Second Ave. Sagas

Station agent dismissals set for Friday · The news from amNew York is short but to the point: The MTA on Friday will layoff 202 station agents and shutter 44 token booths across the city. This dismissals come just three weeks after the MTA voted to axe these positions following judicially-mandated public hearings. According to agency reports, the May injunction against the dismissals and the need to go through the hearing process cost the authority approximately $49,000 per day. As fewer eyes and ears are now around to greet passengers at station entrances, hopefully the new intercom system will be an effective safety tool and criminal deterrent. · (37)

Aug

An interactive way to track a capital plan

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (19) ·

In its quest for more budget transparency, the MTA today unveiled an online dashboard that tracks the fiscal and physical progress of its various capital projects. Available online right here, the interactive tool allows members of the public to examine project proposals, budgets and schedules from the comfort of the web. The information will include every item in the 2010-2014 capital plan as well as some big-ticket projects from the 2005-2009 plan.

“The Dashboard provides an unprecedented level of detail and information on our capital projects,” MTA CEO and Chair Jay Walder said in a statement. “From station improvements to the purchase of equipment, signal improvements to updates on the Second Avenue Subway, the Dashboard will allow anyone to monitor the MTA’s new approach to capital projects designed to keep the 2010-2014 Capital Program on schedule and on budget — all with a few clicks of the mouse.”

In a press release, the authority said the dashboard is designed to combat claims that the MTA has anything to hide. With projects that are routinely over budget and behind schedule, the MTA is trying to improve public oversight of its big-ticket construction projects while working to “reinforce the agency’s commitment to provide information to customers that is more concise and easier to understand.”

When the dashboard is up and running, it will provide extensive details on the various capital projects, including milestones and year-by-year funding. Since the capital plan was, however, only recently approved and many projects are still in the planning stages, everything appears to be both on time and at budget. It is an MTA utopia of capital investment.

Despite the nascent nature of this new tool, MTA watchdog organizations and transit advocates praised the authority’s drive toward transparency. “I believe the MTA has taken a significant step in providing MTA managers, public officials and the public itself a more user friendly tool to track the progress, in dollars and time, of capital projects,” MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger, whose office has long pushed for a dashboard, said. “I am particularly gratified that MTA has accepted the recommendation made in our Dashboard Report to make it a more transparent and useful reporting tool to the public.”

What makes this tool particularly useful — as long as it’s regularly updated — is how it removes the mystery from the capital program. For example, let’s look at Transit’s plans for rolling stock purchases. We can see information for 123 A Division cars for the 7 line at a cost of $291 million; 290 B Division cars at a cost of $638 million; and 50 additional B Division cars for $110 million. Although the dashboard doesn’t offer up more information on these purchases, it provides a glimpse into the MTA’s plans. Similarly, we can glimpse at the $200 million plans for SmartCard installation and await a future free of the swipes of the MetroCard.

For the MTA, this productive use of its website deserves a nod today. As ill-informed politicians continue to decry the MTA for being too opaque, the authority is using the tools at its disposal to combat those perceptions. The real test of its willingness to be forthcoming though will arrive as project budgets climb and timelines are delayed. As long as the MTA can easily admit that its work is lagging, it can begin to earn public and political trust.

Categories : Capital Program 2010-2014

Comments (19)

Inside the origins of the MTA’s debt burden · City Limits, the online magazine focusing on NYC civic life, has published the final installment of its three-part series focusing on the MTA’s financial problems. Today’s piece focuses on the MTA’s debt burden brought about by its massive five-year capital plans. For those familiar with the MTA’s economic picture, Jake Mooney’s piece treads familiar ground, but it does an excellent job exploring the origins of the MTA’s debt.

Mooney summarizes why debt payments will reach $2.5 billion in 2014 and how Albany and City Hall are to blame: “While federal government support for capital projects has remained strong, city and state contributions over the years have dwindled. To make up the difference, the authority has increasingly borrowed money by issuing bonds, and that borrowing has taken a toll. The MTA’s outstanding debt, which was $13 billion in 2000, had reached $31 billion by this past July.”

As Mooney notes, without congestion pricing or bridge tolls — two plans that would generate revenue while encouraging more efficient travel — the system is bound to be mired in financial troubles for the foreseeable future. “They’re really just kicking the can down the road,” John Petro of the Drum Major Institute said to City Limits. “It’s going to mean more pain for riders. All the tinkering we do and belt-tightening is not really going to address the problem. Hopefully voters will realize that the source of their grief is not this nameless, faceless authority, but the people that they vote for.” [City Limits] · (2)

Aug

To repair station intercoms, a long wait or just a high average?

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (1) ·

The MTA is gearing up to install a series of intercoms every 150-200 feet along platforms at stations without agents, but what happens when this technology goes down? That’s the question Pete Donohue at The Daily News asks in a story on intercom repairs today.

Donohue leads with a number: Currently, he reports, the average repair time for MTA intercoms sits at 11 days, and a few MTA Board members aren’t happy with the news. “That’s just terrible,” Andrew Albert said. “It’s unacceptable. There’s a real safety concern. What if someone is attacking you, God forbid.”

But the numbers tell a different story. Many times, intercoms reported broken are working just fine, and a few balky units have brought down the systemwide average. Writes Donohue:

Between January and June, reports of faulty intercoms led to 1,264 “trouble tickets” requesting attention by repairmen, according to data NYC Transit provided last week. Workers doing the followup inspections found the equipment actually was functioning 72% of the time, according to the agency data. Inspections confirmed malfunctions 350 times, or 28%, according to NYC Transit.

A spokesman late yesterday indicated the problem was not as widespread as the data suggested. Intercoms near turnstile banks are fixed on average between 36 and 48 hours after a problem is reported, the spokesman said. The systemwide repair average of 11 days was inflated by problems with aging units in five stations, the spokesman said. The agency has begun replacing the 20 to 30 units in one station and plans to do the others in the coming weeks, the spokesman said.

Of course, questions still remain over the effectiveness of intercoms, and much depends upon one’s own concept of personal safety. Having intercoms along the platform edge in spots that were generally not visible to station agents should increase safety on deserted platforms. But these intercoms must be working, and someone who can dispatch emergency responders must be on the other end of the “talk” button. What works on wide-open college campuses can work in the subways as well.

Categories : Subway Security

Comments (1)

Aug

MTA buses to feature anti-Islam Center ads

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (45) ·

For the past few weeks, New York City has been embroiled in a political battle over an Islamic Community Center near Ground Zero that will include a mosque. The Cordoba Center, approved last week by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, will take over the buildings at 45-47 Park Place, just two blocks away from Ground Zero, and the building will be modeled to resembled a JCC or a YMCA but with a mosque. It has been nothing short of controversial.

While Mayor Bloomberg supported the building, various politicians from across the country — including a prominent one from the remote state of Alaska — spoke out against it on the grounds that it was insensitive to the survivors of Ground Zero. Why should Muslims be allowed to proclaim their faith, even peacefully, in the shadows of the buildings brought down by religious extremists nearly nine years ago? The debate grew so heated that Bloomberg lashed out at those attempting to graft their views onto New York. “A handful of people,” he said, “should be ashamed of themselves.”

Now, the controversy will arrive front and center on New York City buses. Last week, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a right-wing organization run by Pamela Geller, attempted to purchase ad space on MTA buses to run this ad, but the MTA declined, claiming that the ad violated its procedures. It didn’t issue a final ruling on the matter, and after Geller tried to tinker with the image, she filed suit against the MTA, alleging violations of her free speech.

Tonight, the MTA announced that it would accept the ad in its original form. “While the MTA does not endorse the views expressed in this or other ads that appear on the transit system,” spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in a statement, “the advertisement purchased by a group opposing a planned mosque near the World Trade Center was accepted today after its review under MTA’s advertising guidelines and governing legal standards.”

At her website, Geller proclaimed it a victory for her cause, but city representatives to the MTA had a different take on it. “The wonderful thing about our country is that people have a right to express themselves, as long as it doesn’t endanger anyone’s life,” John Banks said to The Times, “I support it, even though I disagree with it vehemently.”

For her part, Geller doesn’t seem to care if the imagery is hurtful to New Yorkers. “It’s part of American history,” she said. Who can argue with such logic?

From the start, the main issue over the mosque has been an attitude of fear and retribution vs. one of tolerance and acceptance, and the MTA has, by allowing this group to advertise, taken the side of the latter. Of course free speech should triumph in New York because free speech is one of the bedrock principles of the U.S. Constitution. But there’s a deeper question at play here: Does advertising on a bus even matter?

One of the challenges the MTA faces in selling ad space on a bus or train is one of inattention. We barely pay attention to subway ads today because they have become so ubiquitous, and every time a controversy crops up — whether it’s over a pro-atheism ad that few people even notice or some racy romance novel with a suggestive cover — transit riders ignore it. We hear the debate raging amongst the talking heads on TV and the shouters on talk radio. We see the consternation in our newspapers’ op-ed pages, and we know that a Sarah Palin and a Michael Bloomberg will square off on an issue that touches the lives of few in anything more than a symbolic way.

Yet, life goes on with transit. The MTA will make nearly $10,000 off of this ad, and most New Yorkers won’t even blink. As tasteless as the image might seen, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.

Categories : Subway Advertising

Comments (45)

Disabled groups to file lawsuit over MTA service cuts · Over at Transportation Nation today, WNYC’s Alisa Chang profiles the plight of the city’s disabled transit riders in the aftermath of the service cuts. With Outer Borough bus service significantly scaled back, these travelers, many of whom are wheelchair-bound, find themselves taking fewer excursions and suffering through longer trips and inconvenient routes when they do head out. The anecdotes are numerous, and while firm numbers are hard to come by, Chang reports that various groups are gearing up to sue the MTA over the service cuts. These suits will allege a discriminatory effect on the basis of a disparate impact as the service cuts hit disabled riders particularly hard. I’m not familiar with the mandates of the ADA, but these legal challenges could present a problem for the MTA. · (17)

Aug

Dollar van debate: deregulation or privatization

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (31) ·

Union leaders see commuter vans as a threat to their power while city officials believe they can offer a low-cost replacement for lost MTA services. (Photo via flickr user AllWaysNY)

Shortly before the MTA’s service cuts went into place, word got out that the city would turn to commuter and the so-called dollar vans to replace many axed bus routes. The program — overseen by the Taxi & Limousine Commission — would target outer borough areas that no longer have bus service, and it will go into effect on August 16. In the build-up to the program’s debut next week, city officials and union leaders are squaring off over the long- and short-term impact more institutional support of this private industry’s approach to transit will have on the city.

From the get-go, the dollar van program was destined to be controversial. Transit labor unions see a privatized and low-cost alternate to transit service as a threat to jobs, and they argue against these vans by decrying the safety hazards and lack of regulation surrounding the industry. In a point-counterpoint series in last week’s issue of The Brooklyn Paper, TWU President John Samuelsen and TLC commissioner David Yassky squared off. Calling it the “Wal-Martiziation of transit,” Samuelsen decried the dollar vans. These vans, he says, “are not a solution to the city’s expanding need for more bus and subway service.”

The Bloomberg scheme would create an unsafe, unregulated shadow transit system, undermining New York City Transit and the MTA. It’s a tremendous mistake and an affront to every transit worker in the city. Most important, it’s clearly against the will of the people: every rider wants a clean, air-conditioned city bus rather than a seat in an unregulated dollar van…

These unregulated vans exist in tandem with the city’s transport system, cherry-picking passengers on highly trafficked routes. They’re not likely to cover low-traffic areas where the MTA is cutting service because they won’t profit from those routes. The “dollar van” doesn’t accommodate the disabled who use wheelchairs or have the ability to “kneel” to make it easier for a senior citizen to climb on board. A “dollar van” will not pick up an elderly person with a cane, because these operators make money by moving fast, and these passengers take up time and, from their point of view, waste money.

New York City Transit’s bus service is one of the great success stories of our city. It is clean, safe, efficient and, when properly funded, frequent. Mayor Bloomberg is cloaking a union-busting agenda in the sheep’s clothing of economic empowerment for van operators. It’s a smokescreen that New Yorkers should see through — and instead insist on more bus service. They should reject a cut-rate, “Wal-Mart” transit system that will lower safety, comfort and environmentally friendly standards.

Yassky’s piece focuses on the gap-filling nature of the dollar van service plan. In light of the MTA’s service cuts, the city, he says could follow one of two paths: “do nothing, or take action to provide assistance to thousands of New Yorkers.”

The commuter vans that have served parts of Brooklyn and Queens over the years inspired the plan’s foundation, but there are several important differences, among them the fact that the vans will pick up and drop off riders at fixed stops, rather than roaming freely as the vans now often do. The vans will also be required to carry adequate insurance and be driven by specially certified drivers, also in contrast with troublesome unlicensed vans…

The vans, which will hold between six and 20 passengers, will be clearly marked for easy identification. Pick-up and drop-off locations will be marked with signs from the Department of Transportation. In order to maximize convenience for passengers, drop-offs can occur either at the fixed stops or at other locations negotiated with drivers. Those concerned about unlicensed “rogue” vans will be pleased to know that this effort will be accompanied by a strict enforcement plan coordinated jointly by the Taxi and Limousine Commission and the NYPD.

To read Samuelsen’s piece is to transport back in time two months to an era before the service cuts. This dollar-van program, sponsored entirely by the city, is not a union-busting effort aimed at undercutting the MTA. Considering how Albany treats the MTA, it certainly can’t be undercut more than it already has been. It’s not some plot to put transit riders in harm’s way, and it’s not designed to eliminate commuter jobs. But that’s what Samuelsen fears. In the past, he’s said that TWU members should be the ones driving the vans, and now, he uses a populist approach — handicapped accessibility and senior citizen accommodations — to attempt to undercut the city. He didn’t stand with the MTA when the congestion pricing battle raged, and he hasn’t done much to use his position to secure better funding for the authority.

On the other hand, Yassky’s defense of the vans is far from perfect. It’s true that the city has targeted a few high-traffic former bus routes for implementation. It’s true that the TLC — not exactly thorough with its own taxi regulations — will enforce and oversee insurance and safety regulations. But it’s also true that the city hasn’t fulfilled its end of the funding deal with the MTA. Mayor Bloomberg barely raised a finger to find more money for the cash-strapped authority leading up to the service cuts, and his best plan has been to replace six bus routes with some dollar van service. It is an outcome that is far from ideal.

Right now, the dollar vans are a necessary evil, but privatization of a public transit network tends to run counter to the goals of that public transit network. Instead of offering services everywhere, privatized companies offer service only along profitable routes, and that’s what the TLC will do with their dollar-van trial. When the program kicks off on August 16, the union will protest, the city will defend, and the MTA will look on in vain as companies not beholden to others for their funding will assume bus routes that shouldn’t have been cut had a sensible funding regime been in place.

Categories : Buses

Comments (31)

Aug

A weekend service advisory glossary

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (1) ·

Every Friday evening, I post the subway service changes for the weekend ahead, and although many of the changes are self-explanatory, some of the phrases are rather technical. With the help of a regular SAS reader, I’ve put together the beginnings of a glossary to define some of the more obscure terms. This weekend’s changes follow.

Track Chip Out — Using chip and jackhammers to chip out the old concrete roadbed and excavate the old roadbed around ties and rails leaving just the track assembly itself.

Concrete Pour — Pouring a new concrete roadbed. It takes approx 24-48 hours for a new concrete roadbed to cure to full strength after it is poured. Think of it in terms of pouring a new foundation for a building in concrete forms.

Track Panel Installation — Track panels are just that: panels of pre-assembled track, usually 39 feet long. The only thing that has to be added is the third rail and electrical connections. It’s comprised of two running rails attached to the ties using “E” clips — so called because they are shaped like a lower case “e” and a trackman can use a hammer to just knock em in or off the tie and rail — instead of spikes and weighs approximately 8-9.5 tons, hence why only one type of crane on a work train can lift it. The crane is a 10-ton mantis which pivots on a base at one end of a crane car. The other end has a cradle for the crane boom to rest in. Once the panel is dropped or lowered into place, the third rail chairs and rail are installed and electrical connections are made for power and ground. Generally, the rail is nowadays welded, but it can also be bolted with rail joiners to the section previously put down. Track panels on elevated structure are usually bolted whereas on grade or ground or subway, they’re welded.

* * *

The following are the weekend service advisories as sent to me by New York City Transit. This are subject to change without warning. Listen to on-board announcement and check signs in your local station. As always, Subway Weekender has the changes.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, downtown 1 and 2 trains run express from 72nd Street to Times Square-42nd Street due to station rehab work at 59th Street-Columbus Circle.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, there are no 2 trains between Manhattan and the Bronx due to switch renewal at the 142nd Street junction north of 135th Street. 2 trains run between Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College and 96th Street, and then are rerouted to the 1 line to 137th Street. Free shuttle buses replace the 2 between 96th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse. 5 trains replace the 2 between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and 241st Street.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, there are no 3 trains running due to switch renewal at the 142nd Street junction north of 135th Street. 4 trains replace the 3 between New Lots Avenue and Nevins Street all weekend. 2 trains replace the 3 between Nevins Street and 96th Street. Free shuttle buses replace 3 trains between 96th Street and 148th Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, downtown 4 trains run local from 125th Street to Brooklyn Bridge due to a track chip out at Brooklyn Bridge.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, uptown 4 trains run express from Brooklyn Bridge to14th Street-Union Square, then local to 125th Street due to a track chip out at Brooklyn Bridge.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, 4 trains run local between Atlantic Avenue and Utica Avenue and are extended to and from New Lots Avenue to replace the suspended 3 due to the switch renewal at the 142nd Street junction.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, there are no 5 trains between Bowling Green and 42nd Street-Grand Central due to a track chip out at Brooklyn Bridge. Customers should take the 4 instead. Note: 5 trains run between the 241st Street 2 station and 42nd Street (days) or 149th Street-Grand Concourse (overnights). 5 shuttle trains run between Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street all weekend.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, 6 train service is extended to/from Bowling Green due to a track chip out at Brooklyn Bridge.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, uptown 6 trains run express from Brooklyn Bridge to 14th Street-Union Square due to a track chip out at Brooklyn Bridge.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, Manhattan-bound 6 trains run express from Parkchester to Hunts Point Avenue due to station rehabilitation and structural repair at Whitlock Avenue, Morrison Avenue-Soundview and Parkchester. Note: At all times until September 2010, the Manhattan-bound 6 platform at Parkchester is closed for rehabilitation. Manhattan-bound 6 trains stopping at Parkchester will use the Pelham Bay Park-bound platform.

From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, August 7 and Sunday, August 8, Main Street-bound 7 trains skip 82nd Street, 90th Street, 103rd Street and 111th Street due to painting of the elevated structure.

From 12:01 a.m. to 12 noon, Saturday, August 7, 207th Street-bound A trains run express from Canal Street to 59th Street-Columbus Circle due to switch renewal work at West 4th Street.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, A trains bypass Broadway-Nassau St. in both directions due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.

From 6:30 a.m. to 12 noon, Saturday, August 7, 168th Street-bound C trains run express from Canal Street to 59th Street-Columbus Circle due to switch renewal work at West 4th Street.

From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, August 7 and Sunday, August 8, C trains bypass Broadway-Nassau St. in both directions due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, Manhattan-bound D trains run express from 36th Street to Pacific Street, then skip DeKalb Avenue due to a track chip out at DeKalb Avenue.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, D trains run local between West 4th Street and 34th Street-Herald Square due to a substation rehabilitation south of 34th Street.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, Manhattan-bound E trains run local from Forest Hills-71st Avenue to Roosevelt Avenue due to a track chip out south of Elmhurst Avenue.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, there is no E service between 34th Street and World Trade Center due to signal work at 5th Avenue and Lexington Avenue and fan plant work at Queens Plaza. E trains run on the F line between Roosevelt Avenue and 34th Street-6th Avenue.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, the platforms at 5th Avenue, Lexington Avenue-53rd Street and 23rd Street-Ely Avenue stations are closed due to work on the 5th Avenue Interlocking Signal System. Customers should take the R 6 or shuttle bus instead. Note: free shuttle buses connect Court Square/23rd Street-Ely Avenue, Queens Plaza and 21st Street-Queensbridge stations.

From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, Jamaica Center-bound E trains run local from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to a track chip out south of Elmhurst Avenue.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, Manhattan-bound F trains run local from Forest Hills-71st Avenue to Roosevelt Avenue due to a track chip out south of Elmhurst Avenue.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, Brooklyn-bound F trains run on the A line from West 4th Street to Jay Street due to tunnel lighting work and construction of the Broadway/Lafayette-Bleecker Street transfer.

From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, 179th Street-bound F trains run local from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to a track chip out south of Elmhurst Avenue.

From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, there are no M trains running due to platform edge and station component work at stations between Central Avenue and Fresh Pond Road. Free shuttle buses provide alternate service.

From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, August 7 and Sunday, August 8, Manhattan-bound N trains skip 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue and 39th Avenue due to switch renewal work at Ditmars Blvd.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 7 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, Manhattan-bound Q trains run on the R from DeKalb Avenue to Canal Street due to a track chip out at DeKalb Avenue.

From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, August 7 and Sunday, August 8 and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, August 9, there are no R shuttle trains in Brooklyn between 59th Street and 36th street due to a track chip out at DeKalb Avenue. Customers should take the N instead.

Categories : Service Advisories

Comments (1)

Aug

From Brazil to NYC, an R160 arrives

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (11) ·

A few weeks ago, Transit announced that it had accepted the delivery of the final R160 units. With that order of cars, the next push to upgrade the rolling stock would involve the R179s, and the city’s fleet of subway cars is getting newer all the time.

Yesterday, in a great behind-the-scenes glimpse, the good folks at Transit’s NYCTSubwayScoop Twitter account published a series of photos concerning the new rolling stock. They traced the origins of the car from its production in Brazil to Hornell, New York, where the cars are assembled to the train yards in the city where the cars are put on the rails.

My favorite shot is the one atop this post. The new car is wrapped so nicely, and when the engineers at Transit open it up, they’ll find one of 1662 new subway train cars awaiting service.

Categories : Rolling Stock

Comments (11)

Aug

DiNapoli audit targets overtime but says nothing new

By Benjamin Kabak · Comments (15) ·

For the past eight months, MTA officials have waged a war against overtime. In December, CEO and Chairman Jay Walder highlighted the overtime issue, and again in May, he spoke about how the authority will try to limit overtime shifts in order to save money. In between, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli urged the MTA to rein in the overtime.

It is no great surprise, then, that DiNapoli’s latest audit of the MTA reveals a “culture of acceptance” that has enabled what he terms overtime abuse. It’s hardly a groundbreaking finding, but it reinforces what Walder has said about the MTA’s work rules. “Uncontrolled overtime has been the rule rather than the exception at the MTA,” DiNapoli said. “The MTA is cutting services, raising fares and tolls and laying-off employees, but it should be doing more to control expenses. Overtime shouldn’t equate to twice someone’s annual salary. When scores of employees are earning more in overtime than they make in salary, it’s time for the MTA to change the culture of acceptance to a culture of accountability.”

The audit simply reinforced Walder’s numbers. DiNapoli claims that 140 employees were able to more than double their salaries last year by exploiting the MTA’s overtime rules. Most of the workers were Metro-North or Long Island Rail Road workers, but some came from Transit as well. His press release comes with a table, and the audit — available here as a PDF — delves further into the agency breakdown.

On a case-by-case basis, DiNapoli found widespread overtime, as he would at any large organization. More than 3200 workers received overtime pay equal to at least half of their annual salaries, he said. Overtime accrued as workers replaced those out on sick leave even if replacements weren’t needed; and he found “unjustified or undocumented work” in 77 percent of overtime billing.

Yet despite the fact that overtime billing has risen by 32 percent over the last four years and despite his findings, DiNapoli identified just $56 million in overtime savings. Mostly, he said, the MTA should adopt practices it already said it would implement. He urged them to “match work schedules to work opportunities to reduce the need for overtime; restrict overtime budgets to specific targets for overtime reduction; and follow up on 59 questionable overtime payments identified by auditors.” As Comptroller’s reports go, this one is a pretty tame one, and a ten percent cost savings hardly seems worth the price of the audit.

For its part, the MTA stressed how these findings came as no surprise, and it reiterated its pledge to control overtime costs. “The comptroller’s audit confirms what we reported earlier this year and reinforces the need for the aggressive actions we’re taking to reduce unnecessary overtime,” the agency said in a statement. “We will do our part, but active participation from our labor unions is the only way to make the type of impact we all want.”

Interestingly, the news coverage of the audit revealed more surprising results than DiNapoli’s report did. As WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman noted, the MTA has had to spend more on overtime due to station agent dismissals than it had anticipated, and some union leaders claim that the MTA now would have saved money by keeping the axed agents on board. The authority says this is a temporary problem that has “persisted” longer than expected, but it is no where to be found in DiNapoli’s report.

This is DiNapoli’s 13th audit of the MTA since 2007, and by now, he’s charting familiar territory. The MTA knows it needs to control overtime, and it knew this reality well before DiNapoli started working on this report. If the Comptroller wants to sink his teeth into something juicy, he should examine the organizational structure of the authority as a whole. Otherwise, telling us what we already know doesn’t advance the dialogue.

Categories : MTA Economics, Transit Labor

Comments (15)

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An interactive way to track a capital plan

To repair station intercoms, a long wait or just a high average?

MTA buses to feature anti-Islam Center ads

Dollar van debate: deregulation or privatization

A weekend service advisory glossary

From Brazil to NYC, an R160 arrives

DiNapoli audit targets overtime but says nothing new

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