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        Mother's petition leads to Metro-North schedule change

        Jennifer Vargas started sending her daughter to pre-school in Inwood a few weeks ago, but says she was already thinking about transferring her to a different school.

        Greg Thompson

        Sep 5, 2024, 9:35 PM

        Updated 32 days ago

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        A petition started by a mother in Morris Heights, along with some help from News 12, has led to the Metro-North changing its schedule.
        Jennifer Vargas started sending her daughter to pre-school in Inwood a few weeks ago, but says she was already thinking about transferring her to a different school.
        The issue was the Metro-North train schedule, which starts going express right around when school pickup time is.
        Because the 4:05 p.m. Hudson Line train heading to New York from Marble Hill skips the University Heights and Morris Heights stations, residents are left with a full hour between trains, forcing them to either be very early, or very late.
        After talking to more people, Vargas realized this was an issue for not just other parents and families, but also students and people community between jobs, so she started a petition, asking that the 4:05 p.m. train also make those two stops.
        News 12 reached out to the MTA to see if it had any response to the petition and was told that after hearing from News 12 and reviewing the request, it will be changing the schedule. As of Sept. 16, that train will start making those two stops.
        "Are they really!? Oh my God, thank you so much, I'm so ecstatic! Oh my God, I can't believe I did it," Vargas yelled when News 12 was able to tell her about the change in person for the first time.
        "This is the best news ever, it's such a weight lifted off me, I don't have to have that extra stress," she says.
        Vargas says she now will be able to keep her daughter in the same school, where she has already made some friends.