Experts Rank The Best & Worst To Happen With NYC Mass Transit This Year

Photo via afagen's flickr

The Straphangers Campaign has issued their Top Ten Worst and Best List for NYC Subways and Buses in 2014, should you want to relive those good times and those bad. We're not talking about the semen-filled condom tied to the handrail during your morning commute, we're talking about The Real Issues. Albany doesn't want to hear about that performance artist who ate flowers on the train (their loss).

Let's start on a high note—here's their list of all the good that happened this year.

Top Ten Best NYC Transit Events In 2014

1. Record ridership: 6,106,694 customers rode the subway on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 making it the highest recorded in 30 years. The 149 million customers that month were more than in any other September in 60 years.

2. Lower fares for many: Starting in 2016, the City will require businesses of 20 or more to offer employees the option of participating in a federal pre-tax program that could save them hundreds of dollars in commuting costs.

3. Value Capture: As 2014 ends, a possible deal is being offered: developer SL Green wants to build a skyscraper in midtown and says will he will spend $210 million in improvements to the overcrowded Grand Central subway station.

4. Fulton Center: As a post-9/11 response, the MTA succeeds in untangling the Fulton Street complex of nine subway lines. The result: a stunning and welcoming new glass and steel “head house” to downtown Manhattan.

5. R tunnel reopens: In 2012, Superstorm Sandy walloped nine subway tunnels, causing a major spike in delays. It took 14 months, but the “Montague” tunnel used by the R was fully restored for service between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

6. Better bus service: An MTA-appointed “Reinvention Commission” calls for a line-by-line review of bus routes. The goal? To add features to provide faster service, such as faster fare payment, priority lanes, and traffic-priority signals.

7. SBS M60: NYC Transit begins faster service along the M60 Select Bus Service route, connecting Manhattan’s Upper West Side and LaGuardia Airport.

8. Graffiti: In 1989, NYC Transit eliminated graffiti on all subway cars. 2014 was the 25th anniversary of this huge achievement that made the system feel calmer and safer for many riders.

9. A & C: NYC Transit agrees to conduct a “Full Line Review” of the A and C lines. Past reviews - such as of the G in 2013 - spurred more service.

10. DOT: Mayor appoints D.C. veteran Polly Trottenberg to run NYC Department of Transportation and to MTA Board of Directors. City priorities? Improving bus service; holding down fares; and aiding affordable housing with better transit.

Feeling hopeful about the state of our mass transit system? Keep reading...

Top Ten Worst NYC Transit Events In 2014

1. Looming gap: The MTA says it needs $32 billion for its five-year program to make vital repairs and that it is $15 billion short. The plan was vetoed in Albany in October 2014, but will be back. Let’s hope it ends up number one on the best list.

2. lnsult to injury: In the 2014 budget, Governor Andrew Cuomo raided tens of millions of dollars from funds (supposedly) dedicated to transit.

3. Pushings: The death of a man in November - randomly pushed on to the tracks in the Bronx - served as a grisly reminder of the need to do more to prevent these tragedies from happening.

4. Flushing: The 7 is getting computerized signals. The good news is that when the project finishes, Transit will be able to add trains safely, reducing crowding and increasing frequency. The bad news: years of lousy service on weekends on the 7.

5. C: Believe it or not, the C has been running many of the same cars since 1964. The result: The C has breakdowns once every 59,000 miles. The system average? Every 153,000, nearly ten times more reliable. In 2014, transit officials delayed their retirement.

6. Garbage: Transit officials expanded a pilot project in which all garbage cans are removed from a station. The theory is that riders will carry litter out. In our view, making life difficult for your customers is a mistake.

7. Harassment: Sexual harassment is a problem throughout the system. But because of better communications between MTA and advocates for victims, the transit agency has begun urging witness to file complaints.

8. 110th anniversary: A reason for celebration in 2014? Yes, but also a reminder of the many big challenges facing one of the oldest subway systems in the world.

9. Queens Accident I: In May, a late afternoon F train derailed in Queens. There were no deaths, in what was the most serious derailment on the subways since 1991, when five people were killed and more than 200 were injured after a No. 4 train jumped the tracks near Union Square.

10. Queens Accident II: November 1, 2104: A giant drill barely missed a train filled with passengers. A conductor heard shaking and stopped the train with the emergency brake. It turns out a subcontractor was drilling down from the street in the wrong spot, and almost put the giant drill bit through the train. Not good.

What's in store for 2015? Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign, told us this morning that his #1 hope, "hands down," is to see "a fully-funded, five year MTA capital plan. Everything flows from this, especially better subway and bus service." And the MTA agrees—spokesman Adam Lisberg told us, “The past year brought many challenges and accomplishments for the MTA, and the most important concern for us and for our customers is to fully fund our Capital Program, which will allow us to renew, enhance and expand a mass transit network that now routinely carries 6 million subway customers every day.”

Sadly, Albany can't cure manspreading, but the MTA is on it.