Memo 1: Public transportation pollution mitigation

To: Professor MacBride
From: Raymond Wang
Date: 2/13/13
Re: Ground level public transportation pollution mitigation in New York City

Public transportation is an integral part of commuting in New York City. The MTA has been consciously improving pollution output for all their methods of public transportation. I will be focusing on such transportation on the ground level, e.g. buses and the rail system. As many daily commuters may have noticed, buses are considered to be “hybrid” nowadays, running both on fuel and electricity. The rail system such as the Long Island Rail Road and MetroNorth both have improved train cars to help facilitate “green” public transportation. I take a bus daily for about six years and observed the changes in vehicles. I also rode the rail system often for about two years and saw the improved train cars compared to the older ones.

My topic as a question would be “How has ground level public transportation improved to help mitigate pollution in New York City?” I will be researching how the MTA has tried to improve their public transportation. This includes improvements that favor going “green.” Such information is publicly available as the MTA tries to update commuters of incoming changes. I will also look into what further improvements are planned for buses and the rail system. Technology today is changing rapidly and upgrades to the current buses and train cars are definitely planned for the future. I will also attempt to find how changes are being made not to the vehicles to themselves but everything else such as dedicated bus lanes that prevent buses from stopping as often to conserve gas. Researching about said topics will definitely enlighten me about how the city is attempting to become more environmentally friendly.