Straphangers Frustrated Over Odd Amounts Leftover on MetroCards by Robert Johnson and Pete Donohue - NY Daily News

This is a pet peeve of mine, I must have twenty or more Metrocards with various amounts left on them, it's annoying and when you to try to have a token clerk put them on a new card, they usually will only do one or two...And, contrary to the article, I bet it is a goldmine to the MTA (and intentional)...

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Many straphangers are disgruntled by the leftover fare on their MetroCards, which is sometimes just a few cents, but cards can be consolidated or refilled with any amount. Smith for News

It might not be a gold mine, but straphangers hanging onto almost-depleted MetroCards are sitting on a nice chunk of change.

More than a year ago, the MTA changed the formula for getting bonuses on pay-per-ride cards - making it more likely passengers will end up with a balance after they've taken their last trip.

And many riders don't know what to do with the leftovers. They won't make a turnstile spin, but they're not exactly worthless.

"I have a whole pile of them sitting in a jewelry box on top of my dresser," said Megan Hunt, 36, of Chelsea, who works in print production.

"There are at least 40 cards and some only have a nickel. I don't know what to do with them, but I can't throw them out."

Laura Bowman, 41, a paralegal who commutes to the city from Mount Pocono, Pa., has "a bunch of cards with just 20 or 40 cents each." Periodically, she just throws them away but the waste grates on her. "It's frustrating," she said.

MetroCard math became difficult when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's old easy-to-grasp, 20% bonus - buy five trips and get a sixth free - was reduced to 15% last year.

Buyers are ending up with odd amounts left on their cards - the MTA wouldn't estimate the total - and some apparently don't know how to ensure the money is spent.

They can add value to any MetroCard to make it worth a full ride, or consolidate cards at a token booth, NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said.

They can also sign up for EasyPayXpress, which acts like an E-ZPass to automatically replenish MetroCards from debit or credit card accounts.

To help the numerically challenged, Jim Schwartz, a market researcher who commutes from New Jersey, recruited two friends to compile the Transit Calculator/Spreadsheet. It shows what denominations to put on a card to wind up with a zero balance at the end: $4.50, $6.75, $15.65, $29.35, $31.30, $45, $60.65, $74.35 or $76.30.

Schwartz says the MTA should put the calculations done by his number-crunching pals, Peter Anzalone and Rich Sulin, on its Web site.

"Riders could use the help," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

pdonohue@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/11/30/2009-11-30_leftover_fares_adding_up_to_big_pile_of_metrocards.html#ixzz0YVHMP9TW

MTA wouldn't estimate the total -"

Q56, Q32 Buses Win Dubious Honor as Queens' Slowest by Philip Newman - YourNabe.com

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The Straphangers Campaign is out with its annual Pokey Awards for the city’s slowest buses and the Q56 and Q32 have won the laggard sweepstakes for Queens.

The transit advocacy group presented its eighth annual Pokey worst-in-show recognition to the M42, the transit system’s slowest bus, clocked at an average “speed” of 3.7 mph.

“A 5-year-old on a motorized tricycle would outpace the M42,” the Straphangers’ report said.

The Straphangers also presented a new citation, the Trekkie, in recognition of the bus with the longest running time. It went to the M4, which takes nearly two hours from midtown Manhattan to Upper Manhattan.

As for the Q56, it averages 6.3 mph to run from Jamaica to East New York in Brooklyn.

The Q32 chalks up a running time of one hour and 27 traveling from Jackson Heights and Penn Station.

Increase in Bus Travel Leads to Crowded Buses by Patrick Gallahue- New York Post

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TRANSIT BIGS' 'BLUNDER'-BUS

RIDERS FORCED TO TAKE A 'STAND'

A surge in bus travel is leaving more riders with standing room only, a transit advocacy group charged yesterday.

The rise in ridership over a decade is fast outpacing service increases, leading to a tight squeeze during the morning commute, according to a Straphangers Campaign report.

"Crushed by crowds? Have to wait for more than one bus to go by? It's not your imagination," said Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign. "Transit officials have never caught up to the waves of new bus riders."

Between 1997 and 2007, average weekday ridership on local buses grew 22 percent - from 2 million to 2.45 million - while the number of buses increased only 15 percent.

New York City Transit disputed the claims that it has sat by while passengers are stuck on their feet.

The agency said that overall service - including weekend and express buses - increased 29 percent over the 10 years cited by the campaign, a time when ridership exploded thanks to MetroCards and free subway-to-bus transfers.

NYC Transit also claimed that given the depressed ridership in the mid-'90s, service was already in place for the new riders.

"Important in this discussion is the fact that in 1996, bus ridership was at its lowest point ever, with 492 million annual riders," NYC Transit said in a statement. "The system was nowhere near capacity, allowing for much of the ridership growth since 1996 to be accommodated within existing available capacity."

But Russianoff fired back: "The question is: Has it been enough? . . . We think the agency has been behind the curve."

The report also found that not every borough is feeling the pinch. Service increases in Manhattan and Staten Island actually exceeded ridership growth, according to the report.

But in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx, average weekday ridership growth far surpassed service increases.

Newsday - Rider Groups Says Bus Service Not Keeping Pace

BY STEVE RITEA |steve.ritea@newsday.com

Bus service has not kept pace with increases in city riders, a study by the Straphangers Campaign shows, reporting that average weekday ridership increased 22 percent over the past decade while weekday service grew 15 percent.

"Crushed by crowds? Have to wait for more than one bus to go by? It's not your imagination," said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the riders' advocacy group.

Average weekday bus ridership citywide increased from 2 million in September 1997 to 2.45 million in September 2007, the report said, while service rose from 10.4 million to 11.9 million "revenue seat miles," which multiplies the number of seats on each bus by the miles it travels when carrying passengers.

In Queens, ridership increased 30 percent but service only increased 20 percent. Brooklyn had an similar 18 percent gap between ridership and bus service, while the Bronx had a 10 percent gap.

New York City Transit, which runs the service, contends it has added service at the fastest pace ever of any major United States transit agency. From 1997 to 2007, bus service -- including weekend and express routes, not included in the Straphangers study -- increased by 29 percent and extended over virtually all city bus routes.

"You don't just add service and then forget about the weekend," transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said.

Since 2001, he said, bus ridership has increased by only 2.8 percent, compared with a 4.4 percent increase in service in that period.

The Straphangers Campaign reviewed 185 local bus routes on scheduled weekday service.

"We think that's the most important ... service," Russianoff said. "The vast majority of people who use buses and subways are going to and from work."

Half of Subways Are Clean by Pete Davis - The Queens Courier Newspaper

The A train that services my community went from a 46% in 2005 to a 43% in 2007...but thats the way everything is in the "outer" boroughs under the Manhattan-centric Mayor Bloomberg...substandard services..and I'm sure things won't improve if congestion pricing is passed next week..!

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If you ride the subway, you probably have a 50 percent chance your subway car is clean, according to the 9th annual “subway shmutz” survey released by the Straphangers Campaign.

The 50 percent cleanliness rating citywide for the 2007 survey was a slight improvement over a grade of 47 percent the survey showed in 2005 - the last year the figures were tabulated.

Meanwhile, Queens came in on both ends of the spectrum with the No. 7 train ranking second with 78 percent of the cars clean, but the E train tied with the Q train for the lowest percentage of clean cars at 29 percent.

“Passengers on the L and 7 are riding cleaner cars, thanks to more cleaners and better use of them,” said Gene Russianoff, the senior attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “We congratulate New York City Transit and hope that riders on the other lines will soon be seeing cleaner subway cars.”

The No.7 line, which only had a 22 percent cleanliness rating in 2005, saw one of the most significant increases doing 56 percent better in 2007.

“The improvement on the 7 line is belated, but nonetheless welcome,” said City Councilmember John Liu, who is the Chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee and represents the Flushing area where the No.7 train travels. “In the spirit of continuous improvement, I hope no one is going to get complacent with a C+.”

Out of the 12 subway lines that travel through Queens, six had a cleanliness rate of more than 50 percent and six fell below that mark.

“We are troubled by the disparities in cleanliness we found, ranging from a low of 29 percent clean cars to a high of 88 percent,” said Cate Contino, the campaign coordinator who directed the survey.

Although the E train ranked at the bottom of the list at 29 percent, that was a significant increase from a sorrowful 2 percent in the 2005 survey.

“There may have been some improvement but an F- is sill totally unacceptable,” Liu said.

To check out how your subway line did in the survey, visit http://www.straphangers.org/shmutz07/table1.html