Why don't you like the idea of capping?

Cap it where you can and close off all the local ramps, keep it for through traffic only. If that reduces traffic enough, take two lanes for BRT.

Removing it entirely is a pipe dream.

The cost of everything has gone up, and now there are a third fewer daily riders.

One of the biggest factors is debt. The MTA pays for all their capital improvements with debt, which has to be repaid. And right now, when interests rates are high, that debt costs a lot more.

Politicians keeping the subway fare 5 cents for 40 years is partly why we are in this mess. No one likes higher fares, but without a source of funds, the transit falls apart (even more).

And to anyone who thinks the solution is to privatize the subway, fares would be $6.

Would be the 5th iteration, but technically 4th move cuz the first two were in the same place.

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Subway-Long-Wait-Train/dp/B08FF8Z3RK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2P6O0V710219V&keywords=last+subway&qid=1673640865&sprefix=last+subway%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-1

Read this excellent book on the exact subject. What I mentioned is exactly what happened.

I think it's hilarious that we got here, in part, because the Republican controlled NYS (Pataki) thought big govt would waste money and wanted the MTA to use more "free market" consultants.

https://imgur.com/Kc2gPBf

She wants that Transit Union money.

The only person who can really make the needed reforms at the MTA is the Gov. At this point I don't see that happening. At most the MTA will put out some kind of budget with some magic numbers about cost savings. But they are still going to cry poor and propose service cuts (more than they already have.)

Anytime you see a MTA spokesperson mention "best practices", they are full of shit. The MTA wouldn't know international best practices if it hit them.

Reporting on a twitter exchange between a bunch of wing nuts on both sides? Give this person a Pulitzer! /s

I want to believe he is going to do the right thing. But just cutting jobs and calling it eliminating red tape isn't going to work. We need to loosen the right regulations. We still need safe buildings.

"“A crucial component to achieving this is community engagement, which must be expanded through participation and input from diverse stakeholders at the neighborhood level and frequency, depth and inclusivity,” the speaker said."

Because this has worked so well in the past? People love to shut down new development. This process only adds time and cost to developments.

No, there is a very specific section of that tunnel which is absolutely not wide enough. You're thinking of the Freedom Tunnel which, at one point, had 4 tracks. But these tracks never went to Penn Station originally. A connection was made later on, and it is a single bore tube.

A second tunnel would have to be threaded below Hudson Yards. Is that possible? Totally. Will it cost a billion dollars? No doubt.

But the thing that is really going to keep Phase 2 from happening is ridership. PSA runs through a dense section of the Bronx and connects to CT. The Hudson Line runs along the river and serves mostly bedroom communities. That means the potential ridership is way lower.

PSA running along the NEC could justify the high price tag. Phase 2, maybe not so much.

That is considered for a phase 2 of Penn Access. The issue is that this connection is only one track, limiting the amount of service.

Of course not. I've been down there and seen it with my own eyes. It's basically done, just waiting on some permits.

That's what I mean. What are a couple more months on top of 13 years?

After all the time it's taken, I really don't care if it's a couple of months late. Cuomo pushed the MTA to finish 2nd Ave by an arbitrary date and they skipped a lot of important check list items. So much so that if you go there today the stations are starting to fall apart. Do the job right, get it done when it's done.

Hey yall, as the co-founder of the QueensLink I'd just like to ask that if you are interested in the project in any way, check out our website thequeenslink.org and PLEASE sign our petition. The more voices we have in support, the harder it will be for the MTA to ignore us! Thanks!

All of this is factually incorrect. The $8 bil cost was pre-inflated. The MTA's own costs estimate that the hard costs will be around $1.5b, and double for soft costs which cover cost over-run contingency.

There does not need to be ANY eminent domain, especially at Metropolitan Ave.

These neighborhoods, at least south of Queens Blvd, are absolutely transit deserts. While there are some areas with literally no rail transit and only a couple of buses, the areas south of Forest Park seem like they have good transit if you are only looking at a subway map. But the limited capacity on the J/Z and A/C means that they are de facto deserts. Deserts aren't devoid of water, they just don't have enough to sustain a lot of life.

This is not to say that there aren't more areas that need transit, just that this is one of the last places where we have existing infrastructure that can be reused at significant cost savings. It's ludicrous to think we should turn it into a park that would block any future use of transit.

"Tons"? Gonna need a source on this.

I've seen something like this while bartending. Woman was trying to get inside my closed bar and wouldn't stop. She didn't disrobe, but was clearly out of her mind. My friend and I finally got it out of her that she was trying to get into her apartment which just happened to be the NEXT door over.

We got her into her building, and up to her apartment. Then got the fuck out of there. Her roommate happened to be a regular and when I mentioned the story to her she said she had heard about it from her roommate.

Now, we will never know what it was exactly. But having been around a lot of drunk people for many years, it clearly wasn't JUST alcohol.