Should open strollers be allowed on buses?

MTA to consider the change, pitting parents against wheelchair users [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] MTA considers allowing open strollers on buses, pitting parents against riders with disabilities Plus: Uber and Lyft drivers want help dealing with gas price hikes. Metro-North boosted weekday service to woo back suburban commuters. And OMNY "unlimited" riders had a good month. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [a near-empty bus] Roey Ahram/Flickr Strollers: You're one step closer to being allowed to stay open on buses. The MTA announced this week that it has created an advisory panel to look into the possibility of allowing open strollers in the accessible seating section on city buses. Currently, bus riders are required to close up their strollers once they board, but a vocal group of parents is calling on the transit agency to change its policy. The issue has pitted people with disabilities, who rely on buses due to the lack of accessibility on the subways, against parents, who said they feel excluded from the bus network. The contention spilled into the public comment session of Wednesday’s MTA board meeting. "We’re the ones waiting in the hot, the cold, the rain, because it’s too crowded," wheelchair user Jessica De La Rosa said. "I’d love to see any of you try to park a wheelchair with strollers, shopping carts, bags in the way. And don’t even think about stubbing a toe." Danielle Avissar, a parent who [brought up the issue to the MTA last month]( said she wants stroller access on buses, but not at the expense of other users. "Strollers should remain open if there are no wheelchair or elderly passengers needing the area," she said. "It’s very simple, and I think the rules need to be established because we’re all getting humiliated by bus drivers." Jessica Murray, chair of the MTA’s Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility, said she first heard the MTA was considering changing its policy to allow strollers in the accessible seating section of buses — when they’re not in use — last week. "This set off alarm bells for disabled passengers, who already experience difficulty with bus operators not stopping for them, or conflicts with other passengers in crowded conditions," she told Gothamist. Other advocates, like Jean Ryan, president of Disabled in Action of Metropolitan NY, said the MTA has a lot of questions to answer before it allows open strollers on buses. "How would this be implemented when the bus becomes crowded?" Ryan said. "Will the caregiver be able to fold up the stroller and carry the child? Will the aisle be blocked? What happens if someone with a big stroller insists on coming on? Will the driver have to be the stroller police?" Craig Cipriano, the outgoing interim president of New York City Transit, announced this week that the MTA had created a panel made up of bus drivers, disability rights advocates and caregivers who use strollers. "I think it’s all about listening to the different constituencies and coming up with a policy that serves them all. It’s not about us or them. It’s about how we can all come together to serve customers with disabilities, the elderly and the moms with strollers," he said. Cipriano’s permanent replacement, [Richard Davey]( assumes the role of president May 2nd. Davey, a former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, had toyed with the idea of banning strollers while serving in his previous position. But this week, he changed course, concluding that "that had to be the dumbest idea I floated." — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Metro-North boosts weekday service in an effort to bring back commuters [a Metro-North train leaving Harlem-125th Street] Michael715/Shutterstock The MTA this week restored 66 previously cut weekday trips on three Metro-North lines in an effort to win back suburban commuters. Officials said the new schedules on the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven lines include more frequent express service at some of the busiest stations, shortening travel times by as much as 13 minutes, and bringing overall service up 89% of what Metro-North offered prior to the pandemic. While the railroad has rebounded from its omicron-fueled lull, Metro-North ridership remains at just 45% of its pre-pandemic levels, and has bounced back far slower than subway and bus ridership. This latest scheduling update also offers good news for baseball fans: The so-called Yankee Clipper trains will soon be restored on all three lines, providing direct service to Yankee Stadium on game days. — [Reporting by Jake Offenhartz]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Here's What Else Is Happening Uber and Lyft drivers staged a caravan across the Brooklyn Bridge this week to press for wage hikes amid a gas price surge. Earlier this month, Uber and Lyft announced a new nationwide gas surcharge for customers to help struggling drivers — but both companies deliberately carved out New York City drivers, citing a 2018 local law that mandated a minimum wage for drivers. But drivers say the wage hike is merely to help them keep up with inflation, and the recent spike in gas prices is now taking a huge chunk out of their take-home pay. ([Gothamist]( The option to board a city bus through the rear door will remain a prospect for the future. MTA Chair Janno Lieber said yesterday that the agency is pushing back its plan to test out rear-door boarding — which was announced last August — because not enough bus riders are using the OMNY tap payment system, which is what would be installed at those rear doors. Some rider advocates said they fear that the MTA won't end up putting all-door boarding in place until OMNY completely phases out the MetroCard in 2024. ([Streetsblog]( Meanwhile, the OMNY fare-capping pilot has proven successful, and is likely to become permanent. For a month now, the MTA has been offering people unlimited rides for the rest of a given week after they pay 12 times via the OMNY system, and so far, $1.5 million worth of free rides have been taken. The transit agency, which is trying to shift more people away from MetroCards towards OMNY, said the tap payment system now accounts for 30% of its market share. ([AM New York]( The MTA has approved a $50 million deal to install 88 new security cameras near subway turnstiles. Unlike many older cameras in the subway system, these new fiber optic cameras will enable cops and MTA officials to monitor them live from subway command centers. On top of this deal, the transit agency's capital plan that runs through 2024 includes the goal of updating security cameras at all 472 subway stations across the city. ([NY Daily News]( New York lawmakers are considering a gas tax holiday, which drivers love and economists near-universally think is a bad idea. In the face of rising gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, legislators in Albany are considering a few tax relief proposals, such as a break from state gas taxes between May and December or a one-time rebate check. It's a concept that's popular with voters, but most economists don't like it, since it benefits wealthier people, who tend to consume more gas, and takes away much-needed revenue for infrastructure and mass transit improvements. ([The New York Times]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- And Finally: T-Pain, growing old and wise [a tweet from T-Pain]( T-Pain/[Twitter]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. 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