Good morning, I’m Lisa Daglian, Executive Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, PCAC.
Another month, another major storm – maybe you should hold these meetings during the summer? But seriously…we come not to throw snowballs, Janno, but to praise the amazing dedication and hard work of the entire team – work force, leadership, comms team, and everyone in between – for getting millions of riders where they needed to go through two significant snow events in two months. Kudos! And while not perfect, we’re glad that DOT and Sanitation focused more on bus stops this time around.
Transit and DOT are already proving the power of their partnership under Mayor Mamdani with the revived Fordham Road bus lanes. We’re also hopeful that riders who depend on Fair Fares will get a fair shake in the city budget. We share your disappointment that an increase wasn’t included in the Exec, but we know it’s just the start of the conversation. Increasing eligibility to 300% FPL, making fares free to New Yorkers at 150% FPL, automatic enrollment and bringing Fair Fares to the railroads within the city are within the city’s fiscal grasp, and we will continue to strongly advocate with you – along with CSS, Riders Alliance, and others – to make this a reality. At the state level, we’d like to see an accommodation reached on the insurance proposal so the MTA doesn’t pay the lion’s share following accidents it didn’t cause.
It’s almost too much to ask for the feds to play nicely, but it’s past time to release the Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 funds. While fiscal support is available from other channels, it’s unjust and likely illegal for the feds to withhold these critical transit funds. Riders are counting on the leaders at all levels of government to invest in the MTA. Congestion pricing is working, as evidenced by the new elevators and fare gates that are being installed.
Riders are still adapting to the new fare arrays, to some of the new fare policies on the railroads, and to Universal Train Spotting on Metro-North. We look forward to continuing to discuss ways to improve these with you. Thank you.