вЂњItвЂ™s just like the rest of society - there are people who have questions and, for whatever reason, have elected not to get vaccinated.вЂќДЄfter the MTA lost dozens of employees in the early days of the pandemic, the transit agency agreed in April 2020 to the death benefit pushed for by Transport Workers Union Local 100. вЂњWe are incentivizing people to get vaccinated, so weвЂ™ve made a lot of progress,вЂќ Janno Lieber, the MTA Chairperson and CEO, told THE CITY on Friday. In the face of resistance from employees, the MTA recently pushed back a Labor Day mandate for workers to get vaccinated or agree to weekly COVID tests, which are now administered at 120 sites throughout the transit system. Vaccination rates vary across the range of MTA divisions, from nearly 89% for workers at MTA Construction & Development to below 60% for employees of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, Long Island Rail Road and New York City Transit. With schools set to reopen and 300,000 city employees slated to return to their workplaces Monday, the MTA is still trying to get its workforce on board with vaccines that are mandated for state employees.ДЄpproximately 70% of staffers agency-wide have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the MTA - although the figure falls to 55% for subway and bus workers. On Thursday, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping order mandating vaccines or weekly testing for everyone from private-sector employees to health care workers to federal contractors. The vaccine resistance battle is playing out beyond New York as the spread of the Delta variant drives up infection rates. вЂњWe highly encourage all our team members to get vaccinated - itвЂ™s safe, effective and one of the surest things we can all do to prevent serious illness or death from COVID-19.вЂќ The MTA ran a COVID-19 vaccination center in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal. вЂњIt is more important than ever to consider how getting vaccinated not only protects you, but also your family,вЂќ Fama wrote in the memo, which was shared with THE CITY. The MTA, which has 68,200 employees, has lost 171 of them to the pandemic so far, according to an agency spokesperson. The MTA this week will extend through the end of the year the lump-sum payment and three years of health insurance to the survivors of vaccinated workers who die from the virus, a senior official said.Д«ut workers who opt out of getting their shots could relinquish the rights of their loved ones to secure the benefit should they die - unless they had a вЂњvalid documented exceptionвЂќ to vaccination, according to a notice sent to employees by Paul Fama, the MTAвЂ™s chief people officer. вЂњThis joint effort with the city and private sector will drive the type of innovation we need to create a more equitable city where all New Yorkers, and visitors, have access to everything the city has to offer.Struggling to get its workforce vaccinated, the MTA has pulled a $500,000 death benefit for any unvaccinated employees who succumb to COVID, THE CITY has learned. вЂњZoning for Accessibility will help the MTA speed up the rate at which we accomplish our goal of systemwide access for all New Yorkers,вЂќ said MTA Chief Accessibility Officer Quemuel Arroyo. Zoning for Accessibility will create a new set of tools - and strengthen existing ones - that build off the MTAвЂ™s unprecedented commitment of over $5 billion of funding for 77 accessible subway, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, and Staten Island Railway station projects within New York City in the historic 2020-2024 MTA Capital Plan. Zoning for Accessibility will benefit all New Yorkers, particularly riders with mobility disabilities, seniors, parents of young children, and others who need accessible stations to use the system. The new zoning proposal incentivizes private developers to design their buildings to incorporate public station accessibility projects or build the improvements at nearby MTA stations.

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