NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RIDERS COUNCIL
MINUTES OF May 25, 2017
A meeting of the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) was convened at 12:00 noon on May 25, 2017 in the 20th Floor Board Room.
The following members were present:
Andrew Albert Sharon King Hoge
Stuart Goldstein Trudy Mason
Christopher Greif Marisol Halpern
William K. Guild Burton M. Strauss, Jr.
The following members were absent:
Scott R. Nicholls
Edith Prentiss
In addition, the following persons were present:
Ellyn Shannon PCAC Associate Director
Angela Bellisio PCAC Planning Manager
Bradley Brashears PCAC Transportation Planner
Karyl Cafiero PCAC Research Associate
Jason A. Pinero Concerned citizen
Patrick E72NA
Gail Benjamin E72NA
Ken Stewart Concerned Citizens
Troy Odenhal FTA
| Time Point | |
| 00:14 | Chair’s Report (The Chair’s Report is attached to minutes.) |
| 07:20 | Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the April 27, 2017 meeting were not approved because of required corrections. Approval tabled. |
| 10:25 | Board Report |
| A. Albert: Ns and Rs are sent up 2nd Avenue. Does rider know? Are they labeled correctly? | |
| 13:30 | S. King-Hoge: N/W lines are overcrowded since loss of Q. Fewer trains and not on schedule. |
| 16:50 | A. Albert: Soon Amtrak will release date for Penn Station construction. Port Washington Branch will not be affected. CBTC on the 7 Line won’t be active by the time this happens |
| 19:40 | A. Albert: No GCT shuttle has been proposed yet. |
| 21:40 | A. Albert: Capital Program Amendment discussion at the Board meeting. Move NY Plan going nowhere. But MTA needs additional operating subsidies. The Board does not want sole source procurement. |
| 25:20 | Governor announcement about taking over Penn Station. Not likely. Work will continue next summer. The Governor offered $1Million grant for ideas. A train fleet will be replaced: Governor taking active role in subways. |
| 31:40 | A. Albert: Yesterday was Dr. H’s last day on the job. Janno Lieber will replace him with a different title: Chief Development Officer. |
| 33:10 | T. Mason: Send Dr. H a thank you from us. We were not informed by DOT about M79. Has asked to be notified in the future about DOT events related to public transit.
ACTION ITEM: Thank you note to Dr. H. |
| Old Business | |
| 35:40 | T. Mason: M15 discussion. We have not yet received a response letter from meeting with MTA Bus. Introduction of Liz Patrick and Gail Benjamin from 72nd Street Neighborhood Association. |
| 39:50 | Liz: Ready to collaborate to increase frequency of service on M15 lines. Successful petition. Did a survey for 7 days to look at ridership and service at 72nd Street and 1st and 2nd Avenues. |
| 48:20 | Gail: There were many Not in Service buses. |
| 54:00 | T. Mason: Still no response to our letter to NYC Transit about 72nd Street bus service issues. |
| 56:00 | D. Hall-Moore: Correspondence is in the queue but there is a backlog. |
| 58:50 | E. Shannon: Evenness is a problem. Could this also be a DOT issue? |
| 1:03:40 | C. Greif: Nominates William Guild to represent Andrew Albert on the Executive Board. Burt Strauss seconds nomination |
| 1:05:10 | Introduction of Dan Zajackowski to talk about the M line bridge replacement projects |
| They are doing two projects at once: the Fresh Pond Bridge, which will take 2 months and the Myrtle Viaduct, which will take 10 months | |
| 1:19:40 | C. Greif: Suggests moving the shuttle bus in Phase 2 to Flushing Ave so it goes to an ADA compliant station. |
| 1:25:50 | Troy O : Is there station work to improve ADA? No station work. |
| 1:32:40 | Old Business Continued |
| T. Mason: Street Vendor Act letter is perfect and should be distributed. | |
| 1:33:20 | New Business |
| 1:33:30 | C. Greif: Glad to see bus signage at Main Street – Flushing regarding sidewalk reconstruction, but the signage keeps getting torn down. D. Hall-Moore said she will check into this. |
| 1:34:50 | K. Stewart: Musicians on subways are a trouble. |
| 1:37:40 | Jason: SBS stop moved from Houston and Allen to Christie and Allen. |
| 1:44:10 | A. Albert: We should have the police come back to talk on subjects including homeless, noise, etc.
|
| 1:46:30 | E. Shannon: Is the difference in run time a de facto service cut? |
| 1:47:30 | W. Henderson: Next week the Brooklyn Borough President will make a presentation emphasizing that the East New York Station needs to be held to the same standards as other stations. |
| 1:50:00 | Adjournment |
Youtube Meeting Video: Video 1 0f 1
Action Items:
- Thank you note to Dr. H.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
Executive Director