MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-06-05 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] such a STUPID government full of clowns
|
New York Officials Clash on Subway, Bus Safety Guidelines Ahead of Reopening
Mayor Bill de Blasio pushes for social distancing measures while MTA
leaders prioritize masks
Riders donned masks on a New York City subway train on Wednesday. The
city wants them to use social distance on trains and buses.
Photo: Sarah Blesener/Bloomberg News
By
June 4, 2020 6:44 pm ET
Days before New York City is due to enter the first phase of reopening
businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor and the
state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority are continuing to
clash over how to make the transit system safe for people returning to work.
****Mayor Bill de Blasio wants an emphasis on social distancing on mass
transit but state officials say that isn’t possible on New York City’s
crowded subways and buses.****
Rider advocates say the arguments and conflicting messages couldn’t come
at a worse time for people deliberating whether they can safely ride
trains and buses.
“They need to have an aligned plan,” said Betsy Plum, executive director
of Riders Alliance, an advocacy group.
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory
committee to the MTA, said the transit authority knows its systems
better than the mayor and he should defer to it on this issue.
Freddi Goldstein, a spokeswoman for Mr. de Blasio, said this is an issue
of public health regardless of the MTA’s expertise.
Mr. de Blasio has told New Yorkers that the MTA should maintain social
distancing on mass transit by limiting capacity on subway cars and buses
and by placing decals on seats and floors to space out riders.
The MTA says such actions would reduce subway and bus capacity by more
than 90%, forcing trains and buses to skip stops and causing crowding at
bus stops and on platforms. Instead, the MTA wants to rely on riders
wearing masks.
MTA spokeswoman Abbey Collins said the transit authority has briefed
city officials multiple times in recent weeks about its plans for mass
transit service. In particular, Ms. Collins said, it outlined how social
distancing isn’t workable on subway and bus systems that carried about
7.5 million people on an average weekday before the pandemic.
Ms. Collins said MTA officials were surprised this week when Mr. de
Blasio outlined his demands for capacity limits on subways and buses and
suggested that trains should skip stops if they are too full.
Commuters wearing masks exit the Union Square subway station in Manhattan.
Photo: Sarah Blesener/Bloomberg News
****A spokesman for Mr. de Blasio said the city doesn’t want to argue
with the MTA, but it wants to ensure people’s safety.****
***The standoff between the two sides continued Thursday when the MTA’s
interim head of subway and bus systems, Sarah Feinberg, sent Mr. de
Blasio a letter requesting that his administration add 60 miles of bus
lanes in the city as soon as possible.***
The spokesman for Mr. de Blasio said the city will soon release a plan
for buses.
Subway and bus ridership has been creeping up recently, but it is still
at about 15% of pre-pandemic levels. Mr. de Blasio says he expects
several hundred thousand people to return to work Monday when
construction, manufacturing, wholesale and nonessential retail
businesses will be allowed to reopen.
MTA officials reduced mass transit service by about 25% during the worst
of the pandemic. They say service will be restored in time for the start
of next week, tweaking schedules based on demand. They point out that
other mass transit systems, particularly in Asia, have given up social
distancing and are relying on people wearing masks.
Senior MTA officials, in a letter to the mayor on Wednesday, said they
want the New York City Police Department to enforce mask usage, but
without arresting people or issuing summonses. A police official said
officers have been doing that for weeks and have already handed out
740,000 masks.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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