VIDEO: A Cyclist Yelled at Police Who Parked in a Bike Lane

"You guys are putting my life in danger!" [View this email in your browser]( The MTA Is Hemorraging Money, And the Budget Shortfalls Are Expected to Grow Plus: A cyclist near Union Square really let the police have it for parking in a bike lane. Bangladeshi Uber drivers are relieving stress by playing badminton at 3 a.m. And we have a new commuter playlist from our friends at WQXR. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) Kate Hinds/WNYC The MTA board and its executives have a habit of publicly highlighting certain ways they lose revenue. Like subway and bus fare evasion, which costs the agency [an alleged $215 million a year](. But, the MTA spends about $281 million a week on operating costs. For the last three years, expenses have exceeded revenues. And despite former MTA chair Joe Lhota's claim that the agency wouldn't dip into a pool of money known as "unrestricted Capital funds" to pay for the $800 million Subway Action Plan...it's been dipping. This comes from a report put together by the consulting group Alix Partners, which took an 11-week look at the MTA’s structure and finances, and [came up with a long list of findings, recommendations, and warnings](. One of those suggestions: The MTA could save $530 million annually over three years by reducing its workforce by 2,700 positions and consolidating 40 separate offices. The MTA board approved those recommendations at its July board meeting. And yet, "without additional recurring revenue in the near-term," the MTA's 2019 budget documents noted, "service reductions, reductions in force, and/or additional fare and toll increases" will be needed to "close these deficits and achieve balanced budgets." There is some cash headed the MTA’s way. This year, Albany passed congestion pricing, along with several other sources of taxpayer funding for MTA capital projects. But these cash flows won’t make a dent in operating costs, many of which come down to the cost of labor. Meanwhile, the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan, non-profit group in New York, just released its own report, which predicts that a coming recession could result in a $1.7 billion shortfall for the MTA. The CBC's recommendation: Accelerate spending on capital projects — like signal upgrades and elevator installations — right now. Because another four years of economic growth are not in the cards. — [This story]( was reported by Stephen Nessen How Cab and Uber Drivers Decompress: All-Night Badminton Brian Gordon/Gothamist On weeknights at 2 a.m., every one of the city’s 36 recreation centers is closed. But in an otherwise dormant manufacturing zone in Flushing, Queens, the New York Badminton Center is typically packed. Back in 2013, the same year Uber became the first app-based ride service approved by the city, a few drivers lobbied New York City’s two largest badminton centers — both in Queens — to extend their hours past midnight. The drivers, most of whom are Bangladeshi, grew up playing the game before they moved to New York. But working irregular hours — on top of caring for families and trying to get enough sleep — made it hard to keep active. These late night games, they say, are crucial for both their physical and mental health. "There are a lot of stresses between our jobs and our families," Jakaria Islam, a 39-year-old Uber driver from the Bronx, told Gothamist. "Here, the stress goes away." — [This story]( was reported by Brian Gordon Best of the Week From Gothamist and WNYC @THINGSOFKINGS/Instagram The above man recently went off on some police officers near Union Square for parking multiple vehicles in a bike lane for no apparent reason. "There's no emergency! Nothing is happening! I'm looking around, there's no terrorist threat," the man shouted. "There's just you guys j**ing off and doing nothing but standing here staring at me. I'm not threatening people's lives — you are! You are the problem!" [Watch the full video here](. If you didn't notice: The 14th Street busway did not go into effect on Monday as planned, since one lawyer managed to secure [a last-minute appeal to halt the program](. That lawyer, Arthur Schwartz, is representing West Village residents who fear that a car-free 14th Street would push traffic onto side streets and affect their neighborhood's "character." He compared himself this week to the "white lawyers representing black people in the South [who had] crosses burned on their lawn." The MTA's new tap-payment system, OMNY, has recorded over one million rides since launching 10 weeks ago. "Even our most optimistic forecasts didn’t anticipate how popular OMNY would become in such a short time," MTA CEO Pat Foye said. [By the end of 2020]( all subway stations and bus routes are scheduled to have OMNY readers. A kitten was rescued Monday afternoon after being spotted dodging traffic on the George Washington Bridge. The Port Authority Police said "a good Samaritan motorist" initially saved the 6-week-old kitten. The police eventually took custody of the cat, named it Highway, and sent it to the Bergen County Animal and Adoption Center in Teterboro, New Jersey, [where it's up for adoption](. What Else We're Reading The overall number of needed subway station repairs increased between 2012 to 2017, according to a new analysis from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office. While the MTA reduced the amount of "serious" structural issues in stations, the percentage of worn or damaged platform edges has gone up, among other problems. ([AM New York]( The average speed of cars in Manhattan below 60th street has dropped to 7 mph, which is 23 percent slower than it was in 2010. The city's Department of Transportation, which released this information in a new report, said the increase of delivery trucks and Ubers — and increases in tourism — are causing traffic to slow. ([New York Daily News]( The Toyota Camry is overwhelmingly the favored car among app-based for-hire drivers, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. The reasons: Camry's are reliable, quiet, relatively inexpensive (about $24,000), and ubiquitous in the parts of Africa and South Asia where many Uber and Lyft drivers emigrated from. ([Wall Street Journal]( FYI: You can ride a horse on a beach in New York City. The Jamaica Bay Riding Academy has about 70 horses that, for $65 cash, you can ride around the Gateway National Wildlife Refuge. The Times has a complete guide to getting to southeast Brooklyn, getting on a horse, and getting a proper sandwich afterwards. ([The New York Times]( Well That's a Big Praying Mantis on the Subway Keith Powers/[Twitter]( City Council member Keith Powers [tweeted this photo]( on Tuesday evening, which I thought was fake until I did some research and learned that, yes, praying mantises can be the size of cats, and they're [known to eat]( hummingbirds, frogs, snakes and mice. Regarding the tweet: I'd like to see it dance. Best of the MTA's Lost & Found: Mystery Edition Clarissa Sosin for We the Commuters What we do know: These bags are full of items found on buses. What we also know: If you recently lost something on a bus (or a subway or the Staten Island Railway), you should [stop by the MTA's Lost and Found]( at Penn Station. Your item(s) might be in there! Shameless confession: I've made it all these years thinking Sublime wrote the lyric, "Summertime/ and the livin' is easy." Turns out, it's from Act I of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess, which I learned this week, because "Summertime" is featured in the latest edition of WQXR's Classical Commute playlist. [Stream it now on Spotify](. Weekend Service Changes: Night of August 16th – Early Morning on August 19th 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](. train service between 137 St and South Ferry in Manhattan will be replaced by free shuttle buses and subway lines nearby. train service between 149 St-Grand Concourse, Bronx and Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, Brooklyn will be replaced by free shuttle buses and subway lines nearby. All train service will be replaced by free shuttle buses and subway lines nearby. Saturday and Sunday, train service between E 180 St, the Bronx and Bowling Green, Manhattan will be replaced by trains. Coney Island-bound trains will run via the line from Roosevelt Av, Queens to 5 Av/53 St, Manhattan. 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. train service between 95 St and 36 St in Brooklyn will be replaced by the train and free shuttle buses. Late night service will not run. [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 Tuesday, August 27th Riders Alliance Bronx Bus Turnaround Campaign Meeting Bronx River Community Center — 6:45 p.m. [RSVP for details]( Sunday, September 8th Transportation Alternatives' 30th Anniversary New York City Century Family Bike Ride Central Park, Prospect Park — 6:00 a.m. [RSVP for details]( There are no public MTA meetings in the month of August. James Ramsay, to be clear, is not a Sublime head. He's more of a [Slightly Stoopid]( guy. (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](