We already knew that subway fare evasion citations were way down, but it looks like cops aren't much harder on buses. A whopping 6.7 million people skip paying bus fare every year, according to the Daily News, but cops arrested or summonsed just 1,826 bus fare evaders in 2009. As one member of the Straphangers Campaign put it: "You have better odds winning Lotto than you do for getting caught by the NYPD for evading the fare on a bus." more ›

A building collapse at 124th Street and Park Avenue has prompted the MTA to shut down all train service in and out of Grand Central Terminal. Metro-North's Dan Brucker told WCBS 880, "We don't know how long the closure will last. We have been told by the police not to have any trains run through the 125th Street station." more ›

On Tuesday, the New York City Transit Museum opened a small exhibit dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of Metro-North Railroad in its Annex at Grand Central Terminal. It features some artifacts from both the pre-MTA takeover (which created Metro-North) days to today and provides a Cliffs Notes version on how the railroad that serves the northern suburbs and Connecticut operates. more ›

The February edition of the MTA’s monthly television show, Transit Transit (Saturdays, 3:30 p.m., WNYE 25) , has a segment about Marvin Franklin, the NYC Transit Authority track inspector who was killed last year in an on the job accident in Brooklyn. The piece talks with some artists who knew Franklin and his co-workers and covers the opening of an exhibition of his work at the New York City Transit Museum in December. more ›

the possibility of another large surplus next year without a fare hike. Despite projections that put the agency in the black, it says they face a deficit in 2009. more ›

A state office responsible for oversight of the MTA recently conducted a test of the NYC subway system's lost and found department and the results were not encouraging. Investigators turned over 26 items to the New York City Transit employees--both bus and subway workers, including keys, a purse, a Walkman, a watch, a jacket, and an electric shaver. Only three of the items eventually made their way to the Lost & Found office, which is located behind a metal door at the subway station across from Madison Square Garden on 34th St. and 8th Ave. more ›

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 ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

Yay! It's that time of year when the Straphangers Campaign announces the winner of the annual Pokey Award for the slowest city bus service. And this year, there's a new award: The Schleppie, for least reliable service. more ›

The Division of State Government Accountability from the Office of the New York State Comptroller recently released an audit of the New York City Transit Museum’s Nostalgia Train program. The audit identified “significant weaknesses in the Museum’s internal controls over ticket revenue for Nostalgia Train excursions” and that most of the program’s costs are coming from New York City Transit’s fare revenues and public mass transit funding. more ›

While even Google can't help out with the subway perv problem, Subway Blogger reports that they are "getting geared up to start mapping New York City Transit systems. Ultimately, you’ll be able to map a transit or subway route just like Google Maps." more ›

The supervisor on duty for the group of men at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station when track worker Marvin Franklin was killed by a G train has been demoted to the position of cleaner, in lieu of being fired. Investigators found that superintendent Lloyd London was the individual most culpable for the death of 55-year-old trackwork veteran Franklin, after he told two workers that he would stand as a lookout at the end of the station, but failed to do so. He also failed to instruct Franklin and Jeff Hill not to carry a heavy piece of equipment across a series of active tracks. more ›

amNewYork's cover story, "Grand Funk Railroad," takes a look at the special scent of subway stations. Subway smells were vividly described as being "rancid excrement" or "rotting garbage and vomit." Smelly subway platforms - and trains - are nothing new, but the New York City Transit Authority is adding 350 more cleaners to help fight the grossness; amNY reports the cleaners will "be able to respond to specific stenches faster." more ›

While this morning's commute seems better, most mass transit riders are still confused, frustrated and even betrayed by the subway system and other rail service coming to a stand still during the Wednesday morning rush hour. The MTA admitted that the service was not acceptable on many accounts, from the flooding to the fact that the MTA's website was overwhelmed. Then there's also the fact that the MTA was urging people not to take the subways and opt for a bus instead, only for buses to be (A) few and far between and (B) crowded as anything. more ›

This past Sunday, Gothamist went on a tour of the Brighton Line and Franklin Avenue Shuttle subway lines in Brooklyn. The tour, sponsored by the New York City Transit Museum, was lead by subway historian Joe Cunningham who gave an incredibly detailed history of the line, peppered with historical anecdotes, on the various tour stops on the line that started as a steam powered railroad to take holiday makers to the Brighton Beach Hotel during the Victorian era. more ›

Another interesting city bus story and this one is without arrests! Did you know that if your baby is born on a bus, the birth certificate may list the location of birth as the route number? Week-old baby Lydia Irvin's birth certificate states she was born on a B15, and the Post describes her mother's labor as something straight out of a sitcom. more ›

The blog Boy Culture ran into (an all too common these days) "Travolting display" in the subway system over the weekend. Scientologists! The religion cult "legendarily opportunistic Church Of Scientology" is back underground giving out free stress tests. more ›

A federal judge is allowing a NYC bus driver to sue the New York City Transit over harassment he received at the hands of fellow workers. Mathen George, a bus driver since 1987 and was born in India, claims that after September 11, 2001, colleagues called him "Bin Laden," "Saddam Hussein," "caveman" and "camel jockey." And all this allegedly took place at a depot in Queens. more ›

Yesterday we visited the New York City Transit Authority’s Corona Maintenance Shop in Queens as part of a New York City Transit Museum tour. more ›

238 people were killed while doing their subway jobs since 1946. That is a rate of 3.9 deaths per year, although this figure is highly inflated from the large number of deaths experienced between 1946 and 1959. The number of employees killed during that 13-year period totals 120, or a rate of more than nine per year. In 1948 alone, 17 workers were killed. Excluding that 13-year period from the full 61 years of records, the annual death rate drops to 2.4. Before last month's two terrible accidents, the fatality rate for subway workers had fallen to one per year since 2000. One has to wonder if the historical ebb of deaths on the tracks lulled some transit workers into a dangerous sense of complacency regarding the hazards of their work. more ›

Weekend #2 of 7 train follies continue over this three-day weekend. As if the lack of 7 service over most of the line isn't bad enough, the MTA gave riders some misleading information on Friday. The Daily News detailed the directions that someone at New York City Transit dreamed up:

Brochures placed in stations advised riders heading to Grand Central station today to take the E train to 53rd St./Lexington Ave. - and then an uptown No. 6 train to the historic hub. Grand Central is to the south, on 42nd St. more ›

Yesterday, Gothamist had the chance to visit the abandoned City Hall subway station as part of a New York City Transit Museum members only tour, led by subway historian Joe Cunningham. more ›

Baxter is the Cutest, by Pixietart. [Editor's note: the cutest dog, perhaps.] more ›

Are pigs flying? Has hell frozen over? am New York finds some glorious information buried in the MTA's 2007 budget: The MTA will be adding service improvements to the L and G lines.

Starting next spring, New York City Transit will run more trains on the overcrowded L during both peak and off-peak hours. Then in 2008, the G train -- long called the "step child" of the MTA -- will begin running south to five more Brooklyn stops. more ›

We love this time of year, when the Straphangers Campaign hands out the Pokey Awards for the city's slowest buses. Usurping last year's winner M34 from the slowest spot this year was the M14A, which goes between 11th Avenue and Avenue A, and then down to Grand Street, and travels at an average of 3.9 MPH, which is what a healthy New Yorker speedwalking can do easily (average pedestrian walking speed is 3 MPH). Ah, the combination of traffic and pedestrians around 14th Street, especially near Union Square . The M34's sped up from 3.4 MPH to a blazing 4.2 MPH - check out the the 2005 and 2006 speeds here (PDF). And the other borough's slow poke buses are: more ›

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 fare by 5%. Yesterday Kalikow said:

“What I’m doing, officially, is letting New York City Transit know that the M.T.A. board, which runs New York City Transit, does not want a fare increase or service cuts and they need to find other things to do, if necessary. Those two things are not things we’re going to be interested in.... more ›

Finally, proof that public transport is crowded for a reason: The MTA says that ridership has grown 36% in the past ten years. From amNew York:

Trips on New York City Transit subway trains and buses have grown 36 percent, from 1.6 billion in 1995 to 2.2 billion in 2005. Meanwhile, the population of the city grew 7 percent from 7.6 million to 8.2 million. more ›

"In 2004," according to the Times, "12,386 items made their way into the lost-property office at New York City Transit, a modest white and gray room in Penn Station; in 2005, the office collected only 8,309 items, a drop of 33 percent from the previous year and the lowest number since 1998." more ›

Last night Gothamist went to look at the new R160 subway car for New York City Transit, which features one major change - the FIND system (Flexible Information and Notice Display). FIND replaces single line maps that are currently on the R142 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and R143 (L) that have bulbs indicating stops along the line, instead using a display that can change depending on the location and line that the train is running on. The Times has a couple of quotes from people that viewed the car, including a 72 year-old retiree. The R160 is part of a $952 million, 660 car contract that will put a test train into the subway system next Summer with further delivery starting in 2007 if all goes well. The R160 is built to run on the IND/BMT lines (the lettered ones), but no announcement has been made as to which line yet. more ›