What To Know About The City's 8 P.M. Curfew

Plus: expect car traffic to boom when NYC hits phase 1 of reopening [View this email in your browser]( New York City Reopens On Monday. Expect A Boom In Traffic. Plus: Citi Bikes are being closed off at 6 p.m. while the city's curfew is in effect. A troubled subway car model has been recalled after one train split in two. And the OMNY tap payment system — which is apparently no "safer" than swiping a MetroCard — won't be installed across the system until late December. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) [traffic coming over the Williamsburg Bridge] Gothamist The MTA says "normal" subway service will resume on Monday, when phase 1 of New York City's reopening begins. (Overnight shutdowns will remain in effect.) But Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly acknowledged that car travel may rise to above pre-pandemic levels, even as millions of New Yorkers remain at home. "You may see people use their cars more in the short term if they have a car, or use for-hire vehicles," he said. "But that's a short-term reality." A longer-term reality: New Yorkers have recently been buying cars that won't disappear when the pandemic subsides. "As rapidly as the regular market at large is recovering, it's recovering quicker or there’s more buying activity going on in New York City," said Karl Brauer, the executive publisher at Kelly Blue Book and Autotrader. Not only have New Yorkers been purchasing more cars ahead of phase 1 — they've already been driving more. According to the Department of Transportation, crossings at the four East River Bridges at the end of March were down 42 percent compared to the previous year at the same time. By late May, they were just 11 percent below the previous year's numbers. Traffic planner Sam Schwartz says that if driving increases at this rate, New York City won't be able to function. "Just try to imagine filling every inch of the Long Island Expressway to Montauk and that’s what we’d be inviting, that many people in," Schwartz said. "We don’t have the room in Manhattan." As of Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio and the MTA were still at odds over how public transit would be able to accommodate reopening. The mayor suggested that subways and buses should close off every other seat in order to keep riders safely spaced. [The MTA ridiculed the idea]( saying that would force the agency to serve only 8 percent of its normal ridership. For its part, the MTA's reopening "plan" appears to consist largely of [having an outside consulting firm study how other cities' transit systems are reopening](. Paris, for example, is [installing 400 miles of temporary bike lanes](. (New York, by contrast, has installed [nine miles]( of new bike lanes.) A report from the consulting firm WSP is expected to come in at the end of June. At the moment, as protests against police brutality and systemic racism continue to fill city streets each night, the mayor has imposed an 8 p.m. curfew, [prompting Uber and Lyft to cease operating between 8 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.]( Essential workers are still permitted to travel after the curfew, though medical workers say they've been [brutally attacked by police while commuting at night](. (Read more on the rules of the curfew — the city's first since 1943 — [here]( Aside from the idea of blocking off half the subway seats, [Mayor de Blasio has not otherwise outlined a vision]( for how he’d like people to commute as the city reopens. "For the next few months, people are going to make their own choices," he said. "Some people are going to be comfortable with mass transit, some are not. We just have to be honest and real about that." — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( After Two A Train Cars Suddenly Separated In A Station, The MTA Is Recalling All 318 Of This Subway Car Model [an R179 A train riding along the tracks uneventfully. This week, one of these trains split in two.] MTATrain/WikiCommons Around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, an A train pulling into the Chambers Street station suddenly split in two after an "undesired uncoupling" occurred between two cars. In response, the MTA said it's recalling all 318 R179 subway cars from its fleet. This is the same model of train car, made by the Canadian company Bombarier, that had reports back in December and January of faulty doors that would open while the train was moving. "This marks the latest unacceptable issue with one of Bombardier’s R179 cars," said NYC Transit's acting president, Sarah Feinberg. "Customer and employee safety is New York City Transit’s North Star. We will not compromise one inch on safety. We will not return the fleet to service without certainty and validation that all cars are fit for passenger service – period." Feinberg said that additional spare cars would be deployed, and she expects "minimal impacts" to service. Hupaul Camacho, a 26-year-old UPS worker who was on the train and [photographed the uncoupling]( told [THE CITY]( "I was lucky to be on the front part of the train that was partially in the station. There were other people stuck in the back of the train." The MTA said there were no injuries, and 10 passengers were safely evacuated. — [Reporting by Sophia Chang]( These Were Just Set Up In At Least Four Subway Stations [a hand sanitizer dispenser in a subway station] NYC Transit The MTA said on Monday that it had installed [foot-powered hand sanitizer dispensers]( in at least four subway stations as part of a pilot program for combating the spread of COVID-19. The [New York Post]( found that when a user pressed down, some of the devices weren't dispensing any hand sanitizer. It's also clear that the devices aren't usable for people with certain mobility impairments. The MTA said these dispensers were one of several products it would be testing out before phase 1 of the city's reopening, and this week would be used to address any functionality issues. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has discouraged people from taking public transit — something the MTA has pushed back on. Here's What Else Is Happening Citi Bike is being shut down from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., and the mayor and NYPD won't explain why. Officials gave no substantive explanation for why the bike share program — which essential workers have relied on to get around the city safely — is being closed so early. Despite some insinuations, no evidence has been provided to suggest that the bikes were being used by individuals who'd looted a store during the protests. "PD expressed some security concerns about the way the bikes were being used, and we’re committed to giving them the tools they need to keep people safe in what’s obviously a really tricky time," a mayoral spokesperson said. ([Streetsblog]( The MTA is asking New York City for 3,000 volunteers to hand out masks and hand sanitizer when phase 1 of reopening begins next week. Transit leaders said in a letter to the mayor that they want volunteers to hand out masks while MTA employees are busy operating the system itself. They also asked the city to contribute 1 million masks, and to put more NYPD officers in the subways "to ensure the safety and security of the system." A City Hall spokesperson said the mayor is reviewing the requests. ([New York Post]( The installation of the OMNY payment system in every subway station has been pushed back. The contactless fare payment system was supposed to be in every station by October. After installation work was put on hold, the MTA is now projecting that every station will have OMNY by the end of December. It's currently available in about half of the city's 472 stations. Al Puetre, who's in charge of the project, said Thursday that while OMNY payments may provide psychological ease for people worried about contracting the coronavirus, it's not any safer than using a MetroCard. ([The Wall Street Journal]( Metro-North conductors are urging the railroad to resume a full schedule to prevent overcrowding on the trains. The union for conductors and engineers says crowding is already a problem in the Bronx, where passengers have to cram into the front two train cars to get off on shorter platforms. A Metro-North spokesperson responded that the railroad will add more trains when appropriate, and that the union should "continue to focus on safety issues and not the overtime pay their employees won’t be receiving unless we run full service." ([Rockland/Westchester Journal News]( NJ Transit is getting $7 million from the federal government to buy electric buses. The Department of Transportation grant is enough to purchase eight battery-electric buses that will run along the No. 25 line, which cuts through Newark and Irvington. NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett said the ultimate goal is to have a zero-emissions bus fleet. ([New Jersey Business]( [an illustration of Mozart in a subway conductor's car] This week's Classical Commute playlist features "Bethena: A Concert Waltz," the first piece written by composer Scott Joplin after the death of his wife, just [weeks after their wedding](. It's a melancholy yet wistful tune that feels right today, and always. Give it a listen — [the playlist is streaming for free on Spotify](. Weekend Service Changes: Night of June 5th – Early Morning on June 8th 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, Hudson Yards-bound will trains skip 111 St, 103 St, 90 St and 82 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. World Trade Center-bound trains will skip Briarwood and 75 Av. trains will not run between Church Av and Coney Island-Stillwell Av, and Brooklyn-bound trains will skip Sutphin Blvd, Briarwood and 75 Av. On Saturday, Coney Island-bound trains will skip 30 Av, Broadway, 36 Av and 39 Av. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. [a close-up of James Ramsay sitting on a vespa] James Ramsay is reading [Gothamist]( for the latest updates on protests around the city. (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](