Gov. Hochul must veto a bill that would let MTA employees in agency vehicles park in bus lanes with impunity, even letting them skip court dates for any tickets issued, Albany’s top government watchdog said on Tuesday.
Reinvent Albany said in a statement that the bill — S6815/A8292 — is “bad policy and bad governance” because “it is not the role of the Legislature to manage New York City bus lanes and be involved in the day-to-day operations of MTA buses.”
“The bill allows MTA workers to cite being on the clock and in an agency vehicle to defend themselves from prosecutions for parking violations,” the group added. “While this may superficially seem reasonable — ‘They’re just doing their jobs’ – we believe it increases the risk that MTA workers will illegally use agency vehicles to break the law, as has been seen countless times with congestion pricing and parking placards.”…