As the MTA struggles to improve paratransit service for New Yorkers who aren’t able to ride subways or buses, City Hall is being asked to take the wheel on funding Access-A-Ride. Andrew Cuomo got the city to increase its legally required Access-A-Ride contribution from 33.3% of the program’s cost. He said the paratransit system, which is a federal requirement, is potentially being singled out as a city responsibility. In a City & State op-ed this month, Friedman, who was a key staff member at the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities from 2018 through 2021, wrote that Albany and City Hall must consider turning to Washington for paratransit funding help. “The long-standing state versus city funding dynamic does little to serve the public,” Friedman told THE CITY Wednesday.
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