The MTA's various fare hikes for the NYC subways and buses, as well as its railroads, went into effect this weekend. Today, subway and bus base fares still cost $2, but higher-value pay-per-ride Metrocards have less of a bonus discount while weekly and monthly unlimited ride Metrocards are more expensive. You can read more about the fare hikes here, but two important notes: (1)Unlimited ride Metrocards purchased before March 2 are still valid as......

Dunh dunh DUNH! Governor Spitzer has announced that he is asking the MTA to hold off raising subway and bus fares! Spitzer, who has been smarting from widely hated policy proposals and low approval ratings, made a pre-Thanksgiving bid to show he's listening to his public and said, during a specially planned 9AM press conference, via CityRoom: As the M.T.A. budget forecasts, their balance sheets yielded another $220 million. Based on the current economic......

A storefront at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and 43rd Street (across from Grand Central) may be a window into the future of the West Side Rail Yards. The MTA unveiled an exhibition of the five proposals to redevelop the rail yards on the Far West Side of Manhattan, and the public will get a chance to see the models every day (except Thanksgiving) through December 3. And what's more, the MTA wants the......

The MTA announced today that it has formed a Sustainability Commission to create a "sustainability master plan" by Earth Day of next year. MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander said, "The MTA’s public transportation network makes the entire New York region sustainable, but in the era of climate change we have a responsibility to go even further. The commission will build on the exciting green initiatives we’ve already completed to make sustainability a permanent part of......

From the looks of these photos, the commute home for those on the L train was no fun last night. On the same day that riders on the line were asked to rate the service, service came to a halt during the evening rush. Who's to blame? It seems like the MTA actually gets a pass this time. Rumor has it that someone pulled the emergency brake. The MTA is looking for riders to......

If you take the Shuttle at Grand Central around 8AM on weekday morning, study this photograph and find this man - it's MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander, and he'll be at the Shuttle platform tomorrow morning! You've been commenting about future subway and bus fare hikes all day long with some great questions for the MTA. And here's your chance to actually talk to some MTA suits - the MTA says that "senior......

The MTA is refreshing its campaign to remind mass transit riders to "See Something, Say Something" with some new print and television spots. The work acknowledges that the MTA and/or the police received 1,944 tips in 2006 (a total of 9,000 calls were made to 888-NYC-SAFE). MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander said, "We are proud that our customers play such an active role in keeping the system safe, and I am......

In non-report card 7 train news, the MTA is now offering express 7 service after Mets games during weeknight games. And the service will start after tomorrow's Mets-Cincinnati Reds game. Post-game express service will last an hour, with trains leaving Willets Point-Shea Stadium every six minutes. Trips to Queensboro Plaza will now take 13 minutes (from 19 when taking the local) and trips to Times Square will now take 25 minutes (from 31). MTA Executive......

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 subway transit worker was killed and another was seriously injured when a G train hit them at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station yesterday afternoon. It seems that Marvin Franklin, a 22-year-veteran, was fatally hit when he and 37-year-old Jeffrey Hill went to pick up a dolly on another track. The G train's operator did see the men, but could not brake in time; Franklin was dragged by the train, while Hill was hit but is......

Earlier this week, the Post reported on a new trend that even "grandparents, baby boomers and even mothers with carriages" are getting in on: not paying bus fares by using the back door. Dunh dunh DUNH! Now, bus drivers tell the Post that fare-ducking riders have become more common because more people are using mass transit. Which makes some sense - sometimes those lines just to get on a bus are insane! One bus driver......

It's been 33 years since the last Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking, so it's high time for new generations of straphangers to revel in the hope of a new subway line. We also expect the public -- especially the Upper East Side-residing public -- to become jaded with construction delays, traffic issues, and noise. Here's the press release from the MTA:Tomorrow morning's historic groundbreaking ceremony for the Second Avenue Subway can be seen by all......

Many businesses have strict policies about accepting "gifts" from vendors, but when you work for a public agency, scrutiny is extremely intense. amNew York found an intriguing connection between an MTA executive's favorite charity and law firms that get business from his division. It turns out that five law firms have donated thousands of dollars to a charity where Wallace Gossett, director of the Transit Authority's torts division (think lawsuits where people sue after falling......

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......

Weekend 7 train service has been horrendous the past few weekends due to MTA service work. Many business owners, namely bar and restaurant owners, were worried what the lack of a running 7 train would do to St. Patrick's Day business. St. Patrick's Day falls on a Saturday, and MTA Executive Director said that the MTA may suspend weekend service disruptions on March 17. Another possibility is to have the E, R, and LIRR......

Ah, the first rumble between MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander and the city! Sander has threatened to stop the 7 line extension if the city won't pay for cost overruns. Because Assemblyman Richard Brodsky asked about the project's budget, Sander wrote a letter to him (which he made public), stating, "It is M.T.A.’s position that we are under no legal obligation to absorb any additional costs or overruns." Ha! As we all know, MTA projects......

After a 13 year old Queens boy running across LIRR tracks was killed by a train, there had been much criticism about the poor state of the fences that surround the tracks. Yesterday, the MTA announced it would try to address track access issues. The MTA will survey tracks and try to "fix the most glaring deficiencies in a system requiring nearly 3,000 miles of fencing to secure," according to Newsday. MTA Executive Director Elliot......

Interesting news from Albany: MTA Executive Director Katherine Lapp told the legislature that the MTA doesn't want to increase fares again, saying, "What we're hoping is that the [2007] fare increase will not be needed." There were fears of fare hikes in 2006 and 2007 even since the 2004 50-cent fare increase. The MTA may not have to raise fares if real estate tax revenues remains sweet, because the MTA does have big budget deficits:......

Apparently, the key to getting more money from the NY state is to threaten that mass transit will have to be dramatically decreased. And you know what, that kind of threat works for Gothamist. When MTA Executive Director Katherine Lapp went to Albany to beg for some money, she said, "We will have to make very difficult decisions that may affect service levels throughout the city." Translation: Give our agency, in spite of cooked books......