Introducing, On The Way, a new transit newsletter for NYC

Plus: Buttigieg’s big check doesn’t cover half 2nd Ave. subway extension cost [On The Way - from WNYC and Gothamist] Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( A new transit newsletter for NYC A century ago, the construction of the subway transformed New York from a dense downtown into a sprawling metropolis. Since then, the city has lived and died by its mass transit networks. But those networks — the streets, subways, buses, railroads, bridges and tunnels — have time and again struggled to keep up with the needs of more than 20 million people in the region. For many New Yorkers, the transit system is a place of fascination, frustration and absolute necessity. Yet, it can be hard to make sense of transit operations and who’s responsible for them. In that spirit, we — [Stephen Nessen]( and [Clayton Guse]( — are relaunching “We The Commuters” under a new banner: “On The Way.” Every week, this newsletter will provide fresh insight from two of New York’s most experienced transit reporters. Nessen has been on the beat for the WNYC/Gothamist newsroom since 2017, and Guse spent four years as the Daily News's transit reporter before joining WNYC/Gothamist last year as an editor. Our weekly column will detail how New York moves — which is sometimes maddeningly slow. We’ll answer your burning questions. We’ll round up transit news you may have missed. And, because we often say “time is a flat circle” on the transit beat, we’ll highlight New York transportation history to show how the same stories and initiatives appear decade after decade. We care deeply about transit and hope this revamped newsletter helps you better understand the stories behind your commute. - Stephen and Clayton P.S. Want more? Starting next week, we’ll be on WNYC’s “All Things Considered” broadcast starting at 4 p.m. every Thursday for a lively discussion on the week’s transportation news. Tune in at [wnyc.org]( 93.9 FM or AM 820. What New York is reading this week [Pete Buttigieg’s big check doesn’t cover half the cost of Second Avenue subway extension]( U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to New York last week with big checks in hand. On Friday, he announced the feds would pitch in [$3.8 billion for a new Hudson River rail tunnel](. The next day, he signed an agreement to give the MTA [$3.4 billion to extend the Second Avenue subway]( to East Harlem. But both grants cover less than half the projects’ estimated costs. Saturday’s East Harlem event marked the first time Buttigieg took questions from reporters in New York City [since June 2021]( when he dodged questions after a press conference at Penn Station by literally running away from reporters into a back room. More headlines to know: - Revel said it’s [ending its moped rental business]( due to a sustained drop in ridership. - Commuters [called in to “All Of It”]( to share war stories about [bad behavior]( on our increasingly crowded subways. - Fifth Avenue from 48th Street up to 59th Street [will go car-free]( on three Sunday afternoons in December to make extra room for tourists and holiday shoppers. - A Queens man has been arrested for allegedly [firing a gun]( on a Midtown subway platform in an attempt to intervene in a dispute Tuesday night. - The Roosevelt Island tram: Sometimes [it sways](. - A 20-year-old woman who hit two people with her BMW at a Bed-Stuy intersection on Sunday — leaving one of the victims in a medically induced coma — has been charged with vehicular assault and [driving while drunk](. Curious commuter Have a question about the week's news? Or is there something about the subway system you've never quite understood? We (most likely) have answers. [@Gothamist's Instagram]( will give followers a chance to submit questions via Stories for upcoming newsletters on Monday afternoons. For this week, we dug through our followers comments on a [recent story]( about OMNY vending machines and saw a lot of readers asking: What’s happening with unlimited ride monthly MetroCards? The agency last month began to [roll out vending machines]( for commuters to buy and reload special plastic OMNY tap-to-pay cards (riders can also use the new system with their credit cards and smartphones). But, for now, only the MetroCard has a seven- and 30-day unlimited pass option. Riders who use OMNY can only pay per ride — but they still get a rough version of a seven-day pass thanks to the MTA’s [“fare capping” program](. If you tap the same card or device every time you ride, the MTA will only charge you $34 over a seven-day period — the same price as a weekly MetroCard. But there’s no fare capping option for 30-day passes, which save MetroCards users a few bucks a month compared to the seven-day pass. It will be up to the MTA board — which sets fare policy — to decide if a 30-day unlimited ride option will be available for OMNY users. Don’t forget... - Through the first quarter of 2024 the M train will not travel above 57th street, and the F train will run on the E line between Rockefeller Center and Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave. These changes to the F line means there's no subway service at Roosevelt Island, but the MTA is providing shuttle buses instead. More details from [here](. - Every borough currently has one free bus route. [Find yours](. - The New York Public Library's "electrifying" rare subway photos exhibit is on display through Jan. 7. [Details here.]( - Reminders on [how to behave]( when you commute This week in NYC transit history AP Photo/Jerry Mosey, File A blackout leaves riders stuck underground. On November 9, 1965, a blackout spread across the northeast — and left more than 600,000 subway riders stranded across the city. The New York Times [reported]( some riders were trapped for more than 14 hours. “There was not a single casualty in the evacuation of every one of these 600,000 people,” Mayor Robert Wagner Jr. said in an [address broadcast on WNYC]( the following day. “This was accomplished by the cooperation and initiative of city police, transit police, other transit personnel and by firemen and by volunteers.” [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [YouTube]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.