NEWS RAIL SERVICE FOR EAST BRONX GAINING STEAM
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
Imagine a brand new passenger rail line built over the next decade for $1 billion less than the No. 7 subway extension.
It may sound like fantasy, but a game-changing Bronx rail project is on track and gaining steam, transit insiders insist.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Bronx leaders are all aboard a plan to bring Metro-North service to the East Bronx for the first time.
STRAPHANGERS SURVEY SLAMS SLOW BRONX BUS ROUTES
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
Straphangers to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority: the Boogie Down needs to speed up.
The Bronx boasts the three slowest bus routes in the city outside of Manhattan, according to a new survey by transit advocates.
But the agency could be shifting gears, with the borough’s voice growing louder at MTA headquarters. The City Council Transportation Committee chairman, two board members and even new MTA executive director Joseph Lhota boast Bronx ties.
RAGE AT CROSS BRONX SPARKS INITIATIVE BY LOCAL DADS
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
Two local fathers with an unusual type of road rage are taking on the Cross Bronx Expressway.
William Rivera and Luis Sepulveda have founded the Cross Bronx Initiative, a new push to make the infamous road faster, cleaner and safer.
An accident on Sunday on the expressway killed a 21-year-old woman and left her 20-year-old brother — a Golden Gloves boxing champ — in a coma.
Jennefer Sosa and Pedro Luis Sosa were hit by a vehicle and knocked off an elevated segment of the Cross Bronx near Zerega Ave. after getting out to inspect damage from a collision.
Segments of the road are narrow and lack shoulders.
“Everybody talks about hating the Cross Bronx,” said Rivera, 29. “Nobody talks about fixing it.”
SUBWAY HUNKS IN CHEEKY WEBSITE WITH STRAPHANGER PHOTOS
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
A racy new website has straphangers snapping photos of “hot guys” on the subway.
Subwaycrush.net, launched in June, is the New York version of tubecrush.net, a popular British site with photos from the London Underground.
Straphangers will submit photos featuring New York men sipping coffee, napping or reading on the train - with swooning comments like, “Is he kidding me with those arms? Never. Let. Go.”
NEW COUNTDOWN CROSSWALK SIGNALS INSTALLED ON GRAND CONCOURSE
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
The city is making the Grand Concourse safer, six months after 11-year-old Russell Smith was tragically hit and killed while crossing the busy Bronx street.
Transportation Department workers are installing crosswalk countdown signals at 49 intersections along the deadly six-lane Grand Concourse, from E. 140th St. to Mosholu Parkway.
MTA UNDER FIRE FOR DIRTY BRONX SUBWAY STATIONS
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
Under fire from borough straphangers and subway advocates, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is vowing to clean up its act in the Bronx.
Charles Moerdler, an MTA board member from the Bronx, railed at the agency Monday for its “second-class” treatment of the borough’s subway system. Citing new MTA figures, Moerdler said Bronx subway stations are the worst-kept in the city, covered with dirt and grime, while Bronx trains rank last in terms of on-time performance and delays.
DIAZ PROPOSES LIVERY CAB MEDALLION PLAN FOR OUTER BOROS
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is hailing his own plan for expanding taxi service in the outer boroughs.
LIVERY CAB DRIVERS PROTEST NEW MEDALLION PLAN
BY TORI ACKERMAN, DANIEL BEEKMAN AND PETE DONOHUE (NYDN)
More than 1,000 angry livery drivers rallied Monday against a city plan to flood the boroughs outside Manhattan with a new class of taxicabs.
GAMBLERS WILLING TO BET ON CHEAP RIDE DESPITE DEADLY CRASH
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN, CRISTINA MERRILL AND LORE CROGHAN (NYDN)
Frightened or not, New Yorkers still lined up in droves Sunday to use cut-rate bus lines - even as Mayor Bloomberg and other officials questioned their safety.
“I’m scared. Why? Because so many people are dead,” said Sun Li, 40, before boarding an Atlantic City-bound bus in Chinatown. “I’m still going to gamble though, because I don’t think anything will happen to this bus.”
BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)
