First NBC announces it's starting a 24-hour local NYC news channel yesterday--a possible competitor to NY1-- and now Matt Lauer is invading the turf of NYC TV's Kelly Choi by heading to the "secret subway station" under the Waldorf-Astoria! In the Today's show "Access Granted"series, the Today show personalities are getting behind-the-scenes looks at private places (Meredith Vieira visited the Vice-President's mansion yesterday and Al Roker visited the Malstrom Air Force base on Tuesday).......

At least one subway car on the N line derailed near 57th Street and 7th Avenue around 5 p.m. this afternoon. WABC 7 is reporting the incident involved one car while WCBS 2 says two cars derailed and WNBC 4 notes at least three cars were affected. The train was traveling southbound and no passengers seemed injured--just a little shaken up. The hundreds of passengers were evacuated by a rescue train which took them......

Design geeks and subway enthusiasts, time to swoon: Massimo Vignelli, whose beloved and controversial 1972 subway map is in Museum of Modern Art, has updated his map for 2008 for Men's Vogue. Men's Vogue revisited the 1972 map's path:The plan was as visually utopian as it was elegant — paths running on 45- and 90-degree angles, an understated gray square marking Central Park, and type set in clear Helvetica. It was hailed as an......

A bus driver was treated for wounds to her hand after an irate rider attacked her yesterday afternoon. The female driver of a Q11 bus had picked up a man at 165 Avenue and 104th Street in Queens. According to the Daily News, the man "apparently boarded the wrong bus, demanded she go off course." The driver stayed on route, so the guy slashed her and ran away; police have not found him. Relations between......

Photograph of subway service changes by jschumacher on Flickr Perhaps because the MTA signs trying explain weekend subway service diversions are confusing--like this weekend F service sign--the MTA has put up some maps to try to explain changes, too. For instance, here's a map explaining service updates for the 2 and 5 lines. While the 2 usually goes up the West Side and the 5 the East Side, the uptown 5 is running on......

Re-enactment of pole-hogging behavior During the lively debate spurred by our man-sitting post yesterday, quite a few readers complained about pole hoggers/ pole leaners. So, we bring you another logo, designed by Catherine Weaver. Sometimes pole obstructing straphangers get into fights, sometimes subway poles are used for dancing. Here's one approach to turning pole huggers into holders.......

Photograph from the a Close Your Damn Legs on the Subway So I Can Sit Down Already!!! Facebook Group; logo, below, by Catherine Weaver The NYC Transit's Rules of Subway/Bus Conduct note that it is a violation to:Place one's foot on the seat of a subway, bus, or platform bench; occupy more than one seat or place bags on an empty seat when doing so would interfere with transit operations or the comfort of......

5-Year Regional Transit Map of Planned Improvements, (large version) from Streetsblog The Regional Planning Association released a map of what service and capital improvements tri-state riders can expect, even in the absence of approval for a congestion pricing plan. NYC Transit riders have a lot to be unhappy about following a fare hike, followed by the announcement that promised service improvements were off the table, followed by the prospect of yet another fare hike......

St. Patrick's Day Parade, by Amauri Aguiar at flickr Tomorrow is the 246th anniversary of the first St. Patrick's Day Parade held in New York (it's the oldest parade in the nation's history). The first parade was held in 1762 to honor St. Patrick and the Archdiocese of New York. Over the years it has become a celebration of almost anything Irish. The parade will march uptown on 5th Ave. in Manhattan from 44th......

Above images from WNBC 4, below right image from WCBS 2; bottom left image from Peter Haskell/WCBS 880 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......

The MTA's various fare hikes are starting to go into effect next month (aka tomorrow). Tomorrow, Long Island Railroad and Metro-North fares are going up. Bridge and tunnel tolls are going up on March 16. And the doozy will be the NYC Transit subway and bus fare hikes which go into effect on Sunday, March 2. Expect tons of confused riders and weary MTA workers on Monday and for the next few weeks. The......

Graphic explaining trend of train delays from the MTA's capital plan presentation The MTA unveiled its 2008-2013 Capital Plan, which explained almost $30 billion will be needed to improve mass transit and complete projects like the Second Avenue Subway, the East Side Access plan and more by 2030 (many of those projects will also be delayed). Though the current MTA capital plan doesn't expire until next year, the MTA presented this plan because the......

The snowy weather is causing the usual commute problems: The snow accumulation is around 4-6 inches in the city, with more to the north and a little less to the south, and visibility is low for drivers. There are a number of accidents on highways and roads, and more are sure to happen later on in the day when the snow is expected to turn into freezing rain and sleet. For some subway riders, there......

Photograph of one of the wooden platform rubbing boards boards at the Kings Highway subway station by Triborough on Flickr In the wake of a 14-year-old's fall into subway tracks after the platform edge crumbled, giving way, concerns are being raised over dangerous platforms at other stations. amNew York listed nine in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan: Brooklyn, Q line: - Avenue J: boards are separated from the platform and warped. - Avenue M:......

Starting point map and destination point map viewed side by side on the MTA Trip Planner website. Anyone trying to plot the best subway route to serve their departure and destination points has long since given up on the MTA website, which for years has mostly confined itself to below-ground mapping and shown a remarkable disregard for how the subway actually corresponds with the street level. Sites such as Hopstop and OnNYturf have sprung......

According to new NYPD statistics, graffiti complaints in Brooklyn rose 96% last year, with arrests in the borough increasing by 33%. Citywide, complaints almost doubled from 4,886 in 2006 to 8,866 in 2007, and total arrests rose from 2,962 to 3,786. Williamsburg leads the tagging trend with a total of 186 complaints. “It's so expensive here, yet it looks like a dump,” long-time Williamsburg resident Mel Costello, 63, declared to the Daily News. “It's......

Stand clear of the platform edge and then some: A 14-year-old boy fell into the tracks at the Kings Highway subway station when the platform partially collapsed. Avi Katz was able to get away before the approaching Q train made it into the station. Katz had been at the station around 6PM on January 29 and, per WABC 7, "stepped onto the edge of the platform to see if his train was coming." The platform,......

2nd Avenue and 5th Street [Fixed] by Chung Chu at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial facade collapse on East 148 St. in the Bronx, two pedestrians struck on 72nd St. and West End Ave. in Manhattan, a body found on Pioneer St. in Brooklyn. A developmentally disabled woman on Staten Island depends on Social Security benefits to survive, but the SSA keeps declaring her dead. A three alarm fire injured one person......

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. In case......

An attempt by NYC Transit to communicate accurate bus arrival times has been partially abandoned out of concerns that it just was not feasible to accomplish by the MTA. A pilot program has been in place on six separate bus lines, but those notification services have been scrapped because the digital displays at bus stops were just not capable of providing accurate information to riders. While in the planning for a dozen years, the actual......

MTA officials are planning on eliminating the jobs of more than 240 people in order to shave $40 million from its annual budget. The staff reduction will constitute almost one half of 1% in the MTA's headcount, which oversees Metro-North, the LIRR, and NYC Transit. The savings will be recognized through the consolidation of multiple overlapping jobs by creating a centralized control center. Annual savings of $40 million among such a small group of people......

Given that ridership is at record highs, the MTA and police are proud that subway crime is down from a year ago, according to statistics obtained by the New York Post. Overall, crime is down almost 13% due to a drop in rapes, robberies, and grand larceny. Murders doubled from two in 2006 to four last year. Assaults also increased, up 9% from the same period a year ago. This is likely attributed to increased......

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to celebrate his accomplishments as a civil rights leader and to remember there is still work to be done in many areas, from racial equality to living a more peaceful, understanding existence. King's birthday is actually January 15, 1929, but the federal holiday has been observed on the third Monday of January since 1986 (the first time all 50 states observed the holiday was in 2000). With the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a train derailment at 86th St. and 20th Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned crane at 100th St. and Rockaway Beach Blvd. in Queens, and an amputation on Hylan Blvd. on Staten Island. A guy who jumps off buildings for fun says that security guards caused him "severe emotional distress" when they prevented him from leaping off the Empire State Building, so he's suing the ESB's owners for $30 million.......

As the police try to reconstruct the events of Thursday night's mugging attack, a little more information is offered about some of those involved. Subway conductor Maurice Parks was walking home when he was attacked by a group of muggers in Harlem, at West 139th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue late Thursday night. When stabbed, Parks took out his own knife to defend himself. By the end, the police arrested a wounded attacker and another......

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......

Yesterday, the story was that a transit worker had been stabbed by four muggers, only to amazingly fight back and stab two of them. One died, one was wounded, another was apprehended, and a fourth was on the loose. But then, as more information was released, it seems that the man who died was not in the group of muggers but a bystander, perhaps even a Good Samaritan trying to help, who was caught......

Whoa: A NYC Transit worker who was walking home in Harlem was attacked by a group of four men. One stabbed him, but 5 train conductor Maurice Parks managed to pull out his own knife and retaliate, stabbing one 28-year-old in the chest and a 22-year-old in the stomach. The four men, who approached the transit worker near 139th and St. Nicholas Avenue, were trying to rob him. The 22-year-old and a 15-year-old attempted......

Today we wrote about the discontinuation of the requirement for subway conductors to announce a train's arrival at the 47th-50th St. Rockefeller Center station with a plug for the "Top of the Rock" observation deck. Most commenters found the idea of corporate sponsorship of subway stations distasteful, let alone the fact that this was an enforced and required announcement that generated no revenue for NYC Transit. Some people do enjoy when their conductors deviate from......

The NYPD may have the anti-graffiti task force, but with many graffiti crimes perpetrated in the subway tunnels, the NYC Transit Authority has created its own anti-graffiti team. The Daily News tagged along with the Eagle Team, a "surveillance squad quietly formed three months ago." The Eagle Team members, which include many former NYPD detectives as well as an ex-U.S. marine, inspect and patrol subway tunnels and yards for potential taggers. Vandals engrossed in......