{"id":315903,"date":"2026-08-07T08:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/315903\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T08:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:14:21","slug":"babies-on-board-mta-moves-to-expand-space-for-unfolded-strollers-on-buses-systemwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/315903\/","title":{"rendered":"Babies on board: MTA moves to expand space for unfolded strollers on buses systemwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

MTA<\/a> officials announced on Thursday that the agency is finally expanding its pilot program systemwide to designate space on city buses for caregivers to stand with unfolded strollers, following years of parent advocacy and testing.<\/p>\n

New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow, during an Aug. 6 Lower Manhattan news conference, said the expansion comes after a \u201csuccessful\u201d years-long pilot and is supported by funding approved by the state legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents will be able to ride without needing to fold their strollers,\u201d Crichlow said. \u201cThat\u2019s a huge win for many people who have been asking for this for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MTA kicked off the pilot in late 2022<\/a>, beginning with seven routes and expanding to several more the next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It followed fierce activism<\/a> by a group of mothers who long argued that the agency\u2019s policy requiring that strollers be folded on buses was a \u201cnightmare\u201d to navigate. They said it was difficult to collapse their strollers while also boarding the bus and holding onto their children at the same time.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), one of the lawmakers who pushed to fund the pilot, recounted his own experience struggling to board the bus while ensuring his child\u2019s stroller was properly folded.<\/p>\n

Gounardes said when he passed funding for the pilot, he was \u201cpushing a stroller for my second child and had to navigate the buses with my oldest, who was not in a stroller, and my youngest, folding the stroller up and trying to not have him run away from me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pilot also resulted from a review of the stroller ban by an MTA-convened working group \u2014 composed of parents, disability advocates, and transit workers.
\n\"\"New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow speaking about expanding spaces for strollers to every MTA bus. Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026.Marc A. Hermann \/ MTA\n<\/p>\n

Crichlow said the areas for stroller-pushers are separate from the ones set aside for wheelchair users, in response to concerns from disability advocates that the two would conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program means that buses will have clearly marked places that separate from existing priority seating for those using them for wheelchairs and walking devices at separated accessibiliy locations,\u201d Crichlow said.<\/p>\n

Quemuel Arroyo, the MTA\u2019s chief accessibility officer, said part of the reason why the program had been in the pilot stage for so long was that the working group had to ensure that the spaces for strollers did not take away from space designated for disabled riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us exactly the time it needed to take us for us to ensure that we heard every voice, that everyone\u2019s needs were met, and that we were able to provide something that was helpful to every rider,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cEvery rider\u2019s needs were taken into account here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The space for those with strollers on buses is most commonly found across from the back doors, but can also be in other locations depending on the bus class, Crichlow said. On some bus models, the area is created by flipping up a pair of seats, similar to the wheelchair accessible space at the front of the vehicles, but on others, seats are removed to clear the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just across from the rear door and you\u2019ll see the two flip-up seats that are easily accessible and designated as such,\u201d Crichlow said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on the model [of bus], they have different configurations,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cSome of them you have to flip up the seat, others, it\u2019s already an open space. \u2026 Where two people used to sit, four can stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"MTA Chief Accessibility Officer Quemuel Arroyo.Marc A. Hermann \/ MTA<\/p>\n

Officials said that those with strollers still must board and pay their fares at the front of the bus before proceeding to the back.<\/p>\n

Crichlow said that around 75% of the buses in the MTA\u2019s nearly 6,000-bus fleet are already outfitted with space for those with strollers. He added that buses without the spaces are being retrofitted to include them and that the areas are now built into all new buses.<\/p>\n

The NYC Transit boss said the system-wide expansion could be completed by early next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MTA officials announced on Thursday that the agency is finally expanding its pilot program systemwide to designate space…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[36354,8793,141,9,24,63,122,124,123,38662,45688,119145],"class_list":["post-315903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-accessibility","tag-demetrius-crichlow","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-quemeuel-arroyo","tag-state-sen-andrew-gounardes","tag-strollers-on-buses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}