Riders Alliance, a grassroots transit group criticizing the governor for leaving the MTA’s $32 billion plan to improve service unfunded, took a cardboard cutout for a rush-hour ride. Irate straphangers took no time ticking off their grievances to the Cuomo stand-in.
“We pay more than we should.” fumed rider Nick Bicer, 34, a furniture store manager from Sunnyside, Queens, echoing the complaints of many. “They don’t work on time. They run late.”

Nick Sifuentes, Riders Alliance’s deputy director, said Cuomo has ignored the group’s request to join its members on the rails.
“He hasn’t responded at all,” Sifuentes said. “Since he doesn’t want to ride with us, we’re going to take him on a ride.”
NICOLAS ENRIQUEZ FOR THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
The Cuomo cardboard cutout stopped at the Times Square subway station on Thursday to get a taste of the rush-hour traffic.
The Riders Alliance is launching an Instagram account, @RideCuomoRide, to push the MTA funding issue on social media. The group is also taking suggestions from subway riders on the stations cardboard Cuomo should visit next.
Cuomo and state lawmakers left Albany this year without figuring out a way to plug the $14 billion hole in the MTA’s five-year plan to fix and replace aging equipment, boost the number of trains at rush hour and continue building the Second Avenue subway and other megaprojects.
Lauren Houston, 36, a graphic designer from Astoria, Queens and a Riders Alliance member, vented about overcrowding on the underground trains.
“I’d love to see him squeeze in there,” Houston said as she invited Cuomo to take a ride on the F train.
SETH WENIG/AP
Cuomo did not respond to an invitation to ride on the subway, so a cardboard replica took his place.
Riders Alliance took the fake governor for a ride on the often packed 7 train from the Times Square station to Court Square in Queens.
“We need to be clear who’s responsible here for our terrible commutes,” Sifuentes said. “It’s one person and it’s Gov. Cuomo.”
No comments:
Post a Comment