InsideTransit

When I think of the transit authority in NYC (the MTA), I think of buses, subways, commuter trains and some tolls on bridges and tunnels. I don’t think of bikes!

NYC has begun to launch “bus only lanes” on First and Second Avenues in Manhattan. This is part of the new SBS bus system – the goal is to make riding the bus a faster and more exciting experience. If you drive in the bus lane, you could receive a ticket in the amount of $115 and if you are ticketed more than 4 times, you will have to cheer for the Jets (just kidding). The new SBS buses have cameras pointing forward from the front of the bus and the cameras will capture the license plates of those who decide to drive in the bus lane.

The MTA has hired a marketing firm which will ride bikes up and down First and Second Avenue to help get the word out about the bus lanes and the fines. Apparently the city has paid $10,000 for the week of bike riders.

The king of monitoring the money the MTA spends, Greg Mocker from WPIX television has a full report on the new ad campaign.
Read the rest of this entry »

There’s Miss USA, Mrs. USA, Miss World and about 80,000 other beauty pageants each year across the world. But none are as cool as this one. German newspaper The Local is reporting that there will be a beauty pageant held in the Berlin U-Bahn.

The event will feature the same competitions as a normal pageant: swimwear, evening gown, talent and Q&A. From what we hear, there will also be a competition to see which contestant can stop the U7 bahn closest to an egg placed at the end of the station.

It looks like each contestant will be paired with a German fashion designer and the idea is to show off the designer’s clothing and also the bahn. Nothing better than an attractive woman coming together with an attractive subway car.

The winner wins a lifetime free pass on any German rail system (just kidding).

I can only imagine what 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Farenheit) trapped in a train must feel like. The German ICE train was headed from Berlin to Cologne on one of the hottest weekends of the year. My friends in Germany have told me about the massive heatwave Germany was under last week. ICE is Germany’s high speed train and if I remember from my trips on ICE several years ago, you couldn’t open the windows.

From The Local, “Nine students and elderly passengers were taken to the hospital, where some received IV drips. The student group from Remscheid and Willich in North Rhine-Westphalia had been on its way back from a class trip to Berlin.

Witnesses described dramatic scenes on board the ICE train as dehydrated students reportedly lay down in the aisles, and one woman smashed a window during the trip in hopes of getting fresh air.”

A train crash between Hannover and Braunschweig in Germany has injured 16 people. The Local has the full details on the crash.

From The Local, “An oncoming regional passenger train at around 11:20 pm rammed into three cars of a freight train, which had derailed just ahead of a bridge in the city of Peine. A passenger alarmed police from the train, which was carrying 65 people. The regional train conductor was severely injured, while 15 passengers sustained minor injuries, police said. The driver of the freight train, which was laden with gravel, walked away unscathed, according to initial reports.”

From June 1 – November 30, the transit authorities of the NYC metro area will run a “contactless payment” trial. The new contactless payment system allows you to enter the NYC subway, city bus, commuter bus or PATH by just tapping your credit card or mobile device to the entry point rather than having to enter your Metrocard or ticket.

The system should speed up the ability for passengers to enter the system – something that is desperately needed on city buses (especially the crosstown buses).

You can learn more about the contactless payment trial on the Mastercard site.

Sadly the test will be run by Mastercard and it appears the card or mobile device you use must be PayPass enabled. I would have preferred to see a system like the Oyster Card in London.

Now here is something you will probably never seen on any transit system in the U.S. This one comes straight from the London Underground. A bunch of people went on the tube naked (yes, I mean completely naked) to promote an upcoming TV series where experts will help small businesses turn around and become profitable.

The Daily Mail has the full story (NOTE: LINK HAS NSFW NUDE PHOTOS) and they note, “Steven Suphi, behaviour change specialist and leadership guru, believes stripping off in the office will help boost employees’ confidence and develop trust. I believe this extreme process will help them push their boundaries and become a close team that trust each other enough to get naked together.”

I wonder what will happen if this TV show makes it across the river.

Amtrak has announced the date for the third annual National Train Day. This year National Train Day is May 8, 2010. You can check out all of the events on the National Train Day website.

There are also events planned for Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington. It appears most of the events will be held at the main Amtrak station in each city. I am unsure if they will have the same train equipment tours as they had in 2009. Amtrak also notes that there will be art exhibits and fun activities for kids. And of course there will be a store to buy lots of fun things related to trains.

For those railfans located in NYC, Amtrak is preparing an event at Penn Station. If you have kids, take them to the National Train Day event in your city and get them excited about trains and transit in general.

Subway sandwich shop is sponsoring the National Train Day events.

Isn’t Disney supposed to be a happy place? First there was a horrible crash of the Disney monorail that killed the operator of the monorail. A week later there was a bus crash that injured 12 passengers. And back in December, passengers on the monorail were stuck for hours.

Yesterday an 80-year old bus driver at Disney crashed into two other vehicles. Check out the full story on the Palm Beach Post. Florida Highway Patrol identified the driver as Fredrick Cassens, 80, of Auburndale.

WESH.com reported that 19 people were on the Disney bus. There were said to be no injuries.

From the Palm Beach Post, “The crash was the third such event on the theme park’s property in the past two weeks. The most recent killed a 9-year-old Pinellas County boy, who was run over Thursday after his bicycle drifted into the side of a Disney bus at Fort Wilderness Resort , investigators said.”

The Disney Blog has a look at all of the accidents and the steps Disney might look at in light of the recent incidents.

There is a very upsetting story coming out of Moscow, Russia this morning. More than 35 people have died in 2 suicide bombings in the subway system in Moscow.

“It was a terrorist act carried out by the female suicide bombers,” said Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, citing Russia’s intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service. “They were specifically timed — for … the train was nearing the station — to make the most damage.

The first explosion occurred about 8 a.m. at Lubyanka subway station, killing at least 23 people and injuring 20. The second explosion happened about 30 minutes later at Park Kultury station, on the same train line. The Emergency Situations Ministry reported 12 dead in the second explosion, with 20 more injured.

Read more on the NY Times and CNN about the potential reason behind the attacks.

The transit management in NYC, known as the MTA, has posted a press release noting that they will be terminating more than 1,000 positions. The MTA says this is more than 15% of the administrative payroll. Over 500 transit station agent positions will also begin to be cut – at my station. I’ve often wondered what the station agent does but sit there or stand outside and talk on their cell phone all day. Why not give them a broom and some bleach and let them clean the stations.

“The State’s economic crisis demands that the MTA move quickly and decisively to cut costs, and that is exactly what we are doing,” said Jay H. Walder, MTA Chairman and CEO. “These layoffs are extremely painful, but we must live within our means and make the tough decisions that businesses and families across New York are making.” Walder continues, “We will be reducing overtime, consolidating redundant functions and working with suppliers to lower costs. We will not stop until I can say that every dollar the MTA receives is spent wisely.”

I’m just wondering how long before we hear that the prices will be increasing – I say somewhere around mid-April.