Good afternoon, I’m Brian Fritsch, Associate Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, PCAC.
As we consider the November financial plan and move closer to a full year of congestion relief, let’s take a moment to recognize the work that’s gone into getting this agency on a very firm financial footing—despite lingering uncertainty around casino revenue—in sharp contrast to many U.S. transit agencies. That hasn’t stopped people in D.C. from trying to pull the rug out from under us, but we’ll keep fighting in the halls of Congress and in the courts.
If we weren’t in such good shape, we couldn’t celebrate the 219 new buses being ordered for riders today from New Flyer. It’s certainly an exciting time for bus riders, and we hope the Mamdani administration will partner with the MTA to finally follow and implement the NYC Streets Plan, expand depot space, and invest in signal priority technology, as well as a police department that more actively monitors and enforces the law on priority bus lanes.
To highlight the need for more investment from the city, last week we stood with the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign to announce the winners of the 18th annual Pokey and Schleppie awards, given to the city’s slowest—the M42— and least reliable—the Q8—high ridership bus routes. We also spoke at length about the progress bus speeds have made since the start of congestion pricing and offered a new “Mazel award” for the most improved service to the M79 and SIM32 routes, which have both improved dramatically.
We would also be deeply appreciative if the city continued to prioritize affordability by expanding the Fair Fares program. Currently, only a dismal third of eligible New Yorkers are enrolled. The program needs automatic enrollment yesterday.
Coupled with an expansion of the program to at least 300% of the federal poverty level, fully free fares for the lowest income New Yorkers, and adding the commuter railroads and express buses as options, we could take this program from a good idea to one that truly transforms how people move around the city. Thank you.