MTA New York Metropolis Transit President Demetrius Crichlow.
Marc A. Hermann / MTA
Regardless of the climate, New York Metropolis Transit has obtained you lined with protected and environment friendly service. Final month we informed you concerning the staff that retains the subway transferring in snow and sleet. This month is all about buses, simply in time for one more storm within the forecast following final week’s back-to-back flurries.
Similar to for the subway, we have now a time-tested playbook for operating bus service within the snow. Crews get to work effectively earlier than the primary flakes fall, winterizing the out of doors tons and depots that home our 5,800-strong fleet.
On Feb. 8, mechanics like Antoine Buford, Edgar Colon, and Ronnie Siegmund on the Eastchester Depot had been out hours prematurely, salting walkways and roads and outfitting buses with chains to offer further traction.
Getting ready additionally means strategically deploying employees. That’s the job of Line Supervisors like Scott McPherson, who makes certain that ample personnel are readily available to maintain Bronx specific buses transferring.
In each storm, we intently monitor circumstances in all 5 boroughs at our high-tech Bus Command Heart. Within the final storm, Basic Superintendent Joham Ernest and Superintendent Zakaria Jabbori each got here in on their days off for what we name the “Hawk” — or in a single day tour — to look out for any buses that wanted help and to maintain prospects knowledgeable.
Riders are possible most conversant in the work of our heroic bus operators, who maneuver enormous autos by way of no matter comes their method. We now have gifted people in any respect our depots, together with Leon Harris, Aida Dominguez, Narda Dennis, Torrance Cameron, and Hasan Taylor.
On the Queens Village Depot, Bus Operator Johnny Cuebas not solely helped run service safely but additionally educated new operators on snow tools to make sure buses might get out on the highway.
It takes every kind of staff to maintain the Metropolis transferring, from Transportation Supervisors, who observe headways and repair in actual time to make modifications on the fly, to the Street Operations staff. After seeing difficult circumstances in Brooklyn, Northern Queens Basic Superintendent Michael Karsos—who additionally got here in on his time without work—left his division to assist Brooklyn Street Operations Superintendent Jerrel Malone free caught buses.
There have been loads of grateful riders, even regardless of the snow. Final weekend, buses carried greater than 1.3 million of them. New Yorkers have locations to go and issues to do. The staff at NYC Transit Buses deserves our gratitude for ensuring their lives don’t decelerate within the winter.
Demetrius Crichlow is MTA New York Metropolis Transit president.
