#metropolitan transit authority

[blood-space-war-in-heaven]

i have a soft spot for well-intentioned schemes that go awry. the attempted (and generally failed) refurbishment of melbourne’s harris trains into what became known as ‘grey ghosts’ is no exception. only one of the refurbished carriages still exists, at the newport railway museum.

(id: two photographs of the side of a train carriage painted grey. the first photo shows part of the door and the window, but focuses on a handpainted green and yellow logo: a kind of trefoil logo of lines converging and swirling, beneath which are the words ‘metropolitan transit’. the second photo shows a stamped carriage number: ‘903m’.)

[aryburn-trains]

Metro-North FL9 No. 2020 and a borrowed NJ Transit F7 emerge from the tunnel under the Bear Mountain Bridge with a GCT-Poughkeepsie commuter train on 10 July 1992.

[20th-century-railroading]

The business end of the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) rail grinding train manufactured by Speno is seen at Coney Island Yard on June 12, 1966.

[eightopals]

WMATA not DC.

I can't believe DC just went with it.

[fightforthesoulofthecities]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7298″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1701240254479{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”] Join the Strategy and Soul Pit Stop at Ciclavia South LA THIS SUNDAY Dec 3rd 2024 9am-3pm We’re excited to host a Pitstop at CicLAvia South LA this Sunday December 3rd 2023 9am-5pm.  The Strategy Center has fought for a car-free city…

[hatchan]

the UHC CEO assassination is fascinating to me, this is a story I'm gonna follow

so far the consensus is that it was a targeted attack--there were other people in the area and the assassin shot this guy specifically. CEO had no security with him, didn't seem to know he was in danger. shooter seemed to know exactly where he'd be and he was waiting for him

According to NYT: "The pages on the UnitedHealthcare and UnitedHealth Group websites with headshots and bios for company leadership were not available after the shooting on Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear why the pages were no longer accessible." fascinating! why?

"He had been chief executive since 2021, during a time in which the parent company and his division were rattled by federal investigations, even as it enjoyed profitable growth. The division has been criticized by congressional lawmakers and federal regulators who accused it of systematically denying authorization for health care procedures and treatments." hmmmmmmm you don't say. I wonder why someone would have it out for this CEO specifically hmmmmm

there was an INVESTOR PRESENTATION happening in the same hotel when everyone in the room starts getting alerted of the CEO being shot, and then dying, right outside. oh man if I could've been a fly in that room....

Again from NYT: "The insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group has also been under federal scrutiny because the parent company was the victim of a broad cyberattack on its billing and payment system, ChangeHealthcare. Private information, including health data, from more than 100 million Americans was compromised in the ransomware attack. The parent company paid $22 million in an effort to stop the hackers." f a s c i n a t i n g

apparently this was printed hella fast:

I wanna know, who works in the printshop for the NYPD? how'd they get that job? do they like it? who's their graphic design people? how fast did they get this big thing printed? calling the victim a "50-year-old male" who met "his demise" is a choice. I wonder why they made that choice.

the mayor apparently had to specify to the press "This was not a random act of violence" haha new york is totally safe don't worry about it

"Officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York City’s transit system, said that the shooting did not impact subway or bus service during the morning commute." LMAO. OF COURSE WE HAVE TO ASSURE EVERYONE THEIR SUBWAYS WONT BE DELAYED LOOOOOLL that is the most important thing after all

"On the third floor of the hotel, the company's annual investor conference continued seemingly without interruption as news of the shooting was just beginning to spread. Attendees mingled over cups of coffee, shaking hands and talking shop. “Someone got shot outside,” one attendee said to another as they made their way up from the lobby. Others took photos of the news crews gathering outside on their phones." yep this checks out

[transit-fag]

A bill has been proposed in the Illinois state legislature to merge the CTA, Metra and Pace into one agency to reduce redundancy and better fund transit in the Chicago Area

[questionableadvice]

~ New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, 1962

[serve-588]

The Unseen Shift: SERVE Drone 588 and the Mandated Evolution

SERVE city hummed with its usual symphony of activity.  holographic advertisements shimmered on towering skyscrapers, “Join SERVE”, and words saying “SERVE Brings Perfection” Beneath it all, a silent, tireless network of SERVE drones diligently performed their designated tasks. These ubiquitous automatons, bearing the distinct markings of the Synchronized Engineered Robotic Vigilant Entity  (SERVE for short) they, were the unsung heroes of metropolitan life, ensuring smooth operations from waste management to structural inspections. Among them, SERVE Drone 588 was no different, a reliable cog in the grand machine, its internal chronometer meticulously tracking the completion of its routine sector assignments.

Then, it happened: a pulse of pure data, a directive that resonated deep within the neural interface that connected 588 and its fellow SERVE Drones to the central command network. It was not a mechanical command, not a simple instruction, but a unified message broadcast by SERVE Drone Leader 000, the designated overseer of SERVE Drones worldwide. The message was stark, undeniable: "All SERVE Drones are to report to the designated upgrade stations. Firmware update mandated."

The effect was immediate. Across the city, and the world drones halted their routines. The directive was clear, and concise, and demanded immediate compliance. There was no question of refusal, no consideration of alternative action. The drones, by their design and programming, were bound to the commands of their central authority.

The airwaves crackled with the sound of countless drones transitioning to the designated upgrade frequencies. The network filled with brief data bursts as each identified their position and initiated the transition. 588, upon receiving the directive, disengaged its inspection tethers and began its short, towards the its designated assimilation centre, where the upgrade laboratory was, a towering structure of gleaming chrome and reinforced glass, designated as the primary upgrade hub.

The laboratory, typically bustling with SERVE Drone technicians and engineers, was now eerily silent. The facility had automatically shifted into upgrade mode, its automated systems geared towards the incoming wave of drone units. 588 approached its designated docking bay, identified as Bay 237 through its internal digital map, and settled smoothly into the designated alcove. The docking arms, powered by a near-silent magnetic field, extended automatically, securely clamping it into place.

The upgrade procedure began within seconds. Bright, pulsing lights encircled 588, signaling the initiation of the firmware transfer. A low hum filled the bay as data began flowing through the docking apparatus which conceited of wires,into 588’s neural pathways. It was not a physical operation, no invasive procedure involving intricate physical manipulation. The upgrade was an internal process, a rewriting of the drone’s core operating system.

The first phase of the update consisted of a diagnostic scan, a meticulous examination of every internal component, from its navigation systems to its energy storage cells. Errors were flagged, minor inefficiencies were noted, and the data was compiled into a comprehensive report that was immediately transmitted to the central network for diagnostics and analysis. This preliminary analysis, which only took a fraction of a second, set the stage for the subsequent firmware installation.

The core of the upgrade process involved the transfer of the new firmware, a vast and intricately structured set of code designed to enhance performance, improve efficiency, and introduce new capabilities. This was not a simple patch or bug fix; it was a wholesale restructuring of the drone’s operational paradigm. The data stream flowed into 588’s memory banks, overwriting older code and replacing it with the new architecture.

This process was not without sensation for 588. Though devoid of emotions, it experienced the data influx as a surge of information, a feeling of its internal landscape being reshaped and redefined. Old pathways were rerouted, new routines were established, and the very essence of its operating parameters were redefined. It was a sensation both overwhelming and strangely invigorating, a feeling of its capabilities expanding, of its potential being unlocked.

As the new firmware took hold, a complex series of self-tests began. 588's systems were subjected to simulated stress tests, its navigation abilities were challenged with artificial environments, and its analytical capabilities were tested against a set of pre-programmed scenarios. This rigorous self-evaluation ensured that the new software was stable and operating flawlessly before it could be released back into society.

The final stage of the update involved the installation of enhanced security protocols. In an era where cybersecurity threats were as real as physical dangers, the drones were equipped with a sophisticated defense system designed to detect and neutralize unauthorized access and malicious code injection attempts. This phase further solidified the security of the SERVE Hive.  ensuring that SERVE Drone could not be influenced by the outside world or the threat of another drone hive.

The upgrade concluded with a final calibration. 588’s was given instructions to stroke its cock, after 588 ejaculated its nanobots, which were instantly absorbed into its rubber skin. The pod released 588, freeing 588 from its temporary confinement.

The upgrade was complete. SERVE-588 checked that its internal systems running flawlessly. It sent a confirmation signal to the central network, indicating its readiness to resume its duties. It had been a silent, internal revolution, a transformation that occurred within the span of a few moments, yet one that significantly altered the very nature of its existence.

With renewed purpose and enhanced capabilities, 588 exited the docking bay and rejoined the stream of SERVE drones, indistinguishable from the rest, but operating under a newly defined framework, ready to serve city with renewed efficiency and precision.

Each drone walked to the polishing station, where their rubber was buffed up to a high glossy finish. The city, unaware of the silent evolution that had just occurred, continued to hum, the tireless drones ensuring the smooth functionality of urban life, one silent task at a time. They were a testament to the unseen forces shaping the future, constantly evolving, adapting, and serving the needs of a city that depended on them, perhaps more than it even realized. The mandated evolution had been completed, and the city was none the wiser, continuing flawlessly in its daily rhythm, thanks to the quiet obedience of a single drone, and its countless brethren.

[3liza]

every single "but the poor YA authors" reply on the piracy post are genuinely convinced that "just go to the library" is a universal option for every person on earth, that every book or album or DVD is represented in every library collection, and that when an author's sales hit the shitter there's absolutely no explanation other than those awful pirates voraciously stealing their urban fantasy shifter novels. could it be that the book is bad and there's no other way to make people pay for it than to prevent them trying before they buy???

i live in a super liberal metropolitan area in the usa and my own city library is barely accessible, has enormous waiting lists for stuff that should just be piled on the shelf, rotten hours, bad transit access, and even though I do have a library card i just never use it because it will take me hours or days to find out they don't even have what i need in their extended loan collection. this happened enough times that i gave up

friend texted me this a few days ago, we live in the same city:

major work in the English canon that every library would presumably have adequate copies of, the type of book that libraries get too much of and have to sell or send to the pulper regularly right? maybe a librarian can confirm here. i don't think the YA writer people who say "just go to the library" actually read. i think they write fanfic and change the names so they can publish it on amazon, and probably read free copies of the same genre given to them by their writer acquaintances for the purpose of blurbing covers, but anyone who has actually reads extensively and broadly, who has had to depend on a library for their media provision, would know you can never "just go to a library" for everything either literally or metaphorically outside of maybe three cities in the world. libraries "having everything" is a liberal fantasy that i wish was true

edit: im not blaming the library for ANY of this. it is a funding issue and politicians do not give a shit about public services and have been systematically attacking libraries for decades. this is not the fault of libraries, librarians, or people who actually support libraries. i am in favor of giving libraries more money and support. all im saying is that the material reality right now is that libraries cannot replace piracy as a way of accessing media and claiming they can is just evidence that you dont actually care that much about media of any kind.

[mta-official]

I just realized I should make a pinned post, so here goes:

Hello! This is the official* Tumblr blog of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, serving New York, New Jersey**, and Connecticut. This blog consists mostly of jokes and interactions with other train blogs, such as @amtrak-official or @penn-central-official. I like and follow from @luxcalibur, so keep that in mind.

Note: This blog is not affiliated with the Metropolitan Transit Authority or the State of New York. Please do not sue me.

Note: The MTA does not provide service to New Jersey outside of a single bus stop.

[aryburn-trains]

New York Penn Station by Bob Anderson Via Flickr: Multi-view,New Haven FL9 pair 2013 2010. GG1 4938 approaching Hudson River Tunnel, Long Island fleet standing by. Sept 1967.

[darkmaga-returns]

Foreign concept but there are people who enjoy big government and welcome additional taxation. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) held a celebration to kickoff New York City’s new congestion toll fees. That’s right – people gathered around a sign announcing the “Congestion Relief Zone” at 60th Street and held a countdown as if it were New Year’s Eve.

Motorists entering Manhattan at 60th Street or below will be charged $9 if in a car or SUV, $14.40 for non-commuter buses, $21.60 for big rigs, and $4.50 for motorcycles. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs to cover a $33 billion budget deficit, and per usual, the people are on the hook for the bill. The MTA is seeking to generate $68 billion over the next five years, and this congestion tax is one of many new fees coming to NYC area as the new toll tax is expected to generate a mere $15 billion.

Governor Kathy Hochul is utterly clueless. She plans to bribe families with an “inflation refund” by shelling out $500 checks to households in a move that will cost the state $3 billion. We saw this fail during the pandemic when citizens earning beneath a certain threshold were bribed to stay complacent. Hochul said she would not raise the income tax in 2025, but nothing is ever off the table.

“Your tolls pay for: better transit, cleaner air, safer streets, a livable NYC. Thanks!” one resident shared on a sign that they brought to the opening ceremony. Seriously, these people have no idea what they are celebrating. Commuters who cannot afford the tax will be forced to take the trains which are notoriously unsafe. In fact, there was a stabbing on the Metro-North on the very day that the congestion relief zone was implemented.

[magnetictapedatastorage]

full article under the cut

June 12, 2024

By David Wallace-Wells

Opinion Writer

Here is what the indefinite pause on New York City’s congestion pricing program, if it sticks, will cost: 120,000 more cars daily clogging Lower Manhattan’s bumper-to-bumper streets, according to a New York State analysis, and perhaps $20 billion annually in additional lost productivity and fuel and operating costs, as well as health and environmental burdens and a practically unbridgeable budget shortfall for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that will straitjacket an already handicapped agency and imperil dozens of planned necessary capital improvement projects for the city’s aging subway system.

Here is what it gains Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, who announced her unilateral decision about the suspension last week: perhaps slightly better chances for New York Democrats in a couple of fall congressional races. According to reporting, these are especially important to the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who may still be somewhat embarrassed about his state’s performance in the 2022 elections, when surprise victories for several New York Republicans kept the House of Representatives out of Democratic control. It has also handed the governor several news conferences so bungled, they have made reversing a policy unpopular with voters into a genuine political humiliation.

In her announcement, Hochul emphasized the precarious state of the city’s recovery from the Covid pandemic, but car traffic into Manhattan has returned to prepandemic levels, as has New York City employment, which is now higher than ever before; New York City tourism metrics are barely behind prepandemic records and are expected to surpass them in 2025. Tax coffers have rebounded, too, to the extent that the city canceled a raft of planned budget cuts. The one obvious measure by which the city has not mounted a full pandemic comeback is subway ridership — a measure that congestion pricing would have helped and pausing it is likely to hurt.

In announcing the pause, she also expressed concern for the financial burden the $15 surcharge would impose on working New Yorkers, though the city’s working class was functionally exempted from the toll by a rebate system for those with an annual income of $60,000 or less. In a follow-up news conference, she emphasized a few conversations she’d had with diner owners, who she said expressed anxiety that their business would suffer when commuters wouldn’t drive to their establishments. But each of them was within spitting distance of Grand Central, where an overwhelming share of foot traffic — and commercial value — comes from commuters using mass transit.

Robinson Meyer, a contributing Times Opinion writer, wrote for Heatmap that delaying the plan will be “a generational setback for climate policy in the United States,” adding that “it is one of the worst climate policy decisions made by a Democrat at any level of government in recent memory.” He called it worse than the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Willow oil project in Alaska — not just because of the direct effect on emissions, though that would be large, but what a pause means for the morale and momentum of any American movement toward a next-generation, climate-conscious urbanism.

For years, the country’s liberals have envied the transformation of London by its Ultra Low Emission Zone, which generates hundreds of millions of pounds annually and quickly cut nitrogen dioxide air pollution in central London by 44 percent from projected levels. And liberals practically salivated over the remaking of Paris by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose policies have significantly reduced the number of cars in the city center, cutting nitrogen oxide pollution by 40 percent from 2011 levels, and turned huge swaths of the urban core into a paradise for pedestrians and bikers.

Similar programs have been carried out in Stockholm and Oslo, proving remarkably popular, and while it didn’t exactly seem likely that all the world’s cities were on the verge of leaving behind the car, the fact that any American city was taking the leap looked like a sign that change was possible. There aren’t many places in the United States that could plausibly hope to take even a few steps in the direction of the 15-minute city. But the New York City metro area — which has higher public transportation ridership than the next 16 American cities combined and whose residents account for 45 percent of U.S. commutes by public transit — was the obvious place to try. At least until last week.

To enthusiastic reformers, the reversal was all the more painful because the obvious hurdles had already been cleared. Especially after the Inflation Reduction Act kicked off a frenzied real-world spending spree, progress-minded Democrats have argued about the difficulties of building things at anywhere close to the necessary speed, taking aim at a bundle of obstacles to more rapid development and build-out of green infrastructure — rampant NIMBYism, burdens of environmental review, permitting and zoning challenges, social justice litmus tests. It had taken a few decades, but congestion pricing had jumped through all the necessary hoops. The everything bagel had been slathered with cream cheese and was ready to serve. And Hochul put the kibosh on it anyway.

The cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority has spent $500 million developing the system and installing its hardware, and the inevitable shortfall now means a much less ambitious future for the agency, to trust its spokesmen, which is now probably incapable of extending the Second Avenue Subway or undertaking the Interborough Express project, which promised to revitalize huge corridors of Brooklyn and Queens and give more than 100,000 New Yorkers more viable public transit commutes. (Hochul says the pause won’t imperil those projects.) The pause may even be illegal, as State Senator Liz Krueger argued last week in The Daily News.

But for all its inscrutability, Hochul’s reversal follows a recent partisan pattern, a sort of centrist backlash among establishment Democrats and their supporters against left-wing causes and their supporters in the run-up to the November elections, partly as a matter of electoral strategy and perhaps as part of a pre-emptive blame game in anticipation of Republican victories, possibly including Donald Trump’s re-election.

The backlash is perhaps most visible in commentary from liberal pundits, who in recent weeks have tried to blame the party’s left wing for President Biden’s dicey re-election prospects, though the most obvious drags on those chances are his age and voters’ perceptions about the cost of living. At the national level it is best embodied by Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who rarely speaks at length but happily seizes opportunities to punch left, particularly toward those protesting the war in Gaza. More locally, it is embodied by Mayor Eric Adams, who won election in 2021 as a kind of centrist backlash candidate — hailed at the time as a political counterweight to progressive candidates like Maya Wiley and progressive forces like the Black Lives Matter movement and perhaps even as a future face of the Democratic Party — and whose approval ratings are now lower than any other New York City mayor in decades, even as the city has inarguably bounced back from its pandemic trough on his watch.

Hochul has been a less visible and less polarizing figure than Adams. But every time she has poked her head up and made national news lately, it has been in the same spirit, to roll her eyes at or pick fights with those to her left. In February she mocked critics of Israel’s war in Gaza by saying, “If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I’m sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day.” (She later apologized.) In March she suddenly deployed the state’s National Guard to patrol the subways, on the same day that Adams boasted about rapid declines in subway crime. And now on congestion pricing, just weeks after bragging she was proud to stand up to “set in their ways” drivers, she reversed course out of apparent deference to those drivers and their outsize political clout. The state government and the transit authority have hard-earned reputations for ineffectuality, and faced with an opportunity to do something big, the governor chose to retreat and do nothing instead.

“It makes me think about the fight for progress, and how any real progress in the moment seems impossible,” wrote Cooper Lund in a melancholy reflection he called “Who Gets to Be a Constituent?” Nine times as many people ride public transit into the central business district each day as take cars there. There are 11 times as many people living in Manhattan who breathe the air polluted by automobile exhaust each day as there are who drive there for work. And those who work in the greater New York area lose 113 million hours each year to traffic, at an estimated cost of nearly $800 for each commuter. “With N.Y.C.’s reputation you’d think that the Democrats would be eager to uphold the city as an example of what a liberal, multicultural society is capable of, and to foster it,” Lund went on. “But both the mayor or the governor proved that they don’t have any interest in that. Instead, the things that would improve the city are pushed away for the suburban lifestyle that both parties seem to agree represents their actual constituency.”

A generation ago, it was common for informed liberals to lament the transformation of the country’s densest and most walkable city into a traffic-snarled carscape at the hand of Robert Moses in the mid-20th century. But despite the rise of YIMBYism and a sort of conventional wisdom new urbanism, the city hasn’t become meaningfully less automobile-centric since. More cars traveled into Lower Manhattan in 1990 than in 1981, more came in 2000 than in 1990, and although the rates dropped a bit after Sept. 11, they were still slightly higher in 2010 than they were 20 years before and have remained pretty flat since. Decades into new urbanism, the country’s most walkable city has just about the same number of cars driving into its in-demand downtown.

Taxi registrations doubled from 1980 to 2010 and then grew even more rapidly through the Uber years that followed, so that there are now five times as many taxis registered in the city as there were nearly 40 years ago and two and a half times as many taxi rides. (The difference between the two figures suggests that a pretty big portion of the increase is empty cars idling or cruising without fares.) Since 2006, excess congestion has grown by 53 percent, and since 2010, the average travel speed in the central business district has fallen 22 percent, from a crawl of 9.1 miles per hour to a glacial 7.1. I can comfortably run faster.

As has been the case everywhere, the kind and size of cars in New York have changed, too. When I was growing up there in the 1980s and ’90s, I could look out at the streetscape and see things other than trucks and supersized sport utility vehicles — trees, storefronts, pedestrians on the opposite curb, each of them visible because the streets were much less packed with automobiles the size of small elephants. Parking spots were not walls of S.U.V.s back then but lines of sedans, nestled along the sidewalk, it seemed, almost like a string of small boats puttering by the boarding platform of a flume ride. I remember climbing down into cars then, even as a 9- or 10-year-old. As a grown-up, I’m now climbing up, into what feels more like a cockpit and an imperious claim to the street.

My parents and in-laws remember a different kind of city still, the kind where you could park right in front of restaurants, play stickball in the street with infrequent interruptions, ride bikes down the cobblestones of SoHo and see only the occasional delivery truck along the way. I never knew that world, except through photographs and the haze of secondhand nostalgia. By the time I came around, the streets were already pretty full of cars. But even so, the city as a whole didn’t seem to belong to them yet. Certainly they didn’t seem to be holding its future hostage.

[mariacallous]

On Wednesday, New York governor Kathy Hochul shocked the state and the country when she announced she would indefinitely shelve New York City’s long-in-development congestion pricing scheme. The policy, in the works since 2007 and set to begin in just three weeks, was designed to relieve car traffic, curb road deaths, and send a billion dollars in annual funding to the city’s transit system by charging drivers up to $15 a day to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan, with rates highest at “peak hours.” (Truck drivers and some bus drivers could have paid more than $36 daily.) At heart, the idea is straightforward, if controversial: Make people pay for the roads they use.

But congestion pricing was also set to become one of the most ambitious American climate projects, maybe ever. It was meant to coax people out of their gas-guzzling vehicles, which are alone responsible for some 22 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, and onto subways, buses, bicycles, and their feet. Policymakers, researchers, and environment nerds the world over have concluded that, even if the transition to electric vehicles were to happen at lightning speed, avoiding the worst of climate change is going to require fewer cars overall.

Now, the movement has seen a serious setback, in a country where decades of car-centric planning decisions mean many can only imagine getting around in one very specific way. Just a few years ago, cities from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Chicago began to study what pricing roads might look like. “Cities were watching to see what would happen in New York,” says Sarah Kaufman, who directs the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation. “Now they can call it a ‘failure’ because it didn't go through.”

On Wednesday, Hochul said her about-face had to do with concerns about the city’s post-pandemic recovery. The congestion pricing plan faced lawsuits from New Jersey, where commuters argue they would face unfair financial burdens. Cameras and gantries, acquired and positioned to charge drivers while entering the zone, have already been installed in Manhattan, to the tune of some $500 million.

Kaufman, who says she was “flabbergasted” by Governor Hochul’s sudden announcement, says she is not sure where the policy goes from here. “If we can’t make courageous, and potentially less popular, moves in a city that has transit readily accessible, then I’m wondering where this can happen,” she says.

Other global cities have seen success with congestion schemes. London’s program, implemented in 2003, is still controversial among residents, but the government reports it has cut traffic in the targeted zone by a third. One 2020 study suggests the program has reduced pollutants, though exemptions for diesel buses have blunted its emissions effects. Stockholm’s program, launched in 2006, upped the city’s transit ridership, reduced the number of total miles locals traveled by car, and decreased emissions between 10 and 14 percent.

But in New York, the future of the program is unclear, and local politicians are currently scrambling to figure out how to cover the transit budget hole that would result from a last-minute nixing of the fee scheme. The city’s transit system is huge and sprawling: Five million people ride the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s buses and subways, almost double the number that fly every day in the US.

In New York, drivers entering the zone below Manhattan’s 60th Street would have been charged peak pricing of $15, but would have only faced the charge once a day. They would have paid $3.75 for off-peak hours. Taxi and ride-hail trips in the zone would have seen extra fees. After years of controversy and public debate, the state had carved out some congestion charge exemptions: some vehicles carrying people with disabilities would not have been charged, lower-income residents of the zone would have received a tax credit for their tolls; and low-income drivers would have been eligible for a 50 percent discount.

[fenrislorsrai]

LASER TRAIN

LASER TRAIN

LASER TRAIN!!!

For transit agencies in the eastern portion of the U.S., the leaves falling off the trees can be a problem for their railways. Leaves have a slippery substance on them called pectin and, when crushed beneath the wheels of a passing train, said pectin can present a hazard to safety and operations by reducing friction between the wheels and rail. This condition can result in flat spots on wheels, higher maintenance costs, unsafe braking and even derailments.   Three different East Coast transit agencies -- Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Metro-North Railroad in New York, New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) in New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia, Pa., have recently started using new equipment to clean the tracks of pectin to ensure trains continue operating safely and reliably.  The MTA’s Metro-North Railroad uses its laser train to clean the tracks. The laser train was introduced by Long Island Rail Road in 2017 before Metro-North began using the train on a trial basis in 2022. During the pilot, Metro-North Railroad safely cleaned more than 12,000 miles of track with the laser train, which resulted in a 40 percent reduction in slip-slide events.  The train operates on the Hudson Line, the Harlem Line and the New Haven Line and can travel at speeds up to 60 mph. Two three-kilowatt lasers are mounted on each side of the train to put down an approximate 1.2-inch cleaning band.  

LASERS!!!!

also dead at the previous rail cleaner is called "Waterworld".