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NYS Thruway Authority Board Must Address TZB Task Force Recommendations

The New York State Thruway Authority was a key member of the Mass Transit Task Force, but is yet to formally acknowledge the group's recommendations.
The NYS Thruway Authority was a key member of the Mass Transit Task Force, but the NYSTA Board is still yet to formally address the group’s recommendations.

On Thursday, the New York State Thruway Authority Board of Directors held its first meeting since the New NY Bridge Mass Transit Task Force issued its final recommendations, which include a BRT-like system that will enhance bus service between Rockland and Westchester Counties. Conspicuously absent from the meeting’s agenda, however, was a discussion of the MTTF’s Final Report.

Regardless of the fact that Executive Director Tom Madison was a co-chair of the MTTF, and that the system will run on the Thruway (including the New NY Bridge), and that NYS officials stated the Governor and Thruway Authority Board would review the recommendations and determine next steps, when urged by Tri-State to adopt the recommendations at the meeting, Board Chairman Howard Millstein said he did not believe the Thruway Authority needed to address this issue because it is not funding the project.

Although Madison stated that the recommendations had been distributed to the Board, there had been relatively little time to review. Mr. Madison was an active partner in the year-long Mass Transit Task Force process. Now, Chairman Millstein must advance the recommendations for full board discussion and approval. Given that Thruway Authority board meetings do not occur monthly, and with a varying degree of advance notice, the Chairman should call a special meeting soon to address and vote on the transit proposal. With less than five years to develop a financing proposal for the new transit system and to implement the seven new proposed routes, this must be a state priority now that the budget season has concluded. It’s already been five weeks since the recommendations were released, and with the tasks that remain, every week will matter.

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[…] Thruway Board in No Rush to Take Up Tappan Zee Bridge Transit Recommendations (MTR) […]

Clark Morris
Clark Morris
9 years ago

Put two electrified tracks on the bridge and connect them to the Harlem line near White Plains as well as to Suffern. Run trains every 15 minutes all day and organize the bus routes around the stations with integrated fares so that fare wise the rail line is just another bus route. Light rail can handle up to 9 percent grades and I suspect that the M8s used on the New Haven line might given that all axles are powered. Since trucks on interstate highways shouldn’t encounter more than a 6 percent grade (braking problems and slower speeds up hill), that is an even greater reason to use rail. If the nowhere to nowhere Green Line Light Rail in a Los Angeles freeway can attract a large ridership, a Suffern to White Plains and hopefully beyond should do even better.

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[…] Authority — After three runaway barges, Thruway Board Chairman Howard Millstein’s complete dismissal of the Tappan Zee Bridge Mass Transit Task Force recommendations, and still no clear answer […]

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[…] TSTC intends to hold him to his word while also ensuring that BRT is fully implemented in the Tappan Zee Bridge corridor and successfully launched in Connecticut […]

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