When The City Reopens, Will The Subway Be Ready?

NYC could reopen in the next two weeks [View this email in your browser]( New York City Could Reopen As Early As Next Week. Does The MTA Have A Plan? Plus: Megabus is coming back. Flights are cheap. And you, too, can bike all the way to the beach. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) [Interim NYC Transit chief Sarah Feinberg stands at a podium addressing the media] Frank Franklin II/AP Mayor Bill de Blasio [said]( he expects New York City to reopen sometime in the first two weeks of June, meaning 400,000 people could be going back to work. How they get there, however, remains unclear. "For the next few months, people are going to make their own choice," Mayor de Blasio — who does not control the subways — said Thursday morning. "Some are going to come on mass transit, and some are not." Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Interim NYC Transit Chief Sarah Feinberg, who do control the subways and buses, have been "strategizing about [the reopening] and planning for it for many weeks and really months," Feinberg said this week. She did not offer more specifics about what the plan would be. "Look, in any transit system in the country, not just New York but anywhere, once riders start to come back, it's going to be really almost impossible to get that six feet of social distance," Feinberg told CNBC on Tuesday. "So mask usage is gonna be incredibly important, and then just being strategic about putting as much space between you and the next person as possible." Even in the last two months, with ridership down more than 90 percent, essential workers who've been riding the subways and buses [have noted]( that staying six feet apart often hasn't been possible, largely because of decreased service. At the peak of the pandemic, the MTA didn’t have enough workers available to keep trains and buses running on a regular schedule. And when the governor announced that the subway would stop running overnight so that trains could be cleaned (and homeless people could be removed from the system), he framed it as a change that would last for [the duration of the pandemic](. Though 8,700 MTA workers came out of quarantine last week, the agency hasn't said when it plans to go back to its normal schedule, or resume overnight service. But transit advocates insist that reopening can't really happen without it. "Essential workers who rely on transit often commute outside the rush hour, so frequent service starting early and ending late is key to running a safe system," said Danny Pearlstein from Riders Alliance. The one thing the MTA has said about its plan for reopening is that it's [waiting for a report]( from the consulting firm WSP about international best practices for transit operations during a pandemic. The agency expects that report to be delivered by the end of June. — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen and Christopher Robbins]( Uber And Lyft Drivers Who Haven't Received Traditional Unemployment Benefits Are Suing New York [a close-up of black car with an Uber logo in its windshield] Justin Lane/Shutterstock On April 1st, Doh Ouattara, a father of three who drives for Uber and Lyft, applied for New York's unemployment benefits. But because he's not technically an employee of either ride-hailing company, the state told him he didn't qualify, and would need to seek the federally-funded (and far less substantial) Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. So, Ouattara applied for PUA — but he and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance also sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Department of Labor. The lawsuit points to a 2018 ruling that determined that Uber drivers and others "similarly employed" as a driver should be classified as employees, so they can qualify for traditional unemployment insurance. Lawyers for the drivers say the state is allowing the app companies to "cheat the system" by not calling them employees. A spokesperson for the governor said it's not a settled matter whether Uber drivers should count as Uber employees, but he stressed that the state has been "moving heaven and earth" to get PUA money to the workers who need it. Indeed, a day after the lawsuit was filed, Ouattara received an email from the labor department saying his application for PUA was approved. He'll be receiving $182 a week. — [Reporting by Sydney Pereira and Emily Lang]( A Beginner's Guide To Biking To The Beach [a lone cyclist bikes near Fort Tilden beach] Gothamist Mass transit is reserved for essential workers. Parking lot capacities have been slashed to limit crowds. And NYC Ferry hasn't yet launched its "summer service" to the Rockaways. That still doesn't mean you can't go the 16 miles from lower Manhattan to Fort Tilden. It just means now might be the time you try it on a bike. Some tips from Gothamist's Christopher Robbins: - Ride with a buddy. - Only pack the essentials. - Take the Bedford Avenue route all the way to Sheepshead Bay. - Get a sandwich on the way. - Get another sandwich on the way back! [For more details, read the complete guide](. Here's What Else Is Happening NYC Transit's interim president, Sarah Feinberg, said that overnight subway closures are partly about the optics. "People need to know that we’re cleaning, but they need to see that we’re cleaning," Feinberg told NYMag. In a wide-ranging interview, she also said she was "personally, deeply offended" by a letter from transportation advocates calling for the MTA to fix overcrowding on buses and subways in predominantly black and brown neighborhoods, where more essential workers live. "I hope in time you will know me well enough to know that any form of discrimination is anathema to who I am and everything about me," she said. ([NYMag]( During overnight cleanings, the MTA is using an anti-microbial spray it says has "yet to be validated for its effectiveness." The product, Goldshield, isn't on the EPA’s list of vetted and approved antimicrobial disinfectants for protecting against the coronavirus. And four years ago, Goldshield's parent company settled a lawsuit brought by the EPA alleging that the company made false statements about the product. But the MTA still contends that Goldshield's claim — that the spray creates a shield that can "eradicate" the virus for up to 90 days — is "promising." ([THE CITY]( Several New York City borough presidents are demanding the swift installation of 40 new miles of bus lanes. All borough presidents except Sharon Lee of Queens, who's an interim BP, signed a letter to the mayor requesting the new lanes. Their fear is that as the city reopens and people are afraid to ride the subway, they'll turn to private vehicles and start clogging the streets. Added bus lanes would help ensure that buses carrying essential workers don't get held up in traffic. ([New York Daily News]( New Yorkers are still riding bikes, but the city likely won't meet its goal of building 30 miles of new protected bike lanes this year. While some East River bridges have seen weekday bike ridership drops of up to 28 percent compared to May of 2019, weekend bike counts at many bridges are actually higher than they were in May of last year. Citi Bike said "joy rides" — meaning, rides that start and end at the same dock — have tripled since the pandemic began. And yet, the city said it probably won't be able to hire enough workers to install the amount of bike lanes that had been promised. ([The Wall Street Journal]( The Long Island Rail Road has 120 train cars on standby in case ridership spikes with the reopening of Long Island. Train trips in and out of the city are still meant only for workers whose industries have been cleared to resume, and passengers are still required to wear masks. The extra available train cars are meant to enable the LIRR to keep riders safely separated. ([News 12 Long Island]( Megabus is coming back. The company will resume bus service in and out of New York City starting June 1st, with a limited number of trips available between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. All Megabus service in New York had been canceled in mid-March. Greyhound buses never stopped running. ([New York Post]( Meanwhile, People Are Flying. And Flights Are Cheap. [a flight attendant in a mask walks down the aisle of a near-empty plane] Charlie Riedel/AP Right now, if you're interested in throwing on a mask (they're "required") and wading through a less-than-crowded airport, you can get on a cheap flight. But if airlines see their usual summer travel bookings plummet, those deals — and perhaps some airlines themselves — could disappear. "The extra cleaning of the plane — the money is going to have to come from somewhere," travel blogger and aviation journalist Benét J. Wilson told The Takeaway. "Nine times out of ten, that comes with airfare. So I would not be surprised if after the summer, once things have calmed down, that we start seeing airfares rise." Wilson spoke with guest host Shumita Basu — who is [leaving WNYC]( 😭! — about what air travel will be like in the months to come. [Hear their full conversation](. Weekend Service Changes: Night of May 29th – Early Morning on June 1st 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](. Note: The entire subway system is closed each night from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. until further notice. train service between 96 St and 148 St will be replaced by trains, M7 and M102 buses. Saturday and Sunday, Pelham Bay Park-bound trains will skip Castle Hill Av, Zerega Av, Westchester Sq, Middletown Rd and Buhre Av. Saturday and Sunday, Flushing-bound trains will skip 69 St, 52 St, 46 St, 40 St and 33 St. train service between 168 St and 207 St will be replaced by free shuttle buses and nearby trains. Saturday and Sunday, uptown trains will skip 50 St, 23 St and Spring St. trains will not run between Church Av and Coney Island-Stillwell Av. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. [Reporter Shumita Basu interviewing a PATH passenger] James Ramsay is really going to miss working with the great Shumita Basu, who will remain his friend — and neighbor. (Photo by James Ramsay) 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 © 2020 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](