Only 30 Minutes A Month To Speak To The MTA

behind the push to bring back... committee meetings [View this email in your browser]( A Year Into The Pandemic, The MTA Still Isn't Holding Public Committee Meetings Plus: Penn Station could get some natural light. The FAA all but approved the LaGuardia AirTrain. And a study has proven that walking on a busy sidewalk while staring at your phone is bad. By James Ramsay [a subway screen telling riders to wear a mask] Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock In the Before Times, the MTA used to hold individual public committee meetings for the subways, buses, Metro-North, and the Long Island Rail Road, in addition to its general board meeting. And if they weren't the most riveting or well-attended events, they were still important. (We The commuters used to list their dates and times in this newsletter.) Once a month, members of the riding public — or those who couldn't rely on mass transit because of accessibility shortcomings — were able to hear from, and speak directly to, the people who controlled these agencies. When the pandemic hit, the MTA decided to condense all of those separate committee meetings into one epic, hours-long Zoom board meeting. At the time, it seemed like the safe and manageable thing to do. Now, a variety of people want those committee meetings to resume in some form. "Just the loss of the public speaking period alone means board members don't hear as much from the public, are less informed, and more prone to listening only to MTA staff, which is already a problem," said Joseph Rappaport, an accessibility advocate and frequent commentator at MTA board meetings. Activists aren't the only ones asking for the return of committee meetings — MTA board members have been requesting it for several months. "Issues can be much more thoroughly discussed at separate committee meetings," said board member Andrew Albert. "The operating agencies have their staff present to answer any and all questions at committee meetings." Lisa Daglian, a board member who represents riders as the executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, suggested that the MTA would be doing itself a favor by bringing the meetings back. "Now is the time the public needs to be assured that transit is safe," she said. "The MTA is doing some excellent work introducing technological innovations to respond to the health risks borne by COVID-19 and other airborne diseases, but without committee meetings and with stunted board meetings, they don't have the ability to tell the full story." But the MTA, which isn't [known for its transparency]( said it doesn't have imminent plans to bring the meetings back. "The COVID-19 pandemic forced us for safety reasons to hold our monthly board meetings online, which has included 30 minutes of public comment as required by law,” said a spokesperson. — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( The MTA Is Refusing To Disclose The Legal Costs Of Fighting Accessibility Lawsuits [a wheelchair user gets onto a subway car] Amy Pearl/Gothamist To fight several lawsuits claiming that the MTA discriminates against its disabled customers, the transit agency hired an outside law firm — and has refused to tell either the plaintiffs or reporters how much taxpayer money has gone to those lawyers. The parties suing, who claim that the MTA violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by renovating stations without adding elevators, said that all they're after is a written commitment from the MTA that it will make subways accessible on a specific timeline. At the MTA’s monthly board meeting yesterday, [Gothamist asked MTA chair Pat Foye]( if he would release the dollar figure for how much the agency has spent on lawyers fighting the six accessibility lawsuits. Foye said he would check with the Freedom of Information Law office about getting the numbers, but he wouldn’t commit to releasing them. Meanwhile, advocates for riders with disabilities are also raising alarms over the MTA's interest in having [real estate developers]( — rather than the transit agency itself — build and maintain subway station elevators. They say that existing elevators that are technically under the control of third parties have a horrible record of actually being in working order. Here's What Else Is Happening Despite a drop in major felonies in the subway system, transit officials still want extra cops on the trains. NYPD data released yesterday showed that major felonies in the transit system had dropped for the second straight month, and felonies overall were down 62.5% year-over-year. Still, transit leaders are sticking by their decision to deploy more police on trains and buses, suggesting that crime is down because of the added police presence. ([New York Post]( The FAA has all but given a green light to the LaGuardia AirTrain project. The glowing Environment Impact Statement released by the FAA said that, among other things, the project will create 3,000 construction jobs and $500 million in contracting opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses. Construction can actually begin later this spring after the FAA formally presents its Record of Decision. ([QNS]( The MTA is pitching two different plans for bringing natural light into Penn Station. One solution is to put a skylight in the old taxiway between Madison Square Garden and 2 Penn Plaza. The other idea is to put an atrium in the space that used to be the Amtrak waiting area. MTA officials said that construction shouldn't be as disruptive for commuters now that Moynihan Train Hall is open. ([The Wall Street Journal]( New research shows that looking at your phone while walking in a crowd f**ks everything up for the crowd. A study conducted at a Japanese university found that when people moving in opposite directions on a sidewalk keep their heads up, they naturally form lanes, allowing everyone to move quickly and safely. When someone directs their attention down at their smartphone, chaos ensues. Is there a way urban planners might use this information to redesign sidewalks? ([The New York Times]( Subway speed limits went up at 64 different spots last year. The speed increases — which include a now-45 mph stretch on the A/C line between Brooklyn and Manhattan — are part of the continued work of Andy Byford's "Save Safe Seconds" initiative, which involves fixing faulty timer signals. In all, the MTA has identified 663 places where the speed limit could potentially be raised. ([THE CITY]( Pedestrian and cyclist lives could be saved if carmakers agreed to install automatic speed limiting technology. While over 42,000 Americans died from car crashes last year, fatalities for people inside cars have gone down. To combat the rising number of pedestrians being killed, advocates are calling for onboard "speed governors," breath tests, emergency braking technology, and other features that carmakers are reluctant to put in their vehicles. ([Bloomberg]( Seen At Fulton St: [Adrian Wilson]( Weekend Service Changes: Night of March 19th – Early Morning on March 22nd Note: The entire subway system is still closed each night this weekend from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. The MTA has not yet posted service updates for the weekend. [Check here]( for when they do go live. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. James Ramsay does not recommend staring at your phone while you walk, but if you want to make things interesting, try making direct eye contact with strangers! (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 © 2021 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. 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