From Ric Burns' masterful PBS documentary about New York City comes this inspiring David and Goliath story of the battle for human scale neighborhoods.
MTA's New Contactless Payment System OMNY Goes Live Today. Here's How to Use It
The MTA has recently been testing the new OMNY contactless payment solution in select New York City subway stations and buses, and now the system is going live along the 4,5,6 subway lines between Grand Central and Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center, and on Staten Island Express buses. Watch these series of videos recently released by the MTA to learn more about the program.
How to Use OMNY: Using a Contactless Card
OMNY lets you use a contactless credit, debit, or reloadable prepaid card to easily pay your fare.
How to Use OMNY: Using a Digital Wallet
OMNY lets you use the digital wallet on your smartphone or wearable to quickly and easily pay your fare.
Welcome to OMNY
The MTA is rolling out a new contactless fare payment system – OMNY. With OMNY, you can use your own contactless card or smart device to make fare payments and enter the system. OMNY will eventually combine fare payments and mobile ticketing across subways, buses, and commuter rail. As we roll out OMNY between 2019 and 2023, you can still use MetroCard and eTix, giving you flexibility to choose when OMNY is right for you.
Where to Use OMNY: May 2019
The OMNY rollout has started! Try OMNY for yourself on all Staten Island MTA buses, or at any 4, 5, or 6 line entrance between Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center and Grand Central - 42 Street.
Here's What New York Could Have Looked Like if Lower Manhattan Expressway Was Built
Some unbuilt plans are inarguably, impossibly utopian. But Robert Moses’ proposal for a Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX) through the heart of NYC was either a dynamic vision of the future or an uncompromising act of community-destroying gentrification, depending on how you saw it. Moses – a long-term figure on New York’s city planning scene – was notoriously pro-car (he never invested a dime in mass transit) however his visionary elevated highway never got to run through Greenwich Village, SoHo, and Washington Square Park as planned.
Due to the campaigning of journalist and activist Jane Jacobs, over 800 businesses and 2000 families were saved from displacement. Moses’ proto-Brutalist structure, flanked by stepped living and working towers, would certainly have been of architectural interest, but this time human interest won the day.
These renderings from the team at Net Credit show what the LOMEX could have looked like had they been built. In reality, they probably would not have looked so cool, and would have been covered in advertisements.