MTA Chairman Peter S. Kalikow announced that he is stepping down from his position as chairman of the MTA. Kalikow, who was appointed by then Governor George Pataki back in 2001, was reappointed to a 6-year term last summer, which suggested there might be battles ahead between him and new governor Eliot Spitzer. But at the end of 2006, Kalikow said he would step down during the second quarter of this year, after finishing up......

A man's fall into the subway tracks is now cause for a lawsuit. Angel Diaz, a nurse's aide who was headed to Lincoln Hospital for a job application, says he slipped on the wet platform at the 143rd Street Station and then "tripped on a bump in the cement used to repair a leak from a janitor's closet." Diaz's lawyer says he "flew" onto the tracks, where a subway car ran over his hand. The......

Yesterday, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow revealed the 2007 $10 billion MTA budget, confirming that there will be no fare hikes in 2007 and 2009. But some transit advocates think that Kalikow's strategy of implementing hikes every other year (one is expected in 2008) is just delaying the inevitable given the crippling deficits expected. Beverly Dolinsky of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA told the Post, "[Kalikow is] putting it in the lap of......

Newsday has a good article looking at the transportation issues the next governor will deal with - the biggest being the MTA. The MTA, which already announced fare hikes for next year, faces insane budget deficits in the coming years: $905 million in 2008, $1.13 billion in 2009, $1.48 billion in 2010. The Straphangers' Campaign's Gene Russianoff says of the MTA, "They borrowed a ton of money to fix a system, and now the bill......

Well, looks who is Mr. Helpful all of a sudden: MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is opposed to service cuts the MTA was planning to consider in its budget. The service cuts, which were reported yesterday in the NY Times, would have been extensive, piling on many minutes of waiting time for subways and buses as service. Critics - including our readers - freaked out, and especially considering plans to increase the subway and bus......

The MTA says their current offer is their "final offer" to the Transit Workers Union. And what's the offer? Three percent each year over a three year contract; the union wants 8% more. And benefits-wise, the MTA would ask new hires to pay 1% of their pay to go towards their health plans (workers do not do this now). Finally, the MTA wants to increase the retirement age from 55 to 62 after 30 years......

The MTA has voted to change its rules of rider conduct yesterday for the first time since 1994. Among the changes: No moving between cars; no riding on bikes or skateboards, or in-line skating; no resting feet on seats. The MTA left the "no open containers" on the subway rule that its had for 30 years, even though the MTA's attempt to "clarify it" by saying that people couldn't drink from the containers (that change......

Hurry! Go to the MTA's Subway Service Advisory E-mail Notification Pilot page and sign up to get emails from the MTA about what service issues there will be on the weekends. Yes, just like knowing the L train will be out for every weekend in a month! In the future, the MTA hopes to email people about sudden service issues, but it's all about the baby steps, people. Only 10,000 people can enter this......

Filing a lawsuit against the MTA is like the thing to do! The biggest transit union filed a suit saying the West Side railyards bidding should be reopened because the MTA perhaps didn't get enough money out of it. And the Straphangers Campaign and Tri-State Transportation Campaign, plus the NY chapter of Common Cause, are joining the suit. While it sucks to be MTA Chairman Kalikow (or NYC Transit President Reuter), Gothamist imagines that the......

Let's go over some of the major money-related MTA stories: - MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow says a Metricard fare hike is necessary. The last we remember, the fare hike would affect discounted Metrocards (yes, your unlimited weekly and monthly cards), but the article says the hike would increase fares by 14%...maybe that's in the discounted card revenue. Anyway, the MTA is still planning for the Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access, and No 7.......