When I took this job nearly a year ago, I had two priorities – safety and service. As president of New York City Transit, I was going to do everything in my power to make the transit system safer, not only for our millions of daily riders, but also the tens of thousands of employees who keep this City moving. And I was going to do it while running the best possible service.
More than 11 months later, I’m proud of the results our partnership with the NYPD has delivered. This past summer was the safest underground in a generation, and while even one crime is too many, the trend is encouraging.
Equally encouraging are the improvements we’re seeing in service reliability. Subway on-time performance this summer was on par with our May record of 85%. These gains were helped by the expanded rollout of new, more dependable R211 train cars to more lines, including the B in July. We also replaced the entire fleet of 50-year-old cars on the Staten Island Railway with popular new R211S models.
The subway tends to steal the spotlight — it is a New York icon after all. Just ask Cardi B, who recently lent her voice to new station announcements. But our work covers all modes, and that includes the tremendous efforts to improve bus service. The bus network is a vital means of transit, carrying more than a million riders every day. It demands our attention.
As I look ahead to my next year in this job, I’m determined to work with our partners at the NYC Department of Transportation to get our buses moving faster. We know what needs to be done – create more bus lanes and busways and enforce the rules to keep them clear.
The eight miles of bus lanes along Hillside Avenue have been a huge support to the recent Queens Bus Network Redesign, and I’m thrilled that NYCDOT is moving forward with work on Flatbush Avenue, right in the heart of downtown Brooklyn. Center-running lanes and bus boarding islands will enable faster and safer service for 132,000 daily bus riders along the entire corridor, making it that much easier to catch a show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music or go shopping at the Atlantic Terminal Mall.
We can and should bring these initiatives to more routes, and I’m eager to do just that. With this incredible team in place at Transit and a strong partnership with the City, I’m confident even more will get done for New Yorkers as the months roll on.
Demetrius Crichlow is MTA New York City Transit president.
