Comments on: Cutting the services that make a pleasant commute

By: Accenture report highlights MTA bloat, cronyism :: Second Ave. Sagas

Accenture report highlights MTA bloat, cronyism :: Second Ave. Sagas — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 05:00:09 +0000

[...] expense accounts. The MTA, who paid Accenture $3 million for the report, has already enacted numerous cost-saving suggestions. Earlier this year, the Accenture ideas had saved the MTA $202 million and now the authority says [...]

By: Nathanael

Nathanael — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:07:03 +0000

Oh, congrats to Walder for honestly calling out the legislature. Good for him.

By: Nathanael

Nathanael — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:06:33 +0000

Well, come a new legislature in 2011 and things may improve.

But we only have a chance if Joe Bruno’s Republicans and Espada’s Gang of Four are firmly kicked out of control of the State Senate. I’m not saying that will make things great, but having the State Senate run by people with an interest in something other than lining their own pockets would help.

By: Justin Samuels

Justin Samuels — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:05:41 +0000

Considering the mess Albany is in, we won’t get any new funding initiatives for operations, especially not with all other state agencies getting cut back. So the consultants will be chopping away. Other large organizations and institutions across the board have been making their own cutbacks.

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:22:16 +0000

Bob: You alleged in the other post that workers at the MTA are making seven figures, which is blatantly untrue. Now you’re claiming that the MTA is paying the staggering sum of $200 million to a consulting firm. I’m not trying to be an MTA apologist, but those figures are incorrect by a large amount.

I know engineers don’t see the world as consultants do, but consultants come in for a one-time fee and identify millions in cost-savings. It’s not the way to make friends of your employees, but it works wonders on the bottom line. Don’t like it? Me neither, but until Albany comes up with more sensible funding schemes, we’re stuck with it.

By: bob

bob — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:20:59 +0000

End the contract with Accucenture (and similar ones with all sorts of consultants) and you’ll save a lot more money than anything listed in this article. I sounds like Walder is paying his consulting friends (he used to be one) 200 million to tell him how to save 10 or 20 million. Who here thinks that’s a good deal?

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:37:12 +0000

Woo! Lowest common denominator! Who cares if New York isn’t a pleasant place to live! It was much crappier in the ’70s and ’80s!

By: Adam G

Adam G — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:47:16 +0000

If I recall correctly, the prices of drinks in the bar cars have been below market for years anyway, haven’t they?

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:38:14 +0000

The system as a whole has been in MUCH worse shape than it is now, and still carried millions of people. I remember when Penn Station was much worse than it is now, in the Eighties, and we still used the LIRR because it still beat driving. Manhattan is, and will always be, known as a terrible place to drive into. And drive around, for that matter.

By: Al D

Al D — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:04:54 +0000

Really, this is all sensationalism, except perhaps the pigeon droppings which speak for themselves. The food and beverage prices should go up commensurate with fares, if in fact MTA controls this. More people will just brown bag it. So what? Escalators already break way too often, and then take a long time to get repaired, so really what’s the difference between waiting 8 or 10 days for an escalator to be fixed. Stations and tracks are already filthy. Station cleanliness is 1 part of the subway that has yet to change since way back and Prendegrast acknowledged such when he spoke of the deteriorating condition of the renovated stations.