Last month, in the wake of the tragic derailment of a Metro-North train at Spuyten Duyvil that killed four passengers in December 2013, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the establishment of a new safety committee on the MTA board and the creation of a Chief Safety Officer position that will report directly to MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast.

The new position will be tasked with improving safety through “stepping up reporting responsibilities and management oversight and installing automatic speed protections” on the railroad. The move was applauded across the region as long overdue. While we hope these efforts will improve safety along the rails, oversight on safety issues for the MTA’s new senior management position should not stop there.

Since January 2013, at least nine pedestrians and cyclists have been killed by MTA bus drivers in New York City, and according to a Tri-State analysis, from 2010-2012, 10 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred within a quarter mile of Long Island Rail Road stations in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and Metro-North stations in Westchester County. These fatalities highlight the need for greater coordination between the MTA, the New York City Department of Transportation and state departments of transportation to address the safety of millions of pedestrians who access the railroad and the City’s subways and buses daily. A model example of this type of collaboration can be found in New Jersey, where NJ Transit partners with NJDOT on a Transit Village program which prioritizes making access to transit stations safer.

Thankfully elected officials from New York City are demanding action.

This past weekend, in response to the most recent pedestrian killed by an MTA bus driver, New York City Council members Steve Levin and Antonio Reynoso and New York State Assemblymembers Joe Lentol and Maritza Davila joined advocates to call on the MTA to get on board with Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero policy in New York City. The MTA was not identified as an inter-agency partner in the Vision Zero Action Plan when it was released last month.

But moving forward, the new Chief Safety Officer should not miss an opportunity to address all safety issues that face MTA customers and the communities that the MTA serves. Becoming an active participant on implementing Vision Zero as well as partnering with New York State Department of Transportation and local public works departments in the region to establish a Safe Routes to Transit program must also fall in the safety committee and safety officer’s job portfolio.