InsideTransit

Here’s an interesting story – this morning on the F elevated subway in Brooklyn, a “square” of the subway platform fell down. I can’t tell if the square of concrete fell to the street or not. The F line is bypassing the 18th avenue station in the southbound direction.

Luckily it appears no one was hurt or injured. Look how many MTA construction employees are on the scene. Why are they carrying 2×4′s?

Between 1941 and 1976 NYC held the “Miss Subways pageant” where a woman would be crowned Miss Subways for a year. My guess is that there was less drama with Miss Subways than there is with Miss USA!

The Infrastructurist has a good recap of the yearly event and they note, “The Miss Subways contest, sponsored by the New York Subways Advertising agency, was designed to draw more attention to ads in subway cars. Pictures of the reigning Miss Subways along with a short description of her interests and aspirations were posted among the ads.”

Meet Miss Subways is on display through May 30, 2009 at Rush Art Galleries in Manhattan. The gallery is located on 23rd street between 10th and 11th avenues. I am going to try to head over there before the gallery is removed.

WCBS is reporting that NYC MTA CEO Elliot Sander has resigned. The resignation will be effective May 22nd and Sandler wanted to stay on to get the “Doomsday” budget passed. Sander released a statement on his resignation: 

“It has been a great honor to lead the 70,000 hard-working men and women who run the world’s greatest public transportation system. I am tremendously proud of our accomplishments making the MTA a leaner, more efficient and effective organization.

“Each of the MTA’s agencies is performing at peak levels, the relationship with our employees is dramatically improved and we communicate more frequently with our customers. The integration of the MTA’s three bus companies, the merging of back office functions across 7 agencies and the introduction of line general managers on the subway system will save the MTA millions and improve the agency’s performance. New innovations like rider report cards, text message alerts and Select Bus Service have improved the customer experience.

“There is more work to be done, but I leave confident knowing the MTA is headed in the right direction. I am grateful to Governor Paterson and Governor Spitzer for this wonderful opportunity. I wish Governor Paterson the best of luck in choosing a successor who will build on the progress the MTA has made over the past two and a half years.”

WCBS notes, “Sander was appointed in January 2007 to head the nation’s largest mass transit agency by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.”

Here’s a funny sign that shows some upcoming NYC subway changes. This looks just like a real transit service change sign. I can’t say I agree with all of it – especially since I don’t ride the G or L.

Pete Donohue from the NY Daily News is reporting that the first segment of the second avenue subway could be delayed at least four years. From the article, “The feds have “provided the MTA with a time period that is more than reasonable” regional administrator Brigid Hynes-Cherin wrote to the MTA in November. “Unfortunately, the MTA appears to have been caught up in a never-ending process of evaluating and reevaluating each program. The time for evaluation has taken far too long, and the time for presenting a recovery plan is now long overdue.” In the letter, Hynes-Cherin also complained about a “lack of leadership” when the MTA “took an excessive amount of time” to fill top-level vacancies in the capital construction division, including the presidency.”

Most railfans believe we will never see the second avenue subway in our lifetimes. I agree. It’s amazing that the MTA can go from a mega budget surplus to a “doomsday” scenario in less than two years. I’d love to run the MTA for a year even if they don’t pay me – things would be fixed.

StationStops first launched their iPhone app last October in the iPhone App Store. The app costs $1.99 and is a simple timetable for the Metro North RailRoad in NYC. You can easily find out what time the next train will be arriving at your station. It’s an easy way to maximize your time at a location because you will know exactly what the train schedule is for that station and you can adjust accordingly. The app also displays the fares for the specific train.

Creator Chris notes, “when I first started riding Metro-North, I was surprised at how awkward it was to get access to the schedule wherever you were at the time – which all too commonly was on a train, on the subway, or otherwise underground.”

What’s neat is that the schedules are downloaded to the iPhone so you don’t need to access the Internet to use the application.

You know that we only bring you the best videos from around the world. Today I have one from my hometown of NYC. In the video you will get to experience what it is like to ride the A train from 145th and 59th street. The trip takes place on a subway car called R40 Slant – this set of cars is slowly being retired from the system. This is one of the favorite subway cars for railfans because you can actually look out the front.

You might want to pop a bag of corn and grab a large bottle of vodka to really enjoy this exciting video.