Okay, maybe it's not a news flash, but New York City Transit Riders Council has put it on paper--61 pages to be exact (PDF)--as it reported that many stations are in need of cleaning and care. The NY Times noted that the worst conditions at some included "water damage, exposed wires, rodents, foul odors, clogged track drains and general filth." more ›

Smith/Ninth Sts., Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, F and G lines: "The protective overhangs have large holes, paint peels everywhere and concrete crumbles."These selections sort of match up with the report from the Transit Riders Council last year; the City Council also found the Bronx typically had the worst stations. The NY Daily News blames these struggling station with a lack of MTA funding. Vote Yes on Proposition 2 for the Transportation Bond Act! more ›

The MTA is looking into using satellite technology to put "real-time arrival information" at bus stops. The Daily News got a hold of a Transit Authority document that said the MTA would want to "expand the system citywide for its fleet of approximately 4,600 buses," but would test a program out with a portion of buses first, focusing ones that come out of the West 126th depot (the M15, M31, M35, M57, M66, M72 and the M116). Gothamist loves this idea: We constantly do the "Is There Bus in the Yonder" - you know, when you peer down the street, to see if there's a bus coming. The News also says, "Officials hope the info screens will do away with the frustrating tendency of having no buses appear for long stretches, then have a few arrive at once," but Gothamist thinks that will only happen if buses do a sort of skip stop - say one bus stops at every other stop while the one right behind it goes to the stops the preceding bus stopped. We'll stop wondering about it, because we know our bus efficiency dreams are crazy talk. more ›

Surprise, surprise! The City Council put together a team of investigators to inspect the cleanliness of the subways, and found that they are stinking nasty! And what's more, the worst stations just happen to be in the poorest neighborhoods and/or the Bronx. No one is really that shocked, maybe just slightly surprised. The NY Times' Sewell Chan points out that the City Council's survey and the survey from the NYC Transit Riders Council had generally similar results - terrible stations in the Bronx - but each study had a different list of worst stations (all in the Bronx). The worst station, per the City Council, is the East 149th Street stop, while the NYC Transit Riders found the Moshulu stop on the 4 to be the worst. Look, net net, the subways are gross. Here's the most oft-quoted part of the study.

"Subway riders...encounter papers and bottles obstructing stairways, platforms littered with food, pungent odors and track beds cluttered with sludge and debris. In one case, investigators even found human waste."

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Oh, New York City Subway. Gothamist knows you are 100 years old, and you've been doing a great job. But it makes us so sad and frustrated when there's a subway derailment AND a broken rail in a given day. Yesterday, a B train derailed in the morning and then a broken rail was found at West 4th Street, which meant lots of service was suspended. The Daily News reports that "Four wheels on the seventh car of the southbound B train train went off the tracks in a tunnel leading to the DeKalb Ave. station at 8 a.m." Yikes, wheels coming off the train. The MTA will inspect the train and its route. more ›