Emily F. Keller

January 2011 Transportation News

    In this month's issue of Able News, I wrote articles about a City Council hearing on taxi accessibility, the Taxi and Limousine Commisson's finalists for the Taxi of Tomorrow, a lawsuit about inaccessible vans and a Senate bill to reduce the risk of silent hybrid and electric vehicles to pedestrians.

City Council Holds Hearing on Access-A-Ride Cuts

    The New York City Council examined impacts of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) cuts to Access-A-Ride at a hearing October 7.   

    The Council’s committees on aging and disabilities questioned Joseph Smith, senior vice president of New York City Transit (NYCT) Buses and Steve Lopiano, acting vice president of paratransit about service changes.

    Forty percent of Access-A-Ride (AAR) customers have already experienced service changes and the MTA plans to expand the changes throughout the system next year.    

    Smith said the MTA used the summer to test the changes, making 5,240 feeder service trips and telling AAR customers to use the bus system on their own for 2,777 trips in which they were deemed able to travel the distance to and from the bus stops they needed. There were 35 complaints.

    Click here to read the full article on Transportation Access.

MTA Cancels Access-A-Ride Contracts

    Hundreds of drivers and other employees for two Access-A-Ride contracting companies will lose their jobs by the end of the year due to sudden contract cancellations by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

    Atlantic Paratrans of NYC Inc. had just signed a ten-year contract with the MTA to provide services for Access-A-Ride last spring, and the MTA unexpectedly discontinued that deal on October 1, said Carolyn Daly, who represents the company.

    “We feel strongly that they did not negotiate in good faith with us,” said Daly, president of Brink Public Affairs LLC. She said the company is considering legal action against the MTA.

    Fifty-two drivers for Atlantic Paratrans were laid off in the first week of October, and layoffs will continue weekly through the end of the year. More than 600 union employees will lose their jobs due to the change, including 451 drivers. The company will also dismiss cleaners, dispatchers, mechanics and safety and security personnel. Drivers say they have no severance package.

    Click here to read the full story on Transportation Access.

Getting From Here To There

    Transportation groups and activists are discussing contingency plans in the face of a planned reduction in bus, subway and Access-A-Ride services that are scheduled to take effect by the end of June.

    The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board voted March 24 to cut 33 bus lines and two subway lines, revise service on 64 buses and transform Access-A-Ride – a door-to-door service for people with disabilities – into a shuttle to nearby buses and trains for some customers.

    This article was published by City Limits. Click here to read the full article.

City Council Transportation Committee Questions MTA Cuts

   MTA New York City Transit President Thomas Prendergast spent last Thursday morning fending off criticism from the City Council Transportation Committee about drastic service cuts planned for this spring.

    The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to eliminate or reduce service on dozens of bus lines, saying that many of the lines overlap with other MTA bus and subway services.

    However, many seniors and people with disabilities are unable to switch to the subway if their bus route disappears, or may require a particular bus to reach the accessible subway stops that comprise only one-fifth of the system.

    The MTA also plans to reduce Access-A-Ride paratransit service while promising to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines that requires the transit provider to offer the service to people who are unable to use subways and buses because of a disability. Kathy Andrade and J.M. Colon (pictured) said they oppose the cuts.

    This article was published on Transportation Access. Click here to read the article.

Access-A-Ride Customers Speak to the New York City Council

    People with disabilities and their advocates called on the New York City Council to improve the safety, reliability and quality of Access-A-Ride paratransit service last week.

    Public speakers told stories of missing safety straps, lengthy trips, service delays and sagging lifts to members of the council’s committees on transportation, aging and disability services.

    Thomas Charles, Vice President of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s paratransit division, defended the service, citing high ridership rates, a zero denial ride policy, increased use of taxi vouchers and technological innovations to improve vehicle tracking.

Read the story.

Pictured: Sharona Jones, Lawrence Carter-Long and Bobbie Sackman.

Brooklyn Lawmakers Target ‘Medical Mills’

    A New York City Council bill co-sponsored by two Brooklyn lawmakers threatens to put businesspeople in jail for up to a year for committing automobile insurance fraud. Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)

Brooklyn Hospitals On Life Support?

    The New York City Council Hospital Closing Task Force, created to provide input to a state commission, is working to mitigate the negative effects of what has now become a visible and measurable trend: the closing, down-sizing and bankruptcy of hospitals across the state. Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)

Smoky View On the Cause of Suspicious Neighborhood Fires

       A panel of New York City Fire Department officials spoke to the City Council's fire and criminal justice committee following a spate of suspicious fires in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. The meeting was one of a series of preliminary budget hearings for the fiscal 2007 city budget.

    The meeting follows a deadly arson fire at 1033 Pacific Street in Prospect Heights (pictured) that took the lives of Sherri Williams, 26, Assita Coulibaly, 36, and Coulibaly’s children, Mohammed, 1, and Miriam, 3 on February 24th.

    Panel members, which included Peter Hayden, chief of the department, and Frank Cruthers, First Deputy Fire Commissioner, said suspicious fires have increased in frequency this winter in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights, but did not give details on their response.

    There were suspicious fires in the past three months at 1084, 1198, 1440 and 1154 Pacific Street, 530 and 600 St. Marks Avenue, 461 and 658 Park Place, 683 Dean Street, and 784 Prospect Place.

    Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)

 

 

Planning for Trash Equity

    New York City officials are working to change the way residential trash will be removed from the city. The 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan now under scrutiny by the New York City Council would send trash out of the city on barges rather than trucks, reducing air pollution for local residents.

    However, some critics say the plan focuses too much on disposal and not enough on reducing, reusing and recycling waste.

    Published in The Queens Ledger/ Brooklyn Star. Click here to read page one. Click here to read page two.