File #: Res 0146-2004    Version: * Name: MTA - NYC Transit to reduce the number of articulated buses used in NYC and replace them with non-articulated buses.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Transportation
On agenda: 2/26/2004
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-New York City Transit to reduce the number of articulated buses used in New York City and replace them with non-articulated buses sufficient to meet the ridership demands, as articulated buses increase passenger capacity but fail to increase the number of seats for disabled passengers.
Sponsors: Margarita Lopez, Maria Baez, Charles Barron, Helen D. Foster, Miguel Martinez, James Sanders, Jr., Larry B. Seabrook, Christine C. Quinn, Letitia James, Alan J. Gerson
Council Member Sponsors: 10

Res. No. 146

 

By Council Members Lopez, Baez, Barron, Foster, Martinez, Sanders, Seabrook, Quinn, James and Gerson

 

Resolution calling upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-New York City Transit to reduce the number of articulated buses used in New York City and replace them with non-articulated buses sufficient to meet the ridership demands, as articulated buses increase passenger capacity but fail to increase the number of seats for disabled passengers.

 

                     Whereas, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority-New York City Transit (MTA-NYCT) first began testing articulated buses on routes such as the Bx1, along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, in the late 1990's; and

Whereas, MTA-NYCT first introduced articulated bus service on the M79 and M86 cross-town Manhattan bus routes in 2000; and

Whereas, Since then, articulated buses have replaced standard buses on ten other routes in Manhattan and the Bronx; and

Whereas, The longer buses have greater carrying capacity, thereby allowing the buses to run less frequently; and

Whereas, Articulated buses are twenty feet longer than standard buses, requiring MTA-NYCT to lengthen or remove certain bus stops to accommodate them and inconvenience riders, especially senior citizens; and

Whereas, While on standard buses wheelchair accessibility is adequately provided through the rear doors of the bus wheelchair accessibility on articulated buses is provided through the front doors; and

Whereas, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, in correspondence submitted to the City Council, asserted that the front door wheelchair accessibility on articulated buses is more time-consuming, cumbersome, requires additional passenger cooperation and causes the disabled greater difficulty in maneuvering onto and off the bus; and

Whereas, Both articulated buses and non-articulated accommodate two wheelchairs at any time, resulting in a transportation system that actually accommodates fewer wheelchairs; and

Whereas, On average 63,000 riders use wheelchair lifts a month; now, therefore, be it

Resolved that Metropolitan Transportation Authority-New York City Transit shall reduce the number of articulated buses used in New York City and replace them with non-articulated buses sufficient to meet the ridership demands, as articulated buses increase passenger capacity but fail to increase the number of seats for disabled passengers.

 

LS# 2879

10/14/03

KCS