· The NY Times offered brief comment, stating in a Monday editorial that, after education, "transportation probably ranks second...in presenting multiple challenges to the next mayor. He will need to confront mass transit debt, get a fairer shake from the MTA and complete the Second Avenue subway."

· The NY Post declared in a NYC "transportation crisis," comparing burgeoning traffic and transit use to a 50-year dearth in completion of major transportation projects. A Post survey of transportation policy observers yielded a familiar list of big-ticket projects many think must proceed ¾ linking the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central, a cross-harbor freight tunnel, a LaGuardia rail link, the Gowanus tunnel and a subway link to Co-op City. In the article, NYC transportation commissioner Iris Weinshall made a puzzling comment on the Gowanus tunnel, stating that its construction could lead to significant disruption in west Brooklyn neighborhoods. However, one of many appealing features of the tunnel plan is that it would result in minimal construction-related traffic diversion and construction impacts than rebuilding the elevated Gowanus in place, as the NY State DOT has long advocated.

MTA Chair Peter Kalikow again tried to direct attention away from Albany, saying building the Second Avenue subway is a matter of federal funding,

· The crusading Daily News issued a special series of articles on the terrible crowding on NYC Transit subways. The series translated the severe crowding many thousands of riders face daily into a week's worth of news stories and features. The News' inaugural piece laid out the rider growth that is creating the squeeze - 4.5 million passengers ride the rails each weekday, "more than the population of any other city in the nation. Since 1991, annual ridership is up 385 million, a whopping 39%." Ridership increased each year during the 1990s, but has been especially pronounced since discount fare policies began to take effect in 1997. Since 1998, rush-hour subway use is up 11%, weekday off-peak use jumped 17.5% and weekend riding is up 19.5%.

Still, a NYC Transit spokesperson told the News that the system is not in crisis, and cited subway car purchases, station work, the new Queens Boulevard connector and MTA Chair Peter Kalikow's support for building the Second Avenue subway as evidence transit authorities are moving to address the problem.

Transit advocates want the MTA to order additional cars, delay the retirement of some that are still working well and try to speed up delivery of cars on order that will not hit the rails for several more years. The Straphangers Campaign and others have urged more trains during "shoulder" and off-peak periods, and better standards for passenger space in trains and for rush-hour service frequency.

MTA Chair Peter Kalikow told reporters last week he would visit Kawasaki and Bombardier plants to hold the manufacturers' feet to the fire and ensure that delays in delivering new subway cars do not become more prolonged.