Photograph by awgreen on Flickr With the MTA in dire financial straits, there's been lots of talk about ways to save the MTA, from a 23% fare hike and service cuts to tolling the now-free bridges over the East and Harlem Rivers. Now, Governor Paterson is reviewing a plan with recommendations on how to help the MTA and likes the ideas it offers so far. The plan, submitted by the Ravitch Commission, will be......

If you want The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway, AIGA has it for you in a sprawling (and well-worth-reading) 9-page article on New York's subway fonts. They state that while it's commonly believed that Helvetica is the official typeface of the New York City subway system, that hasn't always been the case (of course, since the font just celebrated its 50th anniversary, and the first underground transit system in......

Starting today, the MTA will give you a chance to step back in time. A vintage subway train--the "Nostalgia Train"-- will be running every Sunday through December on the V. In the words of the MTA, "With a little bit of luck and good timing, you can catch a ride on this classic subway car at stations along the V line between Queens Plaza and 2 Ave." Above are some photographs of past "Nostalgia Train"......

Photograph of police in the subway station for the 2006 No Pants Ride by icopythat on Flickr Want some possible terror plot with your turkey? The AP reports, "Federal authorities are warning law enforcement personnel of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway system during the holiday season." This is based on an internal memo the AP got a hold of: The FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that......

At a press conference this morning, MTA executive Elliot Sander announced a "major initiative" that will enable the authority to let riders know how hard their commutes are going to suck with text messaging and email alerts in real time. The MTA has been working toward a real-time update system for several years now, starting out with weekly email updates and sporadic advisories on their website. In a statement, Sander said, "This is a revolutionary......

As we mentioned yesterday, the MTA's Transit Museum Annex opened its annual Holiday Train Show-- and this year there are the first-ever MTA-licensed NYC Subway Lionel Train Cars along with the recently released Metro-North Commuter Lionel Trains. A press release from Lionel Trains explains how the model subway train cars are extremely detailed: "The R-27 Subway Car was first put into service by the MTA in 1960 and continued to serve New York City riders......

NYC comptroller William Thompson is proposing that the city plug the MTA's budget gap by raising automobile registration fees in the 12 counties served by the MTA’s trains and buses. If passed by the State Legislature, his plan would require drivers in the city and surrounding counties to pay $100 a year to register their vehicles. (The city currently charges $30 every two years.) According to the Times, drivers with vehicles weighing more than 2,300......

This morning the Today Show took a look at the subway cars that retire from the underground of New York, and (at the cost of the MTA) are sent to create artificial reefs off the coasts of other cities. (The program may soon benefit us as well, however.) Consider the below clip subway-reef-porn, with footage of the old cars being made suitable for the sea, and dumped off barges to meet their final watery resting......

The MTA may soon be adding digital advertising to the subways that will be very similar to Bill Brand’s Masstransiscope. What's that, you say? The Creative Time-supported project "was installed in the abandoned Myrtle Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, New York in September 1980. It has been seen by millions of commuters for over twenty-five years. The 228 hand-painted panels are viewed through a series of vertical slits set into a specially constructed housing. The......

The Post reports that Harlem resident Marie Conde fought off three muggers--chasing down two of them--"because [her purse] had her green card in it." The 26-year-old, who fell asleep on a 3 train this past Sunday when, woke at 5:30 a.m. when "three punks confronted her as it pulled into the 72nd Street station." One punched her in the right eye and another grabbed her purse. Conde said, "I didn't know what to do, so......

Photograph of a crowded E train by milkshakepants on Flickr While the MTA doesn't want to comment yet on how they might close the $1.2 billion budget gap, the speculation continues. The Daily News thinks the "base fare will likely rise into the $2.50-to-$3 range," adding, "Officials haven't set new target prices for the unlimited-ride MetroCards." Yesterday, the News details how service would be cut, like eliminating the Z, cutting G and M service......

Wide image of Google Maps' (correct) explanation of how to use the subway from Grand Central to Madison Square Garden, with inset of the incorrect Google Maps ad As a reader pointed out, while Google's Google Maps ads-wrapped subway cars are nifty-looking, an ad inside the car "mislabels Times Square as Grand Central Station." The mistake implies that one can get the 1, 2 or 3 from Grand Central--when everyone knows that the only......

Interesting: The Daily News reports that driver demand to use MTA bridges and tunnels has fallen 4.8% when comparing last month's figures (25 million) to October 2007 (when there were 26.3 million drivers). Another stat: Traffic on the Manhattan crossings was down 4% between September and October. One hypothesis is that recent layoffs mean there's less reason to head into Manhattan. However, average weekday subway ridership increased 4.3% "in the 12 months ending Sept. 30,"......

Last month the History Channel series "Cities of the Underworld" was the first subway wrap ad to be unveiled on the Times Square Shuttle. Now Google Maps has stepped up to the plate, helping the MTA with their huge budget crisis by paying for a colorful ad campaign on the S. NYC the Blog notes that "Google has only wrapped the exterior of the train, leaving the interior with the more traditional ads we are......

A Queens woman who says a police officer used excessive force when he pepper sprayed her in the face during an arrest is suing the city for $3 million. According to the Daily News, Naeema Screven was rushing to catch the A train at the Broadway station in Brooklyn when she ducked under the yellow tape that divided the staircase into "up" and "down." That's a no-no. When she reached the bottom, she was stopped......

Subway cars that spent their lifespan serving New Yorkers often retire at the bottom of a watery grave in Delaware and New Jersey, creating artificial barrier reefs. Why not dump the old cars in our own rivers and waterways? Technically, it's not allowed under current environmental codes, but just because the fish in the Gowanus canal likely have gonohorrea, doesn't mean they don't deserve a little reef love as well! NY1 reports that "Congressman Anthony......

The sky is falling undergound! (And above ground, where the buses drive.) At an MTA finance committee this morning, officials announced that they're looking at a $1.2 billion budget deficit in 2009, which is $300 million more than what was projected in July. Chief executive Elliot Sander says the dire fiscal situation was caused by a sharp drop in revenue from real estate and corporate taxes. Sanders also said that because "the 2000-2004 capital program......

Hey there fellow F train straphangers, good news is rolling into a station near you sometime soon. Control Geek has a report from this morning: "I was waiting for the F subway at 15th Street/Prospect Park Brooklyn this morning and a brand new train came in! Apparently they were testing it, it had the automated announcements and everything. To keep people from boarding, they were opening the doors on the wrong side." Lost City also......

The four officers accused of sodomizing a man with a radio antenna or baton after he resisted arrest in a Brooklyn subway station have been stripped of their guns and badges, an NYPD source tells the Post. The officers were ordered to report to the 71st Precinct station house in Brooklyn yesterday to be put on "modified duty." A lawyer for a fifth officer, who is believed to be supporting the victim's explosive allegation, reportedly......

The NY Post reported that on Friday night, a man dressed as the Grim Reaper slashed a tourist from New Hampshire on a 6 train. Around 9 p.m. near East 59th Street, Ismael Guevera allegedly "shoved a fake sickle in" Lee Dutton's "girlfriend's face". Dutton told him, "You don't need to be doing this," prompting Guevera to take out a boxcutter and slash Dutton's neck, just missing his jugular vein. Guevera also allegedly yelled, "Who's......

Things are not looking good for the officers who have been accused of sodomizing Michael Mineo in the Prospect Park subway station on October 15th. The NY Post reports that three of the officers accused have had their police lockers removed. The paper says that the NYPD has also taken away the badge and gun Officer Alex Cruz, the cop whose radio and baton are currently being tested for forensic evidence to support Mineo's accusations.......

Sources in the NYPD say that a transit officer who participated in the arrest of Michael Mineo in a Brooklyn subway station earlier this month has broken ranks and will support Mineo's explosive sodomy allegation. One source tells the Daily News that the cop's version of the incident "is bad" for the NYPD: "He's not coming forward to say nothing happened." According to the Post, the unidentified officer will meet with the Brooklyn DA and......

The special investigative grand jury convened in the case of the man who says police sodomized him with a walkie-talkie antenna after he resisted arrest in a Brooklyn subway station will not have an easy time deciding whether to indict the officers because of conflicting witness testimonies. And police sources have contradicted each other when speaking off the record with the Times: One source says the man, Michael Mineo, suffered internal tears just inside his......

Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson were seen at the Spring Street C/E subway station and Gawker asked readers to name the caption. The first one is pretty good: "The Symbolism of Riding a Train Through a Tunnel Was Not Lost on Ms. Lohan." And related, only because it involves the subway: A Free Williamsburg writer was on a L train (of course) with a woman was watching hardcore porn on her iPod and saying, "Oh,......

Earlier this week, the MTA said that the proposed 8% subway and bus fare hike for next year might actually be higher. Why? Because the fare hike was discussed before the more recent economic downturn, credit problems, etc. (the MTA said, "Usually it doesn't change that much because our projections are pretty good. This year, because of the crisis, the changes are more significant."). It might be time to seriously consider alternative revenue streams like......

The Brooklyn man who says police sodomized him with a radio antenna after he resisted arrest at a subway station is still in the hospital, and subpoenas have been issued to six witnesses who support his claims, including bystanders, friends and a roommate who took him to the hospital after the incident. Two witnesses believed to support the NYPD's sodomy denial—a token clerk and his 12-year-old son—have also been subpoenaed, the Daily News reports. Earlier......

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes a special grand jury will look at the claims of a Brooklyn man who says five police officers beat and sodomized him with a police radio antennae at a subway station. Hynes said, "On the basis of preliminary conclusions of the early stages of my investigation and a review of the medical evidence concerning the allegations that Michael Mineo was brutally assaulted by four police officers I have ordered a special......

Oh, NYC Subway, you don't act a day over 75! Some key dates and events: On October 27, 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company opened its subway (cost: 5 cents), with the slogan, "City Hall to Harlem in 15 minutes!" Then came Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BMT) opening in 1915 and City Owner Rapid Transit Railroad (IND) in 1931. In 1940, the city took over all the lines, and in 1953--the year the token was......

If some faint writing on a subway seat, plus some apparently used condoms, is any indication, then someone got lucky on the G. Bitchcakes Commutes ran across this littered find on Thursday and acknowledges it could be an "elaborate display to make it appear they had sex, and quite possibly lost their virginity, on this seat of the G Train," but appreciates the effort--and is "considering never EVER sitting on a subway seat again." But......

The 24-year-old who says five police officers sodomized him with a police walkie-talkie last week spoke to the Daily News from his hospital bed. Michael Mineo, who was re-hospitalized, said, "The cops did this to me... I'm in so much pain... I've got pus coming out of me, man. I need help!" And the NY Post has photographs of Mineo being visited by the Reverend Al Sharpton, who called for an investigation into the matter......