The Straphangers Campaign is a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based

transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

interest group that advocates on behalf of riders of public transport. The organization is part of the

NYPIRG The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) is a New York statewide student-directed, non-partisan, not for profit political organization. It has existed since 1973. Its current executive director is Blair Horner and its founding directo ...

(New York Public Interest Research Group). The Straphangers Campaign's main spokesperson and staff attorney is

Gene Russianoff Gene Russianoff is staff attorney and chief spokesman for the Straphangers Campaign, a New York City-based public transport advocacy group that focuses primarily on subway and bus services run by New York City Transit. At the same time, Russia ...

. "For three decades, Gene Russianoff, the staff lawyer for the New York Public Interest Research Group’s Straphangers Campaign, has championed the rights of subway riders," according to a 2010 profile in ''The New York Times''. The group's name is derived from the

colloquial Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conve ...

term "

straphanger In urban public transport, provision is made for standing passengers, often called straphangers or standees, to rationalize operation and to provide extra capacity during rush hour. Occurrence On crowded rapid transit urban lines, while most tr ...

" for transit riders who gripped the hanging

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

straps to keep their balance while the vehicle was in motion.

Reports and surveys

The ''Pokey Awards'', a product of the Straphangers Campaign, tells the public which bus is the slowest in the city. They have been announced annually since 2002. The Straphangers Campaign also conducts annual surveys checking the performance of all subway lines. Key factors include timeliness, reliability (service breakdowns), seating availability, clarity of announcements, and cleanliness (dirtiness is colloquially called "schmutz"). A separate survey checks the performance of public pay telephones in subway stations. In 2006 the bus "Schleppie Awards" were given to the bus lines that rated worst in "bunching," with major gaps in service (essentially, amount of deviation from posted timetables). The bus in Manhattan "won", with 27.6% unreliability. The Straphangers Campaign also rates the subway each year in a report called ''State of the Subways Report Card'', ranking each service from best to worst based on their performances in six categories. The 7 was ranked best the most, winning seven times, including the first report card in 1997. The C has been rated the lowest the most, losing six times, last in 2012.

References

External links

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Straphangers Campaign official websiteNYPIRG Straphangers Campaign records, 1962-2007
Manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library. {{People associated with Public Interest Research Group , state=collapsed Organizations based in New York (state) Transportation in New York City New York Public Interest Research Group Organizations established in 1979 Public transport advocacy organizations