A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
WINNERS
Connecticut State Representative Kim Rose — Rep. Rose has called on the Milford Police Department and Connecticut Department of Transportation to make a crash-prone stretch of Bridgeport Avenue safer for people walking.
Suffolk County Legislator Kate Browning — Legis. Browning said the county’s plan to cut eight Suffolk County Transit bus routes is unacceptable and would strand Stony Brook University students.
New Jersey Transit riders — NJ Transit is now required to hold public hearings and provide notice prior to any bus or rail service reductions.
Federal Highway Administration — The agency will strive to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and serious injuries by 80 percent within 15 years and completely eliminate them within 20 years.
LOSERS
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto — More than 80 days into the transportation funding shutdown, lawmakers in Trenton have still made little progress on reaching a deal.
New York State Senator Tony Avella — The eastern Queens lawmaker believes installing more traffic lights is the way to keep New York City cyclists safe, not bike lanes.
MTA — The MTA’s Access-a-Ride is the most expensive paratransit system to operate in the nation, spending more than double what Los Angeles does per passenger.
City vehicle drivers — Drivers of vehicles registered to New York City agencies were involved in 11 percent more crashes last year compared to the year before.
NYPD — Crashes involving NYPD officers were not included in the data described above.
Cutting badly needed but low volume Suffolk County bus routes is insane and hits the poor, elderly and kids the most. Better yet that ST should learn to use smaller vehicles for such routes and should work with communities and riders to improve the routes to increase ridership. Transit is not in business to make money but to help people get around. That being said, Suffolk wastes lots of money by badly overpaying uniformed union members and by allowing for a huge number of patronage appointees whose value is highly questionable.