Photograph by shveckle on Flickr The MTA announced the long-expected news that its economic situation is grim. In fact, MTA CEO and Executive Director Elliot Sander told reporters, “Should riders be concerned? Absolutely. Am I concerned? Absolutely.” The depressing highlights: "Tax revenues are $120 million below projections" and will be $280 million under projections by the end of the year. Rising fuel prices means the MTA is $60 million over budget. All told, the......

Photo via gmpicket's flickr. In one of life's crueler ironies, it's usually either extreme heat or extreme rain that forces people to stand sweltering on a subway platform or out into the drenching elements. Today it's the former: subway service is still a disaster on several of the city's lines. Residual delays still exist on the F, G, and 7, but the MTA has sorted out the trouble on those lines with the help......

Senator Charles Schumer, longtime critic of area airports, seized upon a study that shows delayed flights mean $4.9 billion is lost in the local economy. The Senate Joint Economic Committee's researchers released a report yesterday (working weekend!) which has some wild stats, like how delayed flights consume an additional 740 million gallons of jet fuel and how 20% of domestic flight time is wasted in delay. Also: "78% of flight delays in 2007 occurred before......

What's another delay of 12 to 18 months for the Fulton Street Transit Center? The proposed hub, which would link 11 different subway lines and has been in the works for years, was originally supposed to open this year, but costs for the hub have escalated, from the initially planned $750 million to well over a $1 billion. The MTA's president of capital construction Veronique Hakim claimed the MTA was making progress (well, they......

Photo of a snowy 7 line by gmpicket on flickr If you actually believed the recent fare hike would go toward service improvements on city subways and buses, the MTA has a bridge to sell you. Due to a slowdown in real estate tax revenues, the agency said yesterday that it would have to postpone any planned service improvements promised to come with the fare hike. Despite already projecting a decrease in tax revenue,......

Oh, MTA - you and your outlandish idea of putting a glorious glass dome at the renovated Fulton Street Transit Center! The proposed design, unveiled in 2004, seemed an inspiring idea for the agency. But, after years of attempts to start construction, costs have risen to $1.15 billion, from the initially estimated $750 million, causing MTA executive director Eliot Sander to say, "I am sad to say that we cannot build the transit center......

We don't know whether to laugh or cry. Last year, the MTA said that Fulton Street Transit Center would be completed by the end of 2008, leading Gothamist to write "that really means the end of 2009." Now the MTA goes beyond our forecasting and says that the project probably won't be done until 2010. Sucks to continue to be you, downtown commuters. The project, which caused a lot excitement for its linking of......

A report compiled by New York City Transit indicates that delays in on-time performance by subway trains have increased every since 2004. According to The New York Times, the delays are worst during the subway rush hour, when 8% of trains fail to perform according to schedule. The NYC Transit report cited track work as by far the largest cause of delays, as transit employees attempt to modernize or even repair the subway. But......

Newsday reports that emergency track work at West 4th Street will be causing delays on the A, E, D and F lines. Apparently Brooklyn-bound F train will be running on the E between 36th Street Station in Queens and 42nd Street Times Square, and then the F will run on the A between Times Square and Jay Street-Borough Hall. And some other Brooklyn-bound F trains will "run on the D line from 47th-50th Street-Rockefeller Center......