Two subway musicians have filed a lawsuit against the city, accusing an NYPD officer of threatening them when they tried to legally busk, and then insulting them online. But what's really provocative about the lawsuit is that Heth Weinstein and Jed Weinstein are convinced that the cop, identified as Officer Isaac Valdez, also left a series of extremely racist, homophobic comments on various YouTube pages. Heth and Jed say Valdez's belligerent fixation with them began when they tried to perform in the subway under Grand Central Terminal using a "permit" issued by the MTA's Arts for Transit program. They allege that these repeated clashes with Valdez led to the discovery of a shockingly bigoted side to Officer Valdez. more ›

Originally there was going to be quite a bit of subway work this weekend. But then the weather forecast came in predicting actual cold (and snow!) and whatdayaknow, the MTA went and canceled most of it. Though if you live past Lorimer on the L, this is still an L Hell weekend. more ›

And this is why the MTA is installing partitions to protect bus drivers. Last night around 6:50 p.m. a B45 bus crashed into scaffolding outside 210 Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn. According to the driver he was being assaulted by a passenger at the time, an MTA spokesman says. more ›

A woman was rescued from the Metro-North tracks at Grand Central Terminal this morning. Authorities say that the 30-year-old "fainted and tumbled" into Track 28 after geting off a train that had arrived from Hartsdale around 8:30 a.m. more ›

West Siders? It is almost your turn to curse the MTA for a few nights! That's right, the second round of the MTA's consecutive weeknight subway closures (a.k.a. FASTTRACK) is almost upon us—and this time the 1, 2 and 3 lines get the pleasure of shutting down below 34th Street, Monday through Friday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. So if you were planning on taking the train back uptown after a nice romantic Village Valentine's dinner, well...be prepared to cab it home, because platforms are going to start closing before 10 p.m. But, hey! Progress! more ›

A group of straphangers who were stranded on an A train for eight hours overnight during the 2010 Christmas blizzard should take their legal complaint to the pearly gates, says the MTA. In a response to a lawsuit filed by several of the passengers, the MTA is blaming God in their defense. According to a court filing obtained by the Post, transit lawyers are arguing that "employees were confronted with an emergency situation by virtue of an Act of God." Please be patient, for the Lord moves in mysterious ways due to an earlier incident. more ›

Given the massive crowds expected downtown tomorrow to celebrate the New York Giant's Super Bowl win, the MTA has issued a press release instructing fans on what subway stations to use, as well as which ones to "avoid." According to the MTA, these because of the anticipated mob scene, these stations will be bypassed starting at 10 a.m.: The Fulton Street 4/5, the Fulton Street A/C, the Wall Street 4/5, the City Hall R, and the Chambers Street-WTC (the E will discharge customers at Canal Street, A and C will bypass). Please make a note of it, and if you are insane plan to be there, here's which stations the MTA recommends using: more ›

The MTA is taking seriously a proposal to bring Metro-North and 28,000 more commuters to Penn Station. Trains on the Hudson and New Haven lines would use existing Amtrak lines to service the West Side, but the LIRR would be forced to cut some service to make room for Metro-North, a move that advocates for the plan say is only fair given that the LIRR will serve Grand Central in 2018. Naturally, some (read: Long Islanders) are skeptical. "It's the old saying," the executive director for the Association for a Better Long Island tells Newsday. "Once it's gone, it's gone forever." Yet this assertion was famously disproved by the McRib and the Mickey Rourke Accords of 2005. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] We've received a report that a Manhattan-bound F train was delayed this morning because a woman was going into labor, and the MTA has confirmed it. The woman was "removed by EMS from Southbound F Train at 21st-Queensbridge," and the delay was from 8:58 a.m. until 9:21 a.m. This is officially a trend! Will the next issue of Brooklyn Magazine skewer the designer afghans you can spread out on train benches for when little Dylan greets the world? more ›

Those of you who ditch the office for the weekend at 3 p.m. on Fridays on the pretense of "picking up some of those sour candy straws": the MTA is on to you. A recent report co-authored by an MTA researcher shows that bus service on Fridays between noon and 3 p.m. experiences a "mini-surge," but drops off later in the evening for a 5% total dip in customers. Naturally, the implication is that the agency could cut or "adjust" Friday bus service and save $13 million. more ›

For the second time in a week, future president Newt Gingrich blasted the out-of-touch snobs who use our city's subway system. Like most Americans, you've probably never been able to afford a trip on the subway, as it is the exclusive domain of Champagne-sipping dandies who love nothing more than to luxuriate in the MTA's Gilded Age-opulence. But from what we've heard, it's like entering another dimension of sophistication and enchantment, where only the most glamorous citizens ride gold-leaf locomotives along shimmering silver tracks winding through wondrous subterranean cathedrals that none of you lickspittles posses the refinement to appreciate. Populist everyman Gingrich gets this, and today he told a crowd of real Americans in Las Vegas that these "elites" in Manhattan who live in high rises and "ride the subway" are killing this proud nation. more ›

The subway's a great way to get things done, whether its clipping your nails, licking your shoes, or eating noodles. So why not use that precious time to have your lady friend give you a buzz cut? After all, if you wait until you reach your destination, there's just going to be more hair to shave. You don't want to wind up looking like some dirty hippie when you get off the train at Jamaica Center, so nip that new growth in the bud and break out the hair trimmers, like this productive couple! more ›

Last night around 11:15 p.m., a freight train running on LIRR tracks derailed near Wyandanch, forcing the MTA to suspend service along the Ronkonkoma Branch while they cleared the train. Luckily, it looks like the morning commute is running smoothly. more ›

Last year when cellphone service first started popping up in Manhattan we learned that 30 other stations were set to get service at some point this year. And now we have a better sense of when. Just in time for the summer heat, the Times Square subway station is going to be an even noisier place. more ›

The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign today issued its first-ever “State of the Station Platforms” survey, which looked at 250 subway platforms at 120 randomly-selected stations in the transit system. (You can see which ones in the full report below, but they account for 28% of the entire system.) The survey, conducted by interns and staff last summer, homed in on 12 subway platform conditions, such as rats, graffiti, water damage, missing tiles, and overflowing garbage cans. But it's what they didn't find that may shock you: just ONE overflowing garbage can was observed during the survey! At press time, it was unclear how many of the interns performing the inspections were legally blind. more ›

[Update below] As rumblings of a "slowdown" "enhanced care" continue (seriously, the R train we took this morning was moving like a bus) the MTA and its largest union, Transit Workers Local 100, are set to return to the negotiating table. And though the last set of talks broke down because of leaks to the media, the Post today has some interesting details reportedly already agreed upon by the two sides. Most notably, when the contract is signed subway operators and conductors will be able to take three (paid) days off if they witness someone being hit by a train. more ›

We've been down this golden road before, but it's always worth remembering that one man's subway seat is another man's urinal. Here's recently uploaded documentation of an individual micturating on this fair city's subway seats, just as the train pulls into the station at Jay Street-MetroTech. The appalled witness who shot the video sums the scene up succinctly in one word: "Despicable." more ›

If you thought your commute was a little slow this morning, maybe it wasn't because of a theoretical union slowdown but because, well, mass transit service in New York City is on the decline? Last week Transportation Alternatives asked riders if their commute has gotten better or worse since 2009 and the results were not pretty. more ›

In the wake of some optimistic NY lawmakers' proposed bill to ban food on subways, we thought we'd share the video that's been sparking tensions between Hong Kong residents and mainland Chinese visitors. While it's not as knockdown and drag-out as the infamous NYC subway spaghetti fight, it does get pretty tense—because Hong Kong's subway system, the MTR, prohibits food on its rather immaculate trains—and one Hong Kong rider gets upset at a Chinese girl who spilled some dry noodles on the train floor. The girl's mother says, it's not a big deal... and then all hell breaks loose. more ›

Upper East Siders who enjoy "sleeping" and "resisting the urge to collapse into a weeping ball" may get some relief: the MTA's Capital Construction president told CB8 on Thursday that the blasting of the Second Avenue subway should cease by the end of the year. While those who live around 72nd Street may be able to retire their earplugs by New Year's Eve, the Post reports that blasting work at the site of the new station will begin on 86th street in April, and could last through 2013. They're gonna need more Sinatra. more ›

A major part of the reasoning behind the proposal to ban food on the subway currently in the State Senate is that your leftovers are many rats main courses. So what better time to sit back and watch some videos of rats hanging out in subway stations, chilling out and taking their people food for a stroll? more ›