By Allan Rosen Regarding Demetrius Crichlow’s 12/22 op-ed, the MTA continues to mislead. A double-digit increase in the number of routes, spending $35,000 more per year, 20 routes with increased frequency or hours of operation; and “adding” 25 rush routes, does not indicate more or better service. The MTA has provided zero proof that the new routes will “take people where they want to go.”
Service is measured in the amount of revenue miles and hours. The MTA has refused to provide these data for the existing and proposed systems. Why? Because less in-revenue service is provided for the passengers. The extra funding is spent on more inefficient service operating more buses without passengers to and from depots. The MTA considers this more efficient because buses travel faster without carrying passengers. The 25 rush routes “added” are not new routes at all, but existing routes with half of their bus stops removed to operate faster. That would be fine if local service was also being provided. That is not the case in many instances, forcing bus riders now to walk up to three-quarters of a mile to and from their bus stop, a real inconvenience in inclement weather and for those with mobility problems. Missing a bus due to a longer walk could easily add 20 minutes to your trip. It also violates domestic bus spacing guidelines, following European standards instead. As far as the 800,000 daily riders and the 70 outreach events, those events reached a total of about about 5,000 riders or less than 1 percent of the riders because the MTA even refused to provide notice of these events on the buses or at bus shelters. As far as being customer-driven, that is another myth. The MTA has pushed through several proposals that have been vehemently opposed for over five years, several in Rockaway, and discontinuing a vital bus connection into Manhattan that will now result in extra connections and longer trips. Two buses will now be needed just to travel within Rockaway. New free transfer points to avoid new double fares still have not been announced. Riders need assurances that the list is complete and not merely a response to complaints after the fact. Nearly 3,300 riders opposed the elimination of fourteen hundred bus stops on Change.org, providing over 1,000 reasons why. The MTA responded by returning a few bus stops and increasing that number to nearly 1,800, which had to painstakingly be manually counted. What is being proposed is far from a world-class system. Many trips within Queens still will require three or four buses. There are many missed opportunities such as reducing a double fare, three bus trips between Sheepshead Bay and the Rockaways from two hours to 30 minutes with the provision of a new bus route. The MTA is refusing to provide this route because they are more concerned with their bottom line than investing to attract new markets. Queens deserves better. The writer is a former director of MTA New York City Transit Bus Planning with three decades of experience in transportation and a master's degree in urban planning. He is now a Board Member of Passengers United.
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