Hi New York. How are you? Safe and healthy inside, I hope.  

I never thought that my goal in this job would be to deter people from taking public transit. I signed up for this role because I believe in the public service the MTA provides and the importance mass transit plays in reducing climate change. The subways and buses are the lifeblood of this city.  

And they have an even greater potential to serve New Yorkers. That’s what the Customer Commitment is all about — taking you along on our journey to make riding public transit more positive in NYC.  

More on that in a minute, but first I want to acknowledge the awe-inspiring work of my colleagues. This organization has moved mountains over the last two months, nimbly shifting to crisis mode.  

Bus Operators and Train Crews are heroes moving heroes. They continue to move the essential workers who keep NYC running — and they do so with the support of so many. Here are just a few examples:  

• Staff in subway towers and terminals are often doing double duty, dispatching trains and responding to incidents 
• Hundreds of people on Stations and Car Equipment teams are disinfecting frequently touched surfaces, 24/7 
• In the absence of many of our standard data points that help us understand when & where transit demand exists, our Operations Planning team has produced service plans for subway lines and bus routes 
• Our IT team facilitated the migration of thousands of people to remote work locations, maintaining access to critical, proprietary tools 
• And we’ve adapted our communications strategies to reflect very different service plans and rider needs 

All of these teams are operating with fewer people and resources, and acting decisively in the face of unprecedented challenges.  

We are working around the clock to provide service for essential staff and plan for the day many of you can ride with us again. While much is in the works, our commitment to safe, clean, reliable service and tangible improvements to riding public transit is evergreen.  

Our commitments for Q2, April – June 2020:  

• Get essential workers where they need to go  
• Provide you with useful, timely information about the service you can expect 
• Push for progress in becoming a more modern, customer-oriented organization  
• Take the lessons we’ve learned with us into the future 

We completed a majority of our Q1 commitments and will keep at it until the remaining projects are complete. 

Thank for you not riding with us, for now. Hope to see you again soon.  

Sarah Meyer 
Chief Customer Officer, New York City Transit