An MTA Bus Took On Water After Driving Through Flooding

"Never drive into high water," the mayor tweeted. [View this email in your browser]( An MTA Bus Drove Through Heavy Flooding Yesterday. Guess What Happened. Plus: Brian Lehrer sometimes bikes to work, though he mostly sticks to protected cycling paths. A G train operator came to a heroic halt on Monday, then got out of the train and saved a woman on the tracks. And startups are finding that it's not so cheap to advertise on the subway anymore. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) You've seen what happens when a bus tries driving through snow. Now imagine if that was sitting water, instead. (Mary Altaffer/AP) Remember yesterday afternoon when the rain started coming down really hard? It eventually prompted the mayor's office to send out this warning, at 5:21 p.m. NYC Mayor's Office/[Twitter]( Unfortunately, that warning came about an hour late for one S40 bus on Staten Island, which took a shot at driving through a flooded section of Richmond Terrace. An unnamed source told the [New York Post]( that the bus was able to move through the area without a problem. But that depends on your definition of a problem: [Lacy]( Lacy Shelby/[Twitter]( The MTA said in a statement: "This is a graphic example of the challenges our bus operators face on the road day in and day out as they work hard to get millions of New Yorkers to their destinations safely and expeditiously." A few months ago, this same thing happened in Oakland, California, where apparently driving through standing water is verboten. "No operator with AC Transit is ever instructed to drive through standing water," a spokesperson [told San Francisco's ABC affiliate]( at the time. "That is absolutely against all procedure." As for the bus on Staten Island, the MTA [told NBC 4 New York]( that it's looking into whether all safety protocols were followed. Best of the Week From Gothamist and WNYC Mark Lennihan/AP It turns out that former MTA chair Joe Lhota resigned because of his conflicts of interest, which the MTA and Gov. Cuomo never mentioned. When Lhota stepped down last fall, Cuomo — who'd appointed Lhota — made it seem as though this was a natural conclusion to a job well done. But a copy of [Lhota's resignation letter]( obtained this week by Politico, cited a state ethics committee decision that his role as a board member at Madison Square Garden, and his day job as chief of staff at NYU Langone, were "legally incompatible" with his role as MTA chairman. Neither the governor's office nor the MTA have given us an explanation for why the full reason for Lhota's resignation wasn't mentioned at the time. A cyclist who was forced into traffic by an open van door was hit and killed by a truck in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, this week. An NYPD spokesperson initially told Gothamist that there was nothing illegal about opening a door into traffic, which is innaccurate — [carelessly opening a car door into traffic is illegal]( (when pressed, the spokesperson later claimed to be "joking around"). The city started laying a protected bike lane along Central Park West yesterday, against the wishes of a group of Upper West Side homeowners. [A judge declined the homeowners' request for a temporary restraining order]( to stop the work on the bike lane. The non-profit that’s recently been criticized for its lackluster outreach to homeless people in Penn Station has a much larger contract to provide the same service in the subways — which it acquired [without having to compete against other providers](. Did you know that Brian Lehrer sometimes bikes to work? He weighed in yesterday on the broader state of cycling in the city, noting that ["over the period of a lot of years, I've experienced it as safer."]( What Else We're Reading It's now legal for firefighters and emergency medical professionals in New York to break into your car to rescue a pet when it's really hot or cold outside. "No animal deserves to die an agonizing and unnecessary death in extreme heat conditions and from being trapped in a hot car," Kitty Block, the head of the Humane Society, argued last month. ([NPR]( An increasing number of New Yorkers are using Blade and Uber helicopters to get to JFK and the Hamptons, even after a recent string of fatal helicopter crashes. Though several City Council members called for banning "non-essential" helicopter travel over the city, helicopter commutes are up this year. ([The New York Times]( More than 200 startup companies have begun advertising on the subways in the last two years, according to the MTA. And they've driven up the price — what was once "the poor startup's answer to a Super Bowl ad" is no longer a bargain, one business owner said. ([The Wall Street Journal]( A G train operator on Monday successfully stopped his train just in time to prevent hitting a woman on the tracks. Eric Boyo, the operator, then got out of the train and helped the distressed woman back onto the platform. His comment afterwards: "I’ll say the kind of corny thing — I was just doing my job." ([AM New York]( ...Then, There Are Less Heroic MTA Workers An apparent off-duty MTA employee allegedly hit a cyclist in Park Slope on Monday — then got out of his car, slapped the cyclist's phone out of his hand, pushed him, and got back in the car and fled. "This man was making a left turn and didn't see me," Courtney Francis, an East Flatbush resident, told Gothamist. "He cuts me off, I flip over his car and ask why would you do that, then he starts cursing, saying it wasn't his fault and he tried to leave." An MTA spokesperson said [the video taken by Francis]( is "very disturbing," and the MTA is investigating the matter with the NYPD. I've listened to [this new song by]( 240 times this week and almost forgot that other music existed until a brand new WQXR commuter playlist showed up. [Stream it now on our Spotify channel](. Best of the MTA's Lost & Found [iPads] Clarissa Sosin for We the Commuters You know what was awesome? [The time]( my colleague Shumita lost her phone on the train, and then got a call from a transit employee saying they'd recovered it. You know what's less awesome? This stack of iProducts that people lost on trains or buses and never claimed. If you recently lost something on a bus, subway or the Staten Island Railway, [stop by the MTA's Lost and Found]( at Penn Station. If you don't claim your property in time, you may get a second chance to buy it when it goes up for auction. Weekend Service Changes: Night of August 2nd – Early Morning on August 5th This is a partial list of major service disruptions scheduled for the weekend. For a complete list of the MTA's Weekender updates, [check here](. Saturday morning through Monday morning, train service between 96 St in Manhattan and 241 St in the Bronx will be replaced by trains and free shuttle buses. All train service will be replaced by and trains and free shuttle buses. Saturday morning through Sunday night, Pelham Bay Park-bound trains will run express from Parkchester to Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. At night, uptown trains will skip 72, 81, 86, 96, 103, 110, 116, 135, 155 and 163 Sts in Manhattan. On Saturday and Sunday, uptown trains will skip 72, 81, 86, 96, 103, 110, 116 and 135 Sts in Manhattan. train service between Broadway Junction and Lorimer St in Brooklyn will replaced by free shuttle buses. train service between 36 St and Stillwell Av in Brooklyn will be replaced by free shuttle buses and the train. trains will run via the line in both directions between 36 St and Stillwell Av. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. Upcoming Meetings and Events Wednesday, August 7th Riders Alliance General Membership Meeting 1560 Broadway in Manhattan — 6:30 p.m. [RSVP]( Thursday, August 8th Transportation Alternatives' Families for Safe Streets Injury and Loss Support Community Picnic in Central Park, near Delacorte Theater — 6:00 p.m. [RSVP]( There are no public MTA meetings in the month of August. James Ramsay dealt with yesterday's heavy rain the old fashioned way: by walking half a mile through it. (Photo by Amy Pearl) Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential transportation coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2019 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](