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Title:
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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.
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Res. No. 1163
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.
Body
By Council Members Lopez, Baez, Barron, Foster, Martinez, Sanders, Seabrook, Quinn and James
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