The Disabled Say MTA’s Cuts Violate The Law
The doomsday is here for many bus & subway routes around the city from cuts in service to the complete elimination of others. NYC bus riders are definitely getting the pinch, especially in some southern Brooklyn communities like Bay Ridge.
While many different types of riders will be inconvenienced by the cuts, one group in particular arguably are getting the worst of it. The group I am referring to are the disabled who feel the cuts approved violate the law. To prove their point, multiple lawsuits are being worked on against the much maligned transit agency. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more:
MTA bus and subway cuts and layoff plans remained on track Friday, but foes of the service slashes were taking their fight to court.
Lawsuits – including one filed Friday in Brooklyn Supreme Court and another being drafted for federal court – could ultimately force the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to restore a significant portion of the cuts, which transit officials maintain are necessary to close budget gaps.
More than 100 bus routes are being eliminated or scaled back. Some ran for the last time Friday, and others make their last runs this weekend.
“What are we supposed to do? Stay in our homes?” asked disabled activist Jean Ryan, who relies on bus service because none of the subway stations in her Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, neighborhood is accessible to wheelchair users.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of Ryan and two other disabled women Friday demanded that the MTA explain why cuts to 11 southern Brooklyn routes don’t violate state law requiring equal treatment for the handicapped.
The judge refused to stop the cuts but set a July 22 hearing date, lawyer Salvatore Strazzullo said.
Click here for the complete report.
These lawsuits should prove to be quite interesting as I can somewhat see both sides to the case. On one hand the MTA needs to cut costs & should look to eliminate redundant or hardly used service. However on the other hand, disabled riders are already at a disadvantage in terms of transportation options.
The subway is not a legitimate option for many due to their condition & the lack of access. So they should have legitimate service available to them. This starts to turn into a battle of putting a price tag on the worth of such trips versus the cost to provide them along with service to non-disabled riders.
I do have a problem with some of the stupidity that is being posted in response to this article. I should not be surprised considering the source of the comments but I can’t help but take issue with some of them. While I can agree that there are too many people in our society that have a sense of entitlement, I feel grouping disabled riders with them is completely misguided.
Most disabled riders did not ask to be that way or to have their lives inconvenienced. They should not be compared to students getting free rides on the back of the MTA & down to the core, the taxpayers. Disabled riders have as much right to quality service as I or anyone else who is not. To feel that such service is an entitlement is complete idiocy.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Service Diversions 06-26-10
I just updated the service diversions page which contains some history as it is the first update with the 
& 
removed. All of the diversions that were scheduled to end by 11:59 PM Friday have been removed.
I suggest you print out a copy of the diversions to carry with you or use your mobile device to access the phone friendly version of Transit Blogger. The next update will be Monday morning sometime after 05:01 AM when I remove all of the diversions scheduled to end by 5:00 AM Monday.
Have a safe & wonderful weekend!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Service Advisory For Heritage Of Pride Events
This upcoming Sunday, multiple events will be taking place in Manhattan as part of the Heritage Of Pride. MTA NYC Transit has issued a service advisory for the events which I just received a few minutes ago:
The annual Pride March will be held on Sunday, June 27 beginning at 12 noon and running to approximately 5 p.m. Parade formation will be between 41st Street and 36th Street and between 6th Avenue and Park Avenue. The parade will begin at 5th Avenue at 36th Street, continue south on Fifth Avenue, turn right on 9th Street and continue along 9th Street crossing 6th Avenue onto Christopher Street and end at Greenwich Street.
Parade goers can get to the festivities using the D, F, N, Q or R to 34th Street-Herald Square, the 6 to 33rd, 28th and 23rd Sts., the R or N to 28th or 23rd Streets, and any train to 14th Street at 6th Avenue or Union Square. In the Village, revelers may take the A, C, D, E or F to West 4th Street or the 1 to Christopher Street/Sheridan Square. The following bus routes serving the area may be rerouted during the march: M2, M3, M4, M7, M14, M16, M20, M23, M34, Q32, X1 and X10.
The Pier Dance will also take place on Sunday at Pier 54 at 13th Street and the Hudson River from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. To get there by train, customers may take the A, C, E, or L to 14th Street (8th Avenue) or the 1, 2, or 3 to 14th Street (7th Avenue). Customers traveling by bus may take the M11 or the M20 to 14th Street-Hudson Street, or the M14 to 14th Street-9th Avenue.
Please be aware that on Sunday, downtown F trains run express from 34th Street to West 4th Street. Uptown E trains run express from Canal Street to 42nd Street and uptown A and C trains run express from Canal Street to 59th Street.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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MTA Contractor Dies This Morning In Brooklyn
These stories are never easy to write about. It is with sadness that I must write about a MTA contractor who died this morning at the Ave M stop on the 
which has been under rehabilitation for months. Here is a very brief report on the incident courtesy of Shari Logan & Tom Namako of the New York Post:
An MTA contractor died after a shipment of metal subway panels fell on him at the Ave. M stop on the Q line this morning, officials said.
He worked at a company called Granite Construction.
The panels were being used to reconstruct the station — they essentially act as the walls on elevated platforms.
I would like to offer my condolences to the friends, family, & peers of this yet to be identified worker.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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MetroCard Scammer To Serve 1 Year In Jail
Apparently crime does pay or at least until you get caught that is. 42 year old Corey Grant was sentenced to a year in prison for his role in a $800,000 MetroCard scam. He & his wife teamed with a 3rd accomplice after she found a Metrocard Vending Machine (MVM) that gave out free rides. Leonard Greene of the New York Post has more:
A Long Island man who pleaded guilty to an $800,000 MetroCard scam was sentenced today to a year in jail for selling free rides on the subway and the Long Island Railroad.
Carey Grant, 42, was busted two years ago along with his wife and a friend, after they discovered a glitch in a Penn Station MetroCard machine that allowed them to buy fare cards for free.
Prosecutors said Grant’s wife, Lisa Foster Jordan first discovered the gift machine in 2005, and then conspired with her husband and a friend, Christopher Clemente, to sell tickets to friends and family.
Soon, the trio were placing orders for thousands of free tickets which they sold at discounted prices, officials said.
The ruse was discovered during a routine audit after which authorities were able to link the free tickets to two individual bank cards.
Click here for the complete report.
Is anyone else disgusted that this scam artist is only serving a year in jail? You have to ask yourself, is that nearly enough punishment to match what he stole from the MTA & in the end taxpayers? Most scam artists thrive on pulling the wool over your eyes even if they make no money. I’d bet anything that once he gets out, he will end up finding another scam to run. If you do the math, the time served versus what is made benefits him. I also think the people who purchased rides from him should be punished.
On a separate note, I think it is pathetic that in this day & age, it took the MTA nearly 3 years to catch up to the scam. Who knows how many other people could have known about this loophole & cost the agency much needed revenue? Plus one has to wonder if this could possibly be going on with other machines albeit most likely on a lesser scale. I suggest that they find a way to audit their machines more frequently & look into safeguards to prevent this from ever happening again.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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