Frustrated NYC Subway Riders To Protest Outside Cuomo's Murray Hill Office

MURRAY HILL, NY — New Yorkers are planning to protest outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo's New York City office on Thursday, demanding that he take steps to improve the city's beleaguered transportation system.

The grassroots activist group Riders Alliance is organizing a "rush hour rally" outside the governor's office in Murray Hill to demand more funding and direction for the city's public transit system, which has seen particularly frequent and extensive delays in the last month. The rally is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency behind NYC's subway and bus systems, is run by the state and overseen by Cuomo, though it operates in the New York City area. The MTA also runs the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad.

In the past month, there have been multiple extensive subway delays that rippled throughout much of the city. The delays caused long commutes, crowded platforms and trains and angry tweets from New Yorkers trying to get to and from work. Masha Burina, a senior community organizer with Riders Alliance, said the concentration of extensive delays moved the group to demand Cuomo take action.

"We're at a crisis point," Burina told Patch. "This is really a moment for him to step into the light and bring an independent group of experts together to look into what immediate changes can be made to reduce the number of delays which have been debilitating over the last several weeks to millions of riders."

Burina said the rally will demand the $8.3 million the state has already promised to contribute to the MTA's capital projects overhaul, as well as a broader plan for the MTA's future.

"What we're seeking right now is really correlated with a lack of investment in our infrastructure and more broadly a lack of leadership," Burina said.

The governor's press secretary Dani Lever said in a statement that the strained system was the fault of previous state leaders.

"For decades the MTA was ignored by leaders in state government and that era ended under Governor Cuomo, who secured record and unprecedented investment in the MTA that will fix problems that have persisted for generations," Lever said in the statement. "Advocates advocate, and we’ll leave the performance art to them. We're focused on real solutions."

Cuomo's NYC office is located at 633 Third Ave. Cuomo had no events listed on his public schedule for Thursday, which said he would be in New York City. (For more news from Gramercy and Murray Hill, subscribe to Patch news alerts here.)

Image via Patrick Corbett, Twitter, used with permission