MTA New York Metropolis Transit President Demetrius Crichlow talking concerning the Queens bus community redesign in June 2025.
Marc A. Hermann / MTA
After I took this job practically a 12 months in the past, I had two priorities – security and repair. As president of New York Metropolis Transit, I used to be going to do the whole lot in my energy to make the transit system safer, not just for our thousands and thousands of every day riders, but additionally the tens of hundreds of workers who hold this Metropolis shifting. And I used to be going to do it whereas operating the absolute best service.
Greater than 11 months later, I’m happy with the outcomes our partnership with the NYPD has delivered. This previous summer season was the safest underground in a generation, and whereas even one crime is simply too many, the pattern is encouraging.
Equally encouraging are the enhancements we’re seeing in service reliability. Subway on-time efficiency this summer season was on par with our Could report of 85%. These beneficial properties had been helped by the expanded rollout of latest, extra reliable R211 practice automobiles to extra strains, including the B in July. We additionally replaced the entire fleet of 50-year-old automobiles on the Staten Island Railway with widespread new R211S fashions.
The subway tends to steal the highlight — it’s a New York icon in spite of everything. Simply ask Cardi B, who recently lent her voice to new station bulletins. However our work covers all modes, and that features the super efforts to enhance bus service. The bus community is a crucial technique of transit, carrying greater than one million riders every single day. It calls for our consideration.
As I look forward to my subsequent 12 months on this job, I’m decided to work with our companions on the NYC Division of Transportation to get our buses shifting sooner. We all know what must be accomplished – create extra bus lanes and busways and implement the principles to maintain them clear.
The eight miles of bus lanes alongside Hillside Avenue have been an enormous help to the current Queens Bus Network Redesign, and I’m thrilled that NYCDOT is moving forward with work on Flatbush Avenue, proper within the coronary heart of downtown Brooklyn. Heart-running lanes and bus boarding islands will allow sooner and safer service for 132,000 every day bus riders alongside the whole hall, making it that a lot simpler to catch a present on the Brooklyn Academy of Music or buy groceries on the Atlantic Terminal Mall.
We are able to and may convey these initiatives to extra routes, and I’m desirous to just do that. With this unbelievable crew in place at Transit and a powerful partnership with the Metropolis, I’m assured much more will get accomplished for New Yorkers because the months roll on.
Demetrius Crichlow is MTA New York Metropolis Transit president.
