By Linette Munoz
Governor Cuomo recently announced a plan to the overhaul of about 40 percent of the current MTA buses. By 2020, there will be 2,042 new MTA buses, all equipped with free Wifi, USB charging ports and digital information screens that will project advertisements, travel information and the weather (for those days when looking out the window gets too difficult).
The first few buses will roll out in Queens, then Brooklyn, the Bronx and finally Manhattan over the next two years. The remaining buses will be on the road by 2020 in all five boroughs. But even with the new technology, “…[the new buses] will be similar to what we have already,” said MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast, according to the Gothamist. In other words, there will still be delays and overcrowded buses.
While the idea of adding more electronic connection in our already social media loving world sounds great, the allocation of this money comes at a cost to other necessary forms of progress.
This $1.3 billion investment towards the “not-your-father’s” buses, as described by Cuomo, has come with some skepticism.
Rider’s Alliance, an organization that advocates for better mass transit, says that Governor Cuomo has fallen back on his promise to provide $7.3 billion to the MTA and has instead only allocated zero dollars in the 2016 Executive Budget. They question whether he will have the funds to purchase these new buses, asking if Cuomo is just lying about his new plans. Others are happier about it, like Time Out New York’s Jillian Anthony who thanked the MTA for another way to connect to the Internet and have another place to charge her phone.
Spending nearly 20 percent of a supposed budget on buses takes away money from other necessary projects. Think about the underground subway system where there is little to no chance of getting signal and WiFi is spotty where available.
Think about waiting for the bus by a pole in the middle of winter or while it is raining rather than having a covered bench to wait on.
Instead of creating a whole new fleet of buses to connect us more than we already are, Cuomo should do more to improve what we already have.
He should not be building on the crumbling infrastructure that is the MTA system. He should be improving the system that is already in place instead of fixing a non-problem.
With that money the MTA could build covered bus stops or find a system to make sure they are on time. The money, for example, could be used to build MetroCard vending machines at certain bus stops (because I know I am not the only person that forgets to fill up before getting home).
Instead of focusing on internet connection above ground, the focus should be put below the pavement, where most of us do not even get signal. It would be more cost effective to add WiFi to the subway system as a whole rather than only 40 percent of the bus system.
According to T.D. Sims on Quora, it would take nearly $51 million, plus or minus $8 million, to install WiFi for the complete NYC subway line. That is less than half of what it costs to create these new buses.
While Cuomo means well by connecting with smart phone savvy riders, this new fleet seems unnecessary and pointless. The technology will be cool, and I will definitely be using it if I happen to catch the bus, but it is not necessary. On the bus I never wish that there was a digital TV so I can check out the weather.
Instead, I wish there were more buses so mine would not always be crammed with people. Cuomo is ignoring what is needed and trying to blind us with flashy, new technology to forget it. There is a better way to allocate funds (if there are even funds to allocate — but that is an argument for the Rider’s Alliance) and Cuomo is instead picking the unnecessary way.
Linette Munoz, FCRH ’16, is a psychology and humanitarian affairs double major from Toms River, New Jersey.
