MTA
Streetsblog Basics
Will DA Ken Thompson Drop Case Against Bus Driver Who Killed Senior?
On the evening of December 23, 2014, 78-year-old Jean Bonne-Annee was crossing New York Avenue at Farragut Road in Brooklyn when an MTA bus driver ran him over while making a left turn.
February 25, 2015
De Blasio Defends Right-of-Way Law to Dimwits in Albany [Updated]
Update [February 26]: The quote from the mayor has been updated to include his full response.
February 25, 2015
MTA Bus Driver Runs Over 15-Year-Old Girl in Brooklyn Crosswalk [Updated]
Update: NYPD told Streetsblog the bus driver involved in this crash was arrested and charges are pending. Transportation Alternatives tweeted that, according to police, he was charged under the Right of Way law.
February 13, 2015
Albany Has Already Saddled the MTA With More Debt Than 30 Nations
As Albany contemplates paying for the MTA capital program by borrowing as much as $15 billion, it's worth pausing to examine the debt load straphangers are already shouldering. To put it in perspective, the MTA carries more debt than Bolivia, Tanzania, and Luxembourg combined, according to numbers compiled by the Straphangers Campaign. The MTA owes more than at least 30 nations, including several with populations much larger than New York City.
February 12, 2015
Trottenberg: DOT Staffing Up to Add More Select Bus Service Routes
The City Council transportation committee held a hearing today on the de Blasio administration's Bus Rapid Transit plans, giving council members an opportunity to prod DOT about its BRT progress and show their support (or lack thereof) for bus lanes and more robust surface transit improvements than the Select Bus Service program has yielded so far.
February 10, 2015
De Blasio: Albany Failing to Meet Its Obligation to NYC Transit Riders
Mayor de Blasio unveiled his preliminary budget proposal this afternoon. In an address outlining the broad strokes of the budget, de Blasio called out Albany for neglecting the MTA and warned that inaction on federal transportation funding could undercut the Vision Zero program.
February 9, 2015
Cuomo’s Transit Budget Is a Confusing Jumble of Raids and Transfers
It's state budget season! Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive budget is chock-a-block with raids of dedicated transit funds, questionable transfers, and toll cuts doled out as election-year favors. It's a mess that doesn't answer how the state will close the $15.2 billion gap in the MTA capital program.
February 5, 2015
Just a Reminder: Cuomo Can Take Charge of the MTA Whenever He Wants
At approximately 5 p.m. Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he had ordered the complete closure of New York City's bus and subway systems in the face of an oncoming snowstorm. If nothing else, it was a stark reminder that the transit system is not a political orphan. The MTA is, in fact, Cuomo's agency.
January 29, 2015
Lancman and Simanowitz: Let’s Keep Queens Bus Riders Stuck in Traffic
Tonight, DOT and the MTA will hold an open house to solicit input for proposed Select Bus Service routes linking Flushing and Jamaica. The plan to reduce travel times for tens of thousands of Queens bus riders has broad support from advocates and local electeds, including Assembly Member Nily Rozic. But the Times Ledger reports that Assembly Member Michael Simanowitz and City Council Member Rory Lancman, who purport to be in favor of the project, oppose dedicating new street space to buses.
January 22, 2015
Ex-MTA Chiefs: Fund the Capital Plan, Don’t Gamble With the Transit System
With the election over and Albany in session, the time for tiptoeing around the $15.2 billion gap in the MTA's next five-year capital program is over. Today, three former MTA chiefs lined up to say that, one way or another, the plan must be fully funded.
January 13, 2015