Media Links
November 2, 2011
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Source: NY Daily NewsA bus driver and his riders quickly abandoned ship after a passenger screamed “rat” but a rodent was never found, authorities said.
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Source: Crain's New York BusinessNine Democrats and one Republican from New York's congressional delegation have formally requested that the Obama administration send the mass-transit system $3 billion in transportation funding recently rejected by the governor of New Jersey.
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Source: Transportation NationThe Democratic-controlled Senate backed $108 billion in Fiscal 2012 federal transportation spending 69-30, flatlining budgets as Washington operates in a climate of spending cuts. Transportation money could wriggle out from under the spending mess if the House passes its bill AND the House and Senate agree to a compromise by November 18. If not, it’s more negotiation not just over transpo dollars, but tied in with the rest of the government’s funding as well.
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Source: Asbury Park PressJames Simpson made the remarks as part of a panel discussing transportation funding with former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley and Anthony Coscia, former Port Authority board chairman and current Amtrak board member. His reply was to a direct question about the Access to the Region’s Core rail tunnel project, canceled in October 2010.
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Source: IndypendentThe Occupy Wall Street movement represents something on a whole new level. Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, a 37,000-member union with a radical history, has been at the forefront of labor support, going so far as to seek an injunction to stop the NYPD from forcing its members to transport arrested OWS protesters. Labor support is growing on the institutional level. 1199/SEIU sent members to provide medical assistance. Several big unions including the United Federation of Teachers and District Council 37 have lent nearby office space to OWS working groups. And email blasts from the AFL-CIO and unions urged members to join with the protesters in Liberty Park Oct. 14 to defend the OWS encampment from a possible eviction.
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Source: CapitalHorodniceanu is possibly the least well-known and most respected high-level M.T.A. official. You don't know about him in part because he's not in charge of making trains run on time, or rerouting lines, or determining your MetroCard prices. His job is much bigger: He is in charge of every major construction project the authority is undertaking, including but not limited to complex undertakings like the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access, a plan that would make it possible for commuter rail from Long Island to reach Grand Central Station.
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Source: Daily Politics / NY Daily NewsAssembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has not given up hope the state will yet renew the so-called millionaire's tax. In fact, the Manhattan Democrat predicted today that Gov. Cuomo would – because of the state’s deteriorating budget condition – eventually change his mind and approve a renewal of the tax, which expires on Dec. 31.
October 31, 2011
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Source: Mobilizing the RegionVeolia Transportation has signed a contract to operate Long Island Bus next year, a Nassau County spokesperson told Newsday today. But the details of the contract have been kept under wraps, even as the Nassau County Legislature prepares to vote on a 2012 budget that would cut county funding to the bus agency by 73%. (That vote will be preceded by a public hearing at 7 pm this Sunday at the county’s Executive and Legislative Building at 1550 Franklin Avenue in Mineola.) The county has not yet signed the contract, according to the spokesperson, who said it would be released to the legislature soon.
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Source: NY1Around 1,000 New Yorkers graduate from the MTA's training facility in the Bronx every year through a process that involves rigorous trials and an innovative bus driving simulator.
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Source: NY Daily News"While details remain to be worked out, and the Legislature must approve, Bloomberg, Liu and labor leaders are solidly on the right track."
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Source: NY1A Manhattan woman said that her morning commute on the M72 bus tends to get her soaked on rainy days thanks to leaky roofs, and she came armed with an umbrella and a cell phone camera Thursday to help make the problem clear to the MTA.
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Source: InfrastructuristWith the economy being what it is, the United States is heading into a transportation crisis for low and middle class citizens. Those able to afford cars find themselves spending more and more of their incomes on gasoline, and those without cars have to rely on public transit that is inadequate in many places. With unemployment stuck at 9% and the housing market depressed, finding jobs closer to home or affording the costs of moving are out of the question for many people. Inadequate transportation prevents economic growth, limits educational opportunities, creates a public health issue, and hurts worker productivity. Better transportation options need to be a top priority for federal spending. Yet it isn’t. Inadequate transportation affects millions of people in all different age groups and residential settings. In Detroit, for example, nearly 30% of households don’t have a vehicle, leaving residents no choice but to take the city’s inefficient bus system that often leaves them waiting for hours to reach destinations. And the crisis isn’t limited to cash-strapped cities like Detroit. In Cincinnati, which has a slightly better financial outlook, it’s estimated that 64% of seniors aged 65-79 will have poor transit access by 2015. Providing adequate transportation for the elderly should be a top priority, as this group contains some of the most likely candidates to depend on public transportation. Rural communities and suburbia are also hurting. Rural communities deserve our attention on this matter because not only do they contain 21% of the population, they have higher proportions of older and lower-income citizens, the groups who can benefit the most from these services. Suburban areas should be on the radar as well, as they have millions more living below the poverty level than America’s inner cities. Poverty rates are rising faster in suburbia than in any other residential setting. Nor is this just about getting to and from work. The poor often live in food deserts, areas where healthy and affordable food is hard to obtain. Fitness deserts, areas with few opportunities for exercise, also pose health problems to millions of people. A full 80% of census blocks do not have a park nearby, negatively affecting both health and quality of life. How do we know neighborhoods have a direct effect on health? The results of a long-term study conducted by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development show that moving to a neighborhood with less than 10% of people living below the poverty line has a positive effect on health, specifically with obesity and diabetes. Despite these desperate infrastructure needs, Congress is determined to keep cutting. Easing transportation poverty through improved infrastructure needs to survive. Image credit: Jeffrey Bary via Flickr
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Source: ATUA national transit workers union is calling on prosecutors to press for attempted murder charges against the Newark man accused of stabbing a city bus driver seven times last weekend.
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Source: Patch.comStarting November 14, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) will suspend southbound F and G train service at 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway stations until spring 2012.
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Source: Washington PostA measure was signed into law this year that sharply limited the collective-bargaining rights of public employees. Now analysts say the unpopular law, which was supported by the state’s Republican governor, could help Democrats in 2012.
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Source: NY PostA two-story building under construction in The Bronx collapsed yesterday, killing one of the three workers on the site.
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Source: CBS New YorkA new report says more than half the Long Island Rail Road workers who retired last year claimed they were disabled on the job and were thereby entitled to a bigger pension.
SEE ALSO: [FBI Could Make More Arrests In LIRR Disability Fraud Scheme (CBS)
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Source: CBS New YorkIn an effort to safely dispose of unused or expired prescription medications, the city is holding a drug buy-back program on Saturday.
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Source: NY Daily NewsThe MTA this year nickel-and-dimed its own commuter train riders out of more than $240,000 with its new ticket-refund fee, the Daily News has learned. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Long Island Rail Road imposed the $10 fee 15,874 times between January and September, according to information provided by the authority.
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Source: Bond BuyerWith the appointments two weeks ago of Joseph Lhota and Patrick Foye as heads of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, respectively, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has his own people in charge of the two major agencies.
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