Like many organizations, the MTA has been holding its monthly board meetings remotely since the start of the pandemic. But, the transit agency has rolled what used to be two days of public meetings into one, and critics say it’s time to stop.

In the before-times the MTA’s public meetings could be revealing, tedious, and sometimes hilarious—with the public commenting, sometimes too frankly, in front of MTA leadership. But it was the only time top brass heard directly from commuters, and sometimes they were even influenced by them.

When the pandemic began, the agency axed a full day of meetings, and reduced public comments to just 30 minutes of pre-recorded videos.

Several board members and activists are calling for a return to two days of meetings a month. They say public input is valuable, and they want to hear more specifically how the MTA will be spending the billions of dollars in federal relief aid it's recently received.