Transit boss peers into distant future
March 4, 2008
MTA chief Elliot Sander detailed an ambitious 40-year plan yesterday for expanding the region’s subway, railroad and bus service “to remain a center of commerce, culture and innovation.”
“With the increased population of a million people in the city by 2030 and three million people in the region, this is how we would do it,” said Sander, after making the first “State of the MTA” address.
The MTA’s network now carries 8.5 million people a day; by 2030, ridership is projected to grow another 20 percent.
Sander’s “forward vision” won’t come cheaply, though he didn’t mention a price tag. He’s already asking the state to come up with a way to fund a new $29.5 billion capital plan that will take the agency through 2013. Does that make his broader plan pie in the sky?
“I’ve won a few bets about whether Second Avenue would get started,” said Sander, before allowing, “It could be pie in the sky if Albany doesn’t do the financial lifting to get there.”
Far from the ’70s
• Sander recalled the state of the subway after the city’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s, when track fires were routine, trains derailed every 18 days, and 325 subway runs were abandoned daily.
• “Subway crime was a fact of life in a system covered with graffiti,” he said.
• Since 1982, the MTA’s invested $76 billion to rebuild the system. Ridership has soared 40 percent. “As the MTA goes, so goes the region,” Sander said.
Tapping into unused tracks
East village. With the completion of East Side Access and the first leg of the Second Avenue subway, the next wave of expansion projects “should rely heavily on the MTA’s diamonds in the rough,” said Sander, “underutilized or dormant freight and commuter rail rights-of-way that can be transformed into subway lines.”
Imagine the Second Avenue Subway in Lower Manhattan crossing the East River to Downtown Brooklyn, where it connects to the LIRR’s yard at Atlantic Avenue. The line could then go to Jamaica, Queens, and connect to the AirTrain to JFK Airport.
Another scenario picks up on the Regional Plan Association’s “circumferential” route, which would convert a Bay Ridge freight line into a subway running in an arc from southern Brooklyn to Queens and the Bronx.
There are also 55 miles of “underused” middle tracks that could be used for new express trains.
Sharing the load
Partnerships with other transit providers could bring new services, such as regional ticketing, in which travelers would use the same card for different agencies. With NJ Transit and Amtrak, the MTA has identified routes for running Metro-North trains to New Jersey and Long Island. Metro-North’s New Haven line will go to Giants Stadium.
Congestion pricing: Five promises to help your commute
Congestion pricing is a “critical piece” of Sander’s strategy to fund the MTA’s new $29.5 billion five-year capital plan. He promised to deliver “enhanced bus and subway service across the five boroughs before congestion pricing is even up and running.” These changes include:
1 In the Bronx, more frequent service on the 1 train and three new express bus routes.
2 In Brooklyn, F trains run more frequently, and C riders see two cars added to each train. Three new bus routes created. Service increased on four bus routes.
3 In Queens, service increased on the E and F lines before and after rush hour. Six new bus routes added, and 13 routes have more frequent service.
4 In Staten Island, increased service on most express bus routes.
5 In Manhattan, the 1, C, E and F trains plus 16 bus routes would have more frequent service.
Source: MetroNY
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