Johnny Transit

OK, so it has been a while. But give me a break, I have twins.  Anyway, next week (June 15-18) I’ll be in LA for the annual CLAC conference. I’m planning on riding the LA metro just so I can visit LA and NOT DRIVE somewhere. I’ll have a full report later, but one friend who now lives there tells me that “its like the NYC subway, except cleaner and empty.” Weird.

It’s official.  NJ Transit and Amtrak will be getting stim money for Northeast Corridor improvements.  They plan to work on the enhancements as a lead in to the new Hudson River tunnel into Penn Station.

While there’s been a lot of debate on how or if the stim will work, one thing that was added by President Obama at the last minute was an $8bn allocation to create a high-speed rail system in the country. They’ve designated several areas as “high-speed rail corridors” which would be eligible for some of the stim money. Of course, the Northeast Corridor from Boston to DC was high on the list. Here’s hoping they make it happen. While having the cash is nice, there are still many other issues to work out, including rights-of-way, designation of funds, and others. The NY Times covered the story yesterday.

How many acronyms can I use in a post?  Don’t tempt me.  But I digress.  This link comes to Johnny Transit by one of his few but faithful readers.  This new book on the GWB by Rutgers professor Michael Aaron Rockland looks like a great read on the bridge, its history, and its cultural place among the other civil engineering icons of NYC.  Also authored a great book entitled Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike.  A Johnny Transit must-read.

The American Studies in me loves stuff like this:  a beauty contest held by the MTA to promote the subway.  Running from 1941 to 1976, the annual contest is now long since past.  However, it was revived in 2004 for a one-time event promoting the 100 years of the subway.  The NY Times ran a nice photo spread of past winners and photos of them now.  And while we’re on the subject, who could forget those NJ Turnpike “Pikettes?”

Here I sit in PHX Sky Harbor International Airport, having just taken a ride on the new Valley Metro Light Rail System. Serving Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa (Phase 1, with more to come), the system just opened in December 2008.  Having watched its developmet every year while here for an annual conference, I just had to take a ride.  The system was well signed, the cars nice and spacious, and I was happy to see the 4-car train fairly crowded even at 11.40am on a Tuesday.  While plainly lacking the street-cred of a more time-honored system like the MTA, CTA, London Underground, etc, whenever a major city opens a new public transit system, it is a good thing.  Go PHX!  Your Cardinals may have lost the big game, but your new light rail system is sweet.  Costs $1.25 each way, $2.50 for an all-day pass, and is 25 minutes from downtown Tempe to downtown PHX.

On the plane to Tempe this Saturday, i saw a great article in the Times about the ongoing renovations of the Fulton Street Station. The author, who opens by claiming the station is something inspired by M.C. Escher, describes the craziness of this stop and the challenges in renovating it.  Many people forget that before June of 1940 the Subway system of NYC was owned and operated by 3 different authorities, the IRT, the BMT, and the IND.  Wherever there are stops in which these lines intersected, the stations are similarly a mess.  Train lenghts, platform standards, fare collection, and transfer rules differed from line to line.  This legacy has lead to many of the problems at this station and others in the system.

A luxury train service from NYC to ACNJ?  You betcha.  This isn’t your bus full of blue-hairs.    Borgata, Caesars, and Harrah’s all chipped in for this.  Read all about it from the NYT cityroom blog.  For more information about the service, cleverly called “ACES” (Atlantic City Express Service), visit their website.

The MTA has been working on reconstruciton of the South Ferry stop at the southern terminus of the 1 for some time. The station was in pretty bad shape, and since it had been built in 1905 when trains were shorter, was unable to accommodate current train lenghts.  While not uncommon for the MTA to reconstruct or remodel a subway stop, this project uncovered artifacts of Lower Manhattan’s past.  It has slowed completion of the project (set to reopen in Feb 2009) but produced some interesting peices of the city’s origins.

Not too long ago, the old Redbird fleet of subway cars was retired.  This YouTube video shows the last Redbird in public service arriving at 42nd Street (a 7 train from Willets Point).  Once retired, the MTA built a fish habitat off the Jersey and Delaware coasts.  Only in Jersey…