Transportation For The Future / Electric MTA
Authors: Erick Martinez and Usman Adeel – Research Directors.
Jebina Dangol – Submission Manager
Anthony Adorno – Topic Supervisor
To: Patrick J. Foye
From : Jebina Dangol, Erick Martinez, Anthony Adorno and Usman Adeel
Subject : Enforcing Electric Public Transportation for a Cleaner Environment
Date : March 20 2021
The purpose of this memo is to present some ideas and details towards how we can create a healthier environment where there will be less pollution and a decrease in global warming.
Summary
The primary focus of this memo is how to make people’s lives healthier. Although there is a pandemic, we cannot forget that pollution is still a problem for public health. It has created a concern towards how the government will handle this situation. Having a clean and hygienic subway and converting into electric buses should be one of our top priorities so we can give people who travel with public transportation a healthier commute. This memo will illustrate how hygienic and eco-friendly forms of transportation can positively impact our city.
Discussion
As our city’s population increases things such as waste and pollution are growing with us as well which results in not only global warming but also in damaging people’s health. Therefore, we need to change into things such as electric buses and subway systems so we can reduce our chances of damaging our own health while also protecting our environment. According to the website Curbed.com, “switching to electric buses is the plan that the MTA aims to complete by 2040” (Spivack). Removing diesel buses will produce less waste since the use of diesel fuel will completely be removed. If this continues to happen and we replace all of our diesel buses into electric in the coming years it can help us cut down on the cost that it takes to run different buses which run on different types of fuel (20 Aber). With money being saved from switching to electric buses, we will be able to spread our funds to other areas that need more attention.
Another way we can help reverse the damage done to create global warming is by focusing on the health of those who ride or have ridden the subway. Because of the underground system and the use of diesel soot emissions from maintenance locomotives air pollution is stuck underground with the passengers. Majority of these pollutants result from unhygienic places (Bednarski). COVID-19 has become essential for us to take precautions towards protecting the lives of passengers since we differ in the strength of our immune system. Due to trains and the subway systems being filled with garbage, COVID-19 can easily be transmitted through the trains (14 Harris). One concern that needs to be brought to attention is the cleanliness on trains and stations if they are not being sanitized those who ride the subway may raise a concern in their health.
As the years go by, global warming may still rise and so will health risk with it. With improving our technology we can produce more eco-friendly transportation without harming the environment. This will help the MTA stay clean so New Yorkers can feel safe without worrying about breathing in toxic emissions from our vehicles. These are some actions towards creating an environment that will benefit us for decades. If the change doesn’t start with us, the problem will only get worse from here.
Recommendation
We’d like to speak with the board of the MTA specifically Patrick Foye who is the CEO of the MTA. We would like to collaborate on working on a more greener and cleaner transit system in the city implementing electric buses and trains which will result in less pollution being spread. We can also talk about solar powered buses since they are out all day and can produce their own energy that will be eco-friendly. With this the city would be able to save money and have healthier citizens using the MTA.
Work Cited
Simko-Bednarski, Evan. “Study Shows New York Subways Have a Pollution Problem.” CNN, Cable News Network, 12 Feb. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/02/11/us/subway-pollution-report/index.html.
Harris, Jeffrey E. “The Subways Seeded the Massive Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City.” Web.mit.edu, 24 Apr. 2020, web.mit.edu/jeffrey/harris/HarrisJE_WP2_COVID19_NYC_24-Apr-2020.pdf.
Spivack, Caroline. “MTA Retires Old Diesel Buses as It Moves toward All-Electric Fleet.” Curbed NY, Curbed NY, 6 May 2019, ny.curbed.com/2019/5/6/18533462/mta-retires-diesel-buses-rapid-transit-series-all-electric-fleet.
Aber, Judah. “Electric Bus Analysis for New York City Transit.” Electricschoolbuscampaign.org, Electricschoolbuscampaign.org, May 2016, electricschoolbuscampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Electric-Bus-Analysis-for-NYC-Transit.pdf.
