Calling on the MTA to Save the X90 Bus
March 23, 2010
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has proposed to eliminate the X90 Express Bus Service-a service cut that would create significant hardship for its current riders, as well as strain the already overcrowded M15 bus and Lexington Avenue subway line. On March 4th, I delivered testimony calling on the MTA not to go forward with this cut.
The X90 express bus runs from Yorkville to Lower Manhattan and only operates during peak morning and evening hours. Approximately 620 men and women who rely on this bus to make their daily commute will be forced to instead use alternative transportation.
The MTA has indicated the M15 bus and Lexington Avenue subway as alternatives for riders displaced by the elimination of the X90, even though the MTA acknowledges that both are severely overcrowded. In fact, this is the rationale behind the planned implementation of Select Bus Service on First and Second Avenues and the construction of the Second Avenue Subway line. These alternatives are also quite far from where X90 riders live in Yorkville, and where the X90 bus stops are located.
These are tough times, and I understand that these difficult decisions are being made system-wide. Nevertheless, riders of the X90 express bus have no other reasonable alternative, and I strongly urge the MTA to reconsider its plan to eliminate the X90.
My testimony is below.
For Select Bus Service to Succeed, Bus Lanes Must Be Separated
January 21, 2010
The Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently presented preliminary designs for Select Bus Service along First and Second Avenues at a Community Advisory Committee meeting.
Last fall when the New York City Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the proposed stops for Select Bus Service on the Upper East Side, I was concerned about the siting of stops on First and Second Avenues at East 79th and 86th Streets. The original proposed SBS stops were set to be across the street from existing local stops.
In September, I wrote to the DOT and MTA and asked them to find a way to ensure that future SBS and existing local stops were on the same block on these routes (see the 2009 Publications section of this website). I was therefore very pleased to see that in the draft designs that were unveiled at last week’s Community Advisory Committee meeting the design proposals included that SBS stops would be sited on the same block as existing local stops. This goes a long way in promoting pedestrian safety.
My remaining concern is the lack of physically separated bus lanes in the agencies’ design schematics. This is a big negative impact on the quality of service that SBS can deliver. Last month, I joined with Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh in sending a letter to the DOT Commissioner in support of physically separated bus lanes (this letter can also be found in the 2009 Publications section of this website).
While I appreciate the need to address the needs of businesses that rely on deliveries, there are other ways to do this besides sacrificing separated bus lanes. The primary goal of SBS must be to provide mass transit consumers with uninterrupted, speedy service along the First and Second Avenue corridors–this should be the priority over all other small inconveniences.
Access-A-Ride Cuts Will Leave Disabled Riders Stranded
December 17, 2009
On Wednesday, State Senator Tom Duane and I gathered with disabilities advocates, for-hire vehicle industry representatives, and Access-A-Ride users in front of Selis Manor in Manhattan to oppose the MTA’s slashing of the Access-A-Ride operating budget. Access-A-Ride, New York City Transit’s paratransit service, is the only mode of transportation for people with disabilities who are unable to take regular mass transit.
The MTA plans to cut $40 million from its operating budget this year, and $80 million the next.
No written plan exists explaining how Access-A-Ride is expected to absorb these cuts. Transit officials have shared only that they plan to examine their “legal obligation to provide door-to-door services.”
Last fall I met with the MTA and proposed that Access-A-Ride users be issued debit or credit cards to use in New York City taxis and for-hire-vehicles. MTA officials said they liked the idea and would implement a pilot program. I first wrote to New York City Transit in February of 2009 to propose the concept. (See the Publications section of my website for both the proposal and my original letter to Howard Roberts.)
To my severe disappointment the MTA has yet to do move towards implementing this, despite the fact that the city has estimated that a debit or credit card system would save taxpayers $50 million a year in paratransit services—that’s $10 million more than the MTA says it must cut. I have heard from the for-hire vehicle industry that they are excited about what this could mean for their businesses, and they have already worked out a plan with credit card providers to make it work.
Instead of using this economic crisis to hurt people with disabilities who are dependent on paratransit services, the MTA should be seeing this as an opportunity to look hard at what’s not working and be innovative.
How to Save $50 Million a Year …and Improve Access-A-Ride
September 16, 2009
An estimated 60,000 wheelchair-users live in New York City, but only 238 of the 13,000 medallion yellow cabs (less than 2%) are able to accommodate a wheelchair passenger. This is an every day reality for wheelchair users who are often left stranded without access to a key element of New York City’s transportation infrastructure. To address this unequal access to transportation, I sponsor a bill (A.7842/S.4861) with State Senator Tom Duane to require that by 2011, all taxicabs in New York City are accessible to people with disabilities.
My Op-Ed, “Escape from Access-A-Ride,” in the New York Post on Saturday, September 12th pointed out that having a 100% accessible taxi fleet doesn’t just make sense from a civil rights perspective — it could also save millions of dollars for the Access-A-Ride program. These are costs borne by the cash-starved City and MTA budgets. And, not only could we save public dollars, we could do all this and provide a better service for paratransit consumers.
So Where Does the Mayor Stand on 2nd Avenue Relief?
July 17, 2009
Looking south from corner of East 94th St. and Second Ave. Photo courtesy of The Launch Box.
Does the Mayor care about Second Avenue’s small businesses or doesn’t he?
Back in February, at a press conference to mark the beginning of construction on the MTA’s Number 7 train extension project, Mayor Bloomberg made a point of talking about the suffering of small business owners in the Second Avenue Subway construction zone:
“[The construction] is literally destroying every business on Second Avenue,” the mayor said at a press conference intended to show off a 100-ton cutting head that was to begin churning out the West Side extension for the 7 train.
“It is an economic disaster for the people who have stores and restaurants on Second Avenue and we have to find something to do for them.”
I am all too familiar with the disaster facing small business owners in the Second Avenue Subway project area. The new subway line will be great for New York in the long run, but the construction process is devastating the neighborhood. These small business owners are being asked to sacrifice on behalf of the public interest, and we owe it to them to find a way to help weather the storm.
This is why I sponsor legislation (A.3949/S.1393-Serrano) to provide targeted relief to small business owners, by giving their landlords an incentive to lower their rents. My bill gives property tax breaks to building owners in the construction zone if they renegotiate leases at lower rates for small business tenants. This bill gives Second Avenue’s businesses a a fighting chance, and in tough economic times it will help preserve the city’s tax base by working to prevent the shuttering of a once-dynamic commercial neighborhood.
The relief bill passed the Assembly last month, and for the second time in two years. But yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg instructed Republican State Senators to oppose the legislation, and without any GOP support, the measure could not come to a vote.
If the Mayor recognizes that the construction is an “economic disaster” for Second Avenue, and says that “something” should be done to aid the suffering businesses, why is he standing in the way of actual efforts to help?
Interviewed on PBS
July 10, 2009
Recently, I was featured in a lengthy interview with Dara Welles on WLIW 21’s “New York Insiders.”
We had a great conversation about what’s next for New York City’s schools, as well as Second Avenue Subway construction issues - and we also discussed broader topics like marriage equality, disability rights, the upheaval in the State Senate, and my own plans for the future.
PBS is linking things strangely, so when you click to see the video of my interview the title will read Suffolk County Legislator Steve Levy - but don’t worry, it’s me.
Two Kellner Bills Pass Assembly
May 13, 2009
If you haven’t noticed, the Bills section of this website has been updated to include all of my 2009 bills, and now that the budget has passed, I am very busy working on moving my legislative agenda forward. To that end, I was very pleased that two of my bills passed the Assembly, both unanimously, on Monday.
The first was passed as part of the Assembly’s annual observance of Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day, where we passed a comprehensive legislative package aimed at ensuring that people with disabilities receive the same opportunities that all New Yorkers expect and deserve. A.3954 would establish the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Riders’ Council for People with Disabilities to study and investigate all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its subsidiaries, monitor its performance, and make recommendations to improve its operations with respect to people with disabilities.
One of the most important ways we can begin to address the lack of representation of people with disabilities is to make sure that people with disabilities are on the board of the MTA itself. In 2006, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer published “The State of Repairs: An Examination of Elevator and Escalator Maintenance and Repairs in New York City’s Subway System.” Stringer concluded that while the MTA does have the New York City Transit Riders Council, “they are not charged with the specific responsibly of representing the needs of disabled riders. And while the MTA has an ADA Compliance Coordination Committee, it is informal and not comprised of appointed members. A legislatively-mandated body representing disabled riders is needed to ensure the issues of the disability community are identified and addressed.” This is exactly what my bill will do. The bill now goes to the Senate where Senator Tom Duane is the lead sponsor.
The second bill that passed on Monday also touches on an issue close to my heart. A.3956 requires the State Office of the Aging to do an annual report to assess the needs of and delivery of services to traditionally underserved populations and to provide technical assistance to organizations that provide services to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) senior populations.
As our senior population continues to explode in number, it is incredibly important that we address the needs of marginalized communities as they age. LGBT seniors, in particular, often lack social and familial support networks that are more commonly available to non-LGBT seniors. LGBT seniors are twice as likely to live alone as compared to heterosexual seniors, and more than four times as likely to have no children. These seniors face stigma from many senior care providers who might not consider that their older clients may be LGBT. As a result, LGBT seniors may be as much as five times less likely to access needed health and social services because of fear of discrimination. Since disease prevention strategies tend to ignore LGBT seniors, and HIV trials generally do not include older participants, LGBT seniors may also face greater health risks. Additionally, same-sex couples have less access to financial benefits as compared to heterosexual married couples. A surviving same-sex partner, for example, will be denied social security benefits and be required to pay taxes on the transfer of assets upon the death of a partner. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Senator Tom Duane is the lead sponsor.
Access-A-Ride Riders Deserve Equal Treatment!
May 11, 2009
Today, I submitted testimony at the MTA Board meeting, asking the MTA to address the disparate treatment of Access-A-Ride customers.
The MTA doesn’t have a great record on this issue. Last fall, the Board proposed raising the Access-A-Ride fare to double the base fare for non-disabled riders who are able to use subways and buses. In response, Senator Tom Duane and I introduced legislation to ban unequal fares for people with disabilities. During the bailout debate in Albany, I made sure that paratransit fares wasn’t increased beyond the base fare.
People with disabilities are already at an economic disadvantage. 64% of Access-A-Ride users have a household income that is less than 250% of federal poverty; and 2002 Census data tells us that of people aged 25 to 64, 26% of those with a severe disability live below the poverty line, compared to 8% of the general population.
Yet while New Yorkers who ride the subways and buses are able to purchase MetroCards, Access-A-Ride users have to provide their fare in cash and in exact change. And while the rest of us are able to save money by purchasing pre-loaded cards with bonus values, daily passes, weekly passes, 14-Day passes, and monthly MetroCards, there are no bulk buying options for the people with disabilities who rely on Access-A-Ride.
To my mind, there is no good reason for this unequal treatment. It is discriminatory, plain and simple. That’s what I told the MTA today, and it is an issue I will continue to speak out on.
My full testimony can be downloaded from the Publications section of my website.
MTA: Take Me Home from the Ballgame!
April 20, 2009
I am pictured here with two activists from the NYC Chapter of the MS Society and Councilmember John Liu protesting the inaccessible subway stop at Citi Field.
I may be the world’s biggest Mets fan, and on April 13, the night of the Mets home opener, I attended a protest, organized by the New York City chapter of the MS Society, outside of Citi Field at the Mets/Willets Point subway station to highlight the inaccessibility of that subway stop for Mets fans.
The subway station, which is on the Number 7 line, is only accessible to people with disabilities on one side. People traveling from the stadium to Manhattan who require accessible accommodations can’t access that platform because the accessible entrance is on the Queens-bound side. To get back to Manhattan, a wheelchair user needs to travel against the crowd, and take the 7 train in the wrong direction to the very last stop on the line. Once they arrive at the last stop, they are then supposed to transfer to a Manhattan bound train and go all the way back to in the other direction to continue on to Manhattan.
The entire process is an enormous inconvenience and totally unnecessary. The MTA could have easily installed a ramp on the Manhattan-bound side of the station. I hope that because of this protest, they will now rectify their error. The protest received some great coverage including a story by the Associated Press that was picked up by most sports news outlets, including CBS Sports (“Disabled fans protest poor accessibility near Citi Field”), and a local piece here on the Upper East Side in Our Town (”Subway Stop Not So Amazin’ for Kellner“).
The NYC Chapter of the MS Society’s press release about the protest has further information about the problems at Citi Field, “MS activists raise awareness about inaccessible MTA subway stations at Mets home opener.”
Last May, I introduced two bills to address accessibility issues in our mass transit system. The first would create the MTA Riders Council for People with Disabilities (A.10734-A/S.7817-Duane). The Council will have 14 appointed members who represent riders who use NYC Transit, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro North systems. The Council will have a non-voting seat on the MTA Board and make recommendations for improved services.
The second bill (A.10420/S.7348-Duane) requires daily inspections of elevators, escalators, bus lifts and other accessibility features in MTA facilities and establishes documentation requirements and oversight for their repair.
Major Victory in Access-A-Ride Fare Fight!
March 23, 2009
As you may have read in this morning’s NY Daily News (”MTA backtracks on huge Access-A-Ride hike” 3/23/09), the MTA has shelved its disastrous, discriminatory, and illegal plan to raise the paratransit fare from $2 to $5 (or $10 for a round-trip).
Regular readers know that I have blogged about this before (”VIDEO: New Bill Prevents MTA from Raising Access-A-Ride Fare to $5“) and earlier this month I held a press conference with Senator Tom Duane to announce our legislation (A.6489/S.2933) that prohibits a transit authority from discriminating against people with disabilities in their fare structure. This bill codifies in law what the MTA has already promised in a written 1993 contract with New York City never to increase the fare for Access-A-Ride higher than the regular fare. Had the $5 fare passed, we would have had to sue to get that contract enforced.
I am pleased that the MTA has finally got the message that discrimination is not acceptable in New York. But to make sure that we never repeat this fiasco, I am continuing to fight to get the legislation enacted.
A statement I released today can be found in the Publications section of my website.
-
My community office is here to help you.
315 East 65 Street
New York, NY 10065
Tel 212-860-4906
Fax 917-432-2983
Email KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us
