After a two-month journey from South America to the U.S. Border and a two-day bus ride from Texas to New York City, immigrants who spoke with City Limits just wanted a bite to eat and a place to rest. “I just want to work and get ahead,” one recently-arrived man said.
From subways and buses to bikes and ferries, the people who win this year’s elections for mayor and other city offices will not only shape how New Yorkers get around, but also how public space and taxpayer money gets used.
Driving, cycling and bus usage have all rebounded somewhat since the first two months of the pandemic, but subway and commuter rail ridership remain low.
It’s widely recognized that the MTA needs big ideas and comprehensive improvements. But sometimes it’s the little things that make a commute pleasant or purgatorial.
John Raskin talked about the big problem that unites all of the other challenges facing the subway, buses and commuter trains: The lack of accountability in the transit system as it now exists.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a statement at the end of June in support of a transit ban for serial offenders, calling it a ‘common sense issue.’
Our 2018 ‘Can Buses Be Better?’ focused attention on the surface transit that rolled in the shadows of the subway crisis.
Starting May 30, wheelchair-accessible AAR vans with four or more passengers will able to utilize dedicated bus lanes, an effort to speed up trips on the oft-criticized service.
The mayor vowed to undertake efforts to speed up buses by 25 percent, or an average speed of 9.25 miles an hour, by the end of 2020.
‘We are a licensed commuter van service and you’re trying to tell us you’re going to shut us out of the city?’ one driver complains. ‘They’re leaving the room for Uber, Lyft, Ford Chariot.’
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
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Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
