New York Gov. Hochul outlines proposal to improve access to transit in NYC

In her 2024 State of the State address, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined proposed next steps in planning and engineering expanded transit access across New York City, a new Infrastructure Hub and new measures to improve roadway safety and fight toll and fare evasion.  

“Every New Yorker deserves a safe, efficient commute – whether you’re a straphanger, a driver or a pedestrian,” Gov. Hochul said. “We’re continuing to move full speed ahead on transformative infrastructure projects that will change the way New Yorkers get around and we’re fighting for safety at the same time so New Yorkers get home safely no matter how they choose to get around.” 

Second Avenue Subway West Extension 

Following the execution of a Full Funding Agreement for the Second Avenue Subway in November 2023, Gov. Hochul says the future of project includes an extension. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will evaluate, scope and plan for the extension of the Second Avenue Subway west along 125th St., adding three new stops at Lenox Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue and Broadway in Harlem. The extension would create connections with seven existing lines and serve 240,000 daily customers, with more than 90 percent of them from equity communities. It would also significantly reduce bus congestion along 125th St., where more than 30,000 people ride the bus along the corridor every day. 

The project scored well on the MTA’s 20 Year Needs Assessment, particularly for its cost effectiveness. In advance of environmental review and preliminary engineering, MTA will evaluate the feasibility of performing the initial tunneling work as a continuation of the Phase Two tunneling work and extending the tunnel boring machine’s westward path beyond Park Avenue to Broadway. If viable, the approach could save more than $400 million over the life of the project. 

Engineering the Interborough Express 

In 2022, Gov. Hochul announced plans for the Interborough Express (IBX) – a new service in Brooklyn and Queens that would use the existing right-of-way of the Bay Ridge Branch, connecting ethnically and socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods such as Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Borough Park, Kensington, Midwood, Flatbush, Flatlands, New Lots, Brownsville, East New York, Bushwick, Ridgewood, Middle Village, Maspeth, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, N.Y. The project has the potential to provide connections to up to 17 subway lines, reducing travel times between the two boroughs by 30 minutes and serve 40 million riders a year. The MTA will now initiate formal engineering of the IBX. 

Local hiring for MTA capital projects 

Under an existing pilot program, the MTA is requiring contractors working on the New Jamaica Bus Depot, Rockaway Line Resiliency & Rehabilitation, a group of four ADA station improvements across the city and the Broadway Junction station revitalization projects to commit to goals of 20 percent of the working hours to be performed by workers who live near the construction site or in lower income communities. Given the success of this pilot program, Gov. Hochul is directing the MTA to expand the pilot to include the Second Avenue Subway Phase Two project, providing more jobs to workers in East Harlem. 

Launching New York’s first Infrastructure Hub 

Gov. Hochul is launching a statewide Infrastructure Hub, which will give all New Yorkers the ability to learn more about investments in their community, supported by both state and federal funding. The Infrastructure Hub will also allow visitors to search for technical assistance programs and federal grant opportunities. 

Combating toll and fare evasion 

Since 2017, New York has utilized open road toll collection, enabling an easier flow of traffic on major bridges, tunnels and highways. Since the implementation, the incidence of defaced or obstructed license plates has significantly increased, with more than five percent of license plates going unread. Additionally, fare evasion on subways, buses and railroads has significantly increased, with the MTA estimating an annual toll and fare evasion loss of more than $700 million per year. 

Gov. Hochul is launching a series of proposals to limit fare and toll evasion and ensure everyone who utilizes public infrastructure pays their fair share. These actions include: 

• Increasing monetary fines for fare evasion and purposeful license plate defacement 
• Increasing toll enforcement activities and banning the sale of “vanish plates” 
• Allowing police officers to seize license plate covers designed to make plates unreadable 
• Designating intentional toll evasion as a theft-of-services misdemeanor 

Gov. Hochul’s plan also ensures equitable enforcement by calling for the following reforms: 

• Allowing police officers to issue written warnings instead of summonses for first time fare evasion offenders 
• Permitting the MTA to allow first-time offenders to have their fine forgiven if they enroll in the Fair Fares program 
• Enabling the MTA to refund up to 50 percent of the first fine – if paid on-time – to the customer via a fare card 
• Granting the MTA the same authority to enforce fare evasion on the commuter railroads that currently exists within New York City Transit. 

The proposals are aligned with the recommendations of the Blue-Ribbon Panel convened by the MTA to study fare and toll evasion, which issued its report in 2023. The panel recommended innovative approaches to reducing fare and toll evasion across the entire MTA system of subways, buses, commuter rails, bridges and tunnels. 

In response to the governor’s proposal, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “Gov. Hochul is MTA riders' best friend. Today’s announcement is a vote of confidence in the future of mass transit and of New York City. We look forward to charting the path forward for a potential future extension of ​ service across 125th Street to serve upper Manhattan and the Bronx, and also to taking the next step on another transformative project by advancing design of the Interborough Express for Brooklyn and Queens.” 

In addition to the transit related proposals, Gov. Hochul called for passage of Sammy’s Law, which would reduce the speed limit on New York City streets to 20 mph. The law is named after 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein who died when he was hit by a car in 2013. The governor also proposed steps to promote and educate on lithium-ion battery safety including increased training for fire departments and proposed legislation that would ban the sale of devices not certified by reputable safety testing organizations.