Shameful Court Decision Puts Apple Tours Back on the Road

In late june, state Supreme Court Justice Phyllis Gangel-Jacobs allowed NY Apple Tours' 63 buses to return to city streets. NY Apple's operations had been suspended by Governor Pataki in late May after a NY Apple bus killed 71 year-old Randolph Walker at 9th Avenue and 45th Street, and it was revealed that NY Apple had spent years violating every conceivable city, state, and federal law. In her decision, which overturned Pataki's suspension, Judge Gangel-Jacobs wrote that letting NY Apple Tours resume business as usual would "not do any harm to any public interest," while shutting down the company without a complete trial would hurt the city's tourism industry, and adversely affect NY Apple Tours and its employees.

This decision is an outrage. It's an affront to the citizens of New York, whose lives and quality of life are seemingly worth less than the well-being of NYC's tourism industry and corporate interests. Simply put, NY Apple is an abysmal corporate citizen that has lied, polluted, maimed, and killed. They deserved to be shut down forever, and if anything, their suspension came much too late. Even after it was allowed back on the road and supposedly on its best behavior, NY Apple has continued its terrible record of compliance. As reported by its court-appointed monitor, NY Apple buses were involved in five accidents, and received 24 summonses for traffic violations in the two weeks after they were allowed back on the road.
T.A. sent a letter to City Council Speaker Peter Vallone decrying this decision, and continues to work with State Sen. Tom Duane, Councilmember Christine Quinn, and neighborhood activists to get NY Apple Tours off the road.