Even though New York City appears to be dealing with a lot of urgent problems, I think that people in the city are becoming more concerned about transportation. Many people are quite concerned about the MTA’s lack of safety, particularly in light of the homeless population and the police’s failure to protect the subway. It seems like there are some terrifying stories on the bus or train every week, or at least every other week. The most recent one involved a woman who was burned alive on the F train. Since most people in New York City depend on public transit to get to work or school, many commuters find the subway or bus uncomfortable as a result of the current events. Furthermore, the MTA wants to increase prices, which raises the question of why anyone would want to pay more for something that could potentially endanger their life. 

I thought Jonathan Bowels was a fantastic speaker for our first class, and I found his discussion of the homeless population to be interesting because he raised important issues about where they should go. Politicians in New York City, in my opinion, need to sit down and figure that out because things are only going to get worse—not just for regular MTA users, but also for the MTA itself, as they are damaging their brand and drawing fewer passengers, which will ultimately cost them money.