The Aug. 15, 2020, letter from Larry Penner headlined “Flushing transit improvements would help Nassau riders” has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese.
First, has the author been to the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street recently? A quick check on Google Earth reveals there to be absolutely no vacant land anywhere near that intersection. Precisely where does the author propose it be built?
Second, according to the various opinion pieces making the rounds in the metropolitan area newspapers, the MTA does not have a money problem, it has a money management problem. He totally ignores the staggering loss of revenue due to COVID, but let us assume for the sake of argument this is true.
Does the author trust the MTA to manage a study when the author has said over and over how the MTA wastes money? Also, in other letters of the author’s, he discusses how the MTA should stop wasting money on studies of projects that will not take place in our lifetime. Exactly what is the author’s definition of a project that will be built in a lifetime? Construction of a bus terminal does not sound like it to me.
In another of the author’s letters to the editor making the rounds, he discusses the realities of the new telecommuting. While I don’t doubt things will eventually return to “normal,” it will probably be at least a year and a half. MTA demand is down about 70 percent. The author does not explain how the new bus terminal would enable riders to transfer oblivious to weather. but let us assume for the sake of argument that is true. How many people would benefit with the new reality of telecommuting?
And where exactly would the money for this project come from? From what I’m to understand, a project of the magnitude the author describes would cost about $10 billion. Maybe private industry could pay for some of it, but the MTA would have to foot at least part of the bill. The author in his other pieces names half a dozen to a dozen MTA projects that are behind schedule and over budget. Are we to believe this one won’t be because the author is in favor it?
So to recap: the MTA mismanages money but will manage this bus terminal fine and dandy. Telecommuting has decreased public transit demand but $10 billion to the author is worth it to serve a decreased number of people. The author does not give a specific location for the terminal, but somehow it will shield riders from the elements.
And finally, the author proposes putting holding lights in bus stops. Don’t bus drivers already have a radio system and dispatchers to tell them when to leave? Wouldn’t holding lights be a waste of money? And has the author ever ridden a bus in which the driver is deliberately slowing down, missing green lights, staying at each stop long after the last rider has boarded due to union rules about maintaining schedules? Or has he been on a bus in which the driver is zooming and screeching because he is behind schedule? How will holding lights eliminate this practice?
Nat Weiner
Bronx
