By Jennifer Warren
Union members held a protest last Thursday on Queens Boulevard and 67th Avenue to protest the planned closings of token booths throughout the city and warned that such a move could encourage pedestrian to cross Queens Boulevard above ground rather than using the tunnels.
“The Transit (Authority) simply doesn't understand what kind of impact these closings will have on our communities,” said Transit union Local 100 Vice President Darlyne Lawson. “The safety of the public should be a paramount concern of the Transit. Automated systems can't replace the vigilance of living and breathing station agents.”
The protest came just days after the Transit Authority made public its 2001 operating budget, which includes a provision under which 253 token booth clerks are to lose their jobs through attrition.
Transit union members used the rash of pedestrian accidents on Queens Boulevard to underscore the contributions to safety made by the city's vast subway system.
Since 1993, more than 70 pedestrian fatalities have occurred on Queens Boulevard, according to the Forest Hills Action Committee. The latest to die was 14-year-old Sofia Leviyev, an eighth grader from Rego Park, who was killed in late November while trying to cross Queens Boulevard at 67th Avenue.
During the past week, police have turned their attention to pedestrians' responsibility from the rash of fatal accidents on Queens Boulevard.
Capt. John Lavelle of Forest Hill's 112th Precinct said that after reviewing all of this year's Queens Boulevard accident reports involving pedestrians – about 70 – he and his officers have determined that more than 50 percent of the incidents were caused by the pedestrian.
“Over 50 percent of the pedestrians are at fault. They're either crossing against the light or in between cross walks,” Lavelle said.
Another pedestrian was injured Tuesday on Queens Boulevard, when a woman had a seizure and fell into a car at the corner of Queens Boulevard and 70th Road, Lavelle said.
Transit Union workers believe such accidents could be avoided if token booths remained staffed.
The Transit Authority said that while previously closed token booths will not be restaffed, those currently staffed by workers will continue to be so.
“It's our intention to convert the function of station agents,” said Al O'Leary, a Transit spokesman. “The benefits for customers are tremendous.”
According to the Transit Authority plan, station workers will no longer sell tokens and cards, leaving that task to the automated MetroCard machines, which communicate in eight languages – a skill O'Leary noted most station attendants do not have. Instead, attendants will provide customer service and trouble shooting on the station's condition.
Last week's demonstration came as something of a surprise to O'Leary.
“In 1994 we enacted an agreement with the Transport Workers Union” to support the installation of the automated MetroCard machines “and we will guarantee that no one would lose their job or be furloughed,” O'Leary said.
In fact, the Transit Authority will be hiring an additional 1,000 bus drivers and train operators, he said.
“As a newly elected Transit Workers president, he's made it his priority to up his profile,” O'Leary said. “The new president is very smart. It's not about safety, it's about increasing union membership.”
