For decades, New York City has succeeded in using zoning laws to require and incentivize owners of private property to provide space for, and make improvements to, the mass transit infrastructure that is vital to the functioning and growth of the city. However, the scope of these programs has been fairly modest relative to the overall size of the city’s public transportation system, one of the largest in the world.

Last month, the Department of City Planning and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced proposed zoning changes that would significantly expand the breadth of these initiatives in an effort to make the city’s mass transit system more accessible to individuals with ambulatory disabilities and mobility limitations.