Trade Center burst into flames in 2001, accompanied by a quote from the Quran that reads “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers.” “I refuse to abridge my free speech so as to appease savages,” Ms. Geller told The Observer. “Thousands of anti-Israel ads have run across the city and not one has been defaced. My ads, 10 went up in New York City, and they were destroyed in hours. You don’t agree with me, fine, run an ad. I have no problem with other people’s ideas.”

Geller's previous MTA campaign resulted in the arrest of Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy after she was filmed spray-painting over one of the billboards. All of the billboards in that campaign were defaced within 24 hours.

RELATED: "Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death." (Deuteronomy 17:12)

Giuliani Backs MTA Chief For Mayor

Two weeks ago we learned that MTA head Joe Lhota, who has earned widespread praise for the response to Hurricane Sandy, was being touted in GOP circles as a candidate to succeed Mayor Bloomberg. Now he's got Giuliani in his corner. Via New York Times:

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, under whom Mr. Lhota was a deputy mayor and with whom he still speaks frequently, is encouraging him to run and appears poised to take on an active role in any campaign. And Republican county leaders in the city have been contacted by a supporter, Jake Menges, an adviser to Mr. Giuliani, requesting that they hold off on endorsing a candidate. “He said, ‘I’ll have someone that you’ll like,’ ” Phil Ragusa, the Queens Republican chairman, recalled of his conversation with Mr. Menges. “I guess it was probably Joe.” In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 6 to 1, the specter of a run by Mr. Lhota, who declined to comment on his plans, has galvanized some who quietly expected the 2013 race to end a two-decade stretch without a Democratic mayor. “The M.T.A. happens to be one of the few things that was run well since Sandy,” State Senator Martin J. Golden of Brooklyn said. “I think he’d win.”

In a poll conducted last week, Lhota lost against a hypothetical and unnamed Democrat by a 6-1 margin. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn continues to lead in most polls.

NYC Subway Damage Almost $5B

The entire annual operating budget for the MTA is $7B.