MTA New York Metropolis Transit President Demetrius Crichlow.
Marc A. Hermann / MTA
Regardless of the climate, New York Metropolis Transit has bought you lined with secure and environment friendly service. Final month we advised you in regards to the staff that retains the subway transferring in snow and sleet. This month is all about buses, simply in time for one more storm within the forecast following final week’s back-to-back flurries.
Similar to for the subway, we’ve got a time-tested playbook for working bus service within the snow. Crews get to work effectively earlier than the primary flakes fall, winterizing the out of doors tons and depots that home our 5,800-strong fleet.
On Feb. 8, mechanics like Antoine Buford, Edgar Colon, and Ronnie Siegmund on the Eastchester Depot had been out hours upfront, salting walkways and roads and outfitting buses with chains to offer additional traction.
Making ready additionally means strategically deploying employees. That’s the job of Line Supervisors like Scott McPherson, who makes certain that adequate personnel are available to maintain Bronx categorical buses transferring.
In each storm, we carefully monitor circumstances in all 5 boroughs at our high-tech Bus Command Heart. Within the final storm, Normal Superintendent Joham Ernest and Superintendent Zakaria Jabbori each got here in on their days off for what we name the “Hawk” — or in a single day tour — to look out for any buses that wanted help and to maintain prospects knowledgeable.
Riders are doubtless most acquainted with the work of our heroic bus operators, who maneuver big autos by no matter comes their approach. We now have gifted people in any respect our depots, together with Leon Harris, Aida Dominguez, Narda Dennis, Torrance Cameron, and Hasan Taylor.
On the Queens Village Depot, Bus Operator Johnny Cuebas not solely helped run service safely but in addition educated new operators on snow gear to make sure buses may get out on the street.
It takes every kind of workers to maintain the Metropolis transferring, from Transportation Supervisors, who monitor headways and repair in actual time to make modifications on the fly, to the Highway Operations staff. After seeing difficult circumstances in Brooklyn, Northern Queens Normal Superintendent Michael Karsos—who additionally got here in on his time off—left his division to assist Brooklyn Highway Operations Superintendent Jerrel Malone free caught buses.
There have been loads of grateful riders, even regardless of the snow. Final weekend, buses carried greater than 1.3 million of them. New Yorkers have locations to go and issues to do. The staff at NYC Transit Buses deserves our gratitude for ensuring their lives don’t decelerate within the winter.
Demetrius Crichlow is MTA New York Metropolis Transit president.
