🚇 Rail Rage, Tariff Trouble & the Tunnel to the Dinosaur: Welcome to Edition #24 of the BOMA-NY Transportation Report 🗞️
May 2025 | BOMA-NY Codes & Regs Committee
Just in time for Memorial Day traffic and summer movie season, the May edition of your favorite transportation update is here—starring subway safety upgrades, looming transit strikes, chaotic air travel, and congestion pricing with $160 million already on the books. Throw in some new tariffs, FAA staff shortages, and an underground Cold War dinosaur adventure, and you’ve got yourself the full NYC experience.
From airport melt-downs and mosquito-infested flights to NYC bridge risks and Tesla lawsuits, this report covers everything moving (or not) across the region. And yes, it even includes Indiana Jones and the Monster Under the A Train—the BOMA-NY version of summer blockbuster hype.
In this issue:
🚆 NJ Transit engineers threaten to strike, disrupting regional rail
🛫 Air traffic controller shortages, flight delays, and a Newark communication blackout
💸 Congestion pricing raises $160M in Q1—but still faces lawsuits and DOT pushback
🛑 Four major NYC bridges flagged as structurally risky
🗺️ New subway map debuts, AI monitoring and fare gate upgrades planned
🚗 Car prices may spike due to 25% tariffs, Ford expects $1.5B hit
🐢 Passenger plane swarmed by mosquitoes mid-flight
🎬 Indy returns—this time chasing a corned beef-loving dinosaur through abandoned NYC tunnels
— Glenn Waldorf
Transportation Subcommittee Chair
Bell Environmental Services
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✅ May 2025 Transportation Report Summary Bullets
🚆 Rail & Commuter Transit
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NJ Transit engineers threatening to strike, impacting thousands of daily riders
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CEO bashes union publicly while releasing contingency plans
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NJ Congresswoman calls the situation a “regional disaster”
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Penn Station redevelopment taken over by federal government, pulling $1.3B in state funding
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Gov. Hochul says she’s “open to renaming Penn Station if Trump pays for it”
🛫 Air Travel & Newark Airport
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Massive Newark flight delays from staffing shortages, broken equipment & runway construction
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FAA short 3,500 air traffic controllers—White House promises modernization plan
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Newark experienced a 90-second communication blackout with up to 20 incoming planes
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United cuts 35 Newark flights daily; JetBlue exploring new partnership with United
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Q1 2025 was Port Authority’s second-busiest ever: 31.9M passengers
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PATH at 74% of pre-pandemic ridership, up 10% YoY
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✈️ News of the Weird: Plane infested by mosquitoes mid-flight. Passengers panicked
🚇 Subway & MTA
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MTA to replace turnstiles with modern fare gates
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AI surveillance proposed to monitor problematic behavior on platforms
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Subway ridership continues rising since congestion pricing launched: “No one rides the subway anymore—it’s too crowded”
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NYPD reports felony assaults in subways up 9% over last year
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Mayoral candidates propose taking subway control away from MTA
💸 MTA Budget & Congestion Pricing
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MTA collected $160M from congestion pricing in Q1 2025, tracking toward full-year projections
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Judge dismisses congestion pricing lawsuits, but DOT threatens to withhold federal highway funds
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DOT Sec. Sean Duffy calls NY’s tolling plan flawed; admits legal case is weak vs. political case
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Fiscal Year 2026 NY budget:
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Payroll tax increase on large businesses
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Small business payroll tax cut by 50%
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$1B state funding redirected from Penn Station to MTA
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MTA told to find $3B in internal savings
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🚗 Tariffs & Auto Market
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25% tariffs on imported vehicles and parts could spike car prices in NYC
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Ford expects $1.5B earnings hit, pulls financial guidance
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Tesla faces odometer fraud lawsuit for manipulating mileage data
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Top NYC speeder clocked at 142 mph, sparking enforcement concerns
⚓ Ports & Logistics
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Shipments from China down 35%, hurting NY/NJ ports
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Port of NY/NJ still busiest in U.S. for loaded imports/exports in March
🚲 Streets, Citi Bike & Urban Design
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Citi Bike to expand e-bike charging docks in Manhattan and Brooklyn
- Deep Thought on Broadway: “Why aren’t iPhone chargers called Apple Juice?”
🎬 Upcoming Summer Blockbusters?
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🎥 Indiana Jones & The Monster Under the A Train?
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🎥 Next year: Mission Impossible – Social Security Protocol?
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Ethan Hunt vs. biometric data hackers and his own reading glasses
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