“THE BRONX IS HIRING”
The slow yet steady recovery
of the New York City subway
system continued last
week with three straight days
of record-level pandemic ridership,
the MTA announced
Tuesday.
Approximately 2.57 million
riders ventured into the subways
on Friday, June 18 — or
roughly 46 percent of the 5.5
million riders that the subways
averaged pre-pandemic
in February 2020.
The MTA also reported pandemic
record-levels of commuters
on June 18 for buses in New
York City as well as the Metro-
North and Long Island Rail
Roads. Ridership on Metro-
North exceeded 100,000 commuters
on June 18 for the first
time during the pandemic.
The combined subway and
bus ridership exceeded 3.7 million,
close to half of the prepandemic
average.
“The subway’s ridership
return continues to gather momentum,”
said interim MTA
New York City Transit President
Sarah Feinberg. “The
subway is essential to New
York, and higher ridership is
the surest sign of New York’s
post-pandemic recovery.”
For more than a year, the
MTA had been dealing with
recovering from a sharp decline
in ridership as the
COVID-19 pandemic took hold
of New York City last year. The
subways emptied in March
and April 2020 as businesses
closed and workers were sent
home due to the contagion; at
one point, ridership had fallen
by more than 90 percent, with
roughly 300,000 daily trips
made at the height of the crisis.
The MTA kept the subway
system running nonetheless,
with select changes made,
just to keep essential workers
moving and the city running.
As the first wave of the
pandemic ended, in May 2020,
the MTA closed service overnight
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 6 UNE 25-JULY 1, 2021 BTR
for the first time in its
history to permit all cars and
stations to be disinfected; this
program continued through
May of this year, when 24/7
service was finally restored.
But as the vaccine got into
arms and the city began reopening,
another issue surfaced:
a rash of crime in the
depleted system. The MTA
has clashed with the city over
public safety issues on the stations,
and Mayor Bill de Blasio
recently announced a surge
of NYPD officers into the system
to add an extra level of security.
New York City Transit’s efforts
to keep the subways safe
and clean continue, according
to Demetrius Crichlow, executive
vice president of subways.
“Our dedicated employees
are working hard to provide
the cleanest, safest and most
reliable service possible,”
Crichlow said. “As traffic congestion
returns to the streets
and the temperatures rise, riders
will appreciate the speed
and comfort of travel on the
subway now as much as ever.”
While the subway recovery
continues, the MTA is apparently
not wanting for traffic
on its bridges and tunnels
— which also set pandemic
records for volume on June
17-18 with 973,485 and 989,296
vehicles, respectively. The
June 18 figure is equal to
about 96.4 percent of the prepandemic
levels of traffic on
MTA crossings.
On Thursday, June 17, Borough
President Ruben Diaz Jr. joined
Marlene Cintron, president of The
Bronx Overall Economic Development
Corporation (BOEDC), Michael
Muzyk, president of Baldor Foods,
Daniel Romanoff, CEO of Nebraskaland
and John Pappas, COO of Chef
Warehouse as well as workers to announce
hundreds of available jobs in
Hunts Point, many providing sign-on
bonuses.
“It is no secret that the COVID-19
pandemic took a major toll on The
Bronx and decimated many of the
things we have worked hard for over
the years,” Diaz Jr. said. “Prior to
the pandemic we saw transformative
development and record low
unemployment rates, and while we
have been set back, we are rebuilding
strong. I was proud to stand with
so many business leaders in Hunts
Point to announce that The Bronx is
hiring.”
The Hunts Point Market employs
thousands of people and moves food
and products all across the East
Coast. Now that New York City and
New York state have lifted the restrictions
that limited the number
of individuals who can convene, restaurants
and event spaces are ready
to open and the market has an immediate
need to employ individuals
to meet this demand.
“Hunts Point is the Bread Basket
of the Eastern Seaboard and I
am pleased that a number of these
companies, including Baldors, Nebraskaland,
Fooddirect and Chefs
Warehouse, are looking to hire
Bronx residents and have provided
additional incentives to get the work
force they need,” Diaz Jr. said.
Cintron, BOEDC president, added,
“Over 300 permanent jobs are available
today in Hunts Point. Many of
these jobs have signing bonuses up to
$5,000 with medical and benefits for
the complete family. The Bronx, and
New York are open for Business. For
our families, and our communities,
it is time to get back to work.”
For assistance with jobs, you can
reach out to BOEDC by emailing
them at mcintron@boedc.org.
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