Salute to heroes in blue
Keeping the NYC Transit system
moving despite Omicron challenges
COURIER L 32 IFE, JAN. 28-FEB. 3, 2022
EDITORIAL
OP-ED
After Police Commissioner
Keechant Sewell
announced the death
Tuesday of Police Officer
Wilbert Mora, who was
gunned down with his colleague
Jason Rivera Friday
night while on duty,
our thoughts went back to
another painful moment in
our history more than seven
years ago.
We can’t forget that cold
Saturday afternoon, Dec.
20, 2014, when two of New
York’s Finest — Police Officers
Rafael Ramos and Wenjian
Liu — were executed
by a madman as they sat
in their patrol car while on
duty in Brooklyn.
Like Mora and Rivera
were last week, Ramos and
Liu were shot back in 2014
simply because they were
doing their jobs protecting
the people of New York. The
men and women who put
on the NYPD uniform and
badge perform a thankless,
sworn duty to uphold the
law and keep all of us safe.
We’re mindful of all the
scrutiny police officers
have faced in recent years
amid a nationwide movement
to end police brutality
and racial injustice. That
cause is indeed important.
But those who seek the
cause of justice in America
should undoubtedly mourn
today the loss of two young
officers who, from all accounts,
were among the finest
of the Finest.
Officer Rivera’s story is
particularly touching, and
heartbreaking.
In his NYPD application
essay, widely circulated
on social media after his
death, Rivera talked about
being subjected to injustice
as a youngster growing up
in Inwood, and believed his
joining the NYPD was his
way of helping the department
in its effort to boost
relationships with the community.
“I know that something
as small as helping a tourist
with directions, or helping a
couple resolve an issue, will
put a smile on someone’s
face,” Rivera wrote.
Instead, we now weep for
the loss of two officers with
such bright futures ahead
of them — who could have
done so much to fulfill the
NYPD’s mission and goals
— but who were taken from
us by a deranged man armed
with an illegal handgun.
Let us carry on their mission
in a different way now,
by resolving to put an end
to gun violence in New York
City, and by answering the
call of the Police Benevolent
Association to join them in
mourning their fallen colleagues.
We must all highly resolve
that Rivera and Mora
did not die in vain, by working
together to make our
city a safer and better place.
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’re 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 the effectiveness
of our crews.
Apart from these service impacts,
Transit’s most pressing 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.
T hose 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 New
York City Transit president.
Interim MTA New York City Transit President Craig Cipriano
Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit