From: Alex Matthiessen

The Move NY campaign (to modernize NY’s regional transportation system) is producing a video for the campaign that will be posted on the campaign’s website (launching in less than a month) and spread virally to the maximum extent possible. We have some good interviews but there are a few categories of commuter type we are missing so if you know any folks who fit one of the four descriptions below, please send us his/her contact info as soon as possible. This is their moment for 15 minutes of serious fame!

We are looking for interviewees for a video that would highlight the importance of New York’s transportation system, spotlight the stress and underfunding the system is currently experiencing, and the need for a new plan for funding the updating and expansion of the system.

We are looking for individuals who can speak on camera about how their lives and commutes are affected by the current problems with the system.  Specifically, we are looking for the following “types”:

– A commuter who regularly uses the Throg’s Neck or Whitestone bridges who has no/few other options to travel between the Bronx and Queens, and is forced to pay increasingly high and unfair tolls. 
– A “(Wo)Man with A Van”: a plumber, delivery guy, etc. who makes frequent trips into and out of the Manhattan Central Business District (south of 60th Street) and who would be able to testify to the increased revenues and numbers of trips s/he could make with if there was less traffic
– A taxi driver who could speak about the loss of revenue from sitting in traffic and how his business would be better if he could cruise through Manhattan easily, picking up and dropping off “fares” (passengers) faster.
– A Long Island Commuter: either (a) an LIRR commuter who could testify to the difficulty of accessing the CBD while the system was down after Sandy, or (b) a driver who could talk about how congested the roads and highways became after the storm because train riders were forced to drive.