Money-Making Metrocard Machine

For almost three years at a Penn Station MetroCard machine, three friends illegally received FREE fares totaling $800,000! Authorities claim it was the rarest of circumstances and combinations that enabled the trio to collect these fares undetected. They sold most of the LIRR and MTA cards to a long list of eager friends. Only a routine audit of a software glitch exposed the theft. New York City cops staked out the machine and eventually made their arrests. When they finally get out of prison, the three amigos would be well advised to walk the streets, not ride the rails. Easier to resist temptation that way.

Tunneling Towards Tomorrow

One day in 2015 (Scheduled end date but we all know it be later.), a Long Island Rail Road tunnel to Grand Central Station is to be completed. The first leg of that $7.2 billion LIRR tunnel was recently dug. The next section should be completed by the end of this summer. Both MTA chief Elliot Sander and Gene Russianoff of the Straphangars Campaign are happily on-board with the project. It's nice to see positive action below ground that will benefit New York City. It's much preferable to the typical head-in-the-sand, ostrich behavior by government agencies when it comes to obtaining favorable results.

MTA’s Lost And Found Service Is Losing What’s Found

Leave something on a city train, bus or the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and you can probably wave goodbye to it forever. Poor recordkeeping, inadequate storage facilities, weak security measures and more abuses by MTA officials and workers have pretty much seen to that. According to Inspector General Barry Kluger’s recent report, of 8,000 items that were reported lost and turned in, only 18% were ever returned to their rightful owners! Many items never make it to the pickup office at Penn Station. Other facts from this document were equally appalling.

NYC Transit has supposedly instituted many of the recommendations from this report to improve the custodial care and to ensure the safe return of rider’s lost goods. We’ll believe their assurances, if and when we see them produce better statistics. In the meantime, “hold on tightly to your belongings, riders!” MTA employees might be more dangerous than the thief riding next to you. In the words of Bette Davis, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"