NYC News - Local News

  Facing a behavioral shift seen since the pandemic, the transit agency is pulling out all the stops to figure out how to get people to pay their own way.  This article originally appeared in The City. By  Jose Martinez NEW YORK - Facing what it calls a “historic high” in fare evasion, the MTA wants to use behavioral research to get inside the minds of the estimated 900,000 bus and subway riders who dodge fares daily. With new grant funding, the agency is aiming to contract analysts for a study — at a projected cost of $500,000 to $1 million — that is designed to “apply the theories of civic cultural change and tools of behavioral science” to fare evasion, according to a request for proposals on its website. “If we are going to hire a behavioral consultant, it will be to help change the behavior of a criminal justice system that has determined that fare evasion should have no consequences,” John McCarthy, the MTA’s chief of policy and ex...

  The tolling scheme is back on track with a lower price point, and the governor says she’s “looking for support from the federal government to support our shared goals of making this a world-class system.”  This article originally appeared in The City. By  Jose Martinez NEW YORK - Five months after suspending the vehicle-tolling initiative aimed at funding transit upgrades, Gov. Kathy Hochul put congestion pricing back on track Thursday — and squarely in the sights of President-elect Donald Trump. At a Midtown news conference as packed as a rush-hour train, Hochul announced that motorists driving south of 60th Street in Manhattan will begin paying a once-daily $9 toll on Jan. 5. The tolls would kick in just over two weeks before the White House return of Trump, who has vowed to “ TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in office.” The governor’s latest reversal on the first-in-the-nation plan came after Hochul in June put an indefinite ...

Suspected Sex Fiend Confronted The NYPD is searching for this man in connection with a sexual assault inside a Number 6 train. -Photo by NYPD By Dan Gesslein  Manhattan Voice November 15, 2024 Follow @x MANHATTAN - Cops are searching for a subway sicko who sexually assaulted a woman near 86th Street. At around midnight on November 11, a 36-year-old woman was seated inside a northbound Number 6 train. A man walked over to stand in front of the woman as the train neared the 86th Street station. Suddenly the man pressed his groin into the woman’s face, cops said. He then ran off. However, the suspect did not leave the train until the 103rd Street stop. The NYPD released video from inside the subway. In the video the alleged suspect is seen yelling and waving his hands at a person taking video of him after the assault, appearing to confront him. The suspect is described as a male with a medium complexion and me...

VIDEO - Attacks Driver and Bus The NYPD is searching for this man in connection with an assault on a MTA bus driver. -Photo by NYPD By Dan Gesslein Manhattan Voice November 13, 2024 Follow @x MANHATTAN - A crazed passenger attacked an MTA bus and the vehicle’s female driver, cops said.  At around 2 am on October 18, a 46-year-old female MTA employee was driving her bus in the vicinity of East 125 Street and 3 Avenue. Cops said a passenger came up and began arguing with her.  The man then exited the bus and grabbed the windshield blade, bending it. Then he walked around to the driver’s side and tried to break the sideview mirror.  Not able to break the mirror off the bus, the attacker chose to focus his rage on the bus driver. Cops said he repeatedly slammed the bus window on the driver’s left arm.  The attacker then ran off in the direction of East 125th Street heading toward 3rd Avenue.  The NYPD released surveillance video from the bus which...

Severed Leg Mystery Said to Belong to Jumper at Spring Street The NYPD believes the mystery of how a human leg ended up at at Bronx subway station has been solved. They believe it belongs to a jumper in SoHo. -File Photo By Dan Gesslein Manhattan Voice February 21, 2024 MANHATTAN - Police believe they may have solved the mystery of how a severed human leg ended up on subway tracks in the Bronx and it started all the way down on Spring Street, cops said.  Investigators believe the leg belongs to a man whose body was discovered days earlier at the Spring Street station. The severed leg was found 9 miles away in the Bronx five days later.  Cops theorize that the man fell or jumped onto the tracks at the Spring Street station on February 12. The body was discovered but the leg could not be found.  On February MTA workers removing snow from the tracks found the severed leg between the 167th and 170th Street subway stations of the Number 4 line in the Bronx.  ...

‘Crazy Eyes’ Beat Female Worker with Metal Pipe for No Reason  Police say this man smacked an MTA cleaner upside the head with a metal pipe. By Dan Gesslein Manhattan Voice November 15, 2022  MANHATTAN - Cops say they caught the “crazy eyed” homeless man who beat a female train cleaner with a metal pipe in an apparent unprovoked attack.  Police arrested 28-year-old Jonathan Frias on Sunday at the World Trade Center station of the E Train. Cops were called when riders allegedly recognized Frias from a wild-eyed photo police released in connection with the attack.  Investigators said Frias has a previous arrest last year for punching a police officer.  At around 6:45 am on November 4, a 46-year-old woman who is employed as a subway cleaner subcontracted by the MTA worked at Chambers Street. She was cleaning the subway platform of the E train when a man approached her. He struck her in the face with a metal pipe. The man fled on foot as MTA work...