It's called #RidersRespond: a two-day event in which politicians take to the subway, talking to riders and gathering opinions to present to the MTA at a City Council Transportation Committee hearing on August 8. On Thursday, they were joined by more than 30 volunteers collecting surveys — and many, many reporters.
7 a.m.
242nd Street 1 Train station.
City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez, State Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz and their crew of volunteers, flanked by dozens of members of the media climbed the stairs to the 242nd Street station and were greeted with the most New York of greetings: "Can we move please? F*@$! keep moving, we got work to go," a man shouted as he rushed up the stairs.
On the platform, there was more profanity (as well as a "morons") and very few people that had time to chat. But Jeanne Mullgrav from Yonkers didn't mind taking a moment. "The main problem for New Yorkers is they have to leave particularly early and anticipate delays," she said.
7:35 a.m.
168th Street A train station.
The 168th Street station, which recently underwent a $30 million renovation (tiles had been falling down), was like a wind tunnel. So when Freda Henderson stood to greet the politicians, she lost grip of a paper in her hand. It blew onto the tracks and down the tunnel. That paper contained a list of lawyers and legal aid options. It turned out she was just served an eviction notice on her apartment in Washington Heights. The politicians helped find an MTA employee, but he said it would take at least 45 minutes to try to recover the paper. Henderson opted to head home instead and try to find another copy.
On their way upstairs to meet with the Lee Goldman, the dean of Columbia University Medical Center, the politicians and entourage passed a homeless man. No one stopped to check if he was okay. The man remained throughout their visit in the same position.
A few minutes later, they joined Goldman, whose hospital helped fund the restoration of the station.
"Both Columbia and New York Presbyterian Hospital actually paid for part of the subway renovation," said Goldman. "That's how desperate it was."
"That's a real model, wish we could use it citywide," Rodriguez said.
"We need something like that at every station, wish we had it," Dinowitz said.
By 8 a.m. the politicians had given nearly a dozen press interviews, but had only spoken with a handful of riders. This woman, who wore a sandwich board to get their attention, was given a minute to advocate for the A train.
9:30 a.m.
125th Street Station
Another station, another round of press interviews. This time, Comptroller Scott Stringer joined in.
By now, the leaders had gotten more comfortable speaking with riders, and the press had thinned somewhat.
One commuter, Malcolm Hill from Harlem had some suggestions.
"Free Mojitos on Friday, on the last car," he said. "For real, lower the price of the fares, and put A/Cs in the station, so I'm not melting here."
9:49 a.m.
59th Street station.
The closer the leaders got to downtown, the more politicians joined them. State Senator Brad Hoylman popped in at 59th Street. Soon after, City Council member Helen Rosenthal met up with the group.
If there was one consistent theme from riders, it was: the subways need more money, political arguments between the mayor and governor aren't helping, and the platforms are too damn hot.
On Friday, the #RidersRespond tour heads to Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. See the full schedule of stops below.
Take a look at the full list of stops along our #RidersRespond tour! Join us along the way to help, or even just to say hello! pic.twitter.com/HaOsamKSyb
— Ydanis Rodriguez (@ydanis) July 31, 2017