Howard Roberts Jr., president of NYC Transit for the past 2 1/2 years, resigned today, leading many to suspect more resignations will come, as new MTA head Jay Walder wants to leave his own stamp on the agency. more ›

NYC Transit President Howard Roberts Jr. doesn't seem to have a very positive self-image when it comes to the 468 subway stations he governs over. In an interview in today's NY Post, Roberts admits that maybe 100 of the stations are in good condition saying, "There's nothing out there that anybody's proud of." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a suspicious fire at Prospect Ave. and Ritter Pl. in the Bronx, an armed robbery attempt at Tavern on the Green in Central Park and West 67th St. in Manhattan, and an armed robbery on East 84th St. in Manhattan.
• A Staten Island native and veteran of the war in Iraq, Christopher Small, was killed in central Pennsylvania after he asked uninvited guests at his best friend's daughter's birthday party to leave. His killer later confronted him on the street and shot him three times in the head.
• In the course of opposing Columbia University's expansion plans in Manhattanville, a historian uncovered a forgotten past of an uptown dairy industry in the neighborhood.

The New York City Transit Authority, the MTA division that oversees the subways and buses, will be now split up the management of the subway lines and instead assign a manager to deal with a line or a number of lines. The NY Times spoke to NYC Transit president Howard Roberts Jr.:The goal, Mr. Roberts said, is to have 24 subway lines operating in many ways as 24 self-contained railroads. (The number may vary,... more ›

There was a bit in the MTA's August 8 Storm Report which mentioned that the MTA was working on some street furniture designs to "raise vent heights to prevent water inflow." As part of the recommendation to "Implement corrective action plan for top flood-prone locations," the MTA, with the Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection, is developing short- and long-term solutions at the most flooding-vulnerable locations.

Perhaps a more promising and intriguing solution to the sidewalk grating and station entrance water inflow problem is already being pursued in conjunction with NYCDOT. In fact, in the last week the MTA, NYCT, and NYCDOT have co-sponsored a design charette with top urban designers to develop solutions to the problem. The three conceptual designs they came up with will hopefully lead to a more refined alternative that will address both pedestrian impact and neighborhood aesthetics.

Ooh - NY1 has the exclusive on this exciting bit of subway news: The MTA is planning on installing subway platform doors on the 7 line extension. The platform doors are not only a safety feature, they create savings with energy bills and keep stations cooler. Additionally, they would prevent people from being able to litter in the tracks (and that litter can cause track fires, which is a major cause of subway delays). more ›

Yesterday, the NYC Transit Authority gave 7 train riders the chance to tell them what they think about the 7 line and service with the first ever subway/bus report cards. NYCTA president Howard Roberts Jr. hopes that eventually all subway and bus riders will be able to grade their lines so the agency can work with customers' suggestions. more ›

The NYC Transit Authority may not be able to figure out which subway stations to paint after more than seven months, but it's taken only two months to launch the report card initiative! Back in May, NYCTA president Howard Roberts Jr. said that he wanted to know what subway and bus riders thought of their respective lines and announced that the 7 line's straphangers would get first crack at filling out report cards. more ›

The most hilarious thing we read today was that the NYC Transit Authority has "loading guidelines" for passengers. In a story about how subways are extremely packed, the NY Times offered this gem:

Crowding is so bad that on the 4, 5, 6 and L lines, trains during the morning rush exceed the transit agency’s loading guidelines, which posit that every rider should have at least a three-square-foot space to stand in (that translates to a square patch of car floor 20 inches on each side).

This past weekend was notable for a number of shootings that left many injured and at least three dead. more ›

The NY Times reports that a stalled train may have indirectly caused an MTA transit worker to be fatally struck by a train at the Columbus Circle station Tuesday night. Veteran worker Daniel Boggs had been in the downtown express tracks when a 3 train hit him, and some sources say the 3 train was diverted to the express tracks because another train uptown was stalled on the local tracks. From the Times:

If not for the stalled train, which was farther uptown, the train that struck Mr. Boggs, a veteran track worker, would have been on the local track because of the replacement of switches and rails that was scheduled for the express track at Columbus Circle, said the people familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is incomplete. more ›