NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RIDERS COUNCIL
MINUTES OF Thursday, January 25, 2018
A meeting of the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) was convened at 12:00 noon on January 25, 2018 in the 20th Floor Board Room at 2 Broadway, New York.
The following members were present:
Andrew Albert Sharon King Hoge
Stuart Goldstein Trudy Mason
Christopher Greif Marisol Halpern
Scott Nicholls Burton M. Strauss, Jr.
Edith Prentiss
The following members were absent:
William K. Guild
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
Shaun Wong PCAC Intern
Jim Sears NYCT
James Ruben NYCT
Deborah Hall-Moore NYCT
Caroline Todd Concerned citizen
William Stanford, Jr. Concerned citizen
Yvonne Morrow Concerned citizen
Michael Howard Concerned citizen
Riccardo Cerutti Concerned citizen
Alan Flacks Concerned citizen
Ken Stewart Concerned citizen
Omar Vera Concerned citizen
| Time Point | |
| Video Part 1 | |
| 00:27 | Approval of Agenda
The agenda for the January 25, 2018 meeting was approved. |
| 00:36 | Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the December 21, 2017 meeting were approved as amended. |
| 00:40 | Chair’s Report (The Chair’s Report is attached to minutes.) |
| 10:27 | C. Greif: Discussion of L train open house. |
| 29:10 | Board Report |
| 29:25 | Subway Action Plan is moving forward, with serious reductions in major incidents. City has not confirmed if they will pay for the action plan. |
| 29:52 | Congestion pricing discussion – Mayor has relaxed his opposition to congestion pricing. |
| 31:28 | New Access-A-Ride Dashboard discussion. |
| 31:58 | New R179 equipment running on the J line.
R211 contract was approved, 535 cars, will replace R46s and R44s, 20 open gangway cars. |
| 34:05 | Enhanced Station Initiative (ESI) – City MTA board members express concern that the over $200 million is not the best use of resources, how were the stations selected, what criteria?$2.5 billion for station rehab is separate from the ESI.
There were many calls for accessibility – Westchester Square will be getting elevators. |
| 35:50 | T. Mason: 15 Broad Street – private money being given to add an elevator to make station accessible and there is so much NIMBY going on at the same time. It’s disgraceful. |
| 42:33 | A. Albert: Two board members are high on platform doors. While the L train shutdown underway the 3rd Avenue station will be fitted with platform doors. |
| 45:15 | E. Prentiss: Trains are not lining up to the humps on the platforms for wheelchair users and I am concerned that the platform doors will make this issue worse.
A. Albert: Discussion about old car equipment not lining up to the humps. |
| 48:11 | A. Albert: We have a new Transit police chief – Edward Delatorre from Staten Island.
Possible initiative with the homeless population to provide information on shelter alternatives. |
| 49:48 | T. Mason: We should draft a resolution supporting congestion pricing. It’s important to include that people entering the congestion zone not be charged both a toll and a congestion fee.
Action Item: Congestion pricing support resolution |
| 54:13 | W. Henderson: Proposes the Council reiterates previous support for congestion pricing as long as it is equitably implemented taking into consideration other tolls that are paid.
M. Halpern: Have to be clear which plan we are supporting, MoveNY or FixNYC. Can’t be a blanket statement. |
| 57:46 | E. Shannon: Critical piece to congestion pricing is being able to get buses moving by reducing traffic. This might be an important element to include.
A. Albert: Adds that it is a needed revenue source. |
| 1:01:12 | Introduction of Presenters: Jim Sears, NYCT Senior Director for Market Research, and James Ruben, Principal Transportation Planner for Market Research, to discuss NYC Transit’s Market Research activities. |
| 1:12:27 | A. Albert: Real-time On-the-Go kiosk would be helpful. Many customers are not aware the kiosks are not real-time information. |
| 1:13:01 | T. Mason: Do you gather unsolicited information? People giving you information that you may not have thought of.
J. Sears: The feedback goes to the responsible entities. T. Mason: Recommends this information would be useful for you to have to better address rider complaints. |
| 1:16:37 | E. Prentiss: On-the-Gos kiosks do not include any closed-circuit video, provisions for people with disabilities, or any accessible features. And we were promised this would be rectified. |
| 1:17:30 | K. Cafiero: Have you done any of the research that has gone into the development of the new website?
J. Sears: Our group is not involved with that. It is an MTA project. |
| 1:17:58 | S. Goldstein: Your unit is housed under what department within the MTA?
J. Sears: Marking and Service Information Unit of NYCT. S. Goldstein: Who do you report your findings to? J. Sears: To our clients within NYC Transit. |
| 1:19:43 | S. Goldstein: There is a piece missing – ensuring you have random samples and sample sizes that are valid is important.
J. Sears: They are using random samples and evaluating by standard statistical techniques. |
| 1:22:44 | E. Shannon: We are hoping for a cleaner website. There are beta-test and it would be helpful if you were included in that beta.
J. Sears: They are open to beta-testing and have done it recently. |
| 1:28:49 | A. Albert: You report on announcement perceptions. Do you ever go out after you get criticism or praise on announcements to listen?
J. Sears: We do not. A. Albert: I often send emails to NYC Transit about wrong announcements. |
| 1:31:18 | M. Halpern: If I wanted to participate in your survey, how could I do that if I were not part of the random sample?
J. Ruben: It is a random sample but we would not reject anyone who wanted to participate. |
| 1:34:45 | E. Shannon: We as the Rider’s Council would be another input of information that would be useful to you and the Council. |
| 1:41:12 | T. Mason: When you are setting up your surveys or focus groups can we participate in some way to share our information?
J. Sears: We often refer to this group. E. Shannon: We have viewed focus groups for the commuter railroads and have provided information/questions for Customer Satisfaction Surveys. This works well for us and could be helpful to you. |
| 1:51:04 | C. Greif: We should do a follow-up to the hump/gap survey.
W. Henderson: We can ask where they have fixed the vertical platform gaps. Action Item: Follow-up on Bridging The Gap Report |
| 1:54:34 | T. Mason: Requesting meeting with Department of Buses.
A. Albert: Yes, we can set up a meeting. |
| 1:55:40 | S. Goldstein: Last meeting ended abruptly and we should reconnect with the presenters to follow-up on our unanswered questions.
A. Albert: We can draft a follow-up letter Action Item: Follow-up letter to Cordell Rogers, Deputy General Manager, NYC Transit Department of Buses regarding last month’s meeting. |
| 1:59:05 | T. Mason: We need to send a follow-up letter to today’s presenters incorporating Ellyn’s request that we be included by providing input into their market research studies.
Action Item: Follow-up letter to today’s presenters, Jim Sears, NYCT Senior Director for Market Research, and James Ruben, Principal Transportation Planner for Market Research. |
| 2:01:35 | K. Cafiero: They have a list of past surveys and we can find out from the client what the results were and we could then give input. |
| 2:06:32 | Adjourned |
Youtube Meeting Video: Video 1
Action Items:
- Congestion pricing support resolution
- Follow-up on Bridging The Gap Report
- Follow-up letter to Cordell Rogers, Deputy General Manager, NYC Transit Department of Buses regarding last month’s meeting.
- Follow-up letter to today’s presenters, Jim Sears, NYCT Senior Director for Market Research, and James Ruben, Principal Transportation Planner for Market Research.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
Executive Director