“There are few examples of the MTA’s misplaced priorities as glaring as its Enhanced Station Initiative. At a time when we face a crisis of subway reliability and accessibility, the MTA chooses to spend hundreds of millions of precious dollars on cosmetic improvements that will do nothing to improve subway service or accessibility. Even worse, the MTA recently diverted over $1 billion dollars from signal fixes and new subway cars to pay for this initiative. While it will be more pleasant for subway riders to stare at more beautiful stations while they wait longer and longer for delayed trains, the MTA’s inattention to the larger problem is bordering on scandalous.”

Background:

Today marks the first day of an 8-month shutdown of the 36th & 30th Avenue N/W train stations in Astoria, which are represented by Senator Gianaris.