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Planes Trains & Automobiles

By Stephen Jacob Smith 6:20pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Calatrava no nos la clava: Santiago Calatrava won't be participating in the Municipal Art Society's "provocation" on Penn Station.

Calatrava Not Participating in Municipal Art Society’s Penn Station ‘Provocation’ After All

Earlier this month, the Municipal Art Society announced a “provocation” for Penn Station, challenging four architecture firms—Diller Scofidio + Renfro, SHoP Architects, SOM and Santiago Calatrava—to rethink the city’s most hated transit hub. The selection of Mr. Calatrava’s firm as a participant, shall we say, provoked some controversy, with blogger Ben Kabak at Second Avenue Sagas telling The Observer, “Even involving Calatrava underscores the utter contempt for transit improvements that some of the city’s leading institutions have.” At over $3.7 billion, the PATH terminal that Mr. Calatrava designed for the World Trade Center site will be far and away the most expensive subway station in world history.

So Mr. Kabak should be pleased to learn that Mr. Calatrava’s firm is not, in fact, participating in the effort. Santiago Calatrava’s firm sent the following statement to The Observer via email this afternoon: Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/11 12:31pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Ms. Quinn did not present a plan to expand New York City's subway system.

Quinn Wants Control of the MTA, But Why?

New York City mayoral front-runner and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn unveiled her mass transit agenda this morning. While she emphasized increased control for the city’s next mayor, Ms. Quinn had no new ideas.

Her headline proposal is to take control of the MTA back from the state. But taking over the MTA is a tall order, and to do it, she’ll need to prove that she has better ideas about how to run it than the state.

So does she? Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/08 10:15am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

At $3.7 billion, Santiago Calatrava's World Trade Center PATH terminal will be the world's most expensive subway station when completed.

Municipal Art Society Thinks Calatrava Deserves a Second Chance

Santiago Calatrava does not have the best reputation when it comes to designing practical public works. The Valencian architect has achieved great success in winning design commissions across the globe—especially for public works projects like bridges, train stations and cultural centers—but has also attracted criticism for his budget-busting designs.

Mr. Calatrava is practically a persona non grata in Valencia (he is now based in Zurich), where the leftist Esquerra Unida political party has started a website called Calatrava te la clava—loosely translated as “Calatrava bleeds you dry”—on which it accuses the architect of making 100 million euros off the Valencian City of Arts and Sciences, a cultural complex that is widely seen as a symbol of excess, built during Spain’s boom years but now a drain on the government’s finances as it undergoes a period of fiscal austerity. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 3/13 3:11pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Bus Time: coming to a bus near you!

Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens Will Soon Know How Late Their Buses Are

Philadelphia bus riders got real-time tracking in 2011. Chicago’s had it since at least 2009, as has Washington, D.C.

Staten Island riders and those in the Bronx have had Bus Time, as the MTA calls its real-time bus tracking tools (and that’s trademarked, so back off, other cities!), since 2012, as have a small handful of routes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

But now, the MTA is announcing, we have dates for the rest of the network. “Bus Time is so helpful to our customers that we have scheduled an extremely aggressive timetable to introduce it to three other boroughs,” wrote Fernando Ferrer, the MTA’s acting (and reluctant) chairman in a press release issued today. Manhattan buses will be getting the technology by the end of the year, according to the release, followed by Brooklyn, and then finally Queens, where it will be completed by April 2014. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 3/05 4:51pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

The Bedford Avenue L is about to get some new, non-formstone-faced neighbors.

How Much More Williamsburg Development Can the L Train Handle?

In the midst of yesterday’s frenzy of Domino Sugar Refinery-themed press coverage, squished L train riders could be forgiven for asking: how much more development can Williamsburg handle? With only two tracks in a largely quad-tracked system, the L is not as well-endowed as some lines—so how much more Williamsburg can the L really take?

As it turns out, quite a bit. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 2/27 5:02pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

"It was controlled by a bunch of rich developers," David Gunn once said of Moynihan Station.

Former Amtrak President David Gunn Still Hates Moynihan Station

David Gunn was never a fan of Moynihan Station. When he was president of Amtrak during the early George W. Bush years, he pulled the railroad out of the project, which seeks to recreate the glory of the old Pennsylvania Station in the James Farley Post Office across Eighth Avenue. At the time, costs were the stated reason: Amtrak was expected to contribute to its new home, and Mr. Gunn said that the railroad had more pressing needs.

Current Amtrak President Joseph Boardman picked the project back up in 2009, and though it’s largely unfunded, Amtrak still intends to go through with the move. This, Mr. Gunn told The Observer this afternoon from his home in Nova Scotia, would be a mistake. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 4:50pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

With the LIRR diverting some trains to Grand Central, Penn Station could see Metro-North trains if the MTA goes through with West Side Access.

West Side vs. East Side (Access): Upper West Side May Get Metro-North Stop

East Side Access, which will give Long Island Rail Road commuters the choice of arriving at Grand Central Terminal in addition to the current terminus at Pennsylvania Station, may get all the buzz and billions in capital funding, but it’s the Bronx and the West Side that may be getting new regional rail stations.

West Side Access, as the plan is being called, would involve building a number of new stations within New York City, on the West Side and the Bronx, which would see direct service to Penn Station operated by Metro-North Railroad. The plan has been under consideration for decades, but will finally be added to the MTA’s next five-year capital construction program due out in 2014, according to Newsday. Compared to the $8.24 billion East Side Access project, West Side Access would be downright cheap: in the “hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 2/05 5:00pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

moynihan-farley-2006_2

Related Seeks to Swap College’s Tribeca Spread for a Spot In Moynihan Station

The planned conversion of the Beaux-Arts Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue into Amtrak’s “Moynihan Station” has always been more about real estate and architecture than transportation, spurred by the city’s desperate search for atonement after the destruction of the old Penn Station. Former Amtrak President David Gunn didn’t mince words when he told Bloomberg News in 2011 that the project is “controlled by a bunch of rich developers.”

And Related Companies doesn’t seem to be doing anything to disabuse us of that notion. The New York Times reported that Stephen Ross has yet another trick up his sleeve to revive the stalled project: he wants the Borough of Manhattan Community College to move into Moynihan Station. Read More