By Mark Hallum, AM New York; July 9, 2020
If New Yorkers remember the Genius Challenge from 2017, as the “summer of hell” loomed, 2020 looks worse but not different for the MTA as the financial crisis from COVID-19 pushes the agency once again into the arms of the private sector.
On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority put out the call to the tech industry for help keeping the trains and buses of New York City Transit virus free in order to redeem a decimated ridership, currently just over a quarter of what it was pre-pandemic.