LOCAL NEWS OP-ED
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
An NYPD member salutes wounded Police Offi cer Wilbert Mora as he’s transferred to NYU
Langone Medical Center on Jan. 23, 2022.
Keeping the NYC
Transit system moving
despite Omicron
BY CRAIG CIPRIANO
While these last six
weeks have been
challenging for all
of us, the team at NYC Transit
remains laser focused on
providing the best service
possible to support the city’s
continued recovery.
This week, we were thrilled
to bring back the W train, after
restoring service on the
A, B, J, Z, 6, and 7 lines last
week. They were temporarily
suspended to accommodate
a spike in operator absenteeism
caused by the Omicron
surge. I am now happy to say
that these crew shortages,
which began in December and
spiked during the fi rst week of
January, appear to be trending
downwards. It seems the worst
is fi nally behind us.
I am incredibly proud that
throughout this period, Transit
has been nimble enough to
adjust schedules on the fl y, so
we could continue providing
strong, round the clock service
at all 472 subway stations and
16,000 bus stops. Thanks to
the hard work of all our employees
and members of the
leadership team, we were able
to deliver 85-90% of scheduled
service for approximately
45% of ridership.
We accomplished this by
attacking the crew shortage
issue on multiple fronts. We
set up a reporting and project
management oversight system
to keep leadership informed
of absences and trends, so that
we could assign crews where
they’re most needed.
We partnered with our
unions, set up regular communication
and close monitoring
at our crew offi ces and implemented
strategic changes to
scheduled service to maximize
Honoring sacrifi ce
St. Patrick’s hosting services for slain cop
NYPD
Police Offi cer Jason Rivera
Street on the night of Jan. 21.
All three men are now
dead; McNeil, who was shot
by Police Offi cer Sumit Sulan,
another 32nd Precinct
offi cer who responded to the
incident, succumbed to his
injuries Monday.
The slaying of Mora and
Rivera shocked and angered a
city plagued by increasing gun
violence in recent months.
Rivera, Mora and Sulan
responded to a reported family
dispute inside a fi rst-fl oor,
one-bedroom apartment at
119 West 135th St. at about
6:15 p.m. on Jan. 21.
Upon arriving, law enforcement
sources said, the offi cers
met up with the caller, Mc-
Neil’s mother, who said she
had gotten into an argument,
along with her other son.
After the woman informed
the offi cers that McNeil was
located in a bedroom in the
rear of the premises, Offi -
cers Rivera and Mora walked
down a hallway to approach
the room, while Sulan remained
in the living room.
That’s when McNeil came
charging out of the bedroom
with a .45-caliber handgun,
equipped with an illegal high
caliber cartridge containing
up to 40 rounds, and
blasted his weapon, striking
Rivera and Mora multiple
times. Sulan then fi red at
McNeil in response, gravely
wounding him.
The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now, Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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the effectiveness of our crews.
Apart from these service
impacts, Transit’s biggest
challenge relates to safety.
I am heartbroken over the
senseless murder of Michelle
Alyssa Go in our system earlier
this month. Our thoughts
and prayers go out to her family.
Every New Yorker deserves
to have peace of mind while
traveling with us, whether it’s
on the subways, on our buses
or by our paratransit service.
MTA leadership has been in
close contact with Governor
Hochul and Mayor Adams,
and we are working with Police
Commissioner Keechant
Sewell, Deputy Mayor Phillip
Banks, and Department of
Social Services Commissioner
Gary Jenkins to discuss next
steps we can take to create a
more secure environment for
our customers and fi nd a better
way to help the city’s most
vulnerable. While it’s true that
the transit system is safe overall,
the reality is that even one
violent incident is too many,
and we need to do more.
For the good of New York’s
recovery, people must continue
coming back to mass
transit. Before Omicron hit,
subway ridership reached a
pandemic high of 3.4 million
daily users on Dec. 9, while
Buses were serving more than
1.5 million riders a day. Even
more impressive, paratransit
use had jumped to 80% of
pre-COVID levels, or 22,000
daily trips.
Those numbers have started
to come back in recent days
and if they’re going to fully
rebound, we must be able to
promise New Yorkers a system
that not only is safe and reliable,
but it also feels safe.
Craig Cipriano is interim
MTA NYC Transit president.
Member of the National
Newspaper Association
Member of the
New York Press Association
Member of the Minority
Women Business Enterprise
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Both the wake and funeral
services for Police Offi -
cer Jason Rivera — who
was killed in the line of duty
along with his partner, Police
Offi cer Wilbert Mora, in Harlem
on Friday — will be held
this coming weekend at St.
Patrick’s Cathedral, according
to reports.
The seat of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of New
York will host visitation for
Rivera from 1 to 8 p.m. today
Jan. 27, with a funeral Mass
scheduled to take place the
next morning, Friday, Jan. 28,
at 9 a.m.
Despite the best efforts of
doctors and nurses who came
to his aid, Mora died of his
injuries Tuesday.
Mora and Rivera, both
members of the 32nd Precinct,
were fatally shot by Lashawn
McNeil, 47, as they responded
to the dispute at the suspect’s
apartment on West 135th
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