Parents and their children walked together in a Brooklyn “Stroller March” on Saturday, seeking to end Gov. Kathy Hochul’s congestion pricing pause and unleash billions of dollars in new transit funding through tolls from drivers entering Manhattan.
The march was organized in collaboration between Transportation Alternatives, Riders Alliance, Kids Overs Cars, Climate Families NYC, and UP-STAND. It began on Sept. 14 at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets station in Downtown Brooklyn, which is due to receive an elevator and other accessibility upgrades in the MTA’s Five-Year Capital Plan that is now endangered by the lack of congestion pricing funding.
The upgrades are not only a matter of increasing access for the disabled. Parents with strollers have a hard time navigating subway station stairwells, and could also use the elevators to reach the mezzanine and platform safely. But less than a third of all New York City subway stations have elevators and are accessible.
Elizabeth Adams, interim co-executive director of Transportation Alternatives, and other speakers at Saturday’s stroller rally shared a common message: Un-pausing congestion pricing will finally enable the MTA to fund dozens of elevator installation projects and make the subways more accessible for both the disabled and parents of little ones.
“Because of Governor Hochul’s short-sighted decision, 23 subway stations are now at risk of losing funding for elevators — not to mention even more in future MTA plans. We need Governor Hochul to reverse her cancellation and start the program now. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”
Ian Ntonto, 10, of UPSTAND-NY pointed out how many children are at risk from inaccessible subway stations.
“There are hundreds of thousands of kids in New York City under the age of five,” he reminded. “We have around 2,000 school-aged kids with physical disabilities who want to use public transportation like everyone else. Let’s work together and make our city a better place for everyone.”
Lauren Phillips, a co-founder of Kids Over Cars who is expecting, said that Hochul, by lifting the congestion pricing pause, could show “that she cares about NYC families by restoring congestion pricing and ensuring every subway station gets an elevator.
