MTA Prepared for Snow Storm but Urges New Yorkers to Stay at Home if Possible

By SÍLE MOLONEY

With Monday’s winter storm expected to bring more than a foot of snow, heavy winds and potential coastal flooding, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) issued an update on Sunday, Jan. 31, on agency-wide preparations being made to keep customers and employees safe while delivering as much reliable service as possible. Metro-North late-night service will end early on Monday evening. MTA Bridges and Tunnels will implement an empty and tandem tractor trailer ban beginning at 6 a.m. on Monday. Buses are being outfitted with tire chains and will run on a reduced schedule. The MTA urges customers to stay

By RACHEL DALLOO

The new year ushered in some good news for seniors, non-driving shoppers, people with disabilities, and parents with small kids in strollers as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) officially opened another ADA compliant elevator in the Bronx on Wednesday, Jan. 6, in the presence of a number of Bronx elected officials. The elevator at Gun Hill Road subway station in Olinville, which serves the number 5 and 2 subway lines, is a welcome development for those who had previously struggled climbing the many flights of steps in order to access the upper platforms, all while carrying strollers, bags, wheelchairs

Crime File: Another Heroin Death in the Bronx

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced on Wednesday, Jan. 13, that some MTA services will operate on special schedules in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 18. For those traveling during the holiday, service details are outlined below. New York City Subway, Buses and Staten Island Railway On Monday, Jan. 18, the New York City Subway and Staten Island Railway will operate on regular weekday schedules. Customers are advised to use the MYmta app or MTA.info to plan their trips. New York City buses will operate on a modified weekday schedule. Local, express, Limited,

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Earlier this week, UnitedHealthcare, the Dreambuilders Foundation and NY Jets wide receiver, Breshad Perriman, donated close to 100 duffle bags filled with personal supplies to Covenant House New York (CHNY), a citywide shelter system for homeless teens and young adults. UnitedHealthcare contributed $15,000 to provide much needed toiletries and everyday supplies to the shelter system, which includes CHNY’s Rights of Passage transitional living program site in Westchester Square in the Bronx, where 96 residents are located. Perriman joined UnitedHealthcare of New York CEO, Michael McGuire, at UHC’s New Jersey office earlier this week to assemble the duffle

By SÍLE MOLONEY

An MTA bus traveling northbound along Bainbridge Avenue made an erroneous right turn onto 206th Street in Norwood Thursday, Nov. 19, at around 10.55 p.m. As the bus driver slowly tried to make the turn, the bus grazed a parked, white Acura RDX Turbo to its right, getting stuck as it did so to the point where it could then neither move forward nor backward. The driver said there were no passengers on the bus at the time of the incident, and there didn’t appear to be anybody in the surrounding, parked cars either. There were some pedestrians

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The grand opening of long-awaited ADA compliant elevators at Bedford Park Boulevard subway station took place on the Grand Concourse on Thursday, Oct. 15. MTA Construction & Development President, Janno Lieber, launched the opening alongside a group of MTA colleagues, and was also joined by elected officials, Congressman Adriano Espaillat and State Assemblyman José Rivera. Speaking at the launch, Espaillat said, “There are three elevators, one up here [street level], and two downstairs [at subway level], and they were built at a cost of $38.2 million,” he said, adding that it was an extraordinary project. He then

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) announced on Friday, Oct. 9 the completion of bus priority lanes and related infrastructure on 149th Street in the Bronx. The 2.7 miles of bus lanes along the highly-trafficked 149th Street corridor are now equipped with transit signal priority (TSP) technology. In addition, new enforcement cameras will also help ensure that only buses and other essential vehicles utilize priority sections of the roadway. The corridor is home to four popular bus routes (Bx2, Bx4, Bx17, and Bx19) and runs through some of the busiest destinations in

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced that as of Sept. 14, all customers who refuse to wear a mask on public transit will be subject to a $50 fine. The new measure follows Governor Cuomo’s executive order directing the MTA to develop a plan to bolster mask compliance across public transit. MTA officials reiterated that the rule is to ensure that customers are adhering to the best possible public health practices and to further improve upon current rates of mask usage, which are already above 90 percent across New York City Transit subways and buses, the Long Island Rail Road and

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The MTA Construction & Development department announced on Sept. 10 that it is another step closer to completing the roadway construction phase of the $253 million Throggs Neck Bridge roadway deck replacement. In this phase, the project team will replace the original concrete roadway, which dates to when the bridge was built in the late 1950s, with a new lighter-weight, stronger, steel deck. Staged roadway work began on Friday, Sept. 11 with a new traffic pattern in place on Sept. 14 using a movable barrier to ensure full traffic lane capacity for customers during the morning and afternoon