Got Kicked Out By MTA From Roosevelt Island F Train Subway Meeting This Morning - What Happened to New Transparency Mr. Walder?

Waiting For MTA Roosevelt Island Meeting To Begin

Quick post - more will come later. I am very pissed at being removed earlier this morning by MTA Press Office from meeting on finding temporary solution to alleviating the anticipated overcrowding on the Roosevelt Island F Train service during 2010 Tram outage despite being invited to attend by a Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Director, the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) President and with the knowledge of Assembly Member Micah Kellner's office who convened the meeting. I also got soaking wet walking in the poring rain to MTA Headquarters for this meeting which did not help.

MTA press people present removed me and the Main Street WIRE editor from meeting claiming that MTA could not speak openly or frankly about this subject with us in the room.

Unbelievable, how absurd and incompetent can the MTA be?

What happened to new MTA Chairman Jay Walder's policy of openness and transparency. According to the NY Times, Mr. Walder testified at a public hearing that:

...he hoped to encourage “a new communications strategy with the communities we serve” and to make public information about the system more “comprehensive and comprehensible.”...

and:

“We need to address the issues of credibility, accountability and transparency,” Mr. Walder said when asked about his goals upon starting his job. “I’m sure we can all agree on that.”

Apparently, based upon today's actions, nobody else but Chairman Walder believe in credibility, accountability and transparency at the MTA. It is simply ridiculous to bar a citizen journalist/blogger from such a meeting when any of the other participants present at the meeting could just as easily blog about what occurred as I can.

Since I don't yet know what happened during the meeting, here is a summary of what RIRA is proposing for temporary Roosevelt Island subway service during the Tram outage scheduled to start in March 2010.

- We are requesting 4-5 trains, one every half hour, in the morning rush between 6:30-9:00. For example, the schedule might be 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 8:20, 8:50 -- the exact times are to be refined later.

- The Special-Q service will take an uptown Q train from the 57St-7Ave terminus and send it outbound via 63St tracks to 21St-Queenbridge. Once there, the train will "turnaround" on the Queens-bound track (motorman switches to West end of train) and await a Manhattan-bound F train to pass on the Manhattan-bound tracks. After the F train passes, the Q train will switch tracks and follow to the F train. Once the Q train arrives at Roosevelt Island, the doors will open on the empty train and passengers will board quickly. The Q train will continue on 63St tracks (stopping at 63St-Lex) and continue down 7Av and Bway on the normal Q train service.

- These additional Q trains will *NOT* add load to the 63St connector interlock (in Long Island City) nor the Rockefeller Center interlock, i.e., we are avoiding two congestion points.

- For Roosevelt Island commuters, they can transfer at 63St-Lex, continue on 7Av-Bway (a block away from the F train route), or transfer at Herald Square to the F train.

- The extra service is only for the morning rush. No additional evening trains are requested.

- Has this kind of cross-track routing been done before? Yes, the MTA did this in Herald Square on the 6Ave lines while providing several temporary train services over the years. The 21St-Queensbridge station was the old terminus of the Q train, so it has the signaling to support the turnaround and track changes.

- Fernando Martinez, RIOC's VP of Operations, has assured me that RIOC will collaborate and coordinate the Island's red bus schedule with the MTA's additional trains, i.e., if the MTA provides the additional capacity, RIOC will deliver the passengers.