I know everyone doesnt want things like congestion pricing and such, especially those that can afford to buy off the pols, but this city has to get its head out of its rearend soon or its going to fall flat under a car dominated hell.

I would think the mayor would be one who could see that. Look at traffic after the broadway closures. Closing some areas to cars is a VERY good thing.

Vin, the longest commutes are not just in the suburban parts of the city, but also in many low-income urban neighborhoods. Inwood is particularly bad, since its residents’ transportation alternatives include one all-local subway line, and one express line that doesn’t get them to where they want to go. The areas that are served by the LIRR and Metro-North are by and large not the longest-commute neighborhoods, except when commuter rail is so slow and requires so many transfers it’s no faster than the subway. They’re certainly not the longest-commute, lowest-income neighborhoods.

If Bloomberg gets money for reopening stations on the Lower Montauk Line then it’ll do some good to shorten commutes – but that’s independent of how LIRR fares are set. If he gets money for direct Manhattan service for all the stub-end tunnels, like Flatbush and St. George, then it’ll do even more good.

When you read the actual document, though, there are some good ideas. In addition to the city ticket subsidy, he is calling for the reopening of unused LIRR stations in Queens, such as stations on the lower Montauk Branch between Jamaica and LIC. This would be a big help for the area around the Brooklyn/Queens border. If they reopen those stations, it seems likely they would rebuild the abandoned ones in the Bronx along the NEC. Instead of expanding the city ticket, I would expand the express bus monthly pass to include the LIRR and MNRR within city limits.

Although many politicians call for improved ferry service, more routes, etc., Bloomberg is calling for a comprehensive East River network that you can use with a Metrocard. Say what you will about expensive condo towers on the waterfront, much of the East River waterfront is quite inaccessible. I could see a number of people taking a ferry from Broadway and the East River in Astoria to E 86th in Manhattan, and certainly to E 34th St. If Bloomberg can repeat New Jersey’s “Gold Coast” in Queens and Brooklyn, I say go for it.

Reiterating, the point about the crosstown buses is that most people who use them are usually transferring to/from them and therefore don’t pay anyway. Requiring payment just slows down already ridiculously slow bus routes. This is a basically free way to improve service.

Lately, I’ve been riding the L every day and the information screens seem to work just fine. I wish every line had them, but I thought this was going to have to wait until they had computer based train control on all lines? Can they implement train arrival time notices without changing the signals throughout the system?

Even more subsidies for suburban parts of the city!

I don’t really see why this is a problem. The city’s suburban – or, more appropriately, semi-suburban, as even many of NYC’s less-dense pockets are quite dense – outskirts pretty much uniformly have the longest commute times in the country. This is because they frequently have limited access to commuter rail and no access to subways. Residents are forced to take express buses, or drive or take a local bus to the nearest subway station. Improving transit in the city’s outer neighborhoods – eastern queens, southern Brooklyn, Staten Island, northern Bronx – absolutely should be a priority.

Also Yonah, it is not 100% true to say the mayor has no control over the MTA. He controls 4 of the 17 board members, which gives him… well, virtually no control over the authority.

Expand City Ticket to serve all stations at all times (not just weekends, as of now).

That’s a subsidy from people who live in the central areas of the city and use the subway to people who live on the outskirts and use the LIRR, whose farebox recovery ratio is already one half that of the subway. And in the Bronx, Metro-North conveniently misses the major neighborhoods ill-served by subway, like Co-op City…

F Train Express Service into Brooklyn, with an extended V Train.

Community activists in Brooklyn, most of whom have probably never voted for Bloomberg, asked the MTA to do that. The MTA said fine, after they finish the Culver Viaduct repairs in 2012. No need for Bloomberg either way.

Staten Island North Shore reuse for rail.

This is something where a mayor might be useful. Then again, spare city money for transit should be spent on Second Avenue, not the North Shore. The problem is that Bloomberg prioritizes construction projects that pass through lightly populated areas, so that he can hand development rights to his friends. It’s no different from how he’s screwing over SAS to pay for the 7 extension.

Brooklyn and Queens waterfront light rail/streetcar.

Expanded ferry system.

These read to me as “More options for people who live on the waterfront and hate the neighborhoods away from the water so much they wouldn’t use the subway.” You’d expect the first light rail lines to be in areas that are underserved, like central Queens away from the 7 and E/F/G/R/V, rather than areas that are 7 minutes’ walk from the nearest subway stop. The ferry expansion operates on the same principle.

Next train information provided in all subway stations.

The MTA did a pilot program on the L. It was a complete failure, with the information screens bearing little relationship to reality. If Bloomberg can force Siemens to design a system that works then he’ll be useful, but otherwise he’s just ranting.

More BRT in all boroughs.

Either it’s true BRT, in which case it costs the same as light rail, or it’s just a glorified limited stop service.

Commuter van service to under served areas of the city.

Even more subsidies for suburban parts of the city!

Free Manhattan crosstown bus service.

For people who use the buses to transfer to the subway or another bus, this is already free. The problem with the crosstown buses isn’t that they cost money, but that they’re slow.

New integrated RFID transit card.

The MTA’s already pilot testing RFID with credit cards…