3/5/2008 - Real Estate Weekly

By Daniel Geiger

• Costs for the major projects (East Side Access, 2nd Ave Sub, Fulton St) have risen by approximately $1.5 billion

• MTA blames rising cost of materials and the overheated construction market

• Will respond by delaying construction, splitting contracts into smaller bids to attract more competitive bids

• The overbudget warnings were released earlier than planned to try and help push the congestion pricing plan

• East Side Access costs have increased by $894 million to total $7.244 billion

• Completion date has moved from 12/2013 to 2/2015

• 2nd Ave Subway cost have increased by $297 million to total $4.347 billion, $3 billion has been spent already on planning and construction

• Completion date has moved from 6/2014 to 6/2015

• Fulton St Transit Center costs have increased by $295 million to $1.198 billion

• A recent bid that would have covered most of the completion project came in too high, leading the MTA to split it into multiple contracts, and to revise or scrap the glass dome feature

“Subway Delays Increase As MTA Mulls Fare Hike” 7/22/2008 The New York Sun by Mark Giannotto

• Subway delays are up by 24% over last year

• Biggest increase in delays seen on the numbered subway lines at the morning rush hour: 10% are delayed

• Board member Andrew Albert: delays are “a management issue because this decrease in on-time performance is astonishingly bad”

• Plan considered to “have selected trains skip stops” on the most overcrowded lines thus bring them closer to being onschedule

• Breakdown frequency has increased going from a breakdown average of 133,825 miles, compared to 2007’s rate of every 177,850 miles

• Blamed on “poor decision-making in the repair process”

• MTA board’s finance committee voted unanimously to defer $2.7 billion in capital improvements