Transit Activists Collect Queens Riders' Subway And Bus Woes

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — Activists collected Queens residents' tales of public transit woes Sunday in an appeal to state legislators to pass congestion pricing, raising revenue for MTA projects.

Members of Riders Alliance, a public transit advocacy group, rode the subway from Jackson Heights to Flushing and Forest Hills to gather riders' stories about issues such as long wait times, accessibility issues and fare hikes. Activists turned straphangers' experiences into Bingo chips, racing to fill their boards with a spectrum of subway and bus woes.

A stopped 7 train gives us more time to talk with Flushing riders but gives them more hassle to their travel plans. We’re collecting stories to win #SubwayBINGO but we’re really collecting support to pass #CongestionPricing. Sen. @LiuNewYork: we need you to #FixTheSubway! pic.twitter.com/x1pNij9fVv
— macartney (@macartney) March 10, 2019

We got BINGO and we're turning around! #FixTheSubway #ForestHillsBingo pic.twitter.com/fk8o18JphR
— Yehuda Pollack (@Yehuda_Pollack) March 10, 2019

"I rely on the subway to commute for work from Queens to Manhattan. Once, the F train was stuck for more than 15 minutes and I was late for work," said Yunqiao Wang, a Riders Alliance member from Elmhurst. "There are so many people who suffer like I do but don’t have a voice."

Riders Alliance sent the completed #FixTheSubway Bingo cards to Queens representatives in the state legislature to advocate including congestion pricing in the upcoming state budget, which has a deadline of April 1. Under congestion pricing, drivers would pay a toll to enter central Manhattan. The revenue would go to the MTA for subway and bus projects.

A congestion pricing plan that would have tolled the bridges died in Albany in 2008.

"Straphangers need a public transportation that is more efficient, more accessible, and works for them and we cannot wait any longer," State Sen. Jessica Ramos said in a statement. "We need to secure a congestion pricing plan in this year's budget that will put revenue in a lockbox for repairs on our subways."