Stefanos Chen

Can a Long-Hated Bronx Highway Be Repaired Without Doing More Harm?

The Cross Bronx Expwy may be the most hated road. The 7-mile stretch runs like a scar over the poorest congressional district in the US, and all-day traffic contributes to high asthma rates. Can the state's $900M repair plan do more good than harm?
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/n...

Update from Sean Butler in the the governor's office:
“East Harlem has been promised a subway connection for almost a century, and Governor Hochul will fight like hell to make sure this project gets built.”

M.T.A. Threatens to Sue Trump Over Delayed 2nd Avenue Subway Funding

The MTA is threatening to sue the Trump administration for withholding $58M that it's owed for the construction of the Second Ave Subway expansion. Federal reimbursements have been frozen since last year, for a contradictory list of reasons
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/n...

A BETTER BILLION, AMA: This is the latest report from the Transit Costs Project. It sought to take all the work we've done on subway construction and push it forward into a vision of what could/should be possible in NYC with a steady source of funding -- transitcosts.com/a-better-bil...

Thanks Karrie!!

A Roving Reporter on the Future of Transit in New York City

Look, ma, I’m in the paper! Big thanks to Sarah Bahr for the great write-up and Angelina Katsanis for taking my picture on a cold N train platform

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/i...

New York to Back Away From Robotaxi Pilot Programs Upstate

Gov Hochul is backing off a plan to expand robotaxi pilots in Upstate New York, after fierce pushback from drivers and other labor groups (free link) w/ david mccabe
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/n...

NJ Transit Commuters Grumble as Bridge Work Disrupts Train Rides

NJ Transit is working to replace the reviled, 116-year-old Portal Bridge, which has delayed commuters entering Manhattan for years and years. But first, a month of painful service changes. Riders aren't thrilled.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/n...

i had the decency to do it BEFORE the presser

Announcing new bus lane projects on a Bx12 is a cool flex, can't lie. Standing room only for reporters

The Post was foolish enough to unleash a bevy of the world’s most talented multi-disciplinary journalists out there for their competition to scoop up. These are some of the most hard working and skilled people I know.

Save this one and reshare it please! 📊

They Use MetroCards to Make Art. They’re Starting to Run Out.

You can read the article for free at this link:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/n...

But the artists don't know how much longer they can stretch their MetroCard supplies. The MTA ended all sales of the card Dec 31, and the fate of the authority's remaining cards - stored in a secretive facility in Queens - remains unclear. They might even burn the cards in an incinerator

You can see much of this work starting March 16 in an exhibit exhibit at Grand Central Terminal curated by the @nytransitmuseum.bsky.social
www.nytransitmuseum.org

Juan Carlos Pinto makes a wide range of portraits and, lately, a series on the birds of New York. He just sold 4 pieces to a posh NYC Hotel for $8,000. Love this James Baldwin portrait

Nina Boesch makes whimsical collages of New York landmarks, like Katz's Deli and the Queensboro Bridge. She may have the biggest private stash of cards left in the city: 90k MetroCards, stashed away in secret locations

Thomas McKean, a children's book author who's become one of the best known MetroCard artists, has crafted collages and 3d models with the fare cards for a quarter century. This row of tenement cost him 1,000+ cards. Token, the dragon, is perched on top

Shih-Pao Lin, a Taiwanese artist, has been collecting MetroCards for over two decades. He used 30,000 (!) MetroCards to build a menagerie of statues inspired by the Chinese Zodiac, and is hoping to build much more. But he's down to his last few hundred cards.

They Use MetroCards to Make Art. They’re Starting to Run Out.

Their art has never been more popular, and that's the problem. How long can MetroCard artists stretch their limited supplies? A 🧵 on some lovely art, and the stockpile of cards the MTA might choose to burn, rather than share with the artists
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/n...

Nearly Half of Americans Don’t Know Puerto Ricans Are Fellow Citizens (Published 2017)

2017 poll: Nearly 50% of Americans don’t know Puerto Ricans are fellow citizens www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/u...

any NYC Ferry uses on here who wanna chat about the suspension?

This is my fav x-men team

Mayor Mamdani and the Taxi Driver

Really touching story about Mamdani's relationship with Richard Chow, a cab driver who has supported the mayor ever since he joined a hunger strike to help cabbies struggling with medallion debt. This is the mayor's base.
By Winnie Hu
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/n...

Gross www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/u...

This is NOT me, tell them to kick rocks

I don’t think we’re calling free buses a bad plan. It was obviously popular, in tandem with making the service faster. But we’re pointing out that both the subway expansion and bus subsidy plans are largely in the hands of Albany and the MTA

they do, and it's in the story

very fair criticism. the report authors would argue, tho, that even if the MTA accomplishes a fraction of their wishlist, it would be a better use of money than free buses

It’s $40B over four decades