Politicians, MTA square off over emergency workers

After the London Underground bombings in 2005, the MTA ramped up its emergency preparedness. One of their measures included putting around 100 workers in high-volume stations who were in charge solely of emergency procedures should a calamity befall the subway system.

Two years later, these workers have yet to be put to use, and with other emergency preparedness in place, the MTA wants to eliminate these 100 positions as part of their internal belt-tightening efforts. New York’s politicians, of course, will have nothing of it. We can’t cut emergency workers in a post-9/11 world, now can we? Well, I think we can.

Before we get into that, though, Pete Donohue from The Daily News has more on this story.

The posts at 20 key hubs are no longer needed because NYC Transit – the MTA’s bus and subway division – has improved subway station exits throughout the system, managers claim. “Panic bars” have been installed on locked swinging-door gates that lead to sidewalk stairwells.

Riders can unlock the gates themselves and no longer need token booth clerks to open them up, NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said. The upgrades “add a significant amount of exiting capacity to the system,” he added.

In response, Peter Villone, chairman of the city council’s Public Safety Committee, claimed that the MTA is “jeopardizing the lives of their riders” because, hey, people might be slowed down by those HEET turnstiles which, Mr. Villone, were designed to facilitate rapid egress from subway stations. Common sense has a field day with the city council sometimes.

Now I know many people are wary about eliminating emergency response positions, and this cut would only save the MTA a few million dollars whereas better accountability with regards to the Student MetroCard program could save the MTA $71.5 million. But I think it’s a fine program to cut.

Do we really need 100 extra workers whose only responsibility is to be prepared for an emergency? No. Rather, the MTA should make sure that all of its employees are well versed in emergency response protocols.

It’s not hard to figure out which of the 20 key hubs are staffed. I’m sure Times Square, Penn Station and all of the other insanely crowded stops are on the list. These stations all have plenty of other MTA personnel working there, and these workers should be well trained in case of an emergency. Despite Villone’s calls, we the riders would be just fine in case of an emergency if we were taking instruction from MTA personnel already on the payroll rather than 100 unnecessary workers.