Transit riders will have a new voice on the NFTA board.
During the fight over service cuts and fare increases, some of the most vocal testimony at public hearings involved people with disabilities who need Metro Bus and Rail to get around to jobs, to homes, to health care.
They had no voice when the decisions were actually made.
Under legislation signed into law by Governor Cuomo, that's changing.
He signed a bill adding another member, a non-voting member, who is a transit-dependent person with disabilities.
State Senator George Maziarz sponsored the bill.
"It's very significant in that it gets a member of the community that's challenged, physically challenged as a non-voting member on the NFTA board," Maziarz said.
"It puts them inside the board room when decisions are being made."
Maziarz says he's still working on getting more Niagara County residents mandated on the board.
