Cards Encourage NYC Commuters To Turn Subway Outrage Into Action

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A transit advocacy group wants to make sure New York City straphangers know to direct their outrage at subway delays toward the right person — Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

About 200 volunteers with Riders Alliance on Monday started handing out cards to commuters on delayed subway trains telling them to demand that Cuomo fix the ailing subway system.

The cards, dubbed "Subway Delay Action Kits," instruct riders to use the MTA-provided internet connection on subway platforms to tweet at Cuomo and sign a petition demanding he create a plan to modernize the subways.

"We're excited to stop talking about how furious we are and start engaging our elected officials, specifically Governor Cuomo, to fix the subway," Riders Alliance campaign manager Rebecca Bailin said Monday at a news conference outside Grand Central Terminal.

The initiative aims to raise awareness about the city's transit woes as delays continue to rise, advocates said. There were 58,000 subway delays in September, MTA data show, nearly three times the 2012 monthly average of 20,000.

Commuters often feel powerless when they're stuck on a delayed train, Bailin said, but too few know that Cuomo's the one in charge. He appoints the MTA's chairman and most members of the MTA Board. The state also provides a large portion of the authority's funding.

"That's what allows Cuomo and state officials to get away with neglecting the subway," said Austin Lomax of Flatbush, a Riders Alliance member. "If they don't know who's responsible, they can't demand accountability."

Lomax, 21, studies public affairs at Baruch College and hands out flyers for a Midtown restaurant for work. He said subway delays often make him late to class and his job, causing him to lose hourly wages.

Riders Alliance wants straphangers to push for "progressive" funding solutions to pay for necessary upgrades to subway infrastructure, Executive Director John Raskin said. The group supports a Cuomo-backed "congestion pricing" plan to impose tolls on cars crossing the city's East River bridges, as well as the so-called millionaire's tax proposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota has proposed an $836 million plan to stabilize the subway system. The MTA has implemented some pieces of the plan, but the city and state still haven't agreed on how to fund all of it.

Lhota wants the city and state to split the cost evenly. Cuomo has agreed to pay half, but de Blasio has said the governor should use the $450 million he took from the MTA budget for the state's general fund to pay for the rest.

In a statement, MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said Riders Alliance is "spreading misinformation about how the subways are funded and how they can be fixed."

"The fact is that a comprehensive emergency plan to stabilize and modernize the subway system is underway, both the city and the state have been asked to pay equally towards it, and so far the governor has stepped up but the mayor has refused," Tarek said.

Raskin said Lhota's action plan is a good first step, but the MTA needs a larger plan to get the subways up to speed — and more new revenue to pay for it.

(Lead image: The transit advocacy group Riders Alliance is handing out hundreds of "Subway Delay Action Kits" aiming to turn straphangers into subway activists. Image courtesy of Riders Alliance)