The MTA will soon scrap a program offering free taxi rides to stranded workers late at night – even if the closure of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s nightly subway remains indefinite.
The agency has been financing travel rentals for cars for essential workers and other late-night travelers between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 p.m. since May 6, following the suspension of 24-hour service to disinfect the system and exterminate homeless New Yorkers.
On Friday, the MTA announced that it was killing the program at the end of the month, citing “high costs” during a period of “significant financial challenges.”
The MTA said it has paid $ 6 million for the program in the last 15 weeks. Roughly 1,500 customers benefited from the free rides each night, with an average trip costing $ 49, according to the agency. Alternatively, the agency will launch a trio of new overnight bus routes that reflect on the most popular overnight stays used by workers.
The MTA is currently serving a $ 10 billion deficit, a $ 45 billion debt burden, and the prospect of further cuts in services. Transit officials announced on Tuesday that the agency would resume charging for local buses on August 31, which they had stopped doing to ensure distance between drivers’ drivers.
But because some elements of the system are returning to normal, and because New York is reporting its lowest coronavirus transmission levels since March, the MTA has not provided much clarity on when they plan the 24-hour subway service to resume.
“We have a strong indication that the pandemic is ending in the governor publishing a book about his achievements. That is a tacit acknowledgment that we are in a very different place than we were,” said Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for the Riders Alliance. “I do not think we are winning anything in terms of safety by keeping the trains closed.”
Both Cuomo and the MTA have previously promised to resume their service tonight, once it is safe to do so. But the governor also expanded the benefits of the shutdown, describing the cleanup of the subway, and the lack of overnight riders as something that was once thought “impossible.” MTA CEO Pat Foye has declined to say when, if or when, the service of the night will be resumed.
The lack of a tough deadline has sparked fears among advocates that the MTA’s 24-hour service, an emblem of the city’s transit system for more than a century, could be for the better.
“Yes, the subway is very shiny now. Yes, it’s remarkably low. But that’s not what we want to see,” Pearlstein added. “For low-income New Yorkers, primarily New Yorkers of color who are the backbone of the economy, the transition system is their lifeline.”
A spokesman for the MTA and the Governors’ Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
