They Keep Trying To Anthropomorphize The Subway And Riders Just Can’t “C” It

Probably as long as you keep asking, people will continue to have a difficult time seeing the subway as some sort of brownnosing “A” student:

Eight subway lines have gotten their report cards from riders — and they all scored in the C range.

The lines — the 2, 4, 5, 7, B, L, M and J/Z — were rated on a variety of criteria, including lack of graffiti and availability of seats. When all the categories were averaged out, the trains were rated “average.”

While Large Swaths Of The Outer Boroughs Lack Bus Service, Much Less Subway Service And Nearly Every Other City In The World Closes Its Subway System In The Middle Of The Night . . .

. . . some are trying to raise a stink about forcing people to walk literally one block to an open subway station between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The MTA shouldn’t feel sorry at all* . . . we have gold-plated subway service:

Without additional funding, the MTA says it will lock up the City Hall and Rector St. stations on the Broadway line in Manhattan between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., as well as the Lawrence St. station in downtown Brooklyn. Currently, N trains — and only N trains — make those stops.

That news didn’t sit well with riders waiting for a ride at Rector St. around midnight recently.

“I need this station,” said Eric Marin, 33, of Bay Ridge, said after another late at night in at the office.

“To take it away would make it virtually impossible for me to get home late at night.”

The MTA also plans to raise fares in June, although they just went up in March.

“I think that given the fact that every time you turn around, there’s a fare increase, I’d assume services were at least being maintained,” Marin said. “Otherwise, what are you paying for?”

Without Rector St., riders would have to walk to the Lexington Ave. line stations at Wall St. or Bowling Green for trips that would require additional transfers to get home.

*Waiting thirty minutes for trains in the middle of the night, on the other hand . . .

In Retrospect . . .

$530 million for a full platform doesn’t seem like such a hot idea. Think about it — the auto companies are looking for $14 billion. And you just spent a half a billion on four cars’ worth of platform. Would Lower Manhattan have been any less “rebuilt” without it?

Not that a full platform isn’t cool — It’s great! I’m excited! — but the cost almost makes one seat to JFK seem sensible.

Just Out Of Curiosity . . .

. . . why does it cost $400 million a year to administer tolls? That seems high or, at the very least, slightly inefficient:

A state commission led by Richard Ravitch, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, presented a wide-ranging rescue plan on Thursday for the region’s subways, buses and commuter railroads that includes a new “mobility tax” on corporate payrolls in the region; tolls on the free East River and Harlem River bridges; a much smaller fare and toll increase than the cash-strapped authority has threatened; few service reductions; and improvements in bus service.

The plan — presented in a 19-page report — would permit automatic, inflation-adjusted fare and toll increases every two years without public hearings, ending what Mr. Ravitch called a cyclical “political circus.” The plan would allow for a state takeover of the city-owned Harlem River and East River bridges, which have historically been free to drivers. The new tolls would be collected electronically, without toll booths.

The regional mobility tax — 33 cents on every $100 of payroll — would provide $1.5 billion a year, and the tolls would produce $600 million in net revenue a year ($1 billion a year in gross revenue minus expenses), Mr. Ravitch said. The new revenue streams would help finance borrowing for a $30 billion-to-$35 billion M.T.A. capital plan for 2010 to 2014 that would help stimulate the economy while maintaining vital infrastructure.

Box-Blocking Moron, Don’t Make Me Yawn

On the contrary, this is the most effective remedy for traffic congestion — much cheaper than gadgetry and revenue producing, to boot:

You may have begun to notice more traffic tickets being written. And you may have guessed — correctly — that it has to do with getting New York City more money. Well, brace yourselves, the city is putting 200 more ticket-writing traffic agents to work.

The city’s latest move to close the budget gap is annoying New Yorkers to no end. Soon, you may not be able to avoid the police no matter what you do. Approximately 100 of the agents will be in Manhattan; the other 100 will be spread out across the other boroughs.

“You get stuck out there in the middle; not because you’re not paying attention,” driver Rob Frangavilla said. “People walk across; you’re stuck there. I just think it’s a crazy way to raise money.”

. . .

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly laid out the plan on Tuesday.

“[We will put them] in Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. We will not deploy them right now in Staten Island,” Kelly said.

The agents will be looking primarily for drivers who “block the box” at intersections. That ticket will cost $115.