When was the New York City Transit Authority established?
New York City Transit Authority
In March 1953, the Board of Transportation was abolished, and was replaced by the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA). The NYCTA formally succeeded the BOT on June 15, 1953, being composed of five unsalaried members. Hugh Casey was elected as the agency's chairman at the authority's first meeting. The new Transit Authority was modeled after the existing Port of New York Authority which now calls itself the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, the latter of which is also now part of the MTA. At this time, the city government leased the IRT, BMT, and IND subway lines and the surface system (buses and, until 1956 street cars). A major goal of the formation of the NYCTA was to remove transit policy, and especially the setting of the transit fare, from City politics. The fare was increased to fifteen cents on July 25, 1953, and a token was introduced for paying subway and elevated fares. Bus and trolley fares continued to be paid by cash only.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The MTA has the responsibility for developing and implementing a unified mass transportation policy for the New York metropolitan area, including all five boroughs of New York City and the suburban counties of Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester. This twelve-county area make up the "Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District" (MCTD), within which the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance levies a "metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax". Veronique Hakim is currently the managing director of the MTA.
New York City Subway
Alfred Ely Beach built the first demonstration for an underground transit system in New York City in 1869 and opened it in February 1870. His Beach Pneumatic Transit only extended under Broadway in Lower Manhattan operating from Warren Street to Murray Street and exhibited his idea for an atmospheric railway as a subway. The tunnel was never extended for political and financial reasons. Today, no part of this line remains as the tunnel was completely within the limits of the present day City Hall Station under Broadway.)
New York Bus Service
New York Bus Service was a private bus company in New York City, United States. Originally a school bus company founded in the mid-1940s, it was best known for providing express bus service between Midtown Manhattan and eastern sections of the Bronx from 1970 until July 1, 2005, when the city (MTA) assumed the company's operations from longtime owner Edward Arrigoni. Former NYBS routes currently operate under the MTA Bus Company brand of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, out of the former NYBS facility in Eastchester, Bronx.
Transportation in New York City
The history of New York City's transportation system began with the Dutch port of Nieuw Amsterdam. The port had maintained several roads; some were built atop former Lenape trails, others as "commuter" links to surrounding cities, and one was even paved by 1658 from orders of Petrus Stuyvesant, according to Burrow, et al. The 19th century brought changes to the format of the system's transport- a street grid by 1811 (see the Commissioners' Plan of 1811), as well as an unprecedented link between New York and Brooklyn, then separate cities, via the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1883.
Central New York Regional Transportation Authority
Centro of Oneida began operation on April 1, 2005 with the acquisition of the financially troubled Utica Transit Authority based in Utica, New York. The UTA was a local agency only and did not have the same ability to raise revenues as a public benefit corporation such as the CNYRTA. Merging the local county bus operations into the Centro system brought greater financial stability. On October 1, 2005 Centro of Oneida assumed the operations of the VIP Transportation bus system in Rome, New York. This merger of services has allowed for improved transit for citizens of Oneida County. All of the former UTA and VIP buses were reconditioned with digital destination signs, upgraded air conditioning systems and new fare collection equipment. All buses are wheelchair accessible.
Signaling of the New York City Subway
The 42nd Street Shuttle, which runs from Grand Central to Times Square, was briefly automated from 1959 to 1964. The chairman of the Board of Transportation, Sidney H. Bingham, in 1954, first proposed a conveyor belt-like system for the shuttle line, but the plan was canceled due to its high cost. Subsequently, in 1958, the newly formed New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) started studying the feasibility of automatically operated trains which did not have motormen. The NYCTA conducted the study in conjunction with the General Railway Signal Company; the Union Switch and Signal division of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company; General Electric; and Western Electric. The next year, NYCTA president Charles Patterson made a speech about the results of the automated mass transit study. It was estimated that on the 42nd Street Shuttle alone, full automation could result in a $150,000 annual savings.
History of the New York City Subway
The NYCTA, a public authority presided over by New York City, was created in 1953 to take over subway, bus, and streetcar operations from the city. The NYCTA was under control of the state-level MTA in 1968. Soon after the MTA took control of the subway, New York City entered a fiscal crisis. It closed many elevated subway lines that became too expensive to maintain. Graffiti and crime became common, and equipment and stations fell into decrepit condition. The New York City Subway tried to stay solvent, so it had to make many service cutbacks and defer necessary maintenance projects. In the 1980s an $18 billion financing program for the rehabilitation of the subway began.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels
On March 1, 1968, the MCTA dropped the word "Commuter" from its name and became the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The MTA took over the operations of the other New York City-area transit systems as well as the TBTA. Moses was relieved from his job as chairman of the TBTA, although he was retained as a consultant. Moses stated that TBTA construction projects would reduce the MTA's budget surplus through 1970. Surplus revenue, formerly used for new automobile projects, was then used to support public transportation.
History of the New York City Subway
In 1989, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority asked the transit police (then located within the NYCTA) to focus on minor offenses such as fare evasion. In the early nineties, the NYCTA adopted similar policing methods for Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal. When in 1993, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner Howard Safir were elected to official positions, the Broken Windows strategy was more widely deployed in New York City under the rubrics of "zero tolerance" and "quality of life". Crime rates in the subway and city dropped, prompting "New York Magazine" to declare "The End of Crime as We Know It" on the cover of its edition of August 14, 1995. Giuliani's campaign credited the success to the zero tolerance policy. The extent to which his policies deserve the credit is disputed. Incoming New York City Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton and author of "Fixing Broken Windows", George L. Kelling, however, stated the police played an "important, even central, role" in the declining crime rates.
MTA Bus Time
In 1996, the MTA's New York City Transit Authority (NYCT) contracted Orbital Sciences Corporation to design a bus-arrival monitoring system, planned to be installed on 170 city buses by 1998. The routes planned for implementation were the and operating out of the 126th Street Depot in Manhattan. In 1997, the MTA awarded a second contract to Orbital to install a tracking system on the Long Island Bus system (now the independent Nassau Inter-County Express). An additional contract was awarded in 1999 for the MTA's Access-A-Ride paratransit service. The system would have included countdown clocks and interactive kiosks at stops, and recorded "next stop" announcements on buses (similar to that of modern subway cars and the still-used Clever Devices system used on the ex-MTA Long Island Bus/NICE Bus units). NYCT Buses would be monitored at a control center in East New York, Brooklyn, and Long Island buses at a command center in Garden City. After four years, the company had missed most of its deadlines. The technology, meanwhile, was faulty due to interference from the skyscrapers in Manhattan and failure of the dead reckoning system. The NYCT contract was terminated by the MTA in 2000.
Atlanta Transit Company
The Atlanta Transit Company (ATC) was a public transport operator based in Atlanta, Georgia, which existed from 1950 to 1972. It was the immediate predecessor of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA).
1980 New York City transit strike
A 1980 transit strike in New York City halted service on the New York City Transit Authority (a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority) for the first time since 1966. Around 33,000 members of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 walked off their jobs on April 1, 1980, in a strike with the goal of increasing the wage for contracted workers. All subway and bus lines in the five boroughs of New York City were brought to a complete standstill for twelve days. The strike was resolved on April 11.
Philadelphia Transportation Company
PTC was established on January 1, 1940, by the merger of the PRT and several smaller, then-independent transit companies operating in and near the city. It operated a citywide system of bus, trolley, and trackless trolley routes, the Market–Frankford Line (subway-elevated rail), the Broad Street Line (subway), and the Delaware River Bridge Line (subway-elevated rail to City Hall, Camden, New Jersey, and now part of the PATCO Speedline) which became SEPTA's City Transit Division. PTC operated the rapid transit lines in urban Philadelphia – principally the Market–Frankford Line and Broad Street Line – leasing their fixed infrastructure from the City of Philadelphia. Most suburban transit lines were operated by Suburban Transportation Company known as Red Arrow (Trolley Lines, Southern Penn Bus Company (Bus Lines) and Philadelphia & Western Railway (Norristown and Stratford high Speed Lines). PTC's network also included the Philadelphia trolleybus system, which was much smaller, along with numerous bus lines.
New York State Thruway
A toll superhighway connecting the major cities of the state of New York that would become part of a larger nationwide highway network was proposed as early as 1949. The following year, the New York State Legislature passed the Thruway Authority Act creating the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA), an independent public corporation, which would build and manage the Thruway. The project was to be financed through toll revenue bonds and self-liquidating by receipt of tolls, rents, concessions, and other income. The act also stipulated NYSTA adopt a hybrid system of tolls, with barrier tolls collected in urban areas, and long-distance tickets issued in rural areas.
Transit Authority of River City
The transit authority was created in 1971 after 1970 legislation authorized city and county governments to operate mass-transit systems using local funding. At the time, public transit was still being provided in Louisville by the private Louisville Transit Company. The Louisville Transit Company had long operated mass transit lines in Louisville, converted from electric trolleys to diesel buses in the late 1940s, and changing its name from the Louisville Railway Company in 1947.
New York state public-benefit corporations
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority manages public transportation in the New York metropolitan area (this includes the New York City Subway and MTA Regional Bus Operations systems, as well as MTA Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road).
New York City Subway map
The current iteration of the New York City Subway map dates from a design first published in 1979. The official map has evolved gradually under the control of the Marketing and Corporate Communications Department of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The 1979 design was created by the MTA Subway Map Committee, chaired by John Tauranac, which outsourced the graphic design of the map to Michael Hertz Associates.
National Capital Transportation Agency
The National Capital Transportation Agency (NCTA) was created in 1960 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to comprehensively plan different modes of transportation in the Washington, D.C. area. John F. Kennedy appointed Darwin Stolzenbach as administrator of the NCTA, which laid the groundwork for the Washington Metro System.
MTA Arts &amp; Design
MTA Arts & Design, formerly known as Arts for Transit and Urban Design, is a commissioned art program directed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the transportation systems serving New York City and the surrounding region. Since 1985, the program has installed art in more than 260 transit stations. The art is intended to be site-specific and to improve the journey for New Yorkers and visitors alike.
Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation
The Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation (B&QT) was a subsidiary of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation that operated streetcars in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States (as well as into Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge). It was created in 1929 to operate these routes, which had previously been operated by the BMT directly; its operations were transferred to the New York City Board of Transportation in 1940, and to the New York City Transit Authority in 1956.
Program for Action
In 1968, the MCTA absorbed the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA or TA) of New York City, and began a long-term lease of several lines of the Penn Central that would become the Metro-North Railroad. That year, () was made available to the MCTA, as part of a $2.5 billion () bond for transportation passed by the New York State legislature. The city was already intending to build line extensions in all four boroughs so that most riders would need at most one transfer to get to their destination. The original plan was to tear down the IRT Third Avenue Line in the Bronx; build the Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan and the Bronx with a 48th Street spur; extend the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line down Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn; build a 63rd Street Tunnel for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR); and create a LIRR rail link to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens.
New York City Transit Authority
The buses on Staten Island had been operated by a private company operating under a franchise that expired in 1946. When it became known that the company would not renew its franchise, a group of residents in the borough organized the Isle Transportation Company, to continue operation. This group ran into financial difficulties and the city took over the company on February 23, 1947. The city then controlled all of the bus routes on Staten Island. On March 30, 1947, the City took over the bus lines of the North Shore Bus Company, which comprised half of the privately owned lines in Queens, after that company went into financial troubles. On September 24, 1948, the City acquired five bus lines in Manhattan for similar reasons.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels
In January 1966, New York City Mayor John Lindsay proposed merging the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), which operated buses and subways in New York City, with the TBTA to create the Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority (MCTA). While Governor Nelson Rockefeller offered his "complete support" for Lindsay's proposed unified transit agency, Robert Moses called the proposed merger "absurd" and "grotesque" for its unwieldiness. Lindsay then proposed a bill in the state legislature that would allow the mayor to appoint a majority of the members in the new city-run transportation agency, but this was rejected. In June 1966, Rockefeller announced his plans to expand the MCTA's scope to create a new regional transit authority to encompass the existing MCTA, as well as the NYCTA and TBTA. Lindsay disagreed, saying that the state and city should have operationally separate transit authorities that worked in tandem. In early 1967, Rockefeller proposed merging the NYCTA and TBTA into the MCTA, as well as creating a $2.5 billion bond issue to fund transportation improvements. On May 3, 1967, Rockefeller signed a bill that allowed the MCTA to oversee the mass transit policies of New York City-area transit systems and the TBTA by the following March.
New York City Board of Transportation
Following the dissolution of the BOT, the building was used by the Transit Authority as its headquarters, and later used by the MTA with some space rented out to other organizations including the New York City Police Department. In 1990, the Transit Authority moved its primary headquarters out of 370 Jay Street, to its current location on Livingston Street. Other MTA operations were moved to 2 Broadway (now the headquarters of MTA Bridges and Tunnels) in Manhattan in 1998. In January 2006, the money train operations ended, after which the MTA largely vacated the site. The building is currently being converted for use as part of the Brooklyn Campus of New York University.
New York City Transit Authority
The Chairman and Members of the MTA, by statute, also serve as the Chairman and Members of the Transit Authority, and serve as the Directors of the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority. The Executive Director of the MTA is, "ex officio", Executive Director of the Transit Authority.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
In January 1966, New York City Mayor John Lindsay proposed merging the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), which operated buses and subways in New York City, and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), which operated toll bridges and tunnels within the city. Rockefeller offered his "complete support" for Lindsay's proposed unified transit agency, while longtime city planner and TBTA chair Robert Moses called the proposed merger "absurd" and "grotesque" for its unwieldiness. In June 1966, Rockefeller announced his plans to expand the MCTA's scope to create a new regional transit authority. The new authority would encompass the existing MCTA, as well as the NYCTA and TBTA. Lindsay disagreed, saying that the state and city should have operationally separate transit authorities that worked in tandem.
2005 New York City transit strike
In December 2005, the Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU) called a strike in New York City. Negotiations for a new contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) broke down over retirement, pension, and wage increases. The strike began at 3:00 a.m. EST on December 20, 2005. Most New York City Transit Authority and MTA Bus Company personnel observed the strike, effectively halting all service on the subway and buses, except for routes operated from the Spring Creek Depot, where workers represented by ATU Local 1181/1061 had a contract in force after striking against the predecessor operator, Command Bus Company, the previous year. Millions of commuters were affected. The strike officially ended at 2:35 p.m. EST on December 22, 2005. Service was restored overnight, with all transportation systems fully operational by the morning commute of the 23rd.
Long Island Rail Road
After the Second World War, the railroad industry's downturn and dwindling profits caused the PRR to stop subsidizing the LIRR, and the LIRR went into receivership in 1949. The State of New York, realizing how important the railroad was to Long Island's future, began to subsidize the railroad in the 1950s and 1960s. In June 1965, the state finalized an agreement to buy the LIRR from the PRR for $65 million. The LIRR was placed under the control of a new Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority. The MCTA was rebranded the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968 when it incorporated several other New York City-area transit agencies. With MTA subsidies the LIRR modernized further, continuing to be the busiest commuter railroad in the United States.
Accessibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The MTA created the New York City Transit ADA Compliance Coordination Committee (CCC) in June 1992. The committee works to coordinate the MTA's accessibility plan, as well as reaches out to disabled MTA riders. The MTA also provides training to disabled riders, the families of disabled riders, and mobility specialists. Between 1995 and 2017, it has trained 748 passengers.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels
Since the merger, more than $10billion has been contributed by the TBTA to subsidize mass transit fares and capital improvements for the New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, and Metro-North Railroad. The MTA Bridges and Tunnels trading name was adopted in 1994. The name Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority is still the legal name of the Authority.
New York City Omnibus Corporation
The New York City Omnibus Corporation (NYCO, later Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc.) ran bus services in New York City between 1926 and 1962. It expanded in 1935/36 with new bus routes to replace the New York Railways Corporation streetcars when these were dismantled. It further expanded with the acquisition of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company from The Omnibus Corporation in 1954. NYCO was renamed the "Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc." in 1956, becoming bankrupt in 1962, after which operations were taken over by the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority.
Program for Action
On February 29, 1968, the MCTA published a 56-page report for New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, and in it, proposed several subway and railroad improvements under the name "Metropolitan Transportation, a Program for Action" (alternatively called the "Grand Design"). Executives involved with the proposal included New York baseball executive William Shea. The Program for Action was put forward simultaneously with other development and transportation plans under the administration of Mayor John Lindsay. This included Lindsay's Linear City plan for housing and educational facilities, and the projected construction of several Interstate Highways, many of which were originally proposed by Robert Moses. On March 1, a day after the release of the plans, the MCTA became the MTA.
East Side Access
In February 1968, the NYCTA's parent company, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, released the Program for Action, which proposed numerous improvements to subway, railway, and airport service in the New York metropolitan area. The plan included a new LIRR terminal at a proposed Metropolitan Transportation Center at Third Avenue and 48th Street in East Midtown. It also included connections to Grand Central Terminal, with a new northern entrance leading to the center, and the Second Avenue Subway, among other transit services. The new LIRR line was to branch off from existing lines in Sunnyside, Queens and enter Manhattan using the new two-level 63rd Street Tunnel. The upper level was to be used by the New York City Subway's 63rd Street lines and the lower level was to be used the LIRR. According to renderings of the transportation center, the mezzanine would be placed above four island platforms and eight tracks, which would be split evenly across two levels, similar to the structure under construction at Grand Central.
Metro Transit (Minnesota)
The agency was established by the Minnesota State Legislature in 1967 as the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC). MTC’s operations were moved under the auspices of the Metropolitan Council in 1994, prompting a name change to “Metropolitan Council Transit Operations” and then, in 1998, to Metro Transit. The organization traces its history back to the 19th-century streetcar systems of the region through the acquisition in 1970 of the Twin City Lines bus system from businessman Carl Pohlad. At the time of the acquisition, Twin City Lines had 635 buses: 75% of those were over 15 years old and 86 buses were so old that they were banned from operating in Minneapolis. MTC acquired 465 new buses over the next five years and built many new bus shelters.
New York City Subway
The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), a public authority presided by New York City, was created in 1953 to take over subway, bus, and streetcar operations from the city, and placed under control of the state-level Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968.
Administrative divisions of New York (state)
Public benefit corporations get charters from New York and are usually designed to perform a specific, narrow function in the public interest. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority manages public transportation in the New York Metropolitan Area (this includes the New York subway and public bus systems, as well as Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road, and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority). The New York State Thruway Authority originally only maintained the New York State Thruway from New York City to the Pennsylvania border southwest of Buffalo, but due to budgetary maneuvering, now maintains the toll-free Interstate 287 corridor, and the New York State Barge Canal. Many regions also have authorities to manage their local public transportation such as the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority, which manages much of the public transportation in and around Syracuse; and the Capital District Transportation Authority for the Capital District area around Albany, Schenectady, Troy, and Saratoga Springs.
Organizational analysis
In the 1990s, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) was having problems with sustainability. There was a steep decline in ridership coupled with an increase in riders who avoided paying the fare. There was an increase in crime in the subways, as well as more homeless and panhandlers congregating in the stations. When Alan Kiepper became the head of the NYCTA, he decided to restructure the organization, and place more of a focus on stations. Kiepper believed that New Yorkers would regain trust in the Transit Authority if they saw crime decline and repercussions for fare avoidance. Therefore, Kiepper used the organizational structure model to improve the organization's efficiency. Stations were given station managers who were responsible for overseeing all problems within the station. The previous division of labor was broken down, and employees began to work across departments in order to improve the stations. This is an example of focusing on an organization's structure while performing an organizational analysis.
Congestion pricing in New York City
In 1952, city planner Goodhue Livingston suggested that tolls be added on the four free East River bridges in order to fund the New York City Subway. By 1966, New York City Mayor John Lindsay was considering implementing tolls on all East River crossings, as well as raising prices on existing tolled crossings. In 1968, an outgoing member of the then-new Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which controlled New York City's transit system as well as the city's tolled crossings, suggested adding tolls to the East River crossings in order to encourage mass transit use. The proposal was brought up again in 1971.
New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings
OATH was created by Mayor Ed Koch with Executive Order 32 on July 25, 1979, and by an amendment to the New York City Charter at the general election on November 8, 1988. The Board of Standards and Appeals was consolidated with OATH by an amendment to the charter effective July 1, 1991. The Environmental Control Board was moved from the authority of the Department of Environmental Protection to OATH effective November 23, 2008. Fidel Del Valle was appointed as commissioner and chief judge of OATH by mayor de Blasio in 2014. Executive Order 18 of June 23, 2016 transferred all adjudications of the DCA Tribunal to OATH effective August 22, 2016.
New York City Transit Authority
As part of establishing a common corporate identity, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1994 assigned popular names to each of its subsidiaries and affiliates. The New York City Transit Authority is now known popularly as "MTA New York City Transit (NYCT)", (or more specifically on the vehicles, "MTA New York City Bus" and "MTA New York City Subway"), though the former remains its legal name for documents and contracts. Newer contracts and RFPs, however, have also used the popular name.
History of rapid transit
The New York City Subway, which became one of the world's largest rapid transit systems, opened its first section in 1904, a fully independent four-track line stretching 9 miles (14.5 km) from City Hall to 145th Street. Extensions were soon built, reaching the Bronx and Brooklyn; this became part of the IRT system. Two major subway systems, operated by the BMT and the IND were constructed later, and many pre-existing elevated railway lines were incorporated into the BMT and IRT systems. The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, which opened a subway tunnel in Manhattan in 1908 and connected with New Jersey, remained a separate railroad company, later coming under the control of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as the "Port Authority Trans-Hudson" (PATH). Some New York City Subway lines used right-of-way first used by railroads in the 1870s, and converted R44 subway cars run on the 1860 Staten Island Railway.
New York City Housing Authority Police Department
The New York City Housing Authority Police Department was a law enforcement agency in New York City that existed from 1952 to 1995, which was then merged into the NYPD. The roots of this organization go back to 1934 and the creation of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia authorized the hiring of security guards to patrol the city's public housing buildings. These guards eventually were trained and became the first officers of the Housing Police, which was officially created in 1952. The Housing Police, along with the New York City Transit Police, was merged into the New York City Police Department in 1995 by New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and continues today as the Housing Bureau.
New York State Railways
The transit franchises formerly operated by the streetcars were continued by the Copper City Bus Line and the Rome City Bus Line. It wasn't until 1948 that many parts of the former Utica Lines were reorganized as the Utica Transit Corporation. The city-owned Utica Transit Commission took over operations in 1965, which was succeeded by the Utica Transit Authority in 1974. In 2005, the transit operations transferred to the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority and its subsidiaries Centro Rome and Centro Utica.
Peter Tufo
From 1989 to 1996, Tufo also served as unpaid Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the New York State Thruway Authority, the largest toll road and bridge system in the U.S. Under his leadership, the Thruway Authority completed a $2,000 million new construction program, took over and revitalized the New York State Canal System, undertook major transportation-related economic development projects throughout New York State, and completed over $5,000 million of infrastructure financings for New York State. In addition, the Authority privatized various services through public/private partnerships with the Marriott Corporation and McDonald's Corporation investing $175 million to build 26 new travel plazas. Under Tufo the Authority also developed and installed E-ZPass statewide, the nation's first non-stop electronic toll collection system.
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
Founded on May 6, 1902, by August Belmont, Jr., the IRT's mission was to operate New York City's initial underground rapid transit system after Belmont's and John B. McDonald's Rapid Transit Construction Company was awarded the rights to build the railway line in 1900, outbidding Andrew Onderdonk. On April 1, 1903, over a year before its first subway line opened, the IRT acquired the pre-existing elevated Manhattan Railway by lease, gaining a monopoly on rapid transit in Manhattan. The Manhattan EL was the operator of four elevated railways in Manhattan with an extension into the Bronx. The IRT coordinated some services between what became its subway and elevated divisions, but all the lines of the former Manhattan EL have since been dismantled.
New York City Transit Police
Since the 1860s, the New York City Subway's predecessors operated lines running at grade level and on elevated structures. Between 1900 and October 27, 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) built the first subway line in Manhattan. Both the IRT and the competing Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later BMT) were privately held operators who operated city-owned subway lines. They hired their own police. However, in 1932, the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND) opened; the IND lines originally had "station supervisors" employed to police them, their names having been taken from the New York City Police Department's hiring list.
New York City Transit Police
Beginning in 1949, the question as to who should supervise the Transit Police Department was one which was carefully scrutinized over the next five years by various city officials. The issue being considered was, "Should Transit be taken over by the NYPD?" In 1955, the decision was made that the Transit Police Department would become a separate and distinctly different department, ending almost two decades of rule by the NYPD. The Civil Service Commission established a new test for transit recruits, and on April 4, the first appointments from the list were made. An NYPD lieutenant, Thomas O'Rourke, was also designated the first commanding officer of the Transit Police Department. Soon after, Lieutenant O'Rourke along with 9 others, passed the captain's exam. Captain O'Rourke was then appointed as the first chief of the new department. With crime on the rise, the number of transit officers increased so that by 1966, the Department had grown to 2,272 officers. That year, Robert H. Rapp was appointed chief by the NYC Transit Authority. Under Chief Rapp, and at the direction of the mayor, an ambitious new anti-crime program got underway. The program had a goal of assigning an officer to each of New York City's subway trains between the hours of 8:00 PM and 4:00 AM. And the Transit Police Department continued to grow. By early 1975, the department comprised nearly 3,600 members.
Rapid transit operations of the BRT and BMT
The New York Consolidated Railroad and New York Municipal Railway were merged in June 1923, the same month that the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company was reorganized as the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, to form the New York Rapid Transit Corporation.The remaining Contract 4 lines were soon completed. On June 1, 1940, the New York City Board of Transportation took over operations.
History of the New York City Subway
Planning for the system began with the Rapid Transit Act, signed into law on May 22, 1894, which created the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners. The act provided that the commission would lay out routes with the consent of property owners and local authorities, either build the system or sell a franchise for its construction, and lease it to a private operating company. A line through Lafayette Street (then Elm Street) to Union Square was considered, but at first a more costly route under lower Broadway was adopted. A legal battle with property owners along the route led to the courts denying permission to build through Broadway in 1896. The Elm Street route was chosen later that year, cutting west to Broadway via 42nd Street. This new plan, formally adopted on January 14, 1897, consisted of a line from City Hall north to Kingsbridge and a branch under Lenox Avenue and to Bronx Park, to have four tracks from City Hall to the junction at 103rd Street. The "awkward alignment...along Forty-Second Street", as the commission put it, was necessitated by objections to using Broadway south of 34th Street. Legal challenges were finally resolved in 1899.
The city decided to issue rapid transit bonds outside of its regular bonded debt limit and build the subways itself; it contracted with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (which by that time ran the elevated lines in Manhattan) to equip and operate the subways, sharing the profits with the city and guaranteeing a fixed five-cent fare.
Chicago Transit Authority
The CTA is an Illinois independent governmental agency that started operations on October 1, 1947 upon the purchase and combination of the transportation assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines streetcar system. In 1952, CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, which was under the control of Yellow Cab Company founder John D. Hertz, resulting in a fully unified system. Today, the CTA is one of the three service boards financially supported by the Regional Transportation Authority and CTA service connects with the commuter rail Metra, and suburban bus and paratransit service, Pace.
370 Jay Street
Following the dissolution of the BOT in June 1953, the building was taken over by the BOT's successors the New York City Transit Authority, who used the building as their headquarters. The Transit Authority became part of what is now the MTA in 1968, with the MTA also using the building as its center of operations. Some office space was rented out to other organizations including the New York City Police Department. In 1990, the Transit Authority moved its primary headquarters out of 370 Jay Street, to its current location at 130 Livingston Street. Other MTA operations were moved to 2 Broadway (now the headquarters of MTA Bridges and Tunnels) in Manhattan in 1998. In January 2006, the money train operations ended, after which the MTA largely vacated the site. Following the MTA's exit, the building remained largely vacant and fell into disrepair, often surrounded by scaffolding. It has been criticized for its dilapidated state, and for its simple and uniform design in contrast to the surrounding buildings. Critics of the building included Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz.
History of transportation in New York City
In the 1960s the State took over two financially ailing suburban commuter railroads and merged them, along with the subways and various Moses-era agencies, into what was later named the MTA. In the 1970s, the modern New York Passenger Ship Terminal replaced the Chelsea Piers that were rendered obsolete by new, larger passenger liners.
MTA Regional Bus Operations
In addition to a 100% accessible bus fleet, New York City Transit also provides paratransit services under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 under the Access-A-Ride brand, for customers who cannot use regular bus or subway service. It services all five boroughs of New York City at all times. The Access-A-Ride paratransit services are provided by various independent contractors, using vehicles owned by the MTA. Although all buses are wheelchair-accessible, these vehicles provide an accessible transport option for MTA riders. The program was created in 1991 after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
New York City Transit Authority
The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, The TA or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a public authority in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City. Part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the busiest and largest transit system in North America, the NYCTA has a daily ridership of 8 million trips (over 2.5 billion annually).
New York City Board of Transportation
In 1924, the New York City Board of Transportation was created by the New York City Board of Estimate following a bill passed by New York State Legislature. The Board of Transportation would responsible for mapping and constructing new rapid transit lines, carrying out the powers dictated in the 1891 Rapid Transit Act, while the State Transit Commission would continue to oversee the privately operated systems. The bill had been deadlocked in the State Assembly for two years until a compromise bill was introduced in February 1924 and passed on April 11 of that year. Governor Smith signed the bill into law on May 2, and the BOT assumed power on June 1. The board's first chairman was John Hanlon Delaney, one of Hylan's top advisers who had been the transit construction commissioner since 1919. The BOT would release the initial plans for what would become the Independent Subway System (IND) on December 9, 1924, based largely off of Mayor Hylan's plans. The first IND subway line and the system's trunk line, the IND Eighth Avenue Line, broke ground on March 14, 1925, and was opened on September 10, 1932. On August 29, 1929, the BOT released its first major plans for the expansion of the city-owned system still under construction. A revision of this proposal was released almost ten years later on July 5, 1939. These plans would later be called the IND Second System, and would go largely unbuilt due to the Great Depression and World War II.
History of New York City (1898–1945)
The municipal consolidation precipitated greater physical connections between the boroughs. The building of the New York City Subway opened with the first IRT line in 1904. Initially the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) systems (with a third system, the Independent Subway System or IND, to be incorporated in 1925) were separate. They immediately became a force for further population spread and development.
PATH (rail system)
The 1980 New York City transit strike suspended transit service on the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA)'s bus and subway routes from April 1 to 11. A special PATH route ran from 33rd Street to World Trade Center via Midtown Manhattan, Pavonia–Newport, and Exchange Place during the NYCTA strike. PATH motormen also threatened to go on strike during this time, but this was unrelated to the NYCTA strike. The special service was suspended during April 8, a Tuesday, because some workers refused to voluntarily operate trains during their overtime hours. On June 12, 1980, PATH workers again went on strike for the same reason as in 1973, marking the first walkout since then. During the strike, moisture built up within the tunnels and rust accumulated on the tracks, although the pumps in the underwater tunnels were still operating so that the tubes would not be flooded completely. Alternative service across the Hudson River was provided by shuttle buses through the Holland Tunnel, though it was described as "inadequate". The 1980 strike, which lasted 81 days and ended on September 1, was the longest in PATH's history.
Transportation Alternatives
Transportation Alternatives was founded in 1973 during the explosion of environmental consciousness that also produced the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Since its founding, TransAlt has helped win numerous improvements for cyclists and pedestrians and has become the leading voice for cycling and walking in New York City and a model for livable streets advocacy across the United States. TransAlt's roots are in cycling in New York City, and many of its members are everyday cyclists. A bicycle friendly city means changing the overall transportation system, which, even in New York City where more people use public transit than cars, means shifting a paradigm dominated by the private automobile. Since 2014, TransAlt has been at the forefront of monitoring New York City's Vision Zero initiative and advocating for progress in meeting safety goals.
New York City Transit Authority
During World War II, the New York City Transit System showed an operating surplus on the five-cent fare, because gasoline was rationed and auto riders had to abandon their cars for subway and bus travel. Factories began to work around the clock, and therefore business boomed. Transit repairs were kept at a minimum as basic materials were in short supply for civilian use. Operating revenues were raised and maintenance costs were reduced, but as a result, the future problems of deferred maintenance and falling ridership. In 1946, costs rose and profits turned to losses, and to obtain needed funds, the fare was raised in 1948 to ten cents on the subways and elevated, and to seven cents on the surface lines. This increase only produced a revenue surplus for a single year. In 1951 a uniform ten-cent fare was established on both the rapid transit and surface lines. Operating deficits continued to add up and public dissatisfaction with the transit system grew, as equipment was deteriorating, and train schedules being difficult to abide by.
New York City Subway
By the time the first subway opened in 1904, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT) and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). The city built most of the lines and leased them to the companies. The first line of the city-owned and operated Independent Subway System (IND) opened in 1932; this system was intended to compete with the private systems and allow some of the elevated railways to be torn down, but stayed within the core of the City due to its small startup capital. This required it to be run 'at cost', necessitating fares up to double the five-cent fare popular at the time.
Program for Action
In the 1960s, the New York metropolitan area had 18 million residents across , and the area's population was expanding greatly at the time, especially in the suburbs, to where many city residents relocated. In 1965, the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA) was created by the New York State Legislature to operate the bankrupt Long Island Rail Road. Two years later, voters passed a $2.5 billion bond issue that would pay for transport infrastructure in New York State. The MCTA's chairman at the time, William Ronan, said that any extensions of the New York City Subway that were funded using the bond issue would not be complete for at least another 5 years.
New York City Transit Authority
One provision in the 1953 law that created NYCTA demanded that by July 1955, the agency create a plan to sell its bus and trolley routes to private operators. In the beginning of 1955, it was reported that the NYCTA's surface operations cost seven million dollars more to operate annually than it collected in revenue from the fare box. By privatizing the surface operations, and as a result focusing on subways, the NYCTA could then meet its operating costs. Two Manhattan private operators, New York City Omnibus and Surface Transportation, in March 1955, expressed interest in taking control of the five-route NYCTA bus operation in that borough. In the other boroughs there was no interest in taking over the routes in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and there was little interest in Queens. In April 1955, laws were passed by the New York State legislature to change the NYCTA into a three-member salaried panel to become in effect on July 1, 1955. This allowed its members to devote their full-time to managing New York's transit system. As part of this law, the provision that required surface operations to be sold was removed. The Chairman of the NYCTA then became Charles Patterson.
New Orleans Regional Transit Authority
The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA or NORTA) is a public transportation agency based in New Orleans. The agency was established by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1979, and has operated bus and historic streetcar service throughout the city since 1983. With an annual ridership of over 18.6 million riders, the Regional Transit Authority is the largest public transit agency in the state of Louisiana.
History of the New York City Subway
The Beach Pneumatic Transit was the first attempt to build an underground public transit system in New York City. In 1869, Alfred Ely Beach and his Beach Pneumatic Transit Company of New York began constructing a pneumatic subway line beneath Broadway. Funneled through a company he set up, Beach put up $350,000 of his own money to bankroll the project. Built in only 58 days, its single tunnel, long, in diameter, was completed in 1870 and ran under Broadway from Warren Street to Murray Street.
Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority
Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) was formed in 1968 by a state act of government which also formed three similar agencies in Syracuse, Buffalo, the Capital District around Albany and New York City. The RGRTA took over the former RTC bus operation from the City of Rochester and later began expanding bus service to outlying suburban and rural areas. The lines that made up the former RTC service became part of the Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester and Monroe County.
New York City Transit Authority
In 1965, mayoral candidate John Lindsay pledged to use the toll revenues from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) to offset the NYCTA's deficits. In January 1966, New York State, with the help of Governor Nelson Rockefeller. purchased the Long Island Rail Road, from its corporate parent, the Pennsylvania Railroad, becoming part of the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA). Rockefeller saw the difficulty that John Lindsay, who had since won the mayoral election, had in his plan to use the TBTA surpluses for the NYCTA, and decided to expand the MCTA to give it oversight to the NYCTA and the TBTA. The MCTA would be renamed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Tied to a bill with the creation of the MTA was a $2.5 billion bond issue that would be approved or disapproved by voters in November 1967. A majority of the bonds would go to the state's mass transit systems, with a majority going to New York City, and to Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, and Orange Counties. The day prior to the election, two brand new R40 cars were displayed on the IND Sixth Avenue Line at Herald Square. The bond issue passed, and the MTA was set to take over the NYCTA in 1968. The night before December 31, 1967, the NYCTA and the TWU made an agreement to avoid a strike. The deal gave NYCTA workers the ability to retire with about half-pay after twenty years if the employee was over fifty years old. This would later cause problems, as large numbers of transit workers would retire to take advantage of these benefits. On March 1, 1968, the NYCTA, and its subsidiary, the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA), were placed under the control of, and are now affiliates of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Lincoln Tunnel from Manhattan to New Jersey had opened in 1937. Within a year and a half of the tunnel's opening, five companies were operating 600 interstate bus trips through the tunnel every day. The city opposed letting buses go through Midtown Manhattan because the buses caused congestion. A large bus terminal near the mouth of Lincoln Tunnel was first mandated in December 1939, after the city announced that it would ban commuter buses from driving into congested parts of Midtown. The ban was supposed to go into effect in January 1941. In July 1940, at the request of New York City mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, the Port Authority started conducting a survey into the causes and effects of intercity and commuter bus traffic in Manhattan. That December, Times Square Terminal Inc. filed an application to build and operate a commuter bus terminal from 41st to 42nd Streets between 8th and 9th Avenues. The $4 million terminal could be built in nine months. Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs proposed building a short $600,000 tube between the Lincoln Tunnel and the new terminal. The city approved the construction of the new terminal and connecting tunnel in January 1941. Meanwhile, New York Supreme Court Justice John E. McGeehan blocked La Guardia's proposed bus ban on the grounds that it was unreasonable.
Bus depots of MTA Regional Bus Operations
On June 1, 1940, the New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) took over the streetcar operations of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), as part of the unification of the city's transit system under municipal operations. The streetcar lines would be motorized into diesel bus routes or trolleybus routes over the next two decades. In 1947, the BOT took over the North Shore Bus Company in Queens and Isle Transportation in Staten Island, giving the city control of the majority of surface transit in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. On September 24, 1948, the BOT took over the East Side Omnibus Corporation and Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation in Manhattan, receiving two depots in East Harlem. From 1947 to 1950, the BOT reconstructed numerous depots and trolley barns inherited from the private operators, and erected or purchased new facilities to expand capacity. In 1962, the New York City Transit Authority (successor to the BOT) and its subsidiary Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA) took over the operations of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company in Manhattan and the Bronx. The Transit Authority inherited at least 12 bus depots from the company, some of which were kept in operation while others were condemned and closed. From 2005 to 2006, the remaining private operators were taken over by the MTA Bus Company. The MTA inherited eight facilities at this time, which had been built either by the companies or the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT).
History of the New York City Subway
By January 1955, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority could theoretically raise $1.25 billion effective immediately (). In his 1974 book "The Power Broker", Robert A. Caro estimated that this amount of money could modernize both the Long Island Rail Road for $700 million and the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad for $500 million, with money left over to build the Second Avenue Subway as well as proposed extensions of subway lines in Queens and Brooklyn. However, Robert Moses, the city's chief urban planner at the time, did not allow funding for most mass transit expansions in the New York City area, instead building highways and parkways without any provisions for mass transit lines in the future. Caro noted that the lack of attention to mass transit expansions and routine maintenance contributed to the decline of the subway: "When Robert Moses came to power in New York in 1934, the city’s mass transportation system was probably the best in the world. When he left power in 1968 it was quite possibly the worst."
Syracuse Transit Corporation
The former Syracuse Lines of New York State Railways were reorganized on November 22, 1939, as the Syracuse Transit Corporation (STC). This privately owned transit company inherited 27 transit routes serving the city and suburbs of Syracuse, seven of which were streetcar lines. By 1941, all lines had been converted to bus operation. All STC transit franchises were purchased by the public Central New York Regional Transportation Authority in 1972, continuing their operation as CNY Centro.
York Region Transit
YRT was created by the regional government in 2001 to combine the four municipally-managed transit authorities in the region: Vaughan Transit, Markham Transit, Richmond Hill Transit, and Newmarket Transit (Aurora Transit had merged with Newmarket in 1999).
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
In June 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the MTA due to ongoing reliability and crowding problems. This order applied particularly to the New York City Subway, which was the most severely affected by dilapidated infrastructure, causing overcrowding and delays. With many parts of the system approaching or exceeding 100 years of age, general deterioration could be seen in many subway stations. By 2017, only 65% of weekday trains reached their destinations on time, the lowest rate since a transit crisis in the 1970s. A corresponding bus crisis was not covered as heavily in the media, but in November 2017, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer identified several causes for the bus system's unreliability. The average speeds of New York City buses were found to be , the slowest of any major bus system nationwide.
New York City Board of Transportation
The New York City Board of Transportation or the Board of Transportation of the City of New York (NYCBOT or BOT) was a city transit commission and operator in New York City, consisting of three members appointed by the mayor. It was created in 1924 to control city-owned and operated public transportation service within the New York City Transit System. The agency oversaw the construction and operation of the municipal Independent Subway System (IND), which was constructed shortly after the Board was chartered. The BOT later presided over the major transfers of public transit from private control to municipal control that took place in the 1940s, including the unification of the New York City Subway in 1940. In 1953, the Board was dissolved and replaced by the state-operated New York City Transit Authority, now part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
2017 New York City transit crisis
In 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) due to ongoing reliability and crowding problems with mass transit in New York City. This order applied particularly to the New York City Subway, which was the most severely affected by dilapidated infrastructure, causing overcrowding and delays. With many parts of the system approaching or exceeding 100 years of age, general deterioration could be seen in many subway stations. By 2017, only 65% of weekday trains reached their destinations on time, the lowest rate since a transit crisis in the 1970s. To a lesser extent, New York City buses operated by the MTA were also affected. Both the subway and the buses are run by the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), a subsidiary of the MTA. A separate crisis at Penn Station affected the routes of the three railroad agencies that provided service into the station.
New York City Board of Transportation
Until 1924, municipal public transportation actions originated primarily from state-controlled agencies, including the 1891 and 1894 rapid transit boards, the PSC, and most recently the New York State Transit Commission which was created in March 1921. Following the creating of the State Transit Commission and the reelection of Al Smith as Governor of New York in 1922, then-mayor John Francis Hylan and future mayors Jimmy Walker (then a state senator) and John P. O'Brien (the city's corporation counsel) sought to establish a city-controlled transit commission. Hylan had been both an opponent of private transit operation, particularly that of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT; the successor to the BRT), and a political opponent of Smith. Hylan also had his own plans for a city-operated subway system.
New York City Transit Police
The creation of the New York City Transit Police came about on November 17, 1933, six men were sworn in as New York State Railway Police. They were unarmed but were still responsible for the safety of the passengers on the IND as well as guarding property. Two years later, 20 "station supervisors, class B" were added for police duty. Responsible for assisting in the opening and closing of doors and announcing destinations, these 26 "specials" were soon given powers of arrest, but only on the IND line. In 1937, 160 more men were added to this police force. Additionally, 3 lieutenants, 1 captain, and 1 inspector from the NYPD were assigned as supervisors. When the privately run IRT and BMT were taken over by New York City in 1940, the small patrol force on the IND line nearly doubled in size. Now part of the Civil Service system, more Transit supervisors were needed. In 1942, the first promotional exam was given for the title of "special patrolman grade 2" – or what is now known as a sergeant.
New York Transit Museum
In the mid-1990s the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) assumed control of the Transit Museum from the New York City Transit Authority. At that time, the scope of the museum was expanded to include other aspects of transportation services within the MTA region, including commuter rail (Metro-North, Staten Island Railway, Long Island Rail Road) and roads, tunnels, and bridges (MTA Bridges and Tunnels). Since then, rotating exhibits on the mezzanine level frequently highlight commuter railroad and bridge/tunnel operations, as well as their history.
Dual Contracts
In 1906, Charles Evans Hughes was elected as the governor of New York, and the next year, he created the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC). The PSC was responsible for new rapid transit lines in New York City. Although the PSC had created ambitions plans for the expansion of the city's subway system, they only had $200 million on hand. In 1911, George McAneny was appointed leader of the Transit Committee of the New York City Board of Estimate, which oversaw the subway expansion plans.
New York City Transit Police
The Code of Criminal Procedure was changed in 1947 granting transit patrolmen peace officer status and by 1950, the number of "specials" reached 563. The following year, exams were held for both Transit sergeants and lieutenants. In 1953, the New York City Transit Authority came into being and assumed control over all the subway lines from the old New York City Board of Transportation.
Transportation in New York City
While some PATH stations are adjacent to subway stations in New York City and Newark as well as Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stations in Hudson County, there are no free transfers. The PATH system spans 13.8 miles (22.2 km) of route mileage, not including track overlap. Like the New York City Subway, PATH operates 24 hours a day. Opened in 1908 as the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, a privately owned corporation, PATH since 1962 has been operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports are served by intermodal rail systems. AirTrain JFK is an 8.1 mi (13 km) rapid transit system that connects 24 hours a day Kennedy to New York's subway and commuter rail network in Queens. It also provides free transit between airport terminals. For trips beyond the airport, the train costs $5. Roughly 4 million people rode the AirTrain to and from Kennedy in 2006, an increase of about 15% over 2005. AirTrain Newark is a 1.9-mile (3 km) monorail system connecting Newark's three terminals to commuter and intercity trains running on the Northeast Corridor rail line.
New York City's commuter rail system is the most extensive in the United States, with about 250 stations and 20 rail lines serving more than 150 million commuters annually in the tri-state region. Commuter rail service from the suburbs is operated by two agencies. The MTA operates the Long Island Rail Road on Long Island and the Metro-North Railroad in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut. New Jersey Transit operates the rail network west of the Hudson River. These rail systems converge at the two busiest train stations in the United States, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, both in Manhattan.
PATH (rail system)
The planning of the World Trade Center in the early 1960s enabled a compromise between the Port Authority and the states of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority agreed to purchase and maintain the Tubes in return for the rights to build the World Trade Center on the land occupied by H&M's Hudson Terminal, which was the Lower Manhattan terminus of the Tubes. A formal agreement was made in January 1962. On April 1 of the same year, the Port Authority set up two subsidiary corporations: the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH) to operate the H&M tubes, as well as another subsidiary to operate the World Trade Center. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would have been bound under federal Interstate Commerce Commission rules if it ran the trains directly, but with the creation of the PATH Corporation, only the subsidiary's operations would be federally regulated.
New York City Transit Authority
In 1949, the Transport Workers Union and the Board of Transportation, under Mayor Willian O'Dwyer signed a Memorandum of Understanding that gave the right to represent all of the system's workers to the TWU. In 1954 an NYCTA-wide representation election took place. It gave TWU exclusive collective bargaining rights for all hourly workers for the NYCTA, except for those in the Queens and Staten Island Bus Divisions, which remained a part of the Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, which became the Amalgamated Transit Union in 1964. After looking at the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers as their model, NYCTA motorman formed their own union in 1954, a Motormen's Benevolent Association (MBA) to further their interests. In 1956 they went on strike on a hot June day, tying up service on the BMT Division. Its president, Theodore Loos, and its leadership were fired after the strike, but were reinstated after agreeing not to strike again.
Centre Area Transportation Authority
The company first started as Centre Area Transit (CAT), which was formed to provide a vehicle to subsidize public transit throughout the region. Then on May 17, 1974, the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) was incorporated. By the end of its first year, CATA was officially up and running and its annual ridership was 201,000. By 1979, ridership was continuing to grow year after year prompting CATA to add more bus routes as well as additional buses built by GMC. It was then in 1990 that ridership had officially hit the two million mark. CATA then revised its bus fleet in 1996 by introducing their first fleet of CNG buses built by Orion Bus Industries. The following year, CATA would eventually phase out the remaining GMC diesel-powered buses, in favor for new state-of-the-art New Flyer low-floor CNG buses. Currently all of CATA's fleet buses are CNG-powered and ridership has exceeded seven million passengers, the majority of riders being Penn State students.
William Ronan
William John Ronan (November 8, 1912 – October 15, 2014) was an American public servant and academic who founded and served as the first chairman of New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, from 1968 to 1974. He subsequently served as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1974 until 1977 and remained on the board of the Port Authority until 1990. Prior to entering state government as a key aide to Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York in 1958, he was a professor of government at New York University and served as dean of NYU's graduate school of public service from 1953 to 1958.
MTA Regional Bus Operations
However, in late 1981 the MTA decided to merge the New York City Transit Authority's Surface Division (aka NYCTA Civil Service) with the Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (aka MABSTOA Non Civil Service) into one single entity using the MTA - New York City Transit Authority, or MTA - New York City Bus moniker instead of the former.
History of the New York City Subway
In June 1940, the transportation assets of the former BMT and IRT systems were taken over by the City of New York for operation by the city's Board of Transportation, which already operated the IND system. In June 1953 the New York City Transit Authority, a state agency incorporated for the benefit of the city, now known to the public as "MTA New York City Transit", succeeded the BoT. A combination of factors had this takeover coincide with the end of the major rapid transit building eras in New York City. The city immediately began to eliminate what it considered redundancy in the system, closing several elevated lines including the IRT Ninth Avenue Line and most of the IRT Second Avenue Line in Manhattan, and the BMT Fifth and Third Avenue Lines and most of the BMT Fulton Street Line in Brooklyn.
New York City Transit Authority
In July 1953, the NYCTA proposed spending $1,065,000,000 over six years, expanding the city's subway system through new lines and connections between the IND and BMT Divisions. The most important new lines were a Second Avenue subway, including a Chrystie Street connection to the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridge and a rebuilt DeKalb Avenue junction in Brooklyn, IRT Utica Avenue and Nostrand Avenue extensions into southeast Brooklyn, and the extension of subway service to the Rockaway Peninsula using the Long Island Railroad's Rockaway Beach Branch. Only the Chrystie Street connection, the rebuilt DeKalb Avenue Junction, and the Rockaway Line were built between 1954 and 1967.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The MTA is governed by a 23-member board representing the 5 boroughs of New York City, each of the counties in its New York State service area, and worker and rider interest groups. Of these, there are 14 voting members, broken down into 13 board members who cast individual votes, 4 board members who cast a single collective vote, and 6 group representatives who do not vote. The chairman position was split off of the existing CEO position in 2017.
Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal (New York City Subway)
On June 1, 1940, the title of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation was transferred to the City of New York, signifying the first phase of unification of New York's subway system with the Independent Subway System as well as eventual public operation of the entire system. (The Interborough Rapid Transit Company would be merged on June 15 of the same year.) At midnight, a ceremony commemorating the transfer, with five hundred people in attendance, was held at the Times Square station. The last BMT train had left the 57th Street station five minutes earlier. When the train arrived at Times Square, BMT president William S. Menden handed over his company's properties to Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, who then gave them to New York City Board of Transportation chairman John H. Delaney. The Board of Transportation operated the New York City Transit System until the creation of the New York City Transit Authority in 1953.
Third Avenue Railway
Third Avenue Transit System continued operating its transit franchises through its subsidiary Surface Transportation Corporation after the end of rail service. A partnership between Third Avenue Transit System and New York City Omnibus Corporation created New York Management Ownership Corporation (NYMOC) in 1954. In 1955, parent The Omnibus Corporation sold its stakes in Fifth Avenue Coach Lines and New York City Omnibus to NYMOC. In 1956, New York City Omnibus Corporation bought out the remaining shares of Third Avenue Transit System and gained control of the Surface Transportation Corporation's bus transit routes. Surface Transportation Corporation was dissolved and Third Avenue Transit was renamed Surface Transit, Incorporated. The same year, New York City Omnibus changed its name to Fifth Avenue Coach Lines.
John Tauranac
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was founded in 1968, and its first chairman, Dr William J. Ronan, sought to establish a modern brand image. Unimark International, in its New York office headed by Massimo Vignelli, gave him this through two things:
New York Railways Company
A group of Philadelphia businessmen headed by Peter A. B. Widener, Thomas Dolan, and William L. Elkins incorporated the Metropolitan Traction Company in New Jersey on February 19, 1886. This holding company immediately started acquiring the Manhattan street railways, starting by buying the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad, Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad, and Chambers Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad in June 1886, forming a system of three north-south and two crosstown lines. Added to this system were the South Ferry Railroad in January 1889, the Twenty-third Street Railway in March 1890, the Broadway Railway in October 1890, and the Metropolitan Cross-Town Railway in March 1891.
New York City Transit Authority
The Transit Authority has its own management structure which is responsible for its day-to-day operations, with executive personnel reporting to the agency president. Andy Byford is the current President of the New York City Transit Authority.
Andy Byford
On November 21, 2017, Byford announced he would leave the Toronto Transit Commission in mid-December 2017 to become president of the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), where he would lead the modernization of the New York City Subway. His appointment came in the midst of the 2017 New York City transit crisis, a few days after "The New York Times" published an in-depth investigative report chronicling decades of mismanagement and under-investment by the MTA. Byford is the second person to have headed both the TTC and the NYCTA, after David L. Gunn. Byford is also the first non-American director of the New York City Transit Authority.
Irma Lozada
In 1980, Lozada applied for, and was accepted into, the New York Transit Police Academy in October, 1981. She graduated in the first academy class of transit officers that had a significant number of women and was assigned to District 33 at 2399 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N.Y., as a plain clothes transit officer. At the time, the NYPD and the New York Transit Police were separate entities. The New York City Transit Police Department was a law enforcement agency that existed from 1953 (with the creation of the New York City Transit Authority) until 1995.
Capital District Transportation Authority
Created as an act of the New York State Legislature in August 1970, CDTA was formed similarly to agencies in Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. In 1970, CDTA purchased and took over management of the United Traction Company and Schenectady Transit.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
In February 1965, Rockefeller and Connecticut Governor John N. Dempsey jointly suggested that operations of the New Haven Line, the New Haven Railroad's struggling commuter rail operation, be transferred to the New York Central Railroad as part of a plan to prevent the New Haven Railroad from going bankrupt. If the operational merger occurred, the proposed MCTA and the existing Connecticut Transportation Authority would contract with New York Central to operate the New Haven Line to Grand Central Terminal. A joint report from both agencies, released in September of that year, recommended that the line be leased to New York Central for 99 years, with the MCTA and CTA acting as agents for both states. In October, the MCTA found that the New Haven Line's stations and infrastructure were even more decrepit than those of the LIRR. The New Haven Railroad's trustees initially opposed New York Central's takeover of the New Haven Line, as they felt that the $140 million offer for the New Haven Line was too low. After some discussion, the trustees decided to continue operating the New Haven Line, but only until June 1967.
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using the single-letter symbol B on the New York Stock Exchange. It operated both passenger and freight services on its rail rapid transit, elevated and subway network, making it unique among the 3 companies which built and operated subway lines in New York City. It became insolvent in 1919 and was restructured and released from bankruptcy as the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation in 1923.
New York City Transit Authority
As with all mass transit in the United States the TA requires assistance for its capital costs and to cover operational needs, however, the very high ridership of New York City's subway system has enabled it to pay 67% of its operating costs from fares and advertising. Historically, the TA's capital requirements were met by the city and state jointly, but this support was withdrawn, primarily by Governor Rockefeller, in the 1960s.
MTA Regional Bus Operations
Public takeover of the remaining Queens buses, as well as most express routes, was implemented in 2005 and 2006 when the city purchased the assets of seven private bus companies, and entered into an agreement with the new MTA Bus Company for their operation and funding. In 2008, the bus operations of New York City Transit and MTA Bus Company (as well as the now former Long Island Bus division) were merged into a new regional operation, MTA Regional Bus Operations. The New York City Bus brand continues to be used; however, it (and the MTA Bus brand) are being phased out with the introduction of a new blue-and-yellow livery; the first two buses with the new livery for New York City Transit service were delivered in fall 2016 (MTA Bus had its first 75 examples delivered in spring and summer 2016). Even with the new livery, New York City Transit Authority, Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, and MTA Bus Company continue to be the legal entities operating the services.