For too lengthy, our transit system was starved of funding. Getting old subway automobiles, dilapidated indicators, and an absence of fundamental upkeep and restore plunged a system that was as soon as the envy of the world into disaster. All of us bear in mind the so-called “summer of hell” — overcrowded platforms, fixed delays, and a stage of dysfunction that made it more durable for thousands and thousands of New Yorkers to get the place they wanted to go.
These days are over.
As your Governor, I’ve made it my mission to show the web page, restore confidence in public transit, and make long-overdue investments to deliver the MTA into the twenty first century.
This spring, I secured historic funding for the MTA’s Capital Plan, an achievable and forward-looking blueprint that can enhance security, reliability, and accessibility for many years to come back.
The bread and butter of our plan is modernization. The subway is 120 years outdated, and far of its core infrastructure is late for restore. There are subway strains that also depend on outdated, unreliable indicators put in when FDR was President. This plan consists of over $5 billion to interchange growing older indicators with new, fashionable know-how on eight subway strains, from the A in Far Rockaway to the N and W in Astoria. These investments, together with upgrades to tracks and energy methods, will scale back delays and transfer trains quicker and extra reliably.
We’re additionally making a generational funding in our subway fleet. Everybody is aware of the dreaded feeling of boarding an growing older subway automotive – dim lights, much less dependable air-conditioning, and a worse experience. A few of these automobiles date again to the Mario Cuomo period – and so they’ve earned their retirement. That’s why we’re investing in 1,500 new subway automobiles, together with extra of the favored R211 fashions, with options like wider doorways, built-in safety cameras, and higher efficiency throughout the board.
However fashionable transit isn’t nearly subways. Greater than two million New Yorkers depend on bus service to get round, very true in working class communities the place subway entry could also be restricted. This plan will make our fleet cleaner and greener than ever, with 500 new electrical buses hitting the street.
Accessibility is one other prime precedence. For too lengthy, our subway system has been out of attain for too many New Yorkers –folks with disabilities, dad and mom with strollers, caregivers, and numerous others. In recent times, we’ve made nice progress, with over 150 accessible stations. And now, we’re going even additional: this capital plan consists of funding to improve a minimum of 60 extra stations with new elevators and different accessibility enhancements. When this plan is full, over half of all stations – serving 70% of all riders – will probably be absolutely accessible.
We’re doing greater than enhancing present infrastructure. For the primary time in practically 50 years, New York will develop its transit system outdoors Manhattan by constructing the Interborough Specific, or IBX. Operating from Sundown Park to Jackson Heights, the IBX will minimize commute instances for as much as 115,000 every day riders through the use of present freight rail strains to attach Brooklyn and Queens, saving some commuters as much as 40 minutes every manner. I’ve directed the MTA to maneuver this challenge ahead with urgency, as a result of outer borough New Yorkers deserve quicker, extra dependable transit.
This finances offers the MTA funding to proceed with the Interborough Specific – or IBX – which can remodel communities from Sundown Park in Brooklyn to Jackson Heights in Queens. When full, the IBX will considerably shorten commutes for 115,000 every day riders and be the primary transit growth outdoors of Manhattan in practically 50 years. By utilizing infrastructure we have already got, we are able to construct the IBX quicker and cheaper and I’ve directed the MTA to advance this challenge this summer season.
And let me be clear: security stays our prime precedence.
We’ve made actual progress driving down subway crime to its lowest stage in many years, and we’re constructing on that momentum.This plan makes file investments in subway security and in stemming the tide on fare evasion. Quickly, there will probably be fashionable fare gates at over 150 subway stations, making it simpler for paying prospects to enter and exit the system whereas deterring fare evasion. It will complement the progress we’ve already made in the direction of deterring criminals and making riders really feel secure by putting in cameras on each subway automotive and deploying LED lights to brighten platforms. I need prospects to really feel valued and appreciated.
When transit thrives, New York Metropolis thrives. We’ve seen the implications of underinvesting in our transit system – delays, dysfunction, and a summer season of hell. I can’t let New York return. We proposed essentially the most bold transit enchancment plan in historical past and we bought it accomplished.
