The train to Albany is inadequate and overpriced. I can't blame the commissioner for not taking it. MNRR expansion is necessary, and would help the region expand. Sadly this probably died with Sptizergate.

This is a good example of why things like placards are a bad thing... people will always use the tools at their disposal to make their lives easier, especially when they are stressed out and have little sleep.

Hey, maybe Silver or Brodsky got the NYS troopers to wait and try to pull over JSK.. that's not out of the realm of possibility in the cesspool that is Albany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Subdivision

There was a plan for Metro-North to extend at least as far as Rhinecliff, possibly Tivoli, but that was scrapped because there was no plan for adequate transit to bring people to and from the stations. The plan was for all the commuters to drive to the planned stations, which is not a workable solution.

http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6078
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34319

A better solution would be to continue to press for upgrades in the Empire Corridor; the fine folks at the Empire State Passengers Association have been keeping track of these efforts.

http://www.esparail.org/

Through-running of trains would allow Amtrak to extend the Empire Corridor along the LIRR; you could have an "Empire Express" from Buffalo to Babylon, allowing people from the Island to get to Albany without changing trains.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2008/04/assembly-dems-start-congestion.html

I've looked through this past Wednesday's Albany arrival logs, out of curiosity. The 10:45 am departure (your linked schedule hasn't taken effect) arrived an hour and 20 minutes late, at 2:30 pm. Yikes. Next train was 35 min late, the one after that 30 min late. The rest of the trains were within 15 minutes of schedule. That is what I meant by "schedule," I guess. (I've done a similar query before.) It's better than interstate predictability, but for train service it's an embarrassment.

I'm not trying to beat down Amtrak, just saying it's not hard to understand choosing otherwise for a day trip in the middle of this crazy week, when you have a city-owned car and a driver available. Personally I would expense a hotel room and take the train to it, but I don't think seeing our alternative transportation enthusiast DOT chief being driven to the most important transportation debate in decades in a hybrid is some kind of betrayal. It just shows how messed up things are, that the seat of government is a 2 or 4 hour train ride away. The lights and speeding part? I'm as disappointed as everyone, but would like to hear the other side of the story and hope there is some positive outcome.

Amtrak is not very good going to Albany, last time I checked. It's ~2.5-3 hours most of the time, and the frequency kind of sucks.

Google Maps gives the drive time as "about 2 hours 49 mins; up to 3 hours 30 mins in traffic." Seems roughly comparable.

The frequency: trains leaving Penn Station every day at 7:15, 8:20, 10:20, 12:20, 1:20, 2:20, 3:20, 4:40, 5:45, 7:05, 8:20, 10:45. Yeah, it'd be nice if they had hourly departures, but the existing frequency seems pretty reasonable if you're going up to lobby for the day.

http://www.amtrak.com/timetable/apr08/W08.pdf

We're talking about a privilege that no one officially has. Not even Corzine. I don't see how it can be "worse" to have less power to corrupt enforcement, except in terms of getting away with stuff.

As for Amtrak, now that it's clear she wasn't driving alone I'm less inclined to wonder why she wasn't on the train. And I wouldn't worry too much about it ever happening again up there. If you might be pulled over because of the lights, of course you don't use them. It would be far better to just speed without announcing it like nearly every civilian on the road. If traffic police would ever enforce "lights and sirens" law against government vehicles of their own jurisdiction (and not just an NYC DOT Prius zooming upstate—oops) the abuse would evaporate entirely. But usually the only way we hear about it is when they crash, and of course no drivers ever expect that to happen to them.

It's a great opportunity for a DOT initiative. As for where the apologies and Streetsblog posts on the topic are, I would guess they are being written. It's funny how this story got out so quickly, while everyone is busy with congestion pricing.

Amtrak to Albany along the banks of the Hudson is one of the most beautiful and relaxing experiences around. Make sure you take a train that terminates / originates in Albany and you will be on schedule.

Lesson needs to be learned, though. Been there and done that myself, so I know how she feels wearing the egg facial. One moves on and does better.

If there was Metro-North service to Albany, they could have much better frequencies. The line should also be electrified.

Two questions: Will Bloomberg now take away her lights and sirens, or does her status as DOT commissioner require it while the deputy mayor's did not?

And, did the person driving the car have any kind of training in how to drive with lights and sirens? I bet not. Corzine's driver was a state trooper and even then look what happened.

I too was very happy JSK got the job, but when you speed, you are asking to kill someone, end of story.

You can't wish on someone that they lose a loved one to speedking so that they'll finally understand that speeding=murder, but it seems to be a shameful reality that that's what it take for people to get it.

If this incident turns into some "elitism" or "hypocracy" story that kills congestion pricing, JSK can blame her own decision to speed (or allow her driver to speed).

The only opportunity for good news I see here is maybe the Commissioner will feel obligated to serioulsy address the issue of speeding in such a way that drivers will finally listen.

The city and Long Island have 86 assemblymembers and 35 senators. If they all drive up to Albany every day instead of staying there overnight, that's 121 cars on the Thruway. Assuming that at least one staffer from each district drives up in a separate car, and that 80 staffers from various city agencies and groups, lobbyists and so on take the same trip, that's over 300 cars. Imagine if they all took the train; Amtrak would probably be able to afford to reinstate the snack cars.

Doc, I don't know what you mean by the Amtrak schedule. Amtrak is quick, clean and frequent enough. For those times when the train isn't feasible, the buses are certainly not a big deal.

So I clearly don't buy that the Commissioner had to drive to Albany. But she did drive, and even if she was late for a meeting, there was no reason for her to use the sirens. I'm glad the state trooper pulled her over, and I hope this doesn't happen again.

Nevertheless, the incident as reported is very troubling. The parallels to NJ Gov. Corzine's year-ago near-fatal crash on the Garden State Parkway are eerie and disturbing. Corzine's vehicle, recall, caused that crash when its sirens and flashing lights led another driver to veer onto the shoulder, only to overcorrect and careen back, forcing Corzine's car into a guardrail.

The danger introduced by the use of sirens and flashers should make their use unacceptable except for medical emergencies, firefighting and other life-saving purposes. I thought a year ago that Corzine owed the public an apology for gratuitously endangering other highway users. I would like to see Commissioner Sadik-Khan make such an apology. That would certainly be in keeping with the sense of responsibility and stewardship she has brought to the office of NYC DOT Commissioner.