Second Ave. Sagas

@2avesag

Subways, transit, NYC. All posts by @benjaminkabak.com

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Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 5d

Big News: The MTA is *finally* gearing up to rehabilitate the cursed and decrepit BMT Chambers St. station underneath 1 Centre Street. The contract will be awarded by the end of the year. Read: www.mta.info/press-releas...

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 14d

This is what the new generation of Paris Metro SIELs look like. There's room for alert information without cannibalizing train arrival time display.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 15d

Bill de Blasio and the hotel trades council are to blame.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 19d

Meanwhile, they remain so mad that they cannot stop NYC's congestion pricing that they want to turn it on its head completely. You can already institute highway congestion pricing. It's just called a road toll.

Section 11404 -Congestion Relief Program. The Congestion Relief Program
authorizes $50 million per year in competitive grant funding to advance innovative,
integrated, and multimodal solutions to congestion reliefin the most congested
metropolitan areas ofthe United States. The program goals should be changed to remove
a reference to "optimizing transit systems" and remove project eligibilities that include
cordon pricing as well as transit and commuter buses. In addition, the name ofthe
program should be Highway Congestion Relief Program. These modifications would best
address congestion in ways that fit the role ofthe FHWA, and FTA can leverage existing
programs to achieve the transit-related elements ofthis program.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 19d

Porous pavement - which is a must based on recent microbursts creating flash flooding - is apparently too "DEI" for Sean Duffy's roving band of morons. The Trump Admin is also fighting a war on trees.

Section 11406 -Healthy Streets Program. The Healthy Streets competitive grant
program authorizes $100 million per year to deploy cool pavements and porous
pavements and expand tree cover. Recommend not extending this program because this
program was not appropriated funding and therefore never launched. This program is also
associated with Biden -diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that are not supported
by this Administration.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 19d

More insane policy ideas from this letter.

Eliminate Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund: Eliminate the Mass
Transit Account within the Highway Trust Fund and consolidate all Federal fuel tax
revenues into the Highway Account to re-establish a direct user-pays model and reduce
the Highway Trust Fund's structural deficit.

Section 11206 -Increasing Safe and Accessible Transportation Options. The section
requires a 2.5% formula-fund set aside from apportioned planning funds (State Planning
and Research funds, and Metropolitan Planning funds) to go directly towards activities
associated with Complete Streets activities, which include planning and prioritizing
active transportation facilities including sidewalks and bikeways. States or Metropolitan
Planning Organizations may opt out ofthis requirement if Complete Street policies are
adopted. Recommend removing this requirement as this supports activities counter to
Administration priorities, such as bicycle lanes.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 20d

Good @newyorker.com cover this week

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 24d

Considering the demographics of the ferry ridership and the per-ride subsidies, this is perverse.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· 28d

Check out what @filmforumnyc.bsky.social and @nytransitmuseum.bsky.social are up to soon! filmforum.org/series/nyc-i...

A screenshot of the Film Forum website announcing the NYC IN TRANSIT series.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jul 9

Threads continues to be the most deranged social network around. What in the world are you doing here?

A post from auntiesophsoph_ on Threads saying "Moving around nyc is getting real expensive even with public transportation . I must be doing it wrong. $3 bus, then $8.25 airtrain, then $3? Subway. That’s almost $15 one way. And then same going back. So $30 in one day on public transportation. Jamaica queens to soho. Lol mercy "

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jul 6

The article abstract which reads: "Large cities worldwide have adopted congestion pricing to reduce urban traffic, with well-documented benefits for travel speeds, accident rates, and air quality. This paper identifies a novel external benefit: faster emergency medical service response times. We provide the first evidence on how the congestion pricing program in New York City – the first comprehensive cordon-based congestion pricing system in the U.S. that was implemented on January 5th 2025 – affects emergency medical service (EMS) response performance. Exploiting the sharp geographic boundary of New York City's congestion relief zone at 60th Street and a difference-in-discontinuities design applied to approximately 1.6 million EMS incidents, we find that the January 2025 implementation of congestion pricing reduced passenger vehicle traffic by roughly 21 percent near the boundary and improved total EMS travel times by 63–70 seconds, approximately 5–6 percent. Effects emerged quickly and show little evidence of displacement to adjacent areas. A concurrent FDNY directive requiring transport to the nearest hospital confounds standard difference-in-differences estimates but not our boundary-based design. These findings suggest that cost-benefit analyses of congestion pricing systematically understate net social benefits by omitting emergency response improvements."

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 27

Bing Bong

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 24

Politicians who believe in a social safety net are getting elected by Dem voters, in many cases by large margins, so other Dems should join with the fascists to stop it. Incredible take from a TWU official. Embarrassing Albany gives these guys the time of day. That anti-OPTO should’ve been DOA.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 22

From today's MTA Board committee meetings, coming eventually, the R262.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 18

Everyone in their life one days learns of this and then you're just mad about it for the rest of your life.

Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow

‪@tomtomorrow.bsky.social‬
🤯 me, learning that we could have had a subway direct to JFK when it was still called Idlewild, if robert moses had agreed to a minor extension while building the van wyck

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 11

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 10

No. Next question.

A screenshot of an image atop an NY Times article with the headline that says "This Parking Spot Is Free. Should It Be?"

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 5

Welcome to New York City. You're a tourist who's just landed after an 8 hour flight from Berlin. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out WTAF is going on here.

An extremely confusing diagram of weekend subway service with arrows in many directions indicating where trains are going. It's extremely hard to decode.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· Jun 5

Get their asses, DOT.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 26

No. Absolutely not. He should be in jail. Let's not be contrarian for the sake of it.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 26

Meanwhile, the new plans remove escalators from street level - making it even harder for people with luggage to get to their trains. Thoughtless and stupid, a Trump specialty.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 26

This is why a number of us were saying last week not to buy into the through-running line in the press release. It's a nothingburger.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 26

To say the least

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 21

So long, Shoreliners. Metro-North is looking for 252 new cars to upgrade the fleet. It's been a long time since MNR got new trains. Press Release: www.mta.info/press-releas...

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 20

Looking good, guys!! bsky.app/profile/coll...

A misspelled press release features Transportation Secretary Sean P. "Duggy"

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 20

A subway ridership update: Last week featured the 5th, 7th, and 10th busiest days in the subway system since March 2020.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 17

Good lord man.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 8

Oh, I see.

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 1

Statement from MTA Chief, Policy and External Relations John J. McCarthy on USDOT Announcement of an Appeal in Congestion Relief Case

"Congestion pricing is working – fewer cars, less pollution, faster commutes. Secretary Duffy has already lost in court and if he wants to see us there again, let’s go."

Second Ave. Sagas@2avesag· May 1

Agreed on the first point. The 4th Ave. platforms narrow too much to be able put an exit there, but it's badly needed. And here's the IRT exit you're talking about. It is just closed stairs to the street.