In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced the initial actions of its Bike, Pedestrian, and Micromobility Strategic Action Plan.
The Strategic Action Plan was first announced in May 2022 to improve how pedestrians, cyclists and micromobility users are able to access MTA services.
The plan’s initial steps include enhancing bike and pedestrian access to MTA bridges, providing additional bike parking infrastructure at subway stations, and piloting improved car-free connectivity to commuter rail stations.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said:Increasing access and connections to MTA services is one of my top goals. Today’s announcement represents the first steps in a comprehensive strategy to provide more car-free access to transit across the New York region. As MTA ridership continues to rise, the actions we unveiled today will upgrade connections to transit for cyclists, pedestrians, and micromobility users and bring more riders back to the MTA’s subways, buses, and commuter railroads.
As part of the plan’s initial actions, MTA’s Cross Bay Bridge and Henry Hudson Bridge will receive widened and improved shared-use paths.
In addition, bike racks will be introduced at 37 additional subway stations. Currently, there are subway stations in the city that don’t have any bicycle parking and this is something the MTA has plans to remedy, with the eventual goal of providing bike parking at 100 percent of MTA stations.
Furthermore, the plan includes developments in the MTA’s First-Mile/Last-Mile study, which commenced earlier this year. This study has focused on analysing existing station access and targeting gaps in walking, biking, ride-hailing and transit in suburban Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road territories.
Ten interested communities across the MTA’s commuter rail territory have now been selected for pilot projects based on the study’s initial results.
Metro-North President and Long Island Rail Road Interim President Catherine Rinaldi said:I am excited to have ten communities served by Metro-North and LIRR participate in our First-Mile/Last-Mile pilot programme. These stations will provide a blueprint for how we can enhance car-free connections to commuter rail, and make rail travel a more accessible option for customers throughout the region.
The MTA said the final Bike, Pedestrian, and Micromobility Strategic Action Plan would be released by the end of 2022 to build on these initial actions and address how the MTA could improve access to its services and facilities for bikes, pedestrians and micromobility services.
