As the MTA’s first Chief Accessibility Officer, who also happens to be living with a permanent physical disability, and the MTA’s first board member who is a medical doctor, and who also happens to be living with a significant visual disability, we work in partnership to ensure we represent the diverse voices of the community when important decisions are being made at the MTA.
Accessibility is more of a priority for the MTA than it’s ever been before, and yet we know better than most how far we have to go. We have many more subway and rail stations to make accessible, thousands of bus and rail cars that need better visual and audio announcement systems, and entire swaths of our city that would benefit from expanded subway service.
The community that benefits from these investments is so diverse — from wheelchair users to those with limited-to-no vision, to the millions of seniors, parents, and tourists who rely on transit to navigate New York every day. To build a system that works for all of these groups — with improved vertical access, enhanced multi-sensory commutations, and better leveraging technology to tackle access barriers — we need capital investment. It’s those capital dollars that allow us to continue enhancing accessibility, and keep our transit system in a state of good repair so it can continue to function safely and reliably for millions of users every single day.
For the first time, the MTA has a roadmap to get to systemwide accessibility, but we need to keep our foot slammed on the accelerator to get there — not get stuck in traffic ‘congestion.’ Finally launching congestion pricing — a program approved by our state legislature 5 years ago – is critical to achieve these goals, ensuring the MTA can continue investing in the system and setting the transit equity standard that moves all of us New Yorkers and those that visit our city for work, fun, or top-quality healthcare.
Congestion pricing will truly unlock New York, bringing faster bus and Access-A-Ride (AAR) service, cleaner air for all, faster emergency vehicle arrival times and much, much more. These benefits are huge, real, and critical for many of the groups we work with most closely.
New York City and our transit system are complex — always changing for the better — and this program is no different. We expect it will transform and improve over time and we know disability advocates will push for that; and we as board members are responsible for ensuring the MTA is transparent in reporting on the program, including the use of exemptions for vehicles transporting people with disabilities.
We all need congestion pricing to ensure our buses and AAR trips run faster and to help us in our journey to build a more accessible and inclusive subway and rail system. We know more work will be critical to get this program right, including the disability exemption, but we have a strong framework in place with a roadmap that is logical, pragmatic and rigorous. Now let’s get to work!
Quemuel Arroyo is the MTA’s chief accessibility officer. John-Ross Rizzo is a physician-scientist-leader at NYU Langone Health.
Quemuel Arroyo, John-Ross Rizzo , 2024-04-12 18:03:03
Source link
