NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RIDERS COUNCIL
MINUTES OF Thursday, November 16, 2017
A meeting of the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) was convened at 12:00 noon on Thursday, November 16, 2017 in the 20th floor Board Room at 2 Broadway, New York
The following members were present:
Andrew Albert
Christopher Greif
William K. Guild
Sharon King Hoge
Trudy Mason
Burton M. Strauss, Jr.
The following members were on the phone:
Marisol Halpern
The following members were absent:
Stuart Goldstein
Scott Nicholls
Edith Prentiss
In addition, the following persons were present:
William Henderson PCAC Executive Director
Ellyn Shannon PCAC Associate Director
Bradley Brashears PCAC Planning Manager
Karyl Cafiero PCAC Research Associate
Al Putre NYCT
Wayne Lydon NYCT
Deborah Hall-Moore NYCT
Shaun Wong PCAC Intern
Michael Howard YAI
William Stanford, Jr. Concerned citizen
James S. Li Concerned citizen
| Time Point | |
| Video Part 1 | |
| 00:31 | Approval of Agenda
The agenda for the November 16, 2017 meeting was approved. |
| 00:40 | Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the October 26, 2017 meeting were approved as amended with corrections. |
| 01:08 | Chair’s Report (The Chair’s Report is attached to minutes.) |
| 15:35 | Board Report |
| 15:38 | Discussion of Subway Action Plan: Weeknight G.O.s / signs of increased reliability. |
| 18:15 | Lack of City funding would cause Subway Action Plan to take longer. |
| 18:40 | Discussion of preliminary budget shows a balanced budget through 2019.
Need to find sustainable funding. |
| 20:38 | T. Mason: Asks about whether the MTA Board has had conversations about going around the Mayor, to go forward with congestion pricing by approaching the City Council?
A. Albert: Yes, they have had these conversations. |
| 22:50 | Accessibility discussion: The lack of elevator access was a big topic at MTA Board meeting. 117/472 stations will have elevator access by 2020.
Total of 44% of MTA riders will have elevator access. |
| 32:55 | MTA Board will be able to ratify all procurements related to the Subway Action Plan. |
| 34:14 | Working groups will be established in between board meeting for further discussions that require more time. i.e. accessibility |
| 36:07 | Subway cars R211 procurement discussion. More information coming in December. |
| 37:12 | Subway station ambassadors coming instead of booth agents. |
| 40:20
|
M. Halpern asks if they will be closing more station booths?
A. Albert: No |
| 43:40 | B. Guild: There was supposed to be people hired for every station.
A. Albert: Will inquire about this. |
| 45:15 | Old Business |
| 45:56 | E. Shannon: Discussion of Subway Performance Dashboard
Major incidents – Capacity provided – Customer wait time – train travel time Focus on worst performing areas; the 4,5,6,and F lines are the worst for major incidents. |
| 58:35 | Bus resolution: We have to get this moving… cutback of bus service and uptown crosstown bus issues. Two separate resolution needed for uptown-downtown routes, and crosstown routes. |
| 01:01:51
|
A.Albert: Suggest one change to crosstown resolution – In addition to lack of crosstown subway service north of 63rd Street makes maintaining routes north of this extremely important in terms of frequency.
Action Item: W. Henderson will insert this sentence into the resolution. |
| 01:05:48 | Resolution Approved
(M. Halpern abstained – never got copies of resolution) |
| 01:09:30 | Introduction of Presenters: Al Putre, Executive Director, New Fare Payment Program, and Wayne Lyndon, Acting Director, New Fare Payment Program, to discuss the agreement that the MTA has reached for an open fare payment system and the process of implementing this system. |
| 01:14:53 | Fare payment contract broken into 5 phases:
1. Staged Initial Deployment 2. Complete Contactless Open Payments Roll Out 3. Expanded Payment Options Available 4. In-System Sales 5. Project Complete |
| 01:15:05 | Each phase crucial to test before moving on to the next phase. |
| 01:17:15 | MetroCard will continue until the new fare payment is deemed successful. |
| 01:17:30 | 600 subway validators and 500 bus validators. |
| 01:20:00 | SBS pilot on one to two routes, will help to determine if off-board fare machines will still be needed (2019). |
| 01:24:19 | MTA does not want to be in the card business, card purchases will eventually be purchased out of the system. i.e. Duane Reade
However, in 2022 machines will be in stations for those without bank accounts, etc… |
| 01:25:50 | Interoperable fare media by 2023 for all MTA operating agencies. |
| 01:28:55 | S. King-Hoge: Why is all this testing required when it has already been tested around the world?
A.Putre: There were many problems like in Chicago. MTA likes service-proven technologies. Need for proper testing – no customer facing problems. |
| 01:34:52 | T. Mason: Did Cubic get the contract because they had the previous contract?
A.Putre: Experience always come into play. Cubic has been very forthcoming about issues they have faced. |
| 01:39:07 | A.Albert: How committed is Cubic to this roll-out schedule?
A.Putre: The schedule is aggressive, but MetroCard is beyond its useful life, the customers cannot wait anymore. |
| 01:40:25 | E. Shannon: Functionality – the idea of the open vs. closed system loop and security issues. Can you speak to this more?
A.Putre: You have to do risk mitigation and follow rules of all credit transactions. ODA (Offline Data Authentication), everything is encrypted. |
| 01:43:25 | C. Greif: Concerned about the half-fare MetroCard – it will be difficult for those who do not have smartphones, etc…?
A.Putre: The MetroCard of the future will replace the current card. There will be a photo on it for reduced-fare. Seniors will be converted into the program. |
| 01:49:05 | A.Albert: How precisely will your phone have to be lined up with the reader? Lines could form if it can’t read the phone/card.
A.Putre: It will work with NFC, it will just have to be in proximity. The E-Tix code will have to be read – to be held above the reader. |
| 01:51:49 | K. Cafiero: Will there be audible information for the disability community?
A.Putre: Yes, it’s ADA law. |
| 01:55:22 | M. Halpern: Outreach – Will seniors and others be provided a fact sheet or something explaining how they can access the system?
A.Putre: That is a good point, and will look into how to go forward with this issue. Thank you! |
| 01:59:49 | Adjournment |
Meeting Video: Video 1 of 1
Action Items:
- W. Henderson will insert amend resolution.
The meeting was adjourned at 2 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
Executive Director