The New York City Transit Riders Council will be having a President's Forum meeting tonight at 6PM. The President's Foum "focuses on subway issues and is attended by the NYC Transit President and senior subway division staff." In other words, this is your chance to give some constructive criticism to NYCT President Larry Reuter. You can see what was discussed at last year's meeting and what President Reuter said in this PDF. [Via reader Allison; image from Laney B]
Gothamist is sure subway safety will be an issue, coupled with closing token booths all over the city. NY1 reported that the MTA is actually keeping the booths open: Clerks will still be outside acting as a "customer service representative" but they will have access to the booths (calls to the police, fixing Metrocards). One rider told NY1, "I think that's stupid for a person to have a job walking around and just going in there to make a phone call. It’s ridiculous. If they’re going to get rid of the [booth], get rid of it altogether." Another said, "It seems a little more secure if you know there’s a booth there if a situation arises at that moment." Gothamist wondered if this was a compromise between NYCT and the Transit Workers' Union, but NY1 says that the impetus was actually the Chelsea subway shooting where a man died after police response may have been slowed down by the tall turnstiles (tall turnstiles would have replaced the low ones if token booths were closed, natch).
