Endless Summer (of Hell)
Gov. Cuomo needs to rethink his term for the 2017 transit nightmares, because they plainly didn’t end with the summer. The daily delays and frustration continue — with no end in sight. Just the past few days have brought reports of a ferry crashing into a sandbar and others springing leaks, a bus system falling ever-further behind and even a wall collapsing onto subway tracks.
Meanwhile, the MTA still has no idea if it will get the $836 million it says it needs for emergency repairs and upgrades. And Amtrak is getting set for more track repairs at Penn Station after New Year’s Day and lasting through May; expect more NJ Transit (and probably LIRR) troubles. Bottom line: Commuters will have to wait
at least until summer 2018 before the 2017 “Summer of Hell” finally ends.
What’s the deal? As The Post has reported, seven brand new city ferryboats (price tag: $4 million each) mysteriously sprung leaks and had to be pulled from service. And on Monday, one boat ran aground and damaged its hull as it headed out of lower Manhattan. Passengers had to don life vests and switch to another boat.
No one had specific answers for the ferry mess on Monday, but this service is Mayor de Blasio’s baby. Indeed, the mayor raced to have his new water-commute routes running before this year’s election. He also hired a ferry operator, Hornblower, with scant experience with commuter ferries.
As for the bus system, a report Monday by city Comptroller Scott Stringer confirmed what riders already knew: Gotham’s got the slowest buses of any large US city. It called bus routes “unreliable, long, meandering, confusing, congested and poorly connected.”
No wonder ridership is falling: Buses today make 100 million fewer passenger trips a year than in 2008.
The nightmare continues: On Sunday, a large section of a tile wall at a Brooklyn subway station crashed onto the tracks, causing an oncoming train to derail and snarling train traffic for hours. Yep: The system is literally crumbling. New Yorkers deserve better. From Cuomo on down, the politicians need to get a grip on things — ensure transit bucks are spent more efficiently and top managers can reverse the decline. Because if the city’s transit system goes bust, so does the city.