Is Car Culture Creating the Next Debt Crisis?

Also: debris keeps falling from elevated tracks. [View this email in your browser]( Is Car Culture Leading Us Into the Next Debt Crisis? Plus: Debris keeps falling from elevated tracks, so the MTA says it's launching an "inspection blitz." The NYPD Commissioner says Cuomo's wrong — crime on the subway isn't going up. And a bunch of dudes in 1962 got to ride a carpeted subway car, complete with booze and pretzels. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) Anouyen Jean Celeste Meda There's a popular view among transit nerds that boils down to this: Public transit is great (egalitarian, sustainable, safe). Cars are bad (they pollute, take up too much space, kill cyclists). State Senator Jessica Ramos is probably right: Public transportation (good!) could improve if people stopped buying cars (boo!). But the "War on Car Culture" can also miss a more complicated story about who drives, why they have a car, and how they bought it. For [the latest episode]( of WNYC's podcast, The Stakes, investigative reporter Anjali Kamat dug into that deeper story. I asked her what she learned. We The Commuters: Can you start by telling us, who is Celeste Meda, and why did he want a car? Anjali Kamat: Anouyen J Celeste Meda is a 24-year-old from Burkina Faso. Three years ago, he was just starting nursing school in the Bronx, and he wanted a job with flexible hours so he could pay his bills and also keep up with school. He'd been working at a Japanese restaurant, but some of his coworkers suggested he drive for Uber, and recommended that he get his own car, since it's less expensive than leasing. WTC: How'd Celeste go about getting his car, and how common was his situation? AK: He searched online and found what looked like a good deal for a used car at a place called Auto Solution in Queens, on a busy stretch of Northern Boulevard. He found a 2015 Chrysler 200 for about $10,000, test drove it, and then made a down payment of $4,000. According to court records filed in the Bronx County Civil Court, the sales representative did not fully explain the terms of the deal, nor did they show Celeste a full copy of the contract. Celeste says he believed the car would cost him $14,000, including interest, but when his contract arrived in the mail, he realized the sales price of the car was $17,000 plus taxes, with an interest rate of 22.99 percent. He'd actually signed up to pay $32,000 for the car over the next five years. About six months later, he realized he couldn’t keep up, the car was repossessed, and the creditor sued him for the balance he owed. The NYC Department of Consumer Affairs has received over 6,500 complaints about the industry since 2015, most of them about false advertising and deceiving customers. But what’s unusual about Celeste’s story is that he found a lawyer who took on his case and challenged the lender's lawsuit. Eight months later, the lawsuit was dropped. WTC: We often talk about the ways planners and policymakers have encouraged car culture, between road design, free curbside parking, and under-investment in mass transit. What role does the auto industry play in that? AK: The longstanding policy bias towards car culture (single-use zoning and transportation spending on highways vs mass transit) has meant access to a car is essential to reach jobs in most parts of the country. Even [in New York City]( only 15 percent of jobs are accessible within an hour by transit, whereas 75 percent are within an hour’s drive. The car manufacturers want to get as many people into cars as possible, and the finance companies and car dealerships help with that. Total auto loan debt, across over a 100 million accounts, is at nearly $1.3 trillion, and has gone up by 75 percent since 2009. A record 7 million Americans are more than 3 months behind on their car loan payments. It’s also worth noting that the car dealer lobby is one of the most powerful in Congress, and even got a carve-out from the 2010 Dodd Frank Act, so it’s not regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And that leaves borrows with poor credit — so-called "subprime" borrowers — vulnerable. WTC: Between the climate crisis and cyclist/pedestrian deaths, it’s easy for New Yorkers, in particular, to hate cars. Is there something the anti-driver crowd is missing? AK: Improving safety for cyclists and pedestrians should be an important priority, as should reducing gridlock and the amount of emissions from vehicles on the street. That said, many people are driving because there’s no other way to get to work, and changing that means improving public transit options to workplaces. Also, many people are driving because that’s their job. Driving a taxi has long been seen as a path to economic stability for new immigrants in the city, and according to the TLC, more than 90 percent of drivers today are immigrants. That’s of course changing now with the value of medallions crashing, but the rise of apps like Uber and Lyft has increased the number of vehicles. What’s worth addressing is how little drivers make doing this work – a city study last year found that more than 86 percent of drivers were taking home less than $15 an hour — and how deep in debt they are, whether it's over medallions, car leases, or car loans. [LISTEN TO CELESTE'S STORY ON 'THE STAKES']( Programming Note: In the coming months, We The Commuters is doing a special reporting project on all things accessibility. And we heard from you last week about some of the issues you've seen: elevators that are too far apart, confusing routes from street level to the subway platform, Access-a-Ride wait times. What else are we missing, and what you can add? Do you or someone you know face accessibility challenges when it comes to getting around New York and New Jersey? What do you want others to know, or what do you want us to investigate? Reach out to wethecommuters@wnyc.org with as much or as little information as you feel comfortable sharing, and we'll be in touch from there. Best of the Week From Gothamist and WNYC Google Maps In three separate incidents in the last week, a piece of debris fell from elevated train tracks and hit a car below. In response, the MTA says [it's launching an "inspection blitz"]( to assess over 325,000 baskets along 60 miles of elevated tracks. The agency says it'll also speed up the installation of netting along 1.5 miles of tracks at two locations in the Bronx. The City Council on Wednesday approved a plan that would "revolutionize" our streets. 250 miles of protected bike lanes. 150 miles of dedicated bus lanes. 1 million square feet of new pedestrian space. Accessibility upgrades at hundreds of intersections. Thanks to the so-called "streets master plan" spearheaded by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, [that's all coming...by 2026](. The NYPD says an officer who punched two teenagers on a Brooklyn subway platform last weekend will remain on duty during a review into his conduct. The officer, whose name is being withheld, [has a history of alleged brutality](. Meanwhile, Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez has charged three people involved in the incident with resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration, and disorderly conduct. A trio of lawmakers have introduced legislation at the federal level that would ban "non-essential" helicopter traffic in New York City. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Nydia Velázquez, and Jerrold Nadler want to get rid of [helicopter sightseeing tours and luxury copter rides to the airport]( but would continue to allow emergency services and news organizations to fly in the city. What Else We're Reading After Gov. Cuomo claimed there's been a "dramatic increase in crime in the subway system," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said Wednesday that the governor is wrong. "This is a total mischaracterization – overall crime is down, but of course, we are always concerned about fare evasion," O'Neill said. "We get about six major crimes per day and there are six million riders per day, so that is not a system that is out of control." ([AM New York]( Could the MTA decrease fare evasion by publicly praising riders who pay? Steve Martin, a behavioral scientist who has advised transit agencies in other large cities, said it's wrong and counter-productive for the MTA to be running ad campaigns about punishments for jumping the turnstile. By making New Yorkers think fare evasion is widespread, he argues, the MTA is actually leading more people to think it's okay. ([The Wall Street Journal]( State Sen. Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn on whether new bike lanes cause gentrification: "I think that in a neighborhood where folks are being displaced, any incoming new infrastructure, whether that be a physical building or a major change in traffic like a bike lane or some or some other mechanism, [it’s] going to trigger that fear of displacement … And I think because there is a natural fear and response to things that are new in the neighborhood, that the issues become unnecessarily conflated. … There really needs to be a process by which the planning is done with the community and not at the community." ([Streetsblog]( The amount of household package deliveries in New York City more than tripled from 2009 to 2017, and these trucks are clogging our streets. To deal with the growth of Amazon and other online stores, the city has created 2,300 new loading zones in just the last year, and it's trying to have more freight come in via boat and rail. ([The New York Times]( In 1962, They Briefly Put a Bar on a Subway Car John Rooney/AP For one time only, the New York City Transit Authority invited a young men's Chamber of Commerce group to ride from Times Square to South Ferry and back...on a subway car decked out with curtains, carpeting, pretzels, and booze. This was essentially a publicity stunt to promote how clean the train was. Now, as someone who struggles with a shaky hand, I can only imagine that the train didn't stay clean for long. But the photos — [which we found a bunch of]( — make the event look cool! Weekend Service Changes: Night of November 1st – Early Morning on November 4th This is a partial list of major service disruptions scheduled for the weekend. For a complete list of the MTA's Weekender updates, [check here](. Saturday and Sunday, train service between Utica Av and New Lots Av in Brooklyn will be replaced by free shuttle buses. Friday night through Sunday morning, downtown trains will run express from 125 St to Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan. From Sunday morning through Monday morning, downtown trains will run express from Grand Central-42 St to Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan. train service between 111 St and Main St in Queens will be replaced by free shuttle buses. train service between Church Av and Stillwell Av in Brooklyn will be replaced by free shuttle buses. Saturday and Sunday, Bay Ridge-bound trains will run express from 71 Av to Queens Plaza in Queens. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. Upcoming Meetings and Events Thursday, November 7th Riders Alliance Membership Meeting — 6:30 p.m. NY State Nurses Association [More info/RSVP]( Tuesday, November 12th Joint Metro-North & LIRR Committee Meeting — 8:30 a.m. NYC Transit / MTA Bus Committee Meeting — 10:00 a.m. Thursday, November 14th MTA Board Meeting — 10:00 a.m. Registration for two-minute public speaking slots opens 15 minutes before the start time for official MTA committee meetings. To speak before an MTA board meeting, you must register 30 minutes early. All meetings are held in the MTA's Board Room at 2 Broadway, on the 20th Floor. James Ramsay agrees: [We should ban cars on Halloween](. (Photo by Amy Pearl) Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential transportation coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2019 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. 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