Kate Hinds

DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel (L) and MWAA vice chairman Tom Davis (photo by Martin DiCaro)

Top officials at the agency in charge of the $6 billion Silver Line testified before a U.S. House oversight committee on Friday after an audit exposed its unethical hiring, travel, and contracting practices.

Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee grilled MWAA Board Chairman Michael Curto and CEO Jack Potter about personal roles and agency policies in the granting of no-bid contracts and the rampant nepotism detailed in the audit.  The chair of the house committee, John Mica, called the agency a "poster child for corrupt practices." While acknowledging the agency's missteps, both men pointed to recent measures designed to overhaul MWAA's ethics, travel, and contracting practices.

An audit released earlier this month by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General took the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for "ambiguous policies and ineffectual controls." In addition to overseeing the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, the MWAA also manages Dulles and Reagan National Airports.

Curto and Potter also said many of the transgressions outlined in the audit took place before they assumed their current positions.

There were, however, cases that directly involved them: the law firm that employed Curto's wife was granted a $100,000 no-bid contract to provide legal counsel.  Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards (D-4th) asked Curto to explain how such a large contract could be awarded without the approval of the board of directors.

"I was not chairman at the time. I was not on the legal committee at the time. The general counsel for the authority made the decision to retain the law firm. My wife at the time was an employee at that law firm... she had no direct or indirect financial interest in the law firm," said Curto, who said in retrospect the contract should not have been granted on a no-bid basis. "Although it wasn't an actual conflict of interest it certainly was an appearance of a conflict of interest," he said.

Potter was questioned about the hiring of former MWAA board member Mame Reiley to a job created for specifically for her at an annual salary of $180,000 without proper vetting or board approval.

"My judgement was not good in terms of the hiring of that person," said Potter, who said the creation of the job was necessary to meet the challenges created by rising costs at Dulles International.  Rep. Edwards asked the officials if they should remain in their positions given the agency's record.

"I would hope so," Curto said, pointing to the measures MWAA has approved to revamp its ethics, travel, and contracting policies as well as terminate contracts granted to former or current board members.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood testified that MWAA has indeed revamped its policies, adding that its leaders understand reforms must be successful if the agency is going to receive additional federal funding to pay for the Silver Line, whose first phase of construction is scheduled for completion late next year.

"Phase I has worked pretty well. It really has. I think Phase II will work equally well because when you talk to these folks now in charge of MWAA, a new CEO and president, a relatively new chairman, they get it," said LaHood.  "These people get it.  They do. They know this has to be done correctly."

"They have pending before us a TIFIA loan. We're not going to give them a TIFIA loan if they are not doing things correctly.  They know that," added LaHood, referring to the federal loan program for major transportation projects.

In August, LaHood sent the MWAA a blistering letter questioning the board’s ethics and laying out steps the authority must take to get in line.

Phase II construction of the Silver Line is supposed to begin next year.

Watch a video of Friday's hearing here.

Top stories on TN:
Kansas City Citizens Fund Civic Project with Donations (link)

Mural in the 86th Street #1 subway station (photo by Kate Hinds)

The first toll in the history of Los Angeles County is unsettling drivers used to free "freeways." (New York Times)

If Ray LaHood steps down, who will replace him as Transportation Secretary? A look at possible candidates, from the serious to the wild card. (Governing)

Bike share is coming to San Diego next year -- and Miami-based DecoBike got the contract. (KPBS)

New York City has extended gas rationing through Friday. (AP via WNYC)

How the Bay Bridge's 'self-anchoring' design works. "Aligning the holes and strands was like playing "Whac-A-Mole," Bay Bridge project manager and engineer Ken Terpstra said. "Just when you got one lined up, another one would go out of place."  (Mercury News)

After the storm: NJ Transit officials are looking at ways to work with Amtrak to protect electrical substations, such as the one in Kearny on the Northeast Corridor line, from being flooded. (Asbury Park Press)

To close the transportation budget shortfall in Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick will likely call for raising the gas tax. Also on the table: taxing miles driven, tapping future casino revenue, and transferring MBTA debt to the state’s books. (Boston Globe)

A speeding train crashed into a bus carrying Egyptian children to their kindergarten and killed 51. (AP)

New York State officials still insist they will share details of the designs being considered for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement. But it’s unclear exactly what the public will get to see — and when. (Journal News)

Tesla made driving electric cars cool -- but will non-car geeks buy them? (NPR)

Fish out of water: Hurricane Sandy stranded thousands of carp  -- some alongside NJ Transit train tracks. (WNYC)

After seeing how the MTA handled Hurricane Sandy, are New Yorkers more accepting of a transit fare hike? (New York Daily News)

A Brooklyn matchmaker (yes, the NY Post calls her the "love conductor") trolls the subway for potential clients. (New York Post)

Hunting the wild...two-wheeler. Say hello to bicycle taxidermy. (Grist)

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Top stories on TN:
MWAA Votes to Raise Fees on Dulles Toll Road (link)
Slide Show: Bacon, $2 Cash, The New Normal Getting from Rockaways (link)
VIDEO: Drying Out the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (link)

A rendering of a California bullet train (image courtesy of the California High-Speed Rail Authority)

Nissan's CEO finally admitted the automaker will not meet its sales target for its all-electric Leaf. (Detroit News)

California's High-Speed Rail Authority is adding 12 months to the construction schedule for 130 miles of track in the Central Valley. (Los Angeles Times)

A freight train slammed into a Texas parade float, killing four people and injuring 17 others. (AP via Dallas Morning News)

Some people in storm-slammed neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey say gas is being stolen from their vehicles. (Marketplace)

“Now is the time for Indianapolis to invest in a first-class transit system,” says the city's mayor, who wants $1.3 billion in funding. (Indy Star)

Gondolas over Austin: should the city look to the skies for mass transit? One planner says yes. (FastCoDesign)

D.C.'s Metrorail has sold 1,500 commemorative fare cards this week for President Obama's second inauguration. (The Hill)

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Top stories on TN:
VIDEO: Drying Out the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (link)
It’s Toll Roads vs. Surface Streets in Race to the Orlando Airport (link)

The logo for the RailRiders, the AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees. Yes, that's a porcupine riding the rails.

Freakonomics takes on the environmental consequences of transit: "In terms of energy efficiency, mass transit is not the panacea that a lot of people would like to think." (Marketplace)

Ridership on LA's Metro is up by 19% over last year's numbers. (The Source)

Some local Republican leaders want NY MTA head Joe Lhota to run for NYC mayor. (New York Daily News)

Drivers in the San Francisco Bay area have become the first motorists in the nation to fill up their gas tanks with an algae-based biofuel. (Detroit Free Press)

Minneapolis's planned Southwest Corridor light rail line has some locals concerned about rerouting freight traffic. (MPR)

Some NYC bike share equipment was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. (New York Times)

After months of controversy, bus operator Greyhound is likely to get permission to stop in Chinatown. (DNA Info)

The National Transportation Safety Board wants to make collision avoidance technologies standard equipment in vehicles. (New York Times)

Squish! Photos of compressed commuters riding Tokyo's subway system. (Slate)

The top minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees has renamed itself the RailRiders, in a nod to Scranton's history as the birthplace of the electric streetcar. (Times Leader, MiLB)

Experience the RailRiders launch party video below.

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One tube of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (now known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) is now open to traffic, and New York's MTA has released a video of the recovery process.

Hurricane Sandy flooded the tunnel with millions of gallons of sea water "from floor to ceiling," according to New York Governor Cuomo. (Exactly how much water isn't clear. Earlier reports said the tunnel had taken on 43 million gallons; in the above video, the tunnel's manager, Marc Mende, says the tunnel was flooded with 80 million gallons. Whatever the amount, you can see footage of water in the tunnel at about 38 seconds in -- and it's daunting.)

That was a new experience for the MTA's tunnel employees. "We've never had a leak," said Mende. "We never had a puddle. The only water we ever had in this tunnel came off of vehicles."

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel remained completely closed to traffic for over two weeks while workers pumped out the water and repaired electrical, lighting, communications, surveillance, and ventilation systems. Cuomo says it will another "few weeks" before the second tube is open.

Here's the scene, after Sandy:

Top stories on TN:
Crucial East River Tunnel In NYC Now Half-Open (link)
D.C. Beltway Opens HOT Lanes to Breeze Past Traffic for a Price, but Strapped Gov’t Won’t Get Revenue (link)
Proposed Montana Coal Railroad Under Scrutiny (link)

Amtrak Acela Express High-Speed Train set on existing Northeast corridor tracks in Bristol, Penn. (photo by Gary Pancavage, Amtrak)

After being denied a federal grant, Kansas City, MO intends to raise the money for a new streetcar system by asking for donations. (Marketplace)

The Port Authority says Hurricane Sandy damaged 16,000 cars in the Port of New York and New Jersey that were heading to vehicle sales lots around the region. (AP via Wall Street Journal)

Amtrak's next big challenge: surviving two more years of a Republican-controlled House. (Politico)

Opinion: to get high-speed rail back on track, Obama needs to reform the Department of Transportation. (Bloomberg)

Toyota is recalling 2.77 million vehicles around the world for a water pump problem and a steering shaft defect that may result in faulty steering. (AP)

Nairobi's new commuter rail line is limited to one suburb with one station. (AFP)

New York City received a $28 million federal grant to bring select bus service along the B44 line in Brooklyn. (New York Post)

The board of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is expected to vote Wednesday to raise fees on the Dulles Toll Road. (Washington Post)

Motorists who park or stop illegally on roads outside schools in one British neighborhood could face an instant fine under a new crackdown to improve safety. "Anyone seen committing an offence, no matter how briefly, will have their vehicle photographed and a £70 fine will be sent to them through the post." (BBC)

DC's Metro is now accepting orders for SmartTrip fare cards commemorating President Obama's second inauguration. (The Hill)

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Top stories on TN:
Sea Walls, Wetlands, and Porous Streets: Designing a Storm-Proof New York City (link)
Top Transpo Congressman, John Mica, Mulls Next Move (link)
How NY’s MTA Restored Service…to the Subway Map (link)

Photo by Jordan Matter

The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017 and will become a net oil exporter by 2030, according to an International Energy Agency report. (New York Times) And:

• The number of passenger vehicles on the world's roads will more than double to 1.7 billion over the next 23 years. (Detroit News)
• By about 2025, China will surpass both the United States and the European Union for most cars on the roads, meaning that country will become "a critical source of global oil demand." (Detroit News)
• And India -- which had 14 million passenger cars on the roads in 2011 — will jump to around 160 million cars by 2035. (Detroit News)

New Jersey's gas rationing system, put in place after the damage from Hurricane Sandy, ended this morning. (The Political State/Record)

The NY MTA won't issue refunds to riders who purchased unlimited fare cards before Hurricane Sandy. (New York Times)

The U.S.'s pilot shortage is forcing both industry and government officials to find new, long-term ways to increase the flow of would-be pilots. (Wall Street Journal)

How California's carbon trade market works: an explainer, complete with Monopoly money and poker chips. (KQED)

The European Union is halting rules that would force airlines, including U.S. carriers, to pay for their carbon emissions. (The Hill)

California's bullet train will have to conquer some engineering challenges: "The plan calls for bullet trains to shoot east from Bakersfield at 220 mph, climbing one of the steepest sustained high-speed rail inclines in the world." Not to mention crossing half a dozen earthquake faults heading into L.A. (Los Angeles Times)

More U.S. women have driver’s licenses than men. (AP via Washington Post)

Some NYC-bound commuters walked through the Lincoln Tunnel Monday after a bus accident caused major delays. (DNA Info)

Phoenix is cracking down on fare evaders on its light rail system. (Arizona Republic)

Since the beginning of the year, 25,000 people in Dubai have received tickets for jaywalking. (Gulf News)

Chrysler is trying to make a comeback in Midwest cities its dealerships abandoned years ago. (Automotive News)

A team of university students in Sydney have cracked the secret algorithm used on Sydney's public transport tickets for buses, trains and ferries, which they say could allow them to print their own tickets. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Even the New York Post is praising the MTA and the TWU for swift return of subway service after the storm.

The list of banned vanity license plates in Kansas contains some you'd expect, and some you probably wouldn't -- like SQUISH, TETANUS, and WEIRDO. (Jalopnik)

Dancers Among Us: a photographer staged photos of dancers in action in public places -- many of them subways, roads, and rails. (Laughing Squid)

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Storm damage in Sea Gate, Brooklyn (photo courtesy of NYC Mayor's Office Photo/ Edward Reed)

Would a $20 billion sea wall, stretching from Sandy Hook to the Rockaways, have prevented damage done to New York by Hurricane Sandy's storm surge?

Engineer Fletcher Griffis, speaking on Monday's Brian Lehrer Show, says yes -- "but gosh knows what it will do to the ecology in New York Bay."

Other ideas kicked around during the interview: porous roadways that could reduce flooding,  increased wetlands, and "soft" solutions like zoning changes and ending subsidies for flood insurance.

Listen to the interview below. And check out a data visualization from the U.S. Census Bureau about population growth near the coastline.

Top stories on TN:
Top Transpo Congressman, John Mica, Mulls Next Move (link)
Another Transpo Impact of Sandy: Higher Used Car Prices (link)

MTA employees loading subway cars onto flatbed trucks for transportation to the Rockaway Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of NY MTA/Patrick Cashin)

New York is requesting a total of $30 billion from the federal government in disaster relief aid -- and it wants $3.5 billion of that amount to repair the region’s bridges, tunnels and subway and commuter rail lines. (New York Times)

The storm-hit Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway now has more commuting options, including new shuttle bus service and a ferry to Midtown. (WNYC)

And: more NJ Transit and PATH service starts rolling today. (Star-Ledger)  The Long Island Rail Road is operating a 'near-normal' schedule on all of its lines except one. (Newsday)

On today's Brian Lehrer Show: design and engineering ideas to help mitigate storm surge damage. (WNYC)

New York Times editorial: when it comes time for state officials to consider how to finance the MTA, remember its post-storm performance.

Boston rail commuters: the T’s mobile-ticketing app has finally hit the tracks. (BostInno)

Some DMV voter registrations are falling through the cracks in California. (Bay-Citizen)

L.A. County Metro has begun a one-year experiment that ends a 70-year tradition of "free" freeway travel in the county. (KPCC)

Montgomery County (Maryland) planners have proposed converting some lanes on the county’s busiest roads to buses-only. (Washington Post)

Among the difficult decisions facing President Obama: whether to give the go ahead for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. (NPR)

Opinion: don't just rebuild NYC post-Sandy, rethink it. (New York Times)

Photo tour: New York City's subway, the early years. (New York Daily News)

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Top stories on TN:
How NY’s MTA Restored Service…to the Subway Map (link)
Flooded Out Staten Islander Preps for Second Blow From Nor’easter (link)
WATCH: The New York City Subway Comeback, in GIF (link)
Was It Worth It? Maryland Says New Highway Meets Expectations; Critics Aren’t So Sure (link)

Waiting for gas in Gowanus, Brooklyn (photo by Jennifer Hsu)

With only 25% of gas stations open, New York City and Long Island will begin rationing. (New York Daily News)

MTA head Joe Lhota on the floods caused by Hurricane Sandy: "My worst-case scenario was exceeded in three minutes." (Bloomberg Businessweek)

But: the swift restoration of service "borders on the edge of magic," said one subway watcher. (New York Times)

And what did city officials eat during the Hurricane Sandy recovery? If you're the head of the MTA, you have the usual. "Even in the middle of the storm, I had what I always have—an omelet with two sausage patties. It’s what I eat every morning." (New York Observer)

Hurricane Sandy is expected to tack $200 to $300 onto the price of a used car -- even as far away as California. "Many vehicles are going to be destroyed," said one analyst, "meaning that many consumers are going to have to replace their cars." (Marketplace)

The massive numbers of aging drivers in the U.S. could reshape how we think about transportation. (AP)

The next U.S. Transportation Secretary -- whether it’s Ray LaHood or someone else -- will confront a highway system starved for cash and financed by a gasoline tax almost no one wants to raise. (Bloomberg)

Congressman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) has formally announced his intention to seek the chairmanship of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. (The Hill)

The executive vice president of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association is suing Tesla for opening a store in a local mall. (NPR)

Sales of electric vehicles won’t take off until automakers lower prices and demonstrate the economic benefits to consumers, says one study. (Los Angeles Times)

Facebook is giving cash to towns inconvenienced by traffic from its employees -- and the towns are in no hurry to spend. (Bay Citizen)

A former oil company executive is the next Archbishop of Canterbury. (CNN)

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The MTA's Chuck Gordanier, holding up the Hurricane Sandy Recovery Service subway map (photo by Kate Hinds)

If you looked at the MTA’s website in the days following Hurricane Sandy, you probably saw a subway map (pdf) that wasn’t what most straphangers were used to.

To protect New York City’s subway system, all transit shut down in advance of the storm. But then the under-river subway tunnels flooded, and the MTA had to convey to riders what was and wasn’t running.

That’s Chuck Gordanier's job, and he began booting up his Mac before the storm even ended.

He’s a manager at the transit agency. His task was -- and is -- to quickly translate the continuous service changes into a stripped-down map. So he began subtracting subway lines and stations. At first he thought the result was almost too harsh.

"But then once I saw this I thought ‘hey, that kind of fits the mood, doesn’t it?’" he said. "So I just kept stripping it down, taking everything off. The ferries weren’t going, why should they be there? The parks were closed, remember? So why should the parks be there? So I just took out everything that wasn’t actually happening and ended up with this."

The map, shown on screen in Adobe Illustrator. (Photo by Kate Hinds)

'This' is the subway recovery map, and it’s a stark contrast to the normal one. No perks, like neighborhood names, landmarks, or even the street grid. Just colored lines on a gray and white background showing what’s operational, and shaded out lines showing what isn’t. Gordanier’s been working 14-hour days to keep the map current. As in: power’s been restored to lower Manhattan? Color in the 1 train. The Joralemon Tunnel’s been pumped dry? Color in the four and five. Lather, rinse, repeat.

A list of the dozens of changes Gordanier made to the subway map since Hurricane Sandy. (Photo by Kate Hinds)

"When I had it done," he said, "and it was right, then we’d put it on the website right away and we’d roll out a quickie print version to post." Gordanier says it’s a matter of turning on and off some of the 50-plus layers that make up the map. He demonstrates how to power up the G line. "First I've got to find the G train layer," he said, clicking the mouse to unlock it. "There’s the G train--see that, 30 percent? Boing. There it is. Full strength."

(He got to do that for real Wednesday, when it began running again.)

Gordanier says he’ll keep updating the MTA’s subway recovery service map until things get back to normal. Until then, it’s a work in progress.

"Today, later," he said, "it will probably be different."

Example: two hours before this story aired on WNYC, the MTA restored full service on the L line.

Watch the return of subway service below.
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WNYC's Data News team has turned the city's post-Sandy recovery into a time-lapse GIF. Click through for the full image.

Top stories on TN:
Analysis: Did Cars Save President Obama? (link)
Amtrak, NJ Transit Tunnels Are Dry, More Penn Station Trains Can Roll on Friday (link)
VIDEO: How To Drain and Repair a Flooded Subway Tunnel (link)
Bay Area Transit Tax Hangs By a Thread (link)

Nor'easter snow in NYC, 11/7/12 (photo by Kate Hinds)

It's unlikely that the election results will unstick political transportation gridlock: "The dynamic for transportation in the House will be little changed except for possibly an even more conservative tilt to the body, which could complicate efforts to push through the next transportation bill." (Politico)

Los Angeles's Measure J, the proposed 30-year extension of a half-cent transportation sales tax in Los Angeles County, failed to receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass during Tuesday's election. (Los Angeles Times)

Find more ballot initiative outcomes over at Atlantic Cities.

The mayor of Troy, Michigan -- who had opposed taking federal money for a regional transit center-- was ousted from office in a recall election. (Crain's Detroit)

New York City riders turned out by the dozens -- not hundreds -- to oppose an MTA fare hike. (New York Daily News)

A Nor'easter brought more misery to New York and New Jersey. (Star-Ledger)

Houston's Metro must continue to share transit tax revenues with other municipalities to pay for roads and bridges. (KUHF)

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the credit rating on bonds issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority due to the transit system’s sluggish operating performance and reliance on stagnant state sales tax revenue. (Boston Business Journal)

Everyone wants to know whether Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will stay on for a second term or not. (The Hill)

Airlines were grounding about a thousand flights while waiting for Wednesday's storm. But good luck getting an insurer to cover those losses, said one aviation consultant. (Marketplace)

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Hurricane Sandy flooded all eight under-river subway tunnels in New York (nine if you count the G train, which runs under the Newtown Creek). The last one to have been pumped dry is the L train's 14th Street tunnel, which runs under the East River between Manhattan and Queens and cuts through the population-accreting neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bushwick, Brooklyn.

The MTA has said restoring L service is its highest priority. On Wednesday, it released a video of workers repairing tracks and signals. Watch it below.

Earlier this week, MTA chairman Joe Lhota described for WNYC the process of restoring service on flooded lines. Workers, he said, are “cleaning [signals] by hand, literally. First you had to pump out the water, then you had to wipe down the mud that was left down there, then you had to literally wipe down the rail, and then fix each and every one of the switches by cleaning them and making sure there was no salt to prevent the electric conductivity.”

You can listen to that interview here.

The L train tunnel on the afternoon of Monday, November 5. (Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin)

The New York City region will be experiencing another 'weather event' Wednesday and Thursday. From City Hall:

"A significant storm is forecast to impact New York City today from approximately mid-day Wednesday through Thursday morning. Although only an inch of rain is forecast, sustained winds will reach 25 to 40 miles per hour, with gusts up from 55 to 65 miles per hour. The wind will cause a storm surge ranging from 3 to 5 feet at high tide Wednesday afternoon, with the highest surge levels forecast for the Western Long Island sound; surge levels are forecast to be slightly lower at high tide Wednesday night.

"The City is taking significant precautions in advance of the storm, including halting all construction, closing all City parks, encouraging drivers to stay off the road after 5:00 PM, or to use extreme caution if they have to drive and employing door to door operations to urge people without heat to take shelter to stay warm."

Expect flight cancellations and delays.

We'll be keeping our Transit Tracker updated; check back frequently for any updates. You can check out area flood gauges below.

Top stories on TN:
Holland Tunnel to Reopen to All Car Traffic Wednesday; LIRR Restores Montauk Service (link)
Storm-Hobbled NJ Transit Bulging with Above-Average Ridership (link)
Climate Change Scientist: I Was Right About Subway Tunnel Flooding, Hurricane Damage (link)
More NYC Subway Service Restored, Voter Shuttle Routes and Updates on A, B, G, L Trains (link)
Virginia Homeowners Fight 95 Express Lanes Ramp (link)

Los Angeles Metro (photo by tracktwentynine via flickr)

An anti-rail candidate failed to win the mayoral race in Honolulu... (AP via This Garden Island)

...and if he'd won, he said he'd kill a $5 billion commuter rail project. (Marketplace)

Republican John Mica, the chair of the House Transportation Committee, won reelection. (Orlando Sentinel)

Los Angeles County voters appeared to be favoring a 30-year extension of a half-cent transportation sales tax, but it's still too close to call. (Los Angeles Times)

And Durham-area voters approved a transit sales tax expected to generate about $5 million a year for buses, an Amtrak station in Hillsborough and a proposed light rail connection from UNC to downtown. (Herald- Sun)

A light-rail referendum passed in Virginia Beach. (WAVY)

Riders on Manhattan's L and G subway lines feel left behind. (New York Times)

Technically, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has always been in charge of NYC's transit system. But now he might be finally taking ownership of it. (Capital NY)

Bike share will come to Columbus, Ohio, in June 2013. (NBC4i)

Anaheim is moving forward on plans for a 3.2 mile streetcar system. (Los Angeles Times)

Prices on London's bike share will double to support its expansion. (Telegraph)

Airlines are cancelling flights in advance of another storm in the Northeast. (AP via Crain's New York)

DC's Metro still has no explanation for why it closed early last weekend -- the same day clocks were set back an hour. (Washington Post)

New braking technology -- stereo cameras mounted on a car windshield -- can automatically stop a car from hitting a pedestrian. (Wired/Autopia)

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The shuttered Holland Tunnel on 10/30/12 (photo by Kate Hinds)

The Holland Tunnel will open to all traffic Wednesday morning at 5am.

This marks the first time the tunnel will be fully open since Hurricane Sandy struck the region. The tunnel, which runs under the Hudson River between New Jersey and lower Manhattan, was flooded and remained closed to traffic until last Friday, when a bus lane opened in one tube.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced the opening via Twitter and a press release; it was also confirmed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns and operates the tunnel.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (now known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) remains closed due to flooding.

The MTA also announced Tuesday that it's restoring service on the Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch between Speonk and Montauk, and will establish bus service between Island Park and Lynbrook.

The LIRR will provide bus service to operate between Island Park and Lynbrook from 6 AM until 9 PM starting Wednesday, November 7. A press release issued by the MTA says buses will make a loop between the LIRR’s Island Park and Lynbrook stations – making stops at Oceanside, East Rockaway, and Centre Avenue stations along the way. Train connections to and from the bus loop can be made at Lynbrook Station.

For more information, visit our Transit Tracker.

Top stories on TN:
Tuesday Commute: NY MTA, NJ Transit Update (link)
MTA Head Joe Lhota: How We Fixed the Flooded Subway (link)
Sandy Caused a Mini Bike Boom in NYC (link)
PATH Train Resumes Some Service Between NJ and NYC after Sandy (link)

Free fuel at the Hess Express on Bay St. in Staten Island Monday. The truck traveled from Lynchburg, VA (photo by Amy Pearl)

Perception of how high gas prices are depends on whether you're a Democrat or Republican. (Politico)

A roundup of local ballot measures on transit funding can be found at the Transport Politic.

Officials in New York and New Jersey are investigating complaints about price gouging post-Hurricane Sandy, and "the overwhelming majority are related to gas station issues." (WNYC)

And NYC cabbies are driving as far away as Connecticut to fill up. (DNA Info)

Toyota and other Japanese carmakers are reporting lower sales in China due to the two nations' dispute over the Diayu Islands. (Marketplace)

Suzuki is filing for bankruptcy and will end sales of all cars in the U.S. (Detroit Free Press)

So much for 'spring ahead, fall back:' DC's Metro forgot about the time change last weekend and shut down the lines an hour early -- stranding would-be riders. (Atlantic Cities, Washington Post)

Maryland is pushing ahead on plans for a $2.2 billion light rail project known as the Red Line. (Baltimore Sun)

How much will it cost to repair the NYC subway system? Let's just go with "substantial." (Wall Street Journal)

A British woman has failed that country's written driver's test 105 times. (Telegraph)

A woman caught on camera driving on a sidewalk to avoid a Cleveland school bus that was unloading children will have to stand at an intersection wearing a sign warning about idiots. (AP via Washington Post)

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Subway alert on 11/5/12 (photo by Kate Hinds)

For your Tuesday New York-New Jersey commute, some updated information from the MTA and NJ Transit. The press releases are below.

1. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has restored additional subway, bus and commuter rail services in time for the Tuesday morning rush hour. Sections of the A, B and C Trains Will Reopen For Tuesday Morning Rush

Service on the A train will be restored in upper Manhattan to the 207 St station. That will allow service on the C train to be extended to the 168 St station. The B train will begin running between Bedford Park Boulevard in the Bronx and Kings Highway in Brookyn. The Q train will extend service from 57 St – 7 Av in Manhattan to Brighton Beach in Brookyn.

There was significant crowding Monday morning on the 1-2-3 trains on the West Side of Manhattan. MTA New York City Transit is studying ways to adjust signals for the 1 train in lower Manhattan that will allow them to turn around faster, improving the frequency of service and reducing crowding.

The top subway priority is now restoring service on the G and L trains through northwest Brooklyn, where alternate service on the J and M trains was extremely crowded. The G tunnel under Newtown Creek has been pumped out but extensive work remains to repair the signal system. The L tunnel under the East River is still being pumped. NYCT will run extra buses on the B62 route to offer additional service through the area.

Queens Midtown Tunnel Opens For Rush Hour Buses
MTA Bridges and Tunnels will open one lane of the Queens Midtown Tunnel for buses only during rush hour Tuesday. One lane of the south tube will be open for Manhattan-bound buses from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and for Queens-bound buses from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The tunnel will be closed to traffic at all other times.

The Queens Midtown Tunnel was flooded with storm surge and sustained significant damage to its mechanical systems that must be repaired. No timetable has been established to reopen the tunnel to general traffic.

The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, formerly known as the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, was also flooded by storm surge. Pumping operations continue at the tunnel and there is no timetable for reopening it.

MTA Voter Shuttle
The MTA will provide special “MTA Voter Shuttle” buses Tuesday on Staten Island, in Coney Island and in the Rockaways to carry voters from damaged polling places to alternate sites established by the Board of Elections.

The free MTA Voter Shuttles will run in 15- to 20-minute intervals from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. to help voters, particularly those displaced by the storm, get to polling stations. They are in addition to other scheduled bus service in the affected areas.

MTA buses will also be dispatched to carry Board of Elections polling station workers from the Queens headquarters in Kew Gardens to their newly assigned polling stations in the three areas.

Long Island Rail Road
The MTA Long Island Rail Road will restore train service between Ronkonkoma and Riverhead on Tuesday, with connecting bus service from Riverhead to Greenport. The LIRR continues to operate a modified schedule on all branches except the Long Beach branch, and east of Speonk on the Montauk branch.

The LIRR’s modified service is required since two of Amtrak’s four East River tunnels are out of service from flooding associated with Hurricane Sandy. Modified service will be restored to Hunterspoint Avenue and trains will be added between Freeport and Atlantic Terminal.

Because service will be limited, waits will be longer and trains will be more crowded.  In the evening rush hour, customers should expect crowded conditions in Penn Station.  Customers are advised to stagger work hours and travel in off-peak hours, if possible, to help reduce crowding in the peak periods.

MTA chairman Joe Lhota (L) speaking with an MTA worker. (Photo by MTA via flickr)

Listen to the conversation with WNYC's Amy Eddings below.

(New York, NY) Just one week after Hurricane Sandy turned New York City's subway tunnels into something out of Waterworld, service is back up and running on almost every line. But how?

MTA chairman Joe Lhota told WNYC the credit belonged to the agency's employees. "The workers of the Transit Authority...I will tell you I've never seen a bunch of people work so hard to get the system back up and running."

And here's how they did it: "They've been cleaning [signals] by hand, literally," he said. "First you had to pump out the water, then you had to wipe down the mud that was left down there, then you had to literally wipe down the rail, and then fix each and every one of the switches by cleaning them and making sure there was no salt to prevent the electric conductivity."

Lhota said after that process, the MTA then powered up the system and ran test trains before resuming service.

"We're making progress every day," he said, adding that the rest of the lines would be operating "soon."

"That's our intent, to be able to...get the L later in the week, get the G later in the week, getting all the other trains later in the week. We want to get the #1 train eventually down to Rector Street, we'll try to do that by the middle of the week...inch by inch, rail by rail, we're going to get there," he said on WNYC radio.

Later in the conversation Lhota told WNYC's Amy Eddings -- who relies on the G train to get to work: "You'll get the G soon. Can't tell you exactly when, but you'll get the G real soon."

What probably will take a little longer: retooling New York city's infrastructure to withstand future floods. "There are some more substantive things that need to be done," said Lhota, and "not just for the subway system...it should be a concerted effort on the part of the city and the state and taking the best minds in the architectural world and the water mitigation world and figure out what exactly can we do to prevent this from happening again?"

Any effort to prevent flooding, he said, "It's not just going to be limited to the subways. It shouldn't be."

Want to know what's running and what's not? Check our Transit Tracker.