NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RIDERS COUNCIL
MINUTES OF APRIL 27, 2017
A meeting of the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) was convened at 12:00 noon on Thursday, April 27, 2017 in the 20th Floor Board Room at 2 Broadway, New York.
The following members were present:
Andrew Albert Trudy Mason
Stuart Goldstein Scott Nicholls
Christopher Greif Edith Prentiss
Sharon King Hoge Burton M. Strauss, Jr.
The following members were absent:
William K. Guild Marisol Halpern
In addition, the following persons were present:
William Henderson PCAC Executive Director
Ellyn Shannon PCAC Associate Director
Angela Bellisio PCAC Planning Manager
Bradley Brashears PCAC Transportation Planner
Karyl Cafiero PCAC Research Associate
Deborah Morrison PCAC Administrative Assistant
Dorian Statom NYCT
Deborah Hall-Moore NYCT
Kenneth Stewart Concerned citizen
| Time Point | |
| Video Part 1
00:04 |
Approval of Agenda
The agenda for the April 27, 2017 meeting were approved. |
| 01:00 | T. Mason request to change March Minutes. Did not talk about off board collection system. Asked for minutes to be changed to reflect that, and that Ms. Mason said she spoke about putting in more local stops to the M15 SBS. |
| 03:15 | Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the March 23, 2017 meeting were approved as amended with corrections. |
| 03:20 | Chair’s Report (The Chair’s Report is attached to minutes). |
| 05:50 | A. Albert: 640 cars of the 1025 R211 car order, will be open gangway. Open gangway cars will not be delivered in the early part of the order, however the regular fleet is arriving on schedule this fall. Estimated capacity gain is 10%. |
| 06:50 | E. Prentiss: What if open gangway cars are a failure? What is the commitment to continue ordering them?
A. Albert: Originally transit just wanted 100 to be open gangway, but the Gov. Cuomo insisted the order be for at least half of 1025 car order. But no commitment beyond that. |
| 07:50 | S. King Hoge: Where else are open gangways used? |
| 08:10 | A. Albert: MTA cited 4 cities the circulation is supposed to be better. |
| 11:00 | A.Albert:
C.Greif: Test track at Brighton Beach. Next week Bay Ridge Ave R will close but there will be no shuttle buses. This will be bad. |
| 14:00 | S. Goldstein: Asks about restoring original tile in the enhanced station initiative program. AA: They will maintain the historic tiles. |
| 17:00 | Board Report |
| The Penn Station plan will take sections of track out of service during weekdays. | |
| 19:00 | W. Henderson: Amtrak statement says there is no operations plan as of yet. |
| 23:00 | A Albert: Freedom Ticket pilot was going to go into effect this fall, but rerouting of trains might impact that. |
| 24:00 | W. Henderson reads press release from Amtrak about renewal work over the next several years |
| 27:00 | A. Albert: A platform door pilot study will be conducted at one L line station. |
| 29:10 | Old Business |
| 29:30 | T. Mason: Letter concerning Street Modernization Act 1303. Allows 625 new food cars per year for the next 5 years. Ms. Mason requests stronger language in letter. |
| Action Item: Amend letter | |
| 39:44 | S. Goldstein: Note City Council is at City Hall rather than 250 Broadway. How do you define the end of the bus stop? It’s vague as written currently. Our role is to protect bus riders. |
| 43:00 | C. Greif: Would like everyone cc’d. |
| 44:40 | S. Goldstein: Are there borough goals for street vendors? If they are all in Manhattan that is even more burdensome |
| 47:00 | A. Albert: In favor of revised wording? “We are opposed to the street vender act as written for the following reasons.”
5 in favor. S. Nicholls opposed. S. Goldstein abstain. |
| 47:50 | T. Mason: Thank you from Valerie Mason. We have not received a response. |
| W. Henderson: A draft response is in the consultation process. | |
| T. Mason: Do we know the ridership on M15?
Deborah Hall- Moore will look into it |
|
| Action Item: Put request in writing for D. Hall- Moore about ridership on M15 | |
| 55:10 | New Business |
| C. Grief: Service communication during power outage was poor. | |
| 1:00:00 | S. Goldstein: Have we gotten ridership data on Second Avenue Subway? No. |
| 1:02:00 | E. Prentiss: Long announcements about diversions. No ADA information. Will they go back to signage? |
| 1:04:00 | A. Albert: Nominations. NYCTRC’s turn to be Chair of PCAC. |
| 1:05:00 | B. Strauss: Recommends A. Albert to be nomination
T. Mason: Seconds. |
| 1:10:00 | Unanimous vote in favor |
| 1:10:00 | Introduction of Dorian Stanton with presentation. |
| 1:22:00 | Camera law has been reactivated |
| 1:29:15 | S. Goldstein: Have you looked at ridership by time of day? What routes are currently being restructured?
D. Stanton: Looked at bus speeds by time of day. No specific routes yet. |
| 1:30:20 | T. Mason: Have you looked at number of 101 compared with 102 and 103s on Lexington? |
| 1:34:00 | E. Shannon: How have loading guidelines changed since the 1980s? Have you done a cost analysis of how much more rolling stock you need because of slow speeds? Could you prioritize Lexington Ave to get people on buses for short distances? |
| 1:36:00 | S. King-Hoge: Buses in Queens at end of the 7 Line (Flushing – Main Street) leave late because they don’t account for loading time. |
| 1:36:45 | C. Greif: I would like to add the 17.
E. Prentiss: Also the one that goes to the Bronx Zoo – the 44 – it’s a disaster. |
| 1:37:29 | E. Prentiss: Buses that do not go the length of their routes.
D. Stanton: That’s an issue for operations. |
| 1:38:08 | A.Albert: Great if transit would look at routes that have gotten a lot slower – causes of slow routes.
D. Stanton: Transit is working with DOT on this. |
| 1:38:45 | S. King-Hoge: Is it you that works with the Bus Time App?
D. Stanton: No |
| 1:40:00 | C. Greif: Brooklyn Gateway Mall is overcrowded. We need B82 SBS. |
| 1:43:07 | E. Shannon: Biggest user of buses is the student population. How do you measure that?
D. Stanton: They are issued special student MetroCards |
| 1:44:30 | E. Prentiss: There has been an increase in the number of people utilizing mobility equipment. Changing demographics, aging population and Access a Ride is bad. |
| 1:49:00 | Adjournment |
Youtube Meeting Video: Video 1 of 1
Action Items:
- Amend letter regarding Street Modernization Act 1303
- Put request in writing for D. Hall- Moore about ridership on M15
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson