Andrew Cuomo must not think much of New York City bus riders. Today the governor trumpeted the arrival of new buses with onboard Wi-Fi and USB ports -- literally the last thing bus riders say they need.
86 new Wi-Fi and USB-equipped busses are about to hit the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 18, 2017
Stay connected on the go. pic.twitter.com/HnObHRSZRP
Here's a partial list of improvements Cuomo could deliver that -- unlike USB ports -- would substantially boost bus travel times and reliability:
- fare payment tech that enables fast, all-door boarding;
- equipping the whole bus fleet with transit signal priority (the MTA says it's working on it);
- systematically reevaluating and adjusting routes to efficiently align with current travel patterns;
- road pricing to free buses from gridlock.
What Cuomo has done is stiff straphangers time and again, making a shell game of the MTA budget as fares keep rising.
People are abandoning the bus because Cuomo has allowed service to deteriorate and fares to rise. Happy talk and frills aren't going to bring them back.
