Would The Disabled Get A Congestion Pricing Exemption? (Just Thinking Out Loud Here . . .)

You could tell everyone which of them isn’t working or you could just go ahead and, you know, actually fix them . . . but then that would be too easy, I suppose:

For many straphangers, encountering a broken elevator or escalator can be one of the more unpleasant surprises of travel in the subway system, requiring a long trek up a hot flight of stairs. For riders in wheelchairs, it can be far more than an inconvenience, requiring a lengthy detour to get out of the subway system.

Starting today, New York City Transit will try to eliminate at least some of the surprise — if not the aggravation — by posting a list of elevators and escalators that are out of service, on its Web site, mta.info. The information that will be available on the Internet will be similar to information already provided by the transit agency on a special telephone hotline, (800) 734-6772.

Michael Harris, who leads an advocacy group called the Disabled Riders Coalition, applauded the move and suggested that the transit agency go a step further and make announcements on trains pulling into stations where elevators are not working. That way, he said, riders who use wheelchairs would know not to get off at a station where they might be stuck on a platform with no way out.

On Lowering Expectations To Virtually Nothing (MTA Take Note!)

That the 1 train provides the best service, according to the Straphangers Campaign, is reason enough to stop you in your tracks (ugh). (If it’s so good, why bother with that fancy new train station then? Maybe because 1 train service actually sucks?)

So then it must be just a big joke that the G is rated “most reliable”? As in, it’s the most reliably sucky train? Read the report (.pdf) to find that the “G line ranks tied for 5th place out of the 22 subway lines.” No kidding!

They Shoot Steam, Don’t They?

The Times explains Manhattan’s good old steam heat and what to look for to avoid trouble:

The gray mist that rises from manholes when water touches the steam pipes below seems as much a part of the New York landscape as hot dog vendors.

But five days after a steam pipe exploded in Midtown, leaving one person dead and injuring dozens of others, New Yorkers had reason to be apprehensive about the vapor, particularly after heavy rains yesterday produced fresh trails of steam from manholes around the city.

Bob Flanagan, a 29-year veteran of Con Edison’s steam division, was particularly careful yesterday as he circled the city in search of vapor plumes, which might indicate a problem with the steam pipes below.

Because water collecting inside a steam pipe or seeping into one has been a cause of previous pipe ruptures, the company routinely checks manholes for vapor after rainstorms and pumps out water that reaches the height of the pipes.

There are several possible causes of vapor streams. One is rainwater, which vaporizes when it hits the hot pipes. Sometimes water mains leak onto steam pipes. And Con Edison sometimes intentionally lets off steam during underground construction.

“I’m looking for something over one foot high but with a little force behind it,” Mr. Flanagan said, before driving his minivan past a swirl of steam at the intersection of East Broadway and Pike Street in Lower Manhattan. Without a map, he drove over the steam mains beneath South Street, Water Street, Broadway and smaller roads, pointing to buildings that buy steam from Con Edison.

Every few minutes, he spotted a “whispering” vapor stream too thin to worry about. But about five times during his one-hour loop, he found a manhole that “gushed” steam strong enough that he radioed a dispatcher, who then sent a crew to pump out the water accumulating below.

Mr. Flanagan is one of 10 Con Edison supervisors who travel the city streets after rainstorms. There are also 12 two-person crews around Manhattan that pump out rainwater.

With Friends Like These Who Needs Terrorists?

It may not be terrorism, but this failure of our infrastructure seems pretty serious:

Con Ed’s century-old underground steam system — including the pipe that exploded on Wednesday — is accident- and crisis-prone, with more than 300 reported emergencies in the last year and a growing number of failures in record-keeping and inspection, documents show.

. . .

Three of the emergencies recorded in the last year were at or near the site of Wednesday’s blast. Exactly what happened on Aug. 16, Jan. 11 and April 5 couldn’t be determined yesterday. Neither Con Ed nor the PSC could elaborate on the reports.

But some pipes near the blast site at Lexington Avenue and 41st Street needed repair. Street-opening permits filed with the city indicate Con Ed was trying to fix steam leaks near there right up to the day of the blast.

Con Ed had a city permit that would have allowed the utility to work at the intersection between June 21 and July 22.

The company had another permit to repair pipes in the area that would have let it dig into East 41st Street near Lexington Avenue from April 2 to April 29.

. . .

The cause of the eruption was still under investigation yesterday, with experts citing several possibilities, including metal fatigue in the 83-year-old burst steam main or a sudden cooling of water inside the pipe caused by Wednesday’s rain.

A consultant to Con Ed steam customers said a puddle of cool water inside the main seems the most likely culprit. Such a pool could be created if the pipe were cooled by rain from Wednesday’s storms, said the consultant, Steve Mosto.

When that cool water collides with 360-degree steam, it heats up so quickly, it can cause an explosion, Mosto explained.

Metal fatigue is also a possible factor in the catastrophe.

“They are going to be looking at metal analysis to see how the pipe failed,” Mosto said.

Con Ed touts its steam system as energy-efficient, and its 1,780 steam customers — mostly big buildings in Manhattan south of 96th Street — figure buying bulk steam is easier and cheaper than maintaining boiler and heating systems.

And It’s Not Even A Good-Looking Suspension Bridge . . .

It’s that time of year again when Queens residents start to question why they have to pay a toll for that dumpy old bridge:

Leisure-seekers who make getaways to Rockaway’s beaches and parks get burned by more than the sun with each trip they make south.

Motorists have to pay $2.25 each time they travel across the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge, the city’s only tolled intra-borough crossing.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Kevin Mellett of Briarwood, who comes to the beach almost every day before his evening bartending shift begins. “Why should we have to pay to come to our beach?”

The fee seems unnecessary to Mary Klein, Mellett’s friend and co-worker, as well. “Especially in the summer, when everyone comes to the beach, they shouldn’t be taking advantage of people.”

After E-ZPass discounts, which bring the toll down to $1.50 for each crossing, Mellett estimated that he pays about $100 a season to cross the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge. On their way to and from the Rockaways, Mellett and Klein cross the Addabbo Memorial Bridge without having to pay a fee. Approximately 7.5 million vehicles crossed the bridges in 2006, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“It’s completely outrageous,” said Howard Beach’s Tom Veranda on Riis Park’s pitch and putt golf course on Friday. “To pay to go from Howard Beach to Broad Channel to Rockaway, it’s all Cross Bay (Boulevard). Nobody should have to be pay that (toll).”

Digna Roldon, a Sunnyside woman who sells Italian ices from a cart she pushes along the shore three or four days a week, said the tolls hurt business. Some Queens beach-goers say that when they anticipate heavy traffic on Cross Bay Boulevard, they simply get on the Grand Central Parkway and drive east toward Jones Beach on Long Island.

. . .

Addabbo said that eliminating tolls through the fall and winter would spur business in Rockaway. He added that some developers have, in the past, believed that Rockaway’s shopping base alone does not warrant an investment there and that many in South Queens will refuse to pay a toll to simply buy a pair of shoes or see a movie.

Businesses in Rockaway already have to pay surcharges on deliveries and both Addabbo and Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Ozone Park) have offices in Rockaway and on the mainland so that none of their constituents will have to pay a fee to visit them.

“It’s simply an unfair tax,” Pheffer said. “It’s like putting a toll in the middle of Queens Boulevard.” Pheffer knows of teachers who live in communities such as Ozone Park who refuse to take assignments in Rockaway, the same school district they are zoned for, because of what could become a tax of over $20 a week.

Congestion pricing should be easy to work out.