feelosofer
#ninergang
NY Department of Transportation is one of the greatest hustles of all time. Billions generated a year and no one knows how far the rabbit hole goes.
This is what building NYC's new subway stations looks like
- Thread starter 88m3
- Start date
Can't wait until 2nd Ave subway line is done 
..
2nd ave is totally fukked up.. So many businesses had to close down because of this new subway.
..2nd ave is totally fukked up.. So many businesses had to close down because of this new subway.
Carlos Huerta
Just keep my rep red
That shyt still ain't done? WTF? Been like 5 years.Can't wait until 2nd Ave subway line is done
2nd ave is totally fukked up.. So many businesses had to close down because of this new subway.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Why Is Our Dirty Subway System Such A "Stomach-Turning Insult"?
The subway tracks are supposed to get cleaned manually once every three weeks, but that almost never happens. (Phillip Stearns/Flickr)
Comptroller Scott Stringer's number crunchers have spent a year and a half contemplating the state of the city's subway system and have determined—drumroll please—that "the physical appearance of stations ... remains poor."
"Our auditors observed rats scurrying over the tracks and onto subway platforms, and it’s almost as if they were walking upright—waiting to take the train to their next meal," Stringer said in a statement. "This is a daily, stomach-turning insult to millions of straphangers, and it’s unworthy of a world-class city.”
Okay, so that isn't news. But in his audit (PDF) Stringer also takes a stab at identifying a cause for the peeling paint, rat colonies, and mounds of trash, one that's easier to address than the legacy of Robert Moses, decades of government neglect, mounting debt, and management by political insiders. According to the MTA's own guidelines, cleaning crews are supposed to visit each station once every three weeks and bag garbage lining trackbeds, but they don't always do it. In fact, 97 percent of stations received fewer cleaning visits than advised, and 88 percent got cleaning visits at less than half the recommended frequency. And when cleaning crews did show up at a given station, they didn't necessarily clean all the tracks.
Also, the two fancy vacuum trains bought back in 1997 and 2000 to suck up refuse from the trackbed are supposed to run seven days a week, but often don't because they're broken down. One was out of service for 311 days of the year audit period, and the other missed nearly half the year due to equipment failure. When they do run, because of their design, they are only able to clean a third of the track at a time. To make three passes would disrupt overnight train traffic, so the vacuum train drivers, when they're running, just do a single, one-third-of-the-track-clearing pass and call it good. And because of the potential for track damage from high-intensity vacuuming, the trains are always run on the Low setting. The result is that a once-over from a vacuum train can look as pathetic as this:
(Comptroller's Office)
Another set of photos shot in the Bleecker Street station appear to show the trash load actually get worse following a vacuum train visit.
(Comptroller's Office)
Still, something is better than nothing, and nothing is what some stations are getting. Twelve percent of 33 stations visited didn't have their tracks vacuumed at all from the summer of 2013 to the summer of 2014, the audit reports. In addition to providing feasts for our rat overlords, litter is fuel for track fires.
As for peeling paint, which about three quarters of all subway stations have, the transit agency has a goal of repainting stations once every seven years, but officials told auditors they abandoned that goal back in the '90s. Peeling paint is supposed to be used as a factor for prioritizing stations getting so-called Fast Track repairs, but often isn't, and when decaying stations do get the Fast Track treatment, repainting often isn't done, the investigators found.
In a response to the audit, the MTA agreed that there is a lot of work to be done as far as getting the system clean. Transit officials noted that the Authority is in the process of buying three new vacuum trains that can cover the whole track and are more reliable, at a cost of $23 million. The agency also said that it plans to be more systematic about deploying staff to pick up track litter by hand, and that painting during Fast Track work isn't always possible because it can conflict with track, signal, and electrical work. An MTA spokesman said the amount of trash in stations has actually "significantly improved" since 2008. God help us all.
The audit does not address big-picture problems such as funding the goddamn subway system, or what effect the MTA's counterintuitive pilot program of removing trash cans from stations is having on track litter.
http://gothamist.com/2015/05/14/subway_unclean.php
http://www.mta.info/news/2013/12/27/vacuum-trains-being-fixed-long-haul
The subway tracks are supposed to get cleaned manually once every three weeks, but that almost never happens. (Phillip Stearns/Flickr)
Comptroller Scott Stringer's number crunchers have spent a year and a half contemplating the state of the city's subway system and have determined—drumroll please—that "the physical appearance of stations ... remains poor."
"Our auditors observed rats scurrying over the tracks and onto subway platforms, and it’s almost as if they were walking upright—waiting to take the train to their next meal," Stringer said in a statement. "This is a daily, stomach-turning insult to millions of straphangers, and it’s unworthy of a world-class city.”
Okay, so that isn't news. But in his audit (PDF) Stringer also takes a stab at identifying a cause for the peeling paint, rat colonies, and mounds of trash, one that's easier to address than the legacy of Robert Moses, decades of government neglect, mounting debt, and management by political insiders. According to the MTA's own guidelines, cleaning crews are supposed to visit each station once every three weeks and bag garbage lining trackbeds, but they don't always do it. In fact, 97 percent of stations received fewer cleaning visits than advised, and 88 percent got cleaning visits at less than half the recommended frequency. And when cleaning crews did show up at a given station, they didn't necessarily clean all the tracks.
Also, the two fancy vacuum trains bought back in 1997 and 2000 to suck up refuse from the trackbed are supposed to run seven days a week, but often don't because they're broken down. One was out of service for 311 days of the year audit period, and the other missed nearly half the year due to equipment failure. When they do run, because of their design, they are only able to clean a third of the track at a time. To make three passes would disrupt overnight train traffic, so the vacuum train drivers, when they're running, just do a single, one-third-of-the-track-clearing pass and call it good. And because of the potential for track damage from high-intensity vacuuming, the trains are always run on the Low setting. The result is that a once-over from a vacuum train can look as pathetic as this:
(Comptroller's Office)
Another set of photos shot in the Bleecker Street station appear to show the trash load actually get worse following a vacuum train visit.
(Comptroller's Office)
Still, something is better than nothing, and nothing is what some stations are getting. Twelve percent of 33 stations visited didn't have their tracks vacuumed at all from the summer of 2013 to the summer of 2014, the audit reports. In addition to providing feasts for our rat overlords, litter is fuel for track fires.
As for peeling paint, which about three quarters of all subway stations have, the transit agency has a goal of repainting stations once every seven years, but officials told auditors they abandoned that goal back in the '90s. Peeling paint is supposed to be used as a factor for prioritizing stations getting so-called Fast Track repairs, but often isn't, and when decaying stations do get the Fast Track treatment, repainting often isn't done, the investigators found.
In a response to the audit, the MTA agreed that there is a lot of work to be done as far as getting the system clean. Transit officials noted that the Authority is in the process of buying three new vacuum trains that can cover the whole track and are more reliable, at a cost of $23 million. The agency also said that it plans to be more systematic about deploying staff to pick up track litter by hand, and that painting during Fast Track work isn't always possible because it can conflict with track, signal, and electrical work. An MTA spokesman said the amount of trash in stations has actually "significantly improved" since 2008. God help us all.
The audit does not address big-picture problems such as funding the goddamn subway system, or what effect the MTA's counterintuitive pilot program of removing trash cans from stations is having on track litter.
http://gothamist.com/2015/05/14/subway_unclean.php
http://www.mta.info/news/2013/12/27/vacuum-trains-being-fixed-long-haul
Exactly my dude
Facade from the northeast.
Facade from the southeast.
Waiting room from southwest.
Waiting room from the northwest.
Stairway from waiting room to arcade.
Concourse from southeast.
Concourse from south.
Concourse from southwest.
All images courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
http://www.citylab.com/design/2013/10/10-gorgeous-nostalgic-photos-new-yorks-old-penn-station/7384/
sorta reminds me of Grand Central. Also looks a little like the Hoboken station...much smaller scale of course.
Carlos Huerta
Just keep my rep red
This whole postWhy Is Our Dirty Subway System Such A "Stomach-Turning Insult"?
The subway tracks are supposed to get cleaned manually once every three weeks, but that almost never happens. (Phillip Stearns/Flickr)
Comptroller Scott Stringer's number crunchers have spent a year and a half contemplating the state of the city's subway system and have determined—drumroll please—that "the physical appearance of stations ... remains poor."
"Our auditors observed rats scurrying over the tracks and onto subway platforms, and it’s almost as if they were walking upright—waiting to take the train to their next meal," Stringer said in a statement. "This is a daily, stomach-turning insult to millions of straphangers, and it’s unworthy of a world-class city.”
Okay, so that isn't news. But in his audit (PDF) Stringer also takes a stab at identifying a cause for the peeling paint, rat colonies, and mounds of trash, one that's easier to address than the legacy of Robert Moses, decades of government neglect, mounting debt, and management by political insiders. According to the MTA's own guidelines, cleaning crews are supposed to visit each station once every three weeks and bag garbage lining trackbeds, but they don't always do it. In fact, 97 percent of stations received fewer cleaning visits than advised, and 88 percent got cleaning visits at less than half the recommended frequency. And when cleaning crews did show up at a given station, they didn't necessarily clean all the tracks.
Also, the two fancy vacuum trains bought back in 1997 and 2000 to suck up refuse from the trackbed are supposed to run seven days a week, but often don't because they're broken down. One was out of service for 311 days of the year audit period, and the other missed nearly half the year due to equipment failure. When they do run, because of their design, they are only able to clean a third of the track at a time. To make three passes would disrupt overnight train traffic, so the vacuum train drivers, when they're running, just do a single, one-third-of-the-track-clearing pass and call it good. And because of the potential for track damage from high-intensity vacuuming, the trains are always run on the Low setting. The result is that a once-over from a vacuum train can look as pathetic as this:
(Comptroller's Office)
Another set of photos shot in the Bleecker Street station appear to show the trash load actually get worse following a vacuum train visit.
(Comptroller's Office)
Still, something is better than nothing, and nothing is what some stations are getting. Twelve percent of 33 stations visited didn't have their tracks vacuumed at all from the summer of 2013 to the summer of 2014, the audit reports. In addition to providing feasts for our rat overlords, litter is fuel for track fires.
As for peeling paint, which about three quarters of all subway stations have, the transit agency has a goal of repainting stations once every seven years, but officials told auditors they abandoned that goal back in the '90s. Peeling paint is supposed to be used as a factor for prioritizing stations getting so-called Fast Track repairs, but often isn't, and when decaying stations do get the Fast Track treatment, repainting often isn't done, the investigators found.
In a response to the audit, the MTA agreed that there is a lot of work to be done as far as getting the system clean. Transit officials noted that the Authority is in the process of buying three new vacuum trains that can cover the whole track and are more reliable, at a cost of $23 million. The agency also said that it plans to be more systematic about deploying staff to pick up track litter by hand, and that painting during Fast Track work isn't always possible because it can conflict with track, signal, and electrical work. An MTA spokesman said the amount of trash in stations has actually "significantly improved" since 2008. God help us all.
The audit does not address big-picture problems such as funding the goddamn subway system, or what effect the MTA's counterintuitive pilot program of removing trash cans from stations is having on track litter.
http://gothamist.com/2015/05/14/subway_unclean.php
http://www.mta.info/news/2013/12/27/vacuum-trains-being-fixed-long-haul
THAT AVI THOmeanwhile in moscow
First the Drake sock puppet now this... avi game on fleek
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Mikael Blowpiff
#LosIngobernabrehs
5 breh? More like 90.
Yep, disgusting. I was trying to remember why it was torn down according to this it was for MSG(it also resulted in the landmarks board being created), reading what I have about how MSG's does business and contracts with the city... they're corrupt and greedy as hell.
These are just the highlights but if you go to citylab or curbed you'll get the big picture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden#Current_Garden
10 Gorgeous, Nostalgic Photos of New York's Old Penn Station
Fifty years after its destruction, the iconic building is gone but not forgotten.
Fifty years ago today, on October 28, 1963, destruction began on the original Pennsylvania Station in New York. The iconic Beaux Arts structure, designed by McKim, Mead, and White, opened in 1910 with a distinct air of grandeur: an exterior surrounded by 84 Doric columns, a concourse with a 150-foot vaulted ceiling, and a train shed of "unparalleled monumentality," in the words of historian Carroll Meeks.
- ERIC JAFFE
- @e_jaffe
- Oct 28, 2013
- 34 Comments
"Such opulent dimensions were not functionally necessary; the companies could afford magnificence and enjoyed their munificent role, as princes had in predemocratic ages," wrote Meeks in his 1956 book, The Railroad Station: An Architectural History.
In the mid-1950s, a proposal emerged to raze the station and construct in its place a home for the World's Fair — the so-called "Palace of Progress." That plan fell apart, but a new one surfaced in 1960, this one led by the Madison Square Garden Corporation. That project, detailed by the New York Times in July 1961 [PDF], made room for the arena by flattening the existing Penn Station and building an underground one instead.
Some historically minded residents rallied to save the station. On a hot August evening in 1962, the Action Group for Better Architecture in New York gathered more than a hundred well-dressed protestors to circle the Penn Station entrance, but ultimately their preservation efforts fell short. In a Times editorial published just after the demolition began, Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that the city would some day be judged "not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed" [PDF].
Photographer Cervin Robinson captured the original station in a series of pictures taken for the Historic American Buildings Survey in the spring of 1962 (below). Robinson laments the station's demise but notes that at least some good came out of the situation. The city's historical preservation movement gained considerable momentum in the aftermath of the old Penn Station's demolition.
"The loss of the building was a great loss but it such an obvious loss that it helped the city in the long run," Robinson says. "People suddenly realized that New York could tear down things it should never have torn down."
The current Penn Station is certainly an eyesore, especially compared with its classic predecessor, but its own destruction may occur in the not-so-distant future. City officials recently gave Madison Square Garden ten years to find another location, clearing the way for a brand new Penn in its place. Still, there are many questions to be answered before that day arrives, and Robinson for one doubts anything can match the glory of the original.
"These are obviously not the days when great historic railway stations get built," says Robinson. "I think they would do something that was better than they've got, but not quite as good as what they had."
View from the southeast.
Facade from the northeast.
Facade from the southeast.
West end of south (31st Street) facade.
Waiting room from southwest.
Waiting room from the northwest.
Stairway from waiting room to arcade.
Concourse from southeast.
Concourse from south.
Concourse from southwest.
All images courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
http://www.citylab.com/design/2013/10/10-gorgeous-nostalgic-photos-new-yorks-old-penn-station/7384/
Looking at the people in the photos, just the sheer scale of it
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
NYC Households Pay An Extra $130/Month "Invisible Fare" To MTA, Report Finds
Will someone please give the trains money? (Via @CafeGhia's Twitter)
The MTA is still struggling to close their capital budget deficit of $14 billion, calling on both City and State governments to step up their spending to help maintain, repair and expand the subway network that serves as this city's life-sustaining circulatory system. But a new report commissioned by City Comptroller Scott Stringer's office claims the city contributes far more cash to the agency than previously thought—in fact, according to the report, the amount New Yorkers contribute in taxes is the equivalent of a so-called $130-per-month "invisible fare" for each household, and it's time for the state and federal governments to chip in more.
The city as a whole contributes about $10.11 billion to the MTA annually, according to the report, with $5.31 billion coming from the fares and tolls we pay, and $4.801 billion sourced from taxes and subsidies. The MTA, meanwhile, "only" spends $9.86 billion on riders: $6.808 billion of that goes to New York City Transit while the rest is distributed among bridge and tunnel upkeep, the Long Island Railroad, buses, Metro-North, the Staten Island railroad, and debt service.
This means the MTA actually spends less money on New Yorkers than New Yorkers spend on the MTA. The report also notes that the MTA made about $325 million more in revenue than in operating costs in 2014.
So what's up with all these budget constraints?
The MTA's 2015-2019 Capital Program proposed spending $15.5 billion on the subway aloneover the next five years, with plans to purchase new subway cars, replace track, and upgrade stations, among other improvements. But that $15.5 billion doesn't even cover completing the 2nd Avenue Subway, which may never be completely finished—and other mega projects that would considerably alleviate current commuter woes.
There's also the issue of the MTA's $34.1 billion debt, with the agency's heavy borrowing stretching all the way back to 1982. A fully funded Capital Program would permit the MTA to move forward with necessary repairs and projects without relying on further borrowing, according to the authority.
Governor Cuomo didn't seem to agree, calling the Capital Program "bloated" and thus far failing to provide the authority with the necessary funds. This has been an ongoing issue this year, and in order to alleviate what the MTA claims is a dire financial situation, earlier this month MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast called on the city to help out by giving the authority $300 million annually. The de Blasio administration has agreed to give the MTA $125 million annually, up from $100 million.
Stringer's report, however, uses fares and tolls to suggest the city contributes far more than $100 million per year, a claim with which the MTA takes issue. "It is incredible that the Comptroller acknowledges in the very first paragraph of his report that 'the MTA needs more funding from every level of government,' but uses fuzzy math to justify letting the city off the hook for using some of its billions in future surpluses to pay its fair share for mass transit," the MTA said in a statement.
Stringer, who is also displeased with our dirty subway stations, might make it seem like the city's off the hook, but the report doesn't let the state or federal governments get away with underfunding the MTA. The report points out that the State only offered $603.5 million to the MTA in 2014, making up about 4 percent of its operating budget. The federal government, meanwhile, has pledged $6.8 billion to the 2015-2019 Capital Plan, an amount Stringer says is $1.6 to $4.6 billion too little to keep the agency afloat.
"As a critical engine of our regional economy, the MTA deserves support from every level of government," Stringer said in a statement. "But any conversation about how to fill the MTA’s budget gap must acknowledge that the City already contributes more to the MTA than it gets back in services, and that Albany must step up to the plate with greater support.”
Straphangers Campaign president Gene Russianoff seems to agree with Stringer's assessment that the state needs to step up to the plate:
The Straphangers Campaign agrees with the central finding of New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s just-released report on MTA funding, “The Invisible Fare.” He concludes that “despite the State’s sole governing authority and the tremendous MTA-related economic benefits that are spread across New York, the State’s contribution to the operating budget is” inadequate. We hope that the report can help revive progress on getting the MTA and its millions of riders a fully funded, five-year capital program.You can peruse the whole report here [pdf], and be sure to tell your state representatives andGovernor Cuomo to stop robbing the MTA of badly needed funding and figure out a way to come up with more cash for a 21st Century subway system.
http://gothamist.com/2015/05/27/mta_invisible_fare.php
lol
Will someone please give the trains money? (Via @CafeGhia's Twitter)
The MTA is still struggling to close their capital budget deficit of $14 billion, calling on both City and State governments to step up their spending to help maintain, repair and expand the subway network that serves as this city's life-sustaining circulatory system. But a new report commissioned by City Comptroller Scott Stringer's office claims the city contributes far more cash to the agency than previously thought—in fact, according to the report, the amount New Yorkers contribute in taxes is the equivalent of a so-called $130-per-month "invisible fare" for each household, and it's time for the state and federal governments to chip in more.
The city as a whole contributes about $10.11 billion to the MTA annually, according to the report, with $5.31 billion coming from the fares and tolls we pay, and $4.801 billion sourced from taxes and subsidies. The MTA, meanwhile, "only" spends $9.86 billion on riders: $6.808 billion of that goes to New York City Transit while the rest is distributed among bridge and tunnel upkeep, the Long Island Railroad, buses, Metro-North, the Staten Island railroad, and debt service.
This means the MTA actually spends less money on New Yorkers than New Yorkers spend on the MTA. The report also notes that the MTA made about $325 million more in revenue than in operating costs in 2014.
So what's up with all these budget constraints?
The MTA's 2015-2019 Capital Program proposed spending $15.5 billion on the subway aloneover the next five years, with plans to purchase new subway cars, replace track, and upgrade stations, among other improvements. But that $15.5 billion doesn't even cover completing the 2nd Avenue Subway, which may never be completely finished—and other mega projects that would considerably alleviate current commuter woes.
There's also the issue of the MTA's $34.1 billion debt, with the agency's heavy borrowing stretching all the way back to 1982. A fully funded Capital Program would permit the MTA to move forward with necessary repairs and projects without relying on further borrowing, according to the authority.
Governor Cuomo didn't seem to agree, calling the Capital Program "bloated" and thus far failing to provide the authority with the necessary funds. This has been an ongoing issue this year, and in order to alleviate what the MTA claims is a dire financial situation, earlier this month MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast called on the city to help out by giving the authority $300 million annually. The de Blasio administration has agreed to give the MTA $125 million annually, up from $100 million.
Stringer's report, however, uses fares and tolls to suggest the city contributes far more than $100 million per year, a claim with which the MTA takes issue. "It is incredible that the Comptroller acknowledges in the very first paragraph of his report that 'the MTA needs more funding from every level of government,' but uses fuzzy math to justify letting the city off the hook for using some of its billions in future surpluses to pay its fair share for mass transit," the MTA said in a statement.
Stringer, who is also displeased with our dirty subway stations, might make it seem like the city's off the hook, but the report doesn't let the state or federal governments get away with underfunding the MTA. The report points out that the State only offered $603.5 million to the MTA in 2014, making up about 4 percent of its operating budget. The federal government, meanwhile, has pledged $6.8 billion to the 2015-2019 Capital Plan, an amount Stringer says is $1.6 to $4.6 billion too little to keep the agency afloat.
"As a critical engine of our regional economy, the MTA deserves support from every level of government," Stringer said in a statement. "But any conversation about how to fill the MTA’s budget gap must acknowledge that the City already contributes more to the MTA than it gets back in services, and that Albany must step up to the plate with greater support.”
Straphangers Campaign president Gene Russianoff seems to agree with Stringer's assessment that the state needs to step up to the plate:
The Straphangers Campaign agrees with the central finding of New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s just-released report on MTA funding, “The Invisible Fare.” He concludes that “despite the State’s sole governing authority and the tremendous MTA-related economic benefits that are spread across New York, the State’s contribution to the operating budget is” inadequate. We hope that the report can help revive progress on getting the MTA and its millions of riders a fully funded, five-year capital program.You can peruse the whole report here [pdf], and be sure to tell your state representatives andGovernor Cuomo to stop robbing the MTA of badly needed funding and figure out a way to come up with more cash for a 21st Century subway system.
http://gothamist.com/2015/05/27/mta_invisible_fare.php
lol
Amphibious
Land, water, wherever.
Does that mean you care a lot? Why do you care so much?
humble forever
All Star
you're probably right. now show me one ny subway station that looks like any of those. i have timeI frankly doubt all the stations look that nice in Moscow. Oh and the downside is you live in Russia.
Penn Station and Grand Central are fine, the original Penn Station was a masterpiece. Some of the subway stations have wifi now, I'd say the general upkeep and cleanliness verges on depraved...
I find these types of Engineering projects fascinating. Just think how much engineering goes into digging a big hole under a city like New York and constructing a subway station? I know it's old technology, never the less, it's still amazing that we can do this.
