The MTA’s plan to convert to a zero-emissions bus fleet by 2040 has hit enough roadblocks that the target date is “in jeopardy” of not being met, a new report from New York state’s top fiscal watchdog warns.

The audit from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli comes after the MTA acknowledged in June that it had to pump the brakes on ordering hundreds of electric buses because of reliability shortfalls with the green technology.

“The electric buses that we have tested so far have not been up to standards. They break down too frequently,” Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive, said Wednesday at an unrelated news conference. “We have put the manufacturer on notice and in order for us to continue purchasing electric buses, we need that reliability standard to be met.”

The 28-page report from DiNapoli’s office notes the MTA committed in 2018 to make its entire fleet of nearly 6,000 buses emissions-free in a little more than two decades, but flags several challenges that could put the 2040 goal out of reach.

The transportation authority has previously estimated the ambitious undertaking of replacing all of its buses could cost close to $12 billion — and require enough power to light up nearly 200,000 homes.

Electric buses first hit city streets in 2018, on the M42 and M50 routes in Manhattan and the B32 route between Williamsburg and Long Island City.

“The MTA has set an ambitious goal to transform the nation’s largest bus fleet to 100% zero-emission,” DiNapoli said in a statement Wednesday. “Unfortunately, this audit identified multiple challenges that have put its 2040 target in jeopardy.”

‘An Industrywide Problem’

The audit cites obstacles including surging costs for electric buses as well as the transportation authority’s reliance on a single manufacturer with limited capacity and a backlog of orders from the MTA and other transit providers. The comptroller’s office noted how the $1.8 million cost of a single articulated bus — the type that bends in the middle — is about 60% more than a diesel bus of comparable size.

The audit also flagged that 75 electric buses in the MTA’s fleet have been in service significantly less than had been projected.

“The [battery-electric buses] at five depots were only able to be put into service less than 60% of the time the MTA anticipated,” the audit said.

Jessie Lazarus, MTA chief of rolling stock, acknowledged as much in June at a board meeting where she outlined how the electric buses now in use have proven less reliable than clean-diesel buses in their first years in operation.

“It’s not unique to the MTA, this is an industrywide problem,” she said at the time. “And that also doesn’t mean that we’re shying away from trying to do something about it.”

Lieber said Wednesday that the transit agency is looking to make use of other low-emissions options, including compressed natural gas, hybrid and low-emissions diesel buses.

“We are on track to improve emissions and we are committed to maintaining the rapid progress on that,” he said. “But it does depend on, ultimately, the electric buses or hydrogen — which we’re also testing — panning out.”

‘NY Should Lead the Path Forward’

The challenges with shifting to a zero-emissions fleet extend beyond service reliability. A 2020 report from the nonprofit Tri-State Transportation Campaign cited how thousands of MTA buses are stored in neighborhoods with “very high,” “high” or “moderate” risk of flooding, according to 2050 flood projections.

Lieber said electrification efforts are ongoing at several locations, including the Jamaica and Grand Avenue bus depots in Queens and the East New York depot in Brooklyn.

“We’re going to continue to get ready, assuming that these electric buses are in fact eventually going to be proven and meet the reliability standards that we require,” he said.

Danny Pearlstein, policy director for the nonprofit Riders Alliance, said the MTA is far from the only transit agency having issues with electric buses. More than 1.1 million riders use MTA buses daily, according to transportation authority data.

“It’s not just a New York problem by any stretch of the imagination, but New York should lead the path forward because more riders here depend on buses,” Pearlstein told The City Reporter. “The U.S. has fallen far behind and the current federal government’s commitment to stranding riders and burning fossil fuels adds insult to injury.”

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Drivers packed a Manhattan boardroom Thursday to praise a New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission proposal to give the city’s 180,000 for-hire motorists a break on fines that are stacked on top of license suspensions for missing mandated drug tests or vehicle inspections.

The new proposal floats the possibility of eliminating $200 fines slapped on drivers whose licenses have been suspended for being more than 30 days late on required annual drug tests, as well as penalties ranging from $100 to $500 for not completing vehicle checkups.

“Drivers are already suffering from the economic penalty of being suspended, not being able to work,” Taxi & Limousine Commissioner and Chair Midori Valdivia said Thursday at a TLC board meeting. “And so we did want to reduce the financial burden on our drivers.”

But several drivers said the cost-cutting for drivers needs to go even deeper in an industry still struggling to return to pre-pandemic trip levels.

“These are good changes, but only if they are the beginning,” said Mohamed Mohamed, 63, a former yellow taxi driver who now drives for Uber and Lyft. “Our main demand is this: Stop seeing drivers as easy targets, stop treating us like cash registers or ATM machines for the city.”

A Top Concern for Cabbies

While monthly trips for the app-based ride-hailing services were at nearly 90% of pre-pandemic levels in June, yellow taxis were just 55% of what they were before 2020, according to TLC data. Trips for green cabs, which serve boroughs and Northern Manhattan, have sunk to 8.3% of their pre-COVID levels.

Many of those who testified at Thursday’s meeting said the extra fees only add to the long-running struggles of those at the wheel.

“There’s no need to punish the drivers more with what they have already been subjected to,” said Michele Dottin, an Uber driver.

The proposal is an outgrowth of an executive order signed in January by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who directed city agencies to find ways to reduce costs and bureaucratic hurdles that cause “undue hardships for small businesses.” It also takes a cue from an April survey of thousands of TLC-licensed drivers, including yellow taxi drivers and those who drive for app-based ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft.

“There is nothing too small or too big to consider when it comes to improving working conditions,” Valdivia said at the meeting. “And every one of us benefits from those improvements.”

Nearly 27% of the nearly 4,000 drivers who responded to the survey flagged certain fines and penalties as a leading source of frustration.

“These fines only hurt us as drivers,” said Saif Aizah, 52, who drives for Lyft. “We have to work longer hours just to pay these fines.”

The number of drivers who pointed to monetary penalties as a headache came in at just under the 28% who cited competition from unlicensed ride-hailing competitors.

‘We Didn’t Need To Add This On’

Last fiscal year, according to TLC, there were 2,941 instances of drivers receiving a $200 fee for a late drug test. For missing vehicle inspections, 8,572 summonses have been issued, with fees ranging from $100 to $500.

The fees are currently tacked onto drivers who have been taken out of service for not meeting the commission’s requirements.

“Missed vehicle inspections already result in a suspension, which means you can’t use your vehicle, and that’s already a significant penalty,” Valdivia said in an interview with The City Reporter. “You’re already losing money, and so we decided that with $100 to $500 escalating, they’re already paying a steep penalty for missing this vehicle inspection and we didn’t need to add this on.”

Medallion owner Augustine Tang, 42, testified Thursday that tacking fees on top of a license suspension does not make sense for drivers who have already been sidelined.

“We are not asking TLC to ignore violations or excuse unsafe driving,” Tang said. “We are asking for the penalties to be fair and proportional.”

TLC officials said they also want to wipe away a $25 fee to replace a license and a $50 charge for reporting the loss or theft of a license. Those fees have been applied 2,941 times so far this fiscal year, according to the agency.

Reduced Revenue for Regulators

The commission estimates that eliminating the fees and fines could collectively save drivers about $950,000 while reducing TLC revenue by $994,000, or slightly less than 2% of the agency’s fiscal year 2027 budget.

Taxi medallion owner Michael Simon said he felt “a little out of place” in pointing out how the fees support a “more capable” TLC.

“These fees are a small fraction of what is needed for a taxi driver and only a token gesture to a sinking ship,” said Simon, who wore a yellow taxi T-shirt. “We need more.”

If approved, the rule change would take effect this fall. Valdivia said eliminating the fees should be seen as “just the beginning” of moves aimed at cutting costs for drivers.

“When we actually support the people who power our system, the entire transportation service gets better,” she said.

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The digital age is dawning for older bus riders who refuse to dump coins for the MTA’s new fare-payment methods.

With OMNY now in use on 92% of paid bus trips, according to the MTA, the transportation authority is nudging golden-aged holdouts who still drop loose change into fareboxes to switch to the tap-and-go technology before coins are no longer accepted later this year. 

“One thing we have been doing is just being vocal,” said Demetrius Crichlow, president of New York City Transit. “We have been out there in every outlet possible, I have personally gone to a lot of senior centers and talked directly about the transition.”

But even after making the case for OMNY in presentations at more than 110 senior centers, as well as libraries, public housing developments, religious institutions and other locations with heavier coin usage on buses, the MTA still faces pockets of resistance among some older riders.

MTA officials announced the discontinuation of coin fares on buses last October, after eliminating hand-to-hand cash transactions at subway station booths in the early days of the pandemic. Cash transactions were permanently banned at the booths in 2021, though OMNY vending machines accept paper bills and change.

Yet coins still have a following on the buses.

Carmen Collazo, 77, said she prefers paying for bus fares by reaching into her sack of loose change instead of loading money onto her reduced-fare OMNY card.

“I feel more comfortable with the coins, but I guess I have to get used to it, go with the times and do what I need to do,” she said. “I have no choice.”

‘I Always Carry Extra Change’

MTA officials Alberto Roldan and Charley Cohen last week visited an East Harlem senior center to promote the tap-and-go payment system. The pair set up shop at a table stocked with lens tissues featuring a map of the subway system and with pamphlets on how riders 65 and older can tap into OMNY via farecards or mobile devices.

When Roldan, the MTA’s assistant director of government and community relations, asked the room of older New Yorkers how many had received reduced-fare OMNY cards, most of the attendees thrust their hands into the air.

“That’s a good start,” he said.

But Roldan was received with a “say what!” and an “oh, wow!” — along with a few groans — after informing the crowd that coins will no longer be accepted as payment on buses “at some point later this year.” 

“That’s why I always carry that extra change, just in case I don’t have no money on my OMNY card,” said Coleta Horton, 68. “I don’t want to beat the fare.”

MTA officials have emphasized that unlike MetroCards — whose sales ended at the end of 2025 — OMNY cards can be refilled online, at more than 2,700 retail locations and without having to set foot into a subway station.

“In the OMNY ecosystem, we have retail vendors — that means CVS, Walgreens, delis that we’ve partnered with — where a coin-based customer [or] a cash customer can go into these retailers and do these transactions, upload value into the OMNY cards,” said Quemuel Arroyo, the MTA’s chief accessibility officer. “They can do it from their homes if they have access to a computer.”

Even as the MTA has faced a host of complaints from riders during the yearslong conversion to OMNY, the tap-and-go technology is now used for 99% of paid subway trips, according to the transportation authority. 

But on buses — where about half of all passengers dodge the fare, according to MTA data — riders can still nickel-and-dime their way into a trip. (Officials have also said foreign coins and old tokens sometimes get dropped into the farebox.)

Ediberto Sanchez, a laborer from The Bronx, used quarters and nickels to partially pay the fare on a Bx12 bus he boarded on Fordham Road earlier this month.

“I pay what I can with coins, and when I start getting paid for work, then I will refill the card,” he told The City Reporter in Spanish. “Until then, I’ll pay $2 in coins, or whatever I can afford.”

‘You Can’t Do That With OMNY’

One of the chief complaints about OMNY that the MTA has faced is that fare readers on buses and in the subway do not tell riders the remaining balance on a fare card. Trip records are available online, but some OMNY converts said they still carry loose change.

“With the MetroCard, once you paid, you could still see how much you had on your card, but you can’t do that with OMNY,” said Edna DeLoatch, 72. “Then you get tired of lugging around those extra coins.”

Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chair and CEO, said last month that the transit agency is developing software updates to allow riders to more readily access OMNY balances when tapping in for a trip.

Cohen, who serves as senior accessibility officer at the transportation authority, reiterated that goal during his presentation at the East Harlem senior center.

“We know it’s an issue and we’re working to fix it, hopefully, by the end of the year,” he said.

While waiting for a bus along Fordham Road this month, 69-year-old Nydia Santana said she still sometimes pays the fare with loose change, but conceded OMNY has grown on her.

“Once you get used to it, it’s easier,” she said. “Plus, I’m tired of collecting coins.”

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All aboard, baby.

Tykes who ride MTA buses will have designated stroller-only spaces across the entire fleet of nearly 6,000 carriages by the end of the year, officials announced Thursday.

The move marks more than just a baby step for a program that the transit authority began testing in 2022, when it created stroller-only sections on just seven routes without taking any space that is prioritized for wheelchair users at the front of each bus.

“We had parents and caregivers and disability advocates who were advocating that we preserve the integrity of those spots up front for people that have mobility disabilities, as the [Americans with Disabilities Act] calls for,” said Quemuel Arroyo, the MTA’s chief accessibility officer. “So we knew that we weren’t touching those spaces.”

Approximately 75% of all buses on more than 250 routes now have what is marked as a “Designated Stroller Area,” where seats can be flipped up to make room for tots and their stroller-pushing parents. All future bus orders will include spots for open strollers, while others are presently being retrofitted at MTA bus depots.

“We often talk about how our buses are critical ways for people to get to school, to work, to health care,” said Demetrius Crichlow, president of New York City Transit. “But we can’t forget about those who have children and families that need to get to the playground, to get to visit grandparents, to get to their first play dates.”

The expansion is being funded by state legislators and it comes several years after parents began campaigning for the MTA to reconsider its earlier ban on open strollers aboard buses. Not even a year after the start of the pilot program in September 2022, the test drive expanded to more than 1,000 buses.

Danielle Avissar, a Manhattan mother of two, was among those who began pushing for the space when her son was a year old. He’s now five and about to enter first grade.

Over those years, Avissar said strollers have become more welcome on buses, overcoming initial “serious safety concerns” from the Transport Workers Union that unfolded strollers could tip over or lead to scraps over space.

“Parents feel more comfortable — it’s become more normal and socially accepted for strollers to be on buses,” she said. “Parents felt really shunned out prior to this.”

Unfolded strollers can enter via wheelchair ramps or lifts attached to every bus. According to MTA data, the devices have been used more than 111,000 times a month over the last year.

Avissar added that signs on buses marking the space for strollers have helped tamp down potential conflicts with other passengers.

“Once they see a designated spot, they get up, just like they do for a wheelchair patron,” she said.

Christine Serdjenian Yearwood, a mother of three who founded UP-STAND to advocate for parents-to-be who use mass transit, said the program’s systemwide expansion is a sign of how much effort parents, bus operators and advocates for people with disabilities put into making it work.

“It’s a dream come true for families in New York,” she said. “It really makes it so people can use the bus system and get to where they need to go.”

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Heyyy, they’re walkin’ here!

The city’s Transportation Department has hit an app that tracks New Yorkers’ block-by-block walking routes with a cease-and-desist letter. DOT wants the free app, called WalkNYC, to walk away and come back with a new name. 

That’s because WalkNYC has the name of DOT’s trademarked wayfinding program, as detailed with maps and directions on sidewalks, near Citi Bike docks and in subway stations. The signs help pedestrians, transit riders and cyclists get around.

The letter, sent July 20, states the app and its ads and online materials use “nearly identical” branding and colors as the city’s WalkNYC materials. The app’s contents “have caused confusion to locals and visitors and intimates that the City of New York is affiliated,” the letter alleges.

DOT directed the app to stop using WalkNYC branding, disable the website and app, and remove physical and online material promoting it.

The letter prompted developer Joe Puccio to add a banner to the top of the app that reads, “NYC DOT sent me a cease and desist. Tell them why you use WalkNYC.” App users are directed to a form indicating Puccio wants to share letters of support with DOT from app users.

“Like the DOT, I want to support the walkers of this city, and I’m hopeful we can work something out with them given that shared goal,” the form states. It includes questions about whether the app changed the way users walk around the city and if users had heard of DOT’s WalkNYC signs and maps before.

Puccio did not respond to requests for comment from The City Reporter.

DOT insists the letter is not about shutting the app down but spurring Puccio to come up with a new name and branding for it.

“We appreciate every New Yorker who enjoys strolling through the most walkable city in the country — but app developers cannot use the city’s trademarked branding for their products without permission,” said DOT spokesperson Vincent Barone. “We do not want there to be any confusion about this product and the city’s wayfinding program.”

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the New York City government federal trademark registration for WalkNYC in 2014. A decade later, DOT renewed the registration for another 10 years. The registration gives DOT the exclusive right to use WalkNYC and stop others from using the same or similar in association with related services.

Lawyer Stacy Grossman, founder of the intellectual property firm SGIP, pointed out the app and the city’s wayfinding services appear similar, and both use a “walking man” icon. She also said other parties do not appear to have used the WalkNYC trademark.

“All of this together suggests that consumers could be confused and the app should change its name,” said Grossman, who doesn’t represent DOT or the app. “This is precisely why entrepreneurs should do trademark clearance work — to be sure that a new brand is available for use before launching a new product.”

Tracy Jong, senior attorney at the firm Evans Fox LLP who works on intellectual property matters, said it’s possible DOT and Puccio could work out an agreement to allow the WalkNYC app to keep its name.

“That’s where one side says, ‘Hey, we both agree people won’t be confused as long as each of us do the following,’ and you craft appropriate terms,” Jong said. She suggested the app could use a pedometer icon instead of an image of a person walking, or include a disclaimer that the app is not associated with the City of New York.

The app WalkNYC, which became available on the App Store in May, logs each city block that users walk by marking routes with green on a digital map. A leaderboard shows how users compare to each another, and the app includes statistics about mileage and time spent strolling.

When he launched the app, Puccio told news outlets he wanted to walk every block in Manhattan and described the product as his “little love letter” to New York City.

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Nearly a decade after New Yorkers with disabilities sued the MTA in federal court over allegedly insufficient upkeep of subway elevators, the two sides have reached a legal peace — as the in-service rate for lifts has climbed to nearly 98%.

The pact comes after the 2023 approval of a landmark settlement in two separate cases which requires almost all of the city’s nearly 500 subway and Staten Island Railway stations to be equipped with elevators or ramps by 2055. 

Currently, 161 stations are accessible, up from 112 when the elevator-maintenance lawsuit was filed in 2017 and the MTA has committed to spending more than $7 billion on station accessibility as part of its nearly $70 billion 2025 to 2029 capital plan.

“As availability has improved, the issues in that dispute narrowed…” said Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive. “We were able to find common ground with our disability activist colleagues, partly by the MTA promising to continue doing a lot of what we’re doing already.”

The latest truce, which must be signed off on by U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels, was made public Wednesday during the MTA’s July board meeting. It requires the MTA to more clearly alert the public when elevators are out of service and coincides with the accelerated installation of lifts across the transit system.

The settlement marks the latest twist in a long-lingering case that was revived by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals after a lower court had ruled in favor of the MTA.

“There have been plenty of stops along the way, but we’re glad our elevator maintenance case has finally reached its destination — a promise of better service for disabled people and anyone who else needs an elevator in New York City’s vast subway system,” said Joe Rappaport, executive director of Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, an organization that is among the plaintiffs.

Jessica Murray of the Rise and Resist Elevator Action Group said the existing alert system on elevator outages is not enough, adding that the lawsuit should not have taken so many years to settle.

“People that I know who use the system regularly check the MTA app before they leave their house and the information is not updated,” she said. “They often don’t find out until they have already paid their fare and made it all the way down to the mezzanine and see that an elevator is out of service.”

Plaintiff Sharon McLennon-Wier, who is blind, said the authority’s legal commitment to clearer alerts on long-term elevator outages is a significant step forward for riders with disabilities.

“In signing this settlement, we are going to learn that notifications will be put in place and someone doesn’t have to be stranded or spend more time during their journey during that day to get to where they need to go,” said McLennon-Wier, executive director of Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York.

For several years, people with disabilities have protested prior to the monthly board meetings about the MTA’s insistence on fighting the long-running and costly lawsuit that is centered around alerts to the public over out-of-service subway elevators.

“If it wasn’t for us yelling, screaming, rallying, saying, ‘Hey, when are you going to have an elevator out today…’ we wouldn’t be here today,” McLennon-Wier said.

There was no protest on Wednesday.

“I’m glad that we are putting to bed, again, the whole history of disputes,” Lieber said. “And I really do hope that we can continue to achieve great things for disability but more through collaboration and hopefully, a little bit less litigation.”

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The rebuilding of an East Harlem rail structure from the 1890s has arrived at its destination five years ahead of schedule, officials announced Monday — without disrupting passenger service along Metro-North’s main artery in and out of Grand Central Terminal.

Gov. Kathy Hochul donned a hardhat and stood with MTA executives to ceremonially knock “golden clips” onto the railroad tracks atop the elevated Park Avenue Viaduct, capping a structural replacement project that was forecast to be completed in “about eight years” when work began in late 2023.

The structural repairs were done while Metro-North trains continued to run over the viaduct with a 97% on-time performance rate, according to the MTA. That topped the commuter railroad’s monthly 94% on-time performance goal.

The trains kept running through the use of custom-made gantry systems that lifted prefabricated bridge units weighing nearly 200,000 lbs. into place, with enclosed work zones created between operating tracks.

“Our priority is to make sure that our riders, who we just treasure, never feel disrupted that they say, ‘Oh it’s just another hassle,’” Hochul said. “That era is over, that’s why we were able to accomplish this, shaving off four to five years.”

Officials added that the weekends-only work on the viaduct, which extends between East 97th Street and the Harlem River, came in nearly $200 million under its initial $833 million budget.

‘Incredible Time Savings’

Towering gantry systems were deployed above the viaduct’s four tracks to replace the viaduct’s steel and concrete deck with hundreds of ready-made bridge sections that each weigh 190,000 lbs.

“We said to the contractors, ‘Show us the fastest, cheapest way of getting done,’ and it led to innovation,” said Janno Lieber, the transportation authority’s chairperson and chief executive. “The innovation is what yielded those incredible time savings.”

The 133-year-old viaduct carries 98% of all weekday Metro-North commuters in and out of Manhattan and is among the decaying structures that have been targeted for upgrades as part of the MTA’s nearly $70 billion capital plan for 2025-2029.

Lieber said there was “real urgency” in overcoming the “progressive decline” of the 1.8 mile-long East Harlem viaduct.

“When you subject concrete and steel to water, salt and chemicals for 100-plus years, stuff happens and it was happening fast,” he said. “That’s how we decided we had to do this project immediately and to do it fast.”

The capital plan calls for spending $9 billion to secure miles of old steel and concrete structures across the regional transportation network.

For Metro-North, that includes rebuilding the two other components comprising the commuter railroad’s so-called Grand Central Artery, a tunnel and train shed beneath Park Avenue.

The MTA estimated in 2024 that nearly half of the railroad’s bridges were in poor or marginal condition.

Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction & Development, said the lessons learned from the Park Avenue Viaduct project will be used to protect subway tracks exposed to the elements.

“We’re going to, within this program, get about half — or over 30 miles of our 65 miles of elevated subway — rehabilitated,” Torres-Springer said. “We don’t have many structures that are in this state of disrepair.”

‘A Torturous Situation’

But even as officials touted the accelerated completion and Metro-North’s on-time performance marks, the owner of a garden center that had a location relocated from beneath the viaduct said the construction has left the business “teetering.”

“I am writing my own obituary as a business,” said Dimitri Gatanas, owner of the Urban Garden Center, which has operated from three different locations beneath the viaduct. “With the retail, I can tell you that it’s under siege and it’s been very difficult.”

It’s not the first time Gatanas has tangled with the MTA.

After a May 2016 fire that shut down Metro-North service and damaged the viaduct, the MTA sued in state court, alleging the garden center stored “hazardous, flammable and explosive materials” beneath the tracks at its storage center between 117th and 118th streets.

Gatanas said the fallout from having to relocate the garden center to a warehouse on East 117th and to a spot further south in La Marqueta, a public marketplace, now has him thinking of starting over again in New Jersey or shifting into e-commerce.

“I understand there is a greater good and that public transportation is super important for New York City, it’s the lifeblood of the city,” he told The City Reporter.

But he said a garden center like the one that his family has operated since 1959 is also important.

“It’s a torturous situation for me,” Gatanas said. “I don’t know what to do.”

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A $400 million renovation of a major Brooklyn transit hub has yielded little for locals looking for jobs, critics charged Thursday, saying that less than 8% of the 170 hires for the project so far have come from surrounding neighborhoods.

The multi-year makeover of Broadway Junction — a sprawling complex that last year served more than 1.8 million riders on the A, C, J, L and Z lines — will equip the station’s multiple levels with seven new elevators, rebuild three escalators and add a new street-level pedestrian bridge by the end of 2027.

Several elected officials and community leaders contend the MTA is falling short of its stated goal to hire at least 20% of the workforce from neighboring communities as part of a local hiring pilot program.

Those neighborhoods include East New York, Brownsville and Bushwick.

“The problem we are having is that for $400 million, we are not seeing those dollars hit the ground, we are not seeing it go into the pockets of our local workforce, we are not seeing it go into our local economy,” said City Councilmember Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn), who represents the area. “And that’s a shame.”

Nurse said that 13 of the 170 workers now on the job — or not quite 8% — come from the eight ZIP codes nearest to Broadway Junction, with the numbers coming from meetings with MTA officials.

“That was from them finally giving us the numbers, after kicking and screaming about it, quite frankly,” she said. “I mean, we want to see more than 13 out of 170.”

The MTA countered that the transportation authority is meeting its commitment.

“MTA contracts are consistent with state and federal law,” said authority spokesperson Joana Flores. “The MTA’s $400 million investment in Broadway Junction will modernize and make this station fully accessible, improving quality of life for riders while improving the neighborhood’s economic growth and revitalization.”

But elected officials charged the transit authority is relying on a broader definition of local hiring to meet the 20% mark, counting people from “economically disadvantaged” neighborhoods. Contractors hire workers for the union jobs.

“When we said local hiring, we meant local from the community — not from miles and miles away,” said state Sen. Jabari Brisport (D-Brooklyn). “Don’t redefine it to meet your goals when you’re actually subverting and undermining what we need, which are investments in our community.”

The overhaul and accessibility upgrades within the towering transit complex is seen as essential to a series of projects aimed at turning the surrounding area into more of a jobs hub over the course of several years, with construction planned for a gateway to the main entrance to Broadway Junction.

“There’s going to be a lot of money coming into this district, probably easily over a billion dollars,” Nurse said. “But how many of those dollars are going to go into our community, into the pockets of our families and how much of this money is going to lift up our local economy?”

A 400,000-square foot commercial building known as 2440 Fulton Street — which is billed as the largest in the area — opened across from the station last year, with room for multiple agencies and city-administered programs. 

At a rally Thursday outside of Broadway Junction, leaders from several community organizations said jobs are essential for creating opportunities within a section of the city whose poverty rate of 21.4% topped the citywide total of 18%, according to a 2024 study from NYU Furman Center. Black unemployment, especially for young people, is also stubbornly high in the city, The City Reporter recently detailed.

“Jobs for the junction? Hire East New York!” the crowd chanted. “Jobs for the junction? Hire Brownsville!”

“This project is more than construction or rehabilitating a train station,” said Bill Wilkins, executive director of the Local Development Corporation of East New York. “It’s an opportunity to strengthen neighborhoods.”

“We want to see the people getting jobs from within the community,” said Robert Camacho, chairperson of Brooklyn Community Board 4, which includes Bushwick. “Investment comes with the community, no?”

As Dria Forbes carried an empty baby stroller down the stairs to the station’s A and C line platform — where elevators are being installed — the 35-year-old mother said she welcomes the MTA’s investment in the station.

“When I have the child, he has to come out of the stroller when there is no one to help me,” Forbes said. “It will make a big difference because I got to be up and down on these steps.”

Close to 34% of all stations in the transit system are presently compliant with the federal American with Disabilities Act and the MTA has made more than 60 stations fully accessible since 2020. The authority faces a federal court mandate to make 95% of its nearly 500 subway and Staten Island Railway stations ADA-compliant by 2055.

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A Manhattan judge has blocked a city law that is designed to shield Uber and Lyft drivers from being abruptly deactivated from the ride-hailing apps just days before it was set to take effect.

The preliminary injunction issued Tuesday by United States District Court Judge Gregory Woods pumps the brakes on Local Law 52, which was set to take effect July 28 as a way to shield more than 80,000 for-hire vehicle drivers from getting booted off the apps without advance notice.

The City Council overwhelmingly approved the measure in January, but Woods noted in his 53-page decision that wrongful deactivation affects no more than a “narrow group” of drivers. Uber and Lyft had filed suit in federal court last month and lawyers for the companies argued before Woods last week that the law could force them to keep drivers who are a threat to the safety of passengers and the public.

“The record shows that the City Council did not consider the law’s effects on the broader citizenry of New York City, such as passengers and pedestrians — groups whose safety depends in part on swift deactivation of drivers accused of fraud, assault or dangerous conduct,” Woods wrote in the page decision.

“Nor did the city consider whether the cost of compliance with the law would result in increased costs for the millions of monthly users of Uber and Lyft’s services,” he added.

Representatives for the ride-hailing apps praised Woods’s opinion, which pushes back on legislation that then-Mayor Eric Adams vetoed Dec. 31 during his final hours in office. The City Council overwhelmingly revived the bill in January, only for it to be challenged again by the tech giants in federal court.

The legislation would require the app companies to specify why drivers are being cut out from the apps, require 14 days’ notice and also establish an independent appeals process.

Court papers point out that Uber safety issues accounted for more than half of its New York driver deactivations in 2025 and that safety and fraud — including identity and document fraud — account for more than 92% of that total.

“We’re pleased the court recognized the importance of preserving our ability to exercise discretion to protect the safety and integrity of our platform,” said Josh Gold, an Uber spokesperson. “The opinion underscores that driver fairness and rider safety can and must go hand in hand.” 

CJ Macklin, a Lyft spokesperson, added that the company is pleased that the judge recognized “the serious safety concerns at the heart of this challenge.”

“We now look forward to making our full case,” Macklin said.

In a statement, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said the agency “respectfully disagrees with the decision.”

“Fairness in the workplace starts with guaranteeing stability — not allowing an algorithm to determine whether drivers can earn a living,” spokesperson Stephany Vasquez Sanchez said.

The bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Shekar Krishnan (D-Queens) blasted the judge for siding with Uber and Lyft, whose drivers completed more than 22 million trips in May, according to New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission data.

“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision,” Krishnan said in a joint statement with Council Speaker Julie Menin. “We are evaluating this latest ruling and considering next steps to ensure these protections are upheld.”

The City Council approved a similar measure last year for food delivery workers who work for the apps.

Bhairavi Desai, head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, called the judge’s move to block the law “misguided, wrong” and marked by “extreme pro-corporation bias.”

“It took three years to win the law,” Desai told The City Reporter. “The drivers had been suffering for far longer.”

At a rally last week in front of Uber’s Lower Manhattan headquarters, several drivers who contend they were wrongly deactivated from the apps said the measure would bring them out of the dark about why.

Md Azizul Haque, who drove for Uber from 2018 until mid-2019, called the suspensions “one-sided judgements” that left drivers exposed to overheated accusations from passengers,

“[Uber] just texted me a message that I broke their community guidelines,” said Haque, who now drives a yellow taxi. “That’s about all I know.

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Elena Zerkal isn’t shy about tooting her own horn over the 11 years she spent behind the wheel as a for-hire vehicle driver.

“Five-star ratings, professional, I never had any problems,” she said. “Best ratings, best customer service review, everything.”

But the former Lyft driver says that track record didn’t spare her from being “dumped out of nowhere” by the app-based ride-hailing service last year after she told a male passenger in Midtown East that she was not comfortable driving him as he berated a female companion in the back seat.

“I felt so bad for this girl and I intervened and I said, ‘Excuse me sir, I don’t appreciate that you’re insulting the lady in front of me, I don’t feel comfortable driving you,’” Zerkal told The City Reporter. “And while my car is still in slow motion on 57th Street going west, he gets out, slams the door and yells, ‘You f—— b—-.”

Within minutes of dropping off the woman, Zerkal said, she was notified that she had been cut off from the app, deactivated by Lyft over what she contends is a false accusation of assault from the male passenger.

“The guy complained that I touched his genitalia, they completely shut down my comms,” said Zerkal, who now drives for two black car services. “I got dumped out of nowhere for this false claim that I touched him.”

The 54-year-old Queens grandmother was among close to 200 for-hire vehicle drivers who protested in Lower Manhattan Tuesday over legal maneuvering by Uber and Lyft to block a city law that is designed to protect operators from being abruptly booted off the ride-hailing apps. The City Council approved a similar measure for app-based food delivery workers last year.

The sponsor of what is known as Local Law 52, Councilmember Shekar Krishnan (D-Queens), described the battle between the drivers and the tech giants as “money versus the many, the corporate power versus the people power.”

“Over and over again, Uber and Lyft have thrown everything at us,” Krishnan said. “They have tried to block our legislation, they have gotten a former mayor in Eric Adams to veto our legislation, but every time, we have stood up, we have fought back and we have won.”

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance and Krishnan rallied outside of Uber’s Lower Manhattan headquarters two days before a hearing in federal court, saying the drivers deserve some due process instead of being suddenly deactivated by the apps.

“You could have worked for Uber and Lyft for 10 years with a spotless record,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the taxi workers alliance. “And within a second and without even a moment’s notice, they will discard you as if you never existed at all.”

The two companies filed suit in federal court last month to challenge a law overwhelmingly approved by the City Council in January — and which is set to take effect July 28. The measure would bar the ride-hailing apps from cutting off workers without “just cause” and require them to provide advance notice before deactivating a driver.

Md Azizul Haque, who drove for Uber from 2018 to mid-2019, said he’s still in the dark about why he was cut off from the app.

“This law would give me an opportunity to find out the reason why I got deactivated,” Haque told The City Reporter. “And also I would get a fair hearing about my issues.”

The companies contend that the law could force them to keep bad drivers who are a threat to passenger and public safety.

“Let me be clear: We do not deactivate a user because we want to, we do it because we need to and it’s always a last resort,” Josh Gold, an Uber spokesperson, testified to The City Council in 2024. “We do it to help ensure everyone who uses Uber can have a safe and reliable experience.”

In an unsigned statement Tuesday, Uber called the new law “reckless” and said it could strip the company of its right to bounce “potentially dangerous drivers and fraudsters” from the app.

“This unconstitutional legislation seeks to force us to keep our platform open to individuals accused of misconduct and compromises rider privacy by requiring the disclosure of sensitive safety reports to the very individuals accused of abuse,” the company said.

Haque, who now drives a yellow taxi, said the reason for his deactivation “is still a mystery” to him, while Zerkal said she would welcome the chance for a hearing into why she was canned.

“Nobody wants to talk to me, they don’t care,” she said. “They completely cut me off from my livelihood.”

Additional reporting by Claudia Irizarry Aponte

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