Will Subway Station Booths Ever Accept Cash Again?

the payment system remains in limbo [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] The Future For Cash Transactions At Subway Booths Remains In Limbo Plus: Some unfortunate tension over how to carry out the Gateway Project. A plan to (eventually) create a connected bike path around the island of Manhattan. And the case for more affordable housing along the LIRR's routes. By James Ramsay --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [the toll booth at the 18th Street subway stop] Trish Mayo In March of 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, the MTA temporarily stopped accepting cash for MetroCards at station toll booths out of concern for workers' safety. When asked about resuming cash payments during last week's MTA board meeting, Chief Safety Officer Pat Warren said the agency "currently does not plan to resume cash payments in the booth." The Daily News headline: "[MTA Permanently Ends Cash Transactions at Subway Booths]( The immediate backlash: "This is unacceptable and will contribute to the criminalization of our most vulnerable neighbors," said Tiffany Cabán, the leading Democratic primary candidate for the 22nd City Council district. "Many low-income and poor New Yorkers don’t have bank accounts or access to electronic forms of payment." Shortly afterwards, the MTA clarified with Gothamist that while the agency doesn't plan to imminently bring back cash payments at booths (though they've resumed at Long Island Rail Road stations), Warren's comment had been mischaracterized. There's not technically a plan to permanently end cash transactions. "What Pat Warren said is that there is currently no plan for a change, which is true," said MTA spokesperson Tim Minton. "But there are thousands of ways customers can use cash to purchase MetroCards, including every single subway station where machines accept cash." (Except, of course, at stations where the machines are broken — in which case, [remember to ask for a courtesy pass!]( Minton also noted that there are MetroCard Mobile Vans that travel around the city accepting cash, and there are various merchants and convenience stores in all five boroughs where MetroCards can be purchased with no fee. In addition to transit advocates, who fear that limiting cash payment options disproportionately hurts low-income New Yorkers, TWU Local 100, the transit workers' union, also wants cash payments to return, noting that toll booths at Long Island Rail Road stations have resumed taking cash. The union's concern is that by suspending or permanently ending hand-to-hand cash payments, the MTA is chipping away at toll booth workers' responsibilities. Meanwhile, the phased rollout of the contactless OMNY fare payment system is set to be completed by 2023. The transit agency says that vending machines for OMNY tap cards will accept cash. — [Reporting by Ben Yakas]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- City Aims To Complete Greenway Around Manhattan By 2029 NYC Economic Development Corporation The goal of the Manhattan Greenway project, which dates back to the mid-1990s, is to build a continuous bike path around the borough's 32-mile perimeter. Pieces of this already exist, including the 9.4-mile East River Esplanade and an 11-mile stretch along the West Side. But certain necessary projects, including a causeway abutting the United Nations (pictured above) and a bridge over the East River "pinch point" between 13th and 15th Streets, will be expensive and time consuming, which is why the city is budgeting $776 million and hoping to have construction finished by 2029. (Work on the final Greenway projects is set to begin in 2023.) Even then, cycling advocates are skeptical about the city's timeline. "The big gap by the UN on the East Side involves pretty major construction over water, which will be subject to rigorous state environmental review," said John Orcutt of Bike New York. "The city also doesn't build anything very quickly, so this timeframe may be ambitious." — [Reporting by David Cruz]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Here's What Else Is Happening Sen. Chuck Schumer promised this week that the badly needed repairs and expansion of the Amtrak tunnel under the Hudson will finally happen, even as Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened to yank funding. Schumer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday showed up at Moynihan Train Hall to trumpet the Biden administration's go-ahead for the nearly $12 billion Gateway Project. Cuomo, meanwhile, has said that if the project isn't done in the alternative fashion that he wants — a method similar to how the L train tunnel was repaired without completely suspending train service — he'll withdraw New York's portion of the funding. ( [Gothamist]( Should New York be expanding LIRR access without also building more affordable housing along the train lines? The New York Times editorial board argues that improving LIRR commutes by allowing trains to go to Grand Central is good, but if Nassau County remains an area full of expensive, single-family homes, the MTA is only making life more convenient for the wealthy. The board's position: Remove the strict limits on building multi-unit housing in Nassau's segregated, low-density, high-income neighborhoods. ([The New York Times]( The MTA's inspector general is urging the transit system's police department to be more transparent about officer misconduct. In a report issued yesterday, Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny said that between July of 2017 and July of 2020, there were about four complaints each month regarding officer misconduct, but there wasn't enough information about how those complaints were handled. In response, the MTA PD said it would comply with 14 of the I.G.'s 15 recommendations regarding transparency and accountability, and only said no to publishing a disciplinary matrix, which it said went against a union agreement. ( [AM New York]( A 71-year-old cyclist was fatally hit by a USPS truck driver off Central Park West on Tuesday evening. Jeffrey Williamson, an Upper West Side resident, was heading north in the bike lane on Central Park West at 86th Street when a mail truck driver turned onto the transverse and hit him. The driver appeared to wait at the scene, though police did not say if any arrests were made. This marked the city's seventh cyclist fatality this year. ([Streetsblog]( Some Manhattan residents are eager to get congestion pricing in place because traffic in the city is out of control. CBS spoke to people who reported seeing cars pop onto sidewalks, fire trucks go the wrong way down certain roads to get around traffic jams, and ambulances with their sirens on be forced to sit still. Both Manhattan and New Jersey residents said they support congestion pricing if it eases the traffic nightmare, though the MTA recently said that because of the influx of stimulus from the feds, the agency doesn't currently "need" the extra revenue from tolling drivers. ([CBS2]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [the graphic for the Classical Commute playlist, featuring Beethoven in a subway conductor car] This week's Classical Commute playlist is tailor-made for your July 4th road trip (or train, bus, boat, or bike trip), complete with "Fanfare for the Common Man," "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman," "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess, and more. [Stream it for free on Spotify](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. 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