Straphangers Campaign rates best and worst of public transit in 2012
Transit watchdogs rank MTA best and worst of 2012
- Sandy, fare hike top worst list
- Praise for post-storm recovery
- New Yorkers won’t soon forget Sandy and subway pushers
The Straphangers Campaign released their third annual lists of the top ten best and worst MTA-related events in 2012 this morning. Among the worst transit events of 2012 are the fare hike (another one will hit this year in March) and a 6.6 percent uptick in subway crime, despite a decrease in city crime generally.
Hurricane Sandy took the top two slots: at first place for the general damaged incurred, and second specifically for what the repairs on those damages will cost riders — a whopping $62 million a year interest for decades.
“I think riders are likely to remember very vividly the storm and these pushing deaths,” said Straphanger spokesman Gene Russianoff.
The positive list features such heartwarmers as the return of Poetry in Motion, the program that places poems in ad space on subway cars, as well as more practical accomplishments like in-station countdown clocks and the new connection between the uptown 6 at Bleecker Street and the nearby but formerly inaccessible BDFM at Broadway-Lafayette.
Straphangers went with a Sandy-themed point at first place for the best of 2012 as well, praising the authority for the rebound after the storm. “It was transit at its best,” Straphangers wrote, “with managers and workers moving mountains.”
Top Five Worst Transit Events in 2012
1. The MTA sustained $5 billion in damages from the storm.
2. Sandy repairs will cost riders $62 million a year in interest for decades.
3. Joe Lhota, the sixth MTA chairman in as many years, stepped down after only a year.
4. Fare hike announced in December, to take effect this March.
5. Subway crime is up: 7.38 felonies per day by late 2012.
Top Five Best Transit Events in 2012
1. Most subways were back online within days of Hurricane Sandy.
2. $30 million in new routes and extensions, inkling the G to Church Avenue.
3. The 6 at Bleecker is now connected to the BDFM at Broadway-Lafeyette.
4. Subway ridership was at its highest in 45 years.
5. “Bus Time,” which gives notice of bus arrival times in advance, expanded to the Bronx and Staten Island.
