Requires a public hearing for substantial change in transit authority service by the New York city transit authority

Requires NYCTA to obtain approval by resolution of the committee on operations of the NYCTA and the MTA Board to hold a public hearing in the affected county(ies) prior to any substantial change in service.

* Defines a substantial change in service. * Requires further hearings for additional changes if substantial changes in service were made within previous three years. * includes complete or partial closing of a passenger station as a substantial change * Defines notice of hearing(s) to be given to affected communities * Requires posters describing proposed change at affected stations and on buses on affected routes, where detailed information is available and date, time and place of hearing(s) and right of public to speak.

Paragraph (c) of subdivision 4 of section 1263 of the public authorities law is amended.

* Describes allowable public speaking * Requires that public comments be recorded in the minutes. * Requires agendas for the meeting (s) be made available to the public.

Justification

This legislation has four objectives:

(1) Provide Sunshine Law for NYCTA Service Changes. The legislation will insure that the data collection and analysis performed by the NYCTA prior to proposing a service change is adequate, and is subject to detailed scrutiny by the MTA board and the public. Most of the data collection and analysis stipulated in this legislation is already being performed by NYCTA planning staff. However, when the. NYCTA proposes service changes, minimal information is presented to the board, and even less to the public. The quality of NYCTA's service change planning will be significantly improved by opening up the process to detailed public scrutiny.

(2) Provide public Input Before Service Changes are Implemented. The legislation will give the public the opportunity to comment on the technical analysis presented by NYCTA staff, and also to present other relevant issues. Service changes on buses and subways often have impacts on riders that are not apparent from studying ridership figures alone. Many New Yorkers decide where to live based on available mass transit and, especially for the elderly and disabled, a service change that may appear minor may have a major impact on the quality of rider's lives. Because such facts are often not apparent from ridership studies alone, a public hearing is essential to bring to light information that may otherwise be unavailable. Public hearings would therefore allow those affected by cuts and other interested parties to present important information to the committee on NYCTA operators for its consideration.

(3) Improve Public Speaking at MTA Board and Committee Meetings. The legislation strengthens requirements concerning public speaking at meetings of the MTA Board and its committees. Currently, the MTA discourages public speakers by limiting their comments to a maximum of two minutes; by restricting comments to topics on the agenda, while making the agenda unavailable to the public until minutes before each meeting; and by not recording the comments of public speakers in the minutes. The legislation is specifically designed to correct these abuses. It stipulates that more adequate speaking times shall be provided and may be shortened only when, necessary to permit the Board to proceed with its agenda within a reasonable time, and it requires that agendas shall be available for public inspection at easily accessible locations throughout MTA's service territory well in advance of each meeting of the MT A Board and each of its committees.

(4) Enhance Oversight by MTA Board. An intended and desirable effect of this legislation is that MTA Board members, as well as the public, . shall have at least seven days to review agendas for meetings of the MTA Board and its committees. Currently, nothing prevents the MTA from giving draft agendas to Board members as little as forty-eight hours prior to a committee or Board meeting, and final agendas only a few hours prior to a committee meeting. At a typical meeting, the MTA Board is asked to authorize the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars, and frequently-hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds by guaranteeing that Board members shall have at least seven days to review proposed MTA expenditures, this legislation will significantly enhance the MTA Board's ability to discharge its responsibilities.

Prior legislative history

This bill has been introduced in previous legislative sessions.

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.