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Mar
19
Transit praised, guardedly, in annual PCAC report
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The Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA published its annual assessment of the Authority yesterday, and as I did last year, I’m going to offer up a few takes on what the report says. You can read the whole thing right here as a PDF. It’s an interesting perspective on the MTA from those tasked with giving riders a say in the way the authority is run and the policies it pursues.
In noting that 2009 was a “tumultuous year” for the MTA, the PCAC offered up praise for Transit’s development of numerous initiatives aimed at improving travel times, comfort and accessibility. Select Bus Service again earned high marks, and the new component-based station assessment plan garnered praise. Yet, as we all worry about the MTA’s financial future moving forward, so too is the PCAC. “We are concerned,” the report says, “that available resources will not be sufficient to satisfy the demands of maintaining the system and providing acceptable levels of service.”
The tumultuous year, of course, started at the top. Over the course of the summer, Howard Roberts left Transit and Thomas Prendergast took over. The PCAC had appreciated Roberts’ willingness to solicit rider feedback even if the Rider Report Cards weren’t the most rigorous statistical sampling of subway riders, and the Committee has been pleased with Prendergast’s outreach efforts as well. The impact of the recent shake-up of the line manager program remains to be seen, and the PCAC isn’t convinced this program improves station or car equipment maintenance.
In terms of service, Transit has made due with less. Despite suffering through some tough financial times, the midday 5 extension to Brooklyn was a welcome development last year, and the Jermone Ave. express pilot program earned some praise as well. Whether that will be continued in the future has yet to be determined. The PCAC strongly urged Transit to be aggressive in its Select Bus Service rollout as well.
From a pilot perspective, the PCAC praised the F line study, the new DesignLine buses and the luggage racks on airport-bound buses. I think it’s important to acknowledge Transit’s desire to improve its service, but the PCAC report is silent on the future of these initiatives. As with many pilot programs, these began this fall but particularly for the luggage racks, obvious needs remain simply pilots. Transit should be quicker to bring these initiatives to the system at large.
As far as accessibility concerns, the report is guardedly optimistic. “It is gratifying that the NYCT is ahead of schedule” to outfit 100 stations for ADA compliance by the end of the decade, it says, but “given the current tight financial situation, it remains to be seen if the remaining 30 can be finished by 2020.” The PCAC urged Transit to make the new Mets/Willets Point station completely compliant as quickly as possible.
Finally, the report touches upon a sore subject for Transit and one that has plagued the agency for years: communication and customer service. Despite the unreliability of TripPlanner, the PCAC generally praised the agency’s attention to online directions and appreciated the new PA/CIS rollout. All is not wine and roses there, however. “There are many stations,” the report noted, “still without public address systems and NYCT needs to move expeditiously to remedy this situation for the reassurance and security of all subway riders.”
Additionally, both service diversion signs and the decreasing number of MTA employees leave the PCAC worried. As I reported earlier this week, the PCAC is no fun of the confusing weekend signs, and, says the report, “the prospect of an additional 500 locations without agents will further erode confidence in the security and accessibility of the system.” MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder plans to address both of these issues.
So where does this leave Transit? By and large, this PCAC report is a generous one. It does not attack the current physical conditions of the agency’s infrastructure, but it does recognize that financial support, or lack thereof, for the city’s subways is a problem largely out of Transit’s hands. Overall, the pilot programs are seen as positive steps, but turning many of them into permanent features has so far not happened quickly. Innovation benefits everyone only when it is brought to the masses.
Stay tuned for more on the PCAC report. The Committee levied some charges against the way the MTA lobbies Albany, and I’ll explore that in depth later today.
Mar
15
With agents axed, security measures under fire
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An MTA security camera hangs above the BMT platform at 59th St. and Lexington Ave. (Photo by flickr user Vidiot)
Next week, the MTA Board will vote to approve a sweeping package of service cuts in an effort to close a budget gap hundreds of millions of dollars wide. Amongst those cuts are the planned elimination of 620 station agents. While layoff notices have already gone out to these employees and the cuts will leave stations with the fewest number of staffers in decades, politicians are voicing their concerns about the MTA’s willingness to sacrifice station security in a post-Sept. 11 era.
In fact, just last week, three high-ranking House representatives who overseen homeland security matters sent MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder a letter urging him to reconsider the station agent cuts. “Although our domestic transit systems have thus far been spared, deadly terrorist attacks in Spain, Great Britain, India and Russia over the last few years have emphasized the vulnerabilities of public transportation in large urban areas and demonstrated the security challenges unique to these open, passenger-heavy systems,” the letter said. It continued, “These cuts may create gaps in the layered infrastructure of local stations. A human presence is important for securing an open transit environment.”
The letter’s authors make it tough to ignore their message. It came from Bernie G. Thompson, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and co-signed by Sheila Jackson Lee, chair of the transportation security subcommittee, and Brooklyn’s own Yvette Clark, chair of the subcommittee on emerging threats, and the three noted that the recent guilty plea by Najibullah Zazi thrust domestic terrorism concerns back into the spotlight, a point made last month on one of my recent appearances on the WCBS local news. “The case of Najibullah Zazi is a chilling reminder that our transit systems are targets of Al Qaeda and its affiliates,” they wrote.
For its part, the MTA defended both the planned cuts and the current state of subway security. “The subway system is the safest it’s been in years, thanks to the vigilance and dedication of the N.Y.P.D.,” agency spokesman Aaron Donovan said. “There will continue to be a strong presence of M.T.A. employees throughout the subway system.”
Yet, another story about the MTA’s security cameras betrays the authority’s assurances. According to a report in today’s amNew York, half of the subway system’s 4313 security cameras aren’t working properly. According to Heather Haddon, these cameras “are unable to power up or are suffering from software glitches.”
In the past decade, the MTA has installed cameras across the system at subway turnstiles, platforms and tunnels to combat crime and fare beating. But of the 2,000 cameras that only records footage and are placed around the turnstiles, nearly half aren’t working because they were never fully rigged, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said…
Another 1,100 cameras located throughout the system that would send live feeds and allow officials to monitor activity in real time are not working because of a software glitch, Ortiz said. The MTA is in a legal dispute with the contractor, Lockheed Martin, but the agency is working with another contractor to make them live. Ortiz couldn’t say when the work will be finished.
Considering that the MTA just added closed-circuit cameras to their new R160s, this is a dismaying development. One of the reasons for this security problem is the MTA’s on-going legal fight with Lockheed Martin, most recently highlighted by a state comptroller’s report on subway security. The truth remains, however, that if the MTA is going to get rid of station agents, they have to make sure something else is making the system secure and user friendly.
I’ve doubted the station agents’ ultimate impact as a deterrent because they don’t leave the booths and are under no legal obligation to stop a crime in progress, but people may be deterred just by their simple presence, and as the MTA urges people to say something if they see something, someone has to be there to receive the complaint. The intercoms don’t work; the cameras don’t work; and now the the MTA has politicians concerned with homeland security breathing down its back. For better or worse, the authority can’t sacrifice the safety of its system for the demands of its tenuous budget. The agency needs money, and if the feds are so concerned, they could start to funnel more security dollars to the MTA. It would be a start for sure.
Feb
15
Times: Albany must find a ‘lasting solution’
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Calling New York a failed state in its current iteration isn’t too much of a stretch. We have a governor with no public support, and a State Senate that can’t stop its in-fighting long enough to pass any sort of legislation. When they do get their collective acts together for a long enough period of time to get something done, the results fall far short of what is promised as is the case with last May’s MTA funding package.
Over the weekend — unfortunately on a Saturday when fewer people are around to read it — The New York Times took Albany to task for its MTA failures. In a scathing editorial, the Gray Lady called upon Albany to find a better solution for the MTA. With a budget shortfall of nearly $800 million, the MTA is on borrowed time, and The Times succinctly outlines the sources of the shortfall. Tax revenues are down; the payroll tax brought in $200 million less than expected; fare revenue is down by $100 million; Albany cut $143 million; the upcoming TWU raises will cost the agency $100 million. It is a perfect storm of bad circumstances.
The Times though is concerned with the machinations in Albany right now. Writes the paper:
Now Governor Paterson is threatening to make things worse. In a clear pander to suburban voters in this year’s governor’s race, he is calling for cutting the payroll tax in seven suburban counties around the city while increasing the payroll tax in the city’s five boroughs.
A Legislature that is heavy on representatives from New York City is unlikely to go along — at least on raising the city’s taxes. The danger is that legislators, also facing voters this year, will decide to cut suburban payroll taxes without making up the loss to the transportation authority.
Some advocates are suggesting the agency shift some of its federal stimulus money — supposed to be reserved for maintenance, subway construction and upgrades — to use for operations. Transportation experts warn that if that happens, the system would deteriorate. Remember the ratty old subways of 30 years ago?
Albany must come up with a lasting solution for the M.T.A. That means leaving the payroll tax alone and finding new revenue sources — starting with tolls on Manhattan’s free bridges that could raise an estimated $600 million a year. It may mean raising fares, although that should be a last resort. It will mean supporting the new Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman, Jay Walder, including in his plans to lay off workers as he streamlines the system.
What it should not mean is doing away with free passes for needy students. Both the state and city will have to contribute more to help pay $214 million a year to help keep these students in school.
The transit system that feeds the New York City area is crucial to the welfare and commercial vitality of the entire state. Governor Paterson and the Legislature have a responsibility to make sure it has the money it needs to keep working.
In a nutshell, this editorial tracks closely with everything I’ve been writing over the last few months. Albany must find a better solution. It’s time to renew the push for East River Bridge Tolls. It’s time for a sensible solution for transit in a city more heavily dependent on its subways and buses than any other in the nation.
Feb
12
Profiling a high-powered snow thrower
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On Wednesday night, as I praised the MTA for better handling inclement weather than they had in the past, I ran a photo of the MTA’s high-powered snow blower. Described in a December release as “similar to a household snow thrower, just a lot bigger,” this particular thrower helped keep the Broad Channel crossing and the IND Rockaway Line free from snow.
Little did I realize just how alluring stories about big machinery can be. Yesterday, Pete Donohue of the Daily News profiled the MTA’s snow thrower as well. The machine is massive. It features a six-foot cylindrical brush that gobbles out snow, feeds it into a chute and launches it through a tube eight feet above ground. Transit says the machine can throw snow 200 feet and can clear 3000 tons of snow an hour.
These snow throwers are but a part of the MTA’s anti-snow fleet. The agency also has de-icer cars, jet blowers and ballast regulators that keep the tracks free from snow and ensure that snow drifts do not interfere with train operations. As other subway systems throughout the country — DC’s WMATA, in particular — struggle to maintain any semblance of service during large snow storms, the MTA has equipment ready to ensure that our 24-hour subway system can run above and below ground with few problems.
Feb
11
Surviving the snow storm
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A snow thrower at the Howard Beach station in Queens helped keep the above-ground subway tracks cleared of snow. (Photo courtesy of NYCTSubwayScoop)
When Mother Nature decides to dump a foot of snow on New York City, travel becomes treacherous. Street corners turn to snow-blocked slushy pits; cars inch slowly down slippery streets; the subways run at slower speeds. Everyone is cold and wet, and they all just want to get to where they have to be.
For New York City Transit and the MTA, the weather has posed problems in the past. Most notable was an August 2007 storm that knocked out nearly every subway line. The subsequent panic and search for information also killed the MTA’s website for a few hours that day. Straphangers couldn’t get up-to-date information on service changes, and millions of New Yorkers were left searching for answers.
That day served as a catalyst for the MTA. Never again could the agency be left without a communications plan. Never again could the agency fail at providing up-to-date route changes and comprehensive travel information. That day, in fact, spurred the MTA into action, and as real-time Internet-based communications has exploded over the last few years with the advent of Twitter and Facebook, among others, the MTA has vastly improved its web presence.
Yesterday’s snow storm is the perfect example of the way the MTA communicates and how things have improved in just over two and a half years. As snow set in on Tuesday night, the new-look MTA website was updated to feature a prominent winter weather advisory, and the individual agencies hosted their own inclement weather plans as well. People navigating to the MTA’s site could easily and rapidly figure out how the storm was impacting the subway system.
Meanwhile, for those who dug a little deeper, the MTA and its agencies communicated via social media outlets as well. The NYCT Subway Scoop Twitter feed kept its followers up to date on storm preparedness and service changes. NYCT Bus Stop had the latest on surface transit, and MTA Insider served as a clearing house for the latest on Transit, Metro-North and LIRR. Amidst the storm, MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder took the time to record a video update on the status of MTA service.
Of course, many of these outlets have only a limited reach. To find the MTA and Transit on Twitter, one must first be on Twitter and following these accounts. The social media accounts, however, are linked from the MTA’s website, and after years of corporate silence from the MTA in light of weather disasters, this transparency and outpouring of information is welcome indeed.
Right now, the information is out there, and people who navigate to the website looking for the latest won’t find the same 404 errors we used to see. Today, the MTA can feel good about its efforts at improving. It may just be one small area of customer service, but it shows a level of care and attention to its customers that has long been lacking at the authority.
Feb
10
Unlawful arrest for subway photography costs city $30K
Posted by: | CommentsTaking pictures in the subway isn’t illegal, but good luck convincing NYPD’s transit officers of that fact. In what has become a series of similar cases, the City of New York had to pay out $30,000 to a man who was unlawfully detained for snapping some subway shots.
Fox 5’s John Deutzman reports that Robert Palmer was at the Freeman Station in the Bronx last year when cops ordered him to stop shooting photos of the subway. When Palmer respectfully declined to erase his pictures and showed the cops his copy of the subway rules that say, “Photography, filming or video recording in any facility or conveyance is permitted,” he was handcuffed.
The cops then booked Palmer for not one but three violations. He was charged with, according to Fox, “taking photos,” “disobeying lawful order/impeding traffic,” and “unreasonable noise.” Palmer says he wasn’t being confrontational or rude, and the three charges were eventually dropped. The NYPD admitted that Palmer shouldn’t have been charged, and Palmer sued the city for his unlawful detainment. The actions of police ignorant on the law cost taxpayers that $30,000.
To make matters worse, as Fox 5 news crews were filming this story, Deutzman had his own run in with a transit authority worker. He reports, “Some guy who claimed to be a transit supervisor actually put his hand over the camera’s lens to try to stop the Fox 5 camera guy from recording video. When the so-called supervisor figured out the crew was with Fox 5, he backed off saying he didn’t realize we were ‘working press.’
As the report notes, the NYPD has sent a memo to its service members reminding them that photography is legal. Transit has done the same. Yet, still the cops and employees haven’t gotten the message. How many more taxpayer dollars will it cost the city before the rules become the rules?
Jan
14
SAS utilities work forces UES street closures
Posted by: | CommentsI learned a few hours ago that utilities work along Second Ave. will result in some street closures until the end of February. An official with E.E. Cruz & Tully, the joint venture working on Contract 2A of the Second Ave. Subway, sent Community Board 8 a letter this afternoon detailing the closure. From 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. every weekday until February 26, East 95th St. between 1st and 2nd Aves. will be closed to through traffic. Businesses along the street will still be able to receive deliveries, and pedestrian traffic will not be affected. As an westbound street that feeds off of an FDR Drive exit, this street closure will force more traffic onto 96th St., and it serves as another reminder that subway construction in a densely-populated city is not without its headaches.
Jan
13
With new website, MTA opens all scheduling data
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The MTA this afternoon launched its redesigned website, and while this technological innovation drew headlines earlier today, the real story is one of data. With the new site, the MTA made its scheduling data free to the public. Developers and riders alike now have nearly instant access to the agency’s schedules, and the number of mobile applications and novel online uses of this data should expand exponentially now.
“One of my first priorities when I came back to the MTA was to improve the way we communicate with our customers,” MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder said. “We have completely overhauled the MTA’s outdated website format by putting the customer first with clear, easy-to-find information to help navigate our transit system.”
For most users, the obvious changes are user-friendly, visual and for the better. Front and center is a real-time service status information box with updates on service across the subways, buses, commuter rails and bridges and tunnels operating by the MTA. These updates will tell us if the lines are operating with “Good Service” and any unexpected “Delays,” “Planned Work,” or “Service Changes” will link users to the service advisory.
The home page is, while still a little cluttered, simply easier to navigate. The Plan & Ride box is in the upper left corner with options to use the MTA’s own TripPlanner as well. The maps are easy to find, and the links on the left side have been selected to provide those who surf with the proper guidelines. The Accountability and Transparency section has been overhauled too, and it will grow tougher for politicians to claim that the MTA is not providing information to the outside world. The MTA too has fully embraced social media and social networking.
The Straphangers Campaign praised the new site for just these innovations. “Its revamped website makes it easier for riders to plan their trips and avoid delays, for the public to keep track of what the agency is doing and for those working to develop new computer applications to make life easier for riders,” Gene Russianoff said in a statement.
Behind the scenes, though, much of the website content remains the same. It’s easier to find, for example, the Second Ave. Subway project page, but the presentations, updates and documents are still thrown together in a somewhat organized list. In a way, it reminds me of that 2008-era line about putting lipstick on a pig. Still, we shouldn’t scoff at the organization and streamlined navigation options on view in the menu bar. The new site adds structure where before there was little.
The real story though is how the MTA, with one flip of the switch, has gone from being the largest transit agency in the nation with no open data to being the largest in the nation providing free access to scheduling data. “While the new Resource Center will launch with existing service and schedule data, the intent over the longer term is to identify and make available other data about the MTA system and its operation,” the agency said in a press release. “That should lead to new and exciting apps that will provide improved information for customers.”
Walder echoed these sentiments. “We need to get out of our own way and instead get out in front of the data sharing revolution,” said Walder. “By making access to our data directly from our website, we are encouraging the developer community to do the work we can’t to create apps that benefit our customers at no cost to the MTA.”
To accomplish this release of data, the MTA and Google worked together to redefine Google’s Transit sharing parameters. The data has been released in the new General Transit Feed Specification format and should provide developers with their own playground for transit data. For more on this story, check out coverage The Civic Hacker. They run down the good of it, the areas the need work and the next steps.
“Google applauds the MTA’s efforts to open up their route and schedule data to all app developers,” Joe Hughes, lead developer of GTFS at Google, said. “Transit agencies around the world are finding that open GTFS data means more and better apps for transit riders, at no additional cost to the agency.”
For an agency long used to being the butt of punchlines concerning transit data, this new website is a true step in the right direction. As customers get used to the changes, the MTA’s developers will have to respond to feedback and criticism. Only then will we know for sure if the agency has embraced technological innovation, but today’s reveal was a good step in the right direction.
Dec
21
Getting worse before it gets better
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One the major causes of the MTA’s current fiscal short fall is a $143 million reduction in previously-approved state appropriations. Now, the state’s fiscal picture is growing darker by the day, and as the MTA prepares to close a budget gap of nearly $400 million, recent developments are leaving me wondering if they should look for even more ways to save.
In a rather gloomy story over the weekend, the Daily News reported that things will very likely get worse before they get any better. Wrote Kate Lucadamo and Pete Donohue:
The MTA’s budget crisis could worsen, a financial rating company said Friday – just days after the authority announced plans to slash services and charge students to ride buses and subways. A Moody’s Investment Services report raises concerns that the state again will cut funding to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
A deepening or longer recession also could drive down ridership and revenues from taxes that are supposed to help pay for the subway, bus and commuter train system, according to the report…Gov. Paterson and the state Legislature cut nearly $3 billion in state spending early this month, including money for student MetroCards. Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday things will get worse.
“People are screaming about what they do now; wait until they see what happens in March,” Bloomberg told WOR’s John Gambling during his weekly radio show.
In March, the state may very well be faced with a budget gap of $9 billion. That could spell the end of any major state subsidies for the MTA.
Of course, cutting off the MTA is a major mistake. Whether or not Albany realizes it, New York City’s mass transit system drives the state’s entire economy. Our politicians though are far more willing to play with fire than they should be. If we’ve learned one thing over the last year, it is exactly that.
In the end, the MTA should begin to evaluate its options now. It can cut services only so much before the fares have to start inching up. As I’ve said in the past, I’d rather see service levels remain as they are now with fares going up. It’s more important to have adequate service and slightly higher fares than it is to have sub-par service and fares artificially deflated. Still, congestion pricing and East River Bridge tolls are going to have to be considered as solutions, and as the economy stumbles in New York state, we can only hope the MTA can survive relatively intact
Dec
14
Disabled, students hardest hit in MTA budget
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In an effort to close an unexpected budget gap of nearly $400 million, the MTA this morning unveiled a plan to cut services across the city. While two subway lines and a few bus routes will be eliminated and service on others severely reduced, the city’s students and disabled are the hardest hit in the latest round of cuts.
As the Gary Dellaverson, MTA CFO, explained this morning, this new budget gap developed early last week when payroll tax totals came in at around $200 million below expectations. The state has since revised that number upward to $100 million below expectations, but that $100 million combined with lower expectations for 2010, a late-year cut of $143 million in appropriations to the MTA and a labor arbitration ruling that will add $91 million to the MTA’s bottom line next year has led to a deficit of $383 million. Since the agency has promised to avoid a fare hike until 2011, cuts are on the table.
“To present a balanced budget despite losing hundreds of millions of dollars in State funding over the past two weeks requires measures that are painful to the MTA, our employees and our customers,” Dellaverson said to the MTA’s finance committee. “Given the ongoing downturn in the broader economy and the resultant economic crisis facing the State, we have worked to balance the budget while maintaining our commitment to riders not to increase fares in 2010.”
And the cuts are severe. In addition to reviving the Doomsday service cuts, the MTA will rollback the student discount for MetroCards and will pare down services to the disabled until they meet the bare federal minimums under the Americans with Disabilities Act. At a time when the agency has few choices, it’s certainly taking the ones bound to attract the most political attention. The financial summary and board presentation, available here and here, respectively, as PDFs, tell a tale of reduced service across the board.
The MTA plans to:
- Discontinue W and Z subway routes; terminate G subway route at Court Street;
- Increase subway headways on weekends and early mornings; increase off-peak subway load guidelines;
- Adjust express bus service to reflect demand and eliminate low performing weekend express bus service;
- Discontinue and restructure local bus service on low-performing routes;
- Eliminate Rockaway-resident Cross Bay toll rebate program;
- Reduce car consists and increase load standards; and
- Reduce service, on Commuter Railroads.
Although everyone will suffer from reduced service, more crowded midday trains and fewer overall options, students and disabled passengers will see a drastic change of transportation quality. As I noted this morning, the MTA seemed ready to axe student MetroCards, and that plan is now official. With Gov. David Paterson starting the day by saying that his hands were tied and the Daily News reporting that state contributions to student transit costs were down to just $6 million, the MTA could no longer afford to fork over nearly $170 million in voluntary subsidies for student travel.
Under the new plan, the MTA will move to a half-price discount for students in September 2010 and phase out the Student MetroCard program entirely in September 2011. By delaying the elimination of these free rides, the MTA is giving Albany ample time to find money for the program. The MTA should not be expected to foot the bill for a program the city and state once promised to fund in full. “The MTA” the financial summary says, “can no longer afford to subsidize this free service and, therefore, is proposing a roll back of the discount for school transportation.”
As for paratransit service reductions, the MTA is vague on the specifics. Michael Grynbaum reports that the authority will provide paratransit service only to the nearest handicap-accessible subway station and that door-to-door service will be eliminated entirely. The agency’s documents call for cost savings of $40 million in 2010 and $80 million in 2011 through “improvements in scheduling efficiency, an increase in the use of vouchers and taxis, better coordination of feeder service with accessible fixed route service, improved eligibility screening, and the elimination of the most expensive carriers.” No matter the end result, the MTA’s services for the disabled will be simply, as I said, the bear minimum required by law.
I’ll have more on these catastrophic cuts over the next few, but I want to leave you for now again with Andrew Albert’s quote. This is a mess of Albany’s doing, and our elected representatives are trying to wash their hands of it. That injustice just cannot stand. As Albert said, “To have this situation in the most transit-dependent city in the country is a complete failure of government.”
