Jun. 30, 2024 By Janno Lieber This was supposed to be the week we turned on the congestion pricing system. As we all know, that’s no longer happening – at least for the moment. A few weeks ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered a temporary pause on tolling, and last week the MTA Board acknowledged…
Jun. 16, 2024 By Ben Brachfeld The Federal Highway Administration’s final approval for the MTA’s now-shelved congestion pricing program gave plaudits to the tolling scheme which Gov. Kathy Hochul scuttled for the sake of easing economic costs to drivers. On the contrary, the approval decision on June 14 seemed to indicate that congestion pricing…
Jun. 8, 2024 By Robert Pozarycki What does the MTA do now without congestion pricing? The authority had counted on the Manhattan tolling program, which was to take effect on June 30, to provide a billion dollars a year in new revenue to fund $15 billion in anticipated transit improvements. There was “no Plan…
Apr. 15, 2024 By Ethan Stark-Miller Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday afternoon announced the “parameters of a concept agreement” for a $237 billion Fiscal Year 2025 state budget — two weeks past the spending plan’s April 1 deadline. But while Hochul said she, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie…
Mar. 12, 2024 By Ben Brachfeld State lawmakers proposed spending $90 million this year to improve bus service frequency and expand the scope of the MTA’s free bus pilot in the Assembly and Senate “one-house” budgets released on Tuesday. The budget proposals, in response to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive spending plan, allocate $45 million…
Mar. 10, 2024 By Ben Brachfeld
The National Guard soldiers checking the bags of subway straphangers are no longer carrying long guns on duty, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul has confirmed.
New York horse racing fans finally have an idea of what the new-and-improved Belmont Park will look like once it reopens from a major transformation in 2026.
Mar. 4, 2024 By Robert Pozarycki New York horse racing fans finally have an idea of what the new-and-improved Belmont Park will look like once it reopens from a major transformation in 2026. The Governor’s office and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) released on Monday renderings of a reimagined Belmont Park racetrack, including…
Jan. 22, 2024 By Ben Brachfeld The success or failure of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s marquee transit proposal, the Interborough Express (IBX) connecting Brooklyn and Queens by light rail, is centered on a short, skinny tunnel underneath a Queens cemetery that the MTA says requires the line to be routed away from existing railroad tracks…
Jan. 9, 2024 By Ben Brachfeld
The proposed Interborough Express (IBX) light rail between Brooklyn and Queens is inching forward, with officials hoping the project can be designed and engineering challenges resolved starting this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday.