The ‘me’ in America
Bringing NYC Transit back up
to speed with the city
COURIER L 22 IFE, OCT. 29-NOV. 4, 2021
EDITORIAL
OP-ED
Self-proclaimed freedom
fi ghters marched across
the Brooklyn Bridge
Monday to speak out against
the city’s COVID-19 vaccine
mandate for municipal workers,
scheduled to take effect.
The classiest of the marchers
told some politicians they
don’t like — including President
Joe Biden and Mayor
Bill de Blasio — to go blank
themselves (we won’t print the
word they actually used; this
is a family newspaper).
Seriously, how dare Biden
urge and de Blasio require freedom
loving Americans to get a
vaccine that has been proven
safe and effective in stopping a
deadly illness that swept over
this land and killed hundreds
of thousands of people?
This is America, they say.
“My body, my choice.”
That’s what the Police Benevolent
Association (PBA) declared
in their lawsuit against
the city, fi led on Monday to
stop the vaccine mandate from
taking effect. Every offi cer, at
least, has the right to “bodily
integrity”; they can’t be forced,
the PBA argued, to get a vaccine
they don’t want to take.
Here’s the problem with
the opposition to the vaccine
mandate; they’re not thinking
about the safety and well-being
of those around them. They’re
only thinking of themselves,
and what’s best for them.
They’re certainly not thinking
of those few individuals
who legitimately can’t get the
vaccine for medical reasons,
and will remain exposed to the
dangers of COVID-19 as long as
people can carry the illness.
On most occasions, we are
all individuals in this country.
But there are a few times
when our unity is needed to
overcome a crisis. COVID-19
is one such occasion.
The mandate protesters
may think they’re exercising
a patriotic opposition to
government overreach, but
they’ve picked the wrong hill
upon which to fi ght.
Vaccine mandates have
been reduced, as a result, to
a culture war no different
than battles over reproductive
rights or same-sex marriage.
Government has no business
dictating a woman’s pregnancy
or standing in the way
of two consenting adults marrying
each other because those
are truly individual matters.
But when it comes to stopping
the spread of a deadly virus
that can sicken or kill anyone,
everyone ought to be on
the same page.
Instead, the mandate opponents
fail their fellow Americans
by opposing a necessary
cure toward ending this
deadly national nightmare of
COVID-19 — and putting the
“me” in America above all
else.
BY CRAIG CIPRIANO
With the school year now
well underway and more New
Yorkers returning to the offi
ce, the transit system is hitting
new ridership milestones
what seems like every week.
Our latest numbers show
the buses, subways and paratransit
system are back to
carrying more than 4.6 million
customers daily, or 55%
of our pre-pandemic base.
This is great news.
We know that to keep the
momentum going we need to
provide the best service we
can. Accordingly, the Transit
team has taken aggressive action
to address the crew shortages
that have caused some
delays (and headaches for our
customers!) recently.
There are currently 300
future train operators and
conductors now in training
classes. Of that number, we
expect 91 conductor trainees
to graduate before the end of
the year. The operator classes
take a bit longer since they are
more intensive, but 47 graduates
should be on the rails by
New Year’s, with more set to
fi nish in the fi rst quarter of
2022.
In the meantime, we’ve
been reaching out to recent retirees
to try and fi ll the gaps.
So far, nearly 60 former employees
have graciously volunteered
to come back while we
continue to staff up. We also
remain focused on making
the most effi cient use of existing
resources in our schedules
and assignment of extra board
employees.
On the buses and paratransit
side, 900 operators have
completed their training, and
we’re looking to bring on hundreds
more by year’s end. Additionally,
we have expanded
our broker capacity, dedicated
operator hiring and continue
to provide 85% direct trips to
our customers.
But it’s not enough to just
hire new colleagues. As traffi c
returns, we need to make sure
that when they’re on the roads,
operators have all the tools
they need to deliver safe and effi
cient trips, and well-enforced
bus priority is the single best
gift we could give them.
Our dedicated busways
and bus lanes continue to see
improved speeds compared
to 2019 on almost all corridors
and time periods. Take
the busway on Main Street
in Flushing for example —
since it opened last January,
speeds have increased by up
to 51% in the afternoon rush,
which is when traffi c is generally
the heaviest. And on 181st
Street in Manhattan, they’ve
shot up by 42% in the same
time frame. This isn’t a coincidence;
it’s smart transit policy
in action.
Following these successes,
we’re looking forward to opening
new busways on Archer
Avenue and Jamaica Avenue
this month. And there’s more
to come after that, too. Back in
August, the city set a goal of
adding up to 20 miles of new or
improved bus lanes — including
up to fi ve new busways —
and we can’t wait to fully deliver
on that promise.
New Yorkers have long
known that mass transit is the
best way to get around town,
and today’s congested streets
have made that fact clearer
than ever.
Craig Cipriano is acting
MTA New York City Transit
president.
A passenger waits as a New York City subway train pulls into the station in Brooklyn. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid