Here’s the latest on Metro-North Railroad’s service for west of the Hudson:

For people leaving the office early today, there will be a 2:51 p.m. “getaway” departure from Hoboken to Spring Valley on NJ Transit’s Pascack Valley line. To accommodate this train, the 5:55 p.m. departure from Hoboken to Spring Valley will not operate.

On the Port Jervis Line, there is an early getaway train departing Hoboken at 2:43 p.m., making stops from Suffern to Port Jervis. To accommodate this train, the 6:08 train from Hoboken will not operate. Read more of this entry »

With all the talk about getting people to ride their bikes more — for health and to cut congestion and pollution from cars — the East Coast Greenway Alliance is planning a Westchester County Bicycle Summit in 2009. That’s one of the things the group will do with Read more of this entry »

If Congress is helping bail out the nation’s auto industry, it can lend a hand to mass transit systems, too, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano figures.

Spano has called on Congress to help out with more funds after The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced it was looking for a 23 percent boost Read more of this entry »

Shortly after 3 p.m. today, the three agencies in charge of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 project released the preliminary financial report, which lays out the difficulties ahead but provides no solutions.

“There are no answers in this report – only a roadmap of the financial challenges ahead,” the 383-page financial plan states early on. It’s mostly made up of 11 case studies of large transportation projects.

The report is available at www.tzbsite.com under “Technical Documents.” Read more of this entry »

Read it and weep. Service cuts, lost jobs and higher fares and tolls are the bad news in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed 2009 budget. Here’s the MTA press release spelling out the bad news…

Expect shorter, more crowded Metro-North Railroad trains as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority deals with an expected $1.4 billion shortfall next year. The announcement came as part of MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander’s presentation of the 2009 budget. Check back here, at www.lohud.com and Friday’s Journal News for more information.

Are you watching? Fare and toll hikes for Metro-North trains, subways, buses and MTA bridges may be proposed in the budget meeting going on now in the MTA offices. Watch the meeting live here. You can also find the link at www.mta.info/mta/webcasts.

Three lanes of westbound traffic on the Thruway are merging into one lane near Exit 14A (Garden State Parkway connector) in Spring Valley.

Two lanes have been shut down for construction, state police Troop T said at 12:40 p.m. today.

Traffic opens up past the tollbooths and is flowing freely at Exit 14B in Airmont.

Turns out Metro-North Railroad’s advisory that Harlem Line trains were running late yesterday morning was a bit exaggerated, which of course is good news.

Especially since it followed a day when New Haven Line trains were late because of wire problems.

Yesterday’s snag was a short circuit and small flame caused Read more of this entry »

Lately, do you the sense that New York City isn’t going to stop until it gets more money out of suburban residents who work there?

First it was Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which died in the state Legislature. Now it’s a new look at a commuter tax. For years, Read more of this entry »

UPDATED AT 11:30 AM

Service on the Pascack Valley Line is resuming after a man was struck and killed by a train this morning in Hackensack, N.J., a New Jersey Transit spokesman said.

Riders should expect 30 to 60 minutes residual delays.

Service had been temporarily suspended.

It is not clear at this time what the man was doing on the tracks, spokesman Dan Stessel said.

“We’re less than an hour into this so they’re still investigating,” Stessel said shortly after 10 a.m.

The incident occurred at 9:21 a.m. on Anderson Street as the outbound train (No. 1605) was getting ready to arrive at the North Hackensack station. Twelve passengers were aboard the train; no one was injured.

The 9:32 am train from Spring Valley (No. 1620) and train 1607, which left Hoboken after the 1605, also have been affected. Buses were sent into shuttle riders between the North Hackensack and Essex stations, where trains were waiting for trains.

New Jersey Transit riders can now receive updated travel information for train, bus and light rail through RSS feeds.

NJ Transit launched the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) service today, noting that it is the first transit agency in the region to launch RSS feeds for travel alerts.

The feeds provide information directly from My Transit, NJ Transit’s personalized system that sends alerts directly to a customer’s cell phone, pager or email whenever there is a delay affecting their transit mode.

Advisories are posted for delays in service of 15 minutes or more, cancellations, suspensions and closures affecting a specific train, bus route, light rail line or boarding location. The information is updated weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Read more of this entry »

The state Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting tomorrow night to discuss its plans for Route 45 in Ramapo.

Sidewalk, drainage and roadway improvements are planned for a 3-mile stretch of the Route 45 corridor from the New Jersey state line through Chestnut Ridge to Route 59 in Spring Valley.

The meeting is scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Chestnut Ridge Middle School, 892 Chestnut Ridge Road (Route 45), Chestnut Ridge. The project’s draft preliminary plan will be presented and DOT staff will be on hand to answer questions and accept comments from the public.

Northbound and southbound entrance and exit ramps from the Palisades Interstate Parkway will be closed for repaving this Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., the state DOT announced today.

A posted detour will be provided.

Sticking with the theme of the day (see post below), here is next week’s TZ Bridge deck replacement schedule.

Sunday: Work will begin at 10 p.m. resulting in the closure of two right Rockland-bound lanes, with an additional right Rockland-bound lane closing at midnight, until 6 a.m., from milepost 13.8 to the east abutment on the bridge. Two left lanes in the Westchester-bound direction from milepost 18 to the east abutment will also be closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. These lane closures are for the installation of new deck panels on the Rockland-bound main span, causeway and west deck truss. All lanes are expected to be open by 6 a.m. the following day. Read more of this entry »