MTA, Siemens at odds over technology projects

This sign may or may be accurate. That’s the problem. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

For years, New Yorkers have bemoaned the state of the MTA’s technology. While London has advanced tracking systems that show how far away, in minutes, the next Tube trains are and GPS systems that display the same information in bus stations, New Yorkers have, for time immemorial, had to relay on the old peer-and-hope method of waiting for that next train or bus.

In an effort to address these deficiencies, the MTA long ago contracted with Siemens to retrofit the 100-year-old subway system with 21st Century — or is that late 20th Century? — technology. Using the BMT Canarsie line as a staging ground for subway monitors and a few bus routes for surface monitoring, Siemens was supposed to deliver technology that would allow riders to know when the next buses and trains are coming. While some of the L line stations have the monitors, the technology has been far from perfect.

Finally, after making some noise about Siemens’ inability to deliver on their contracts in 2006, the MTA is getting more than a little fed up. According to a report this week by NY1’s Bobby Cuza, the MTA may be gearing up to find Siemens in default. Cuza reports:

It was hailed as a revolution in bus service: a high-tech satellite tracking system that would let dispatchers – and, eventually, the public – see the exact location of buses, information that would also be available via the MTA website and electronic displays. But the project has been riddled with problems. It’s now at least 16 months behind schedule, and transit officials are threatening to find the contractor in default…

That contractor is Siemens. Subsidiaries of the German technology company are involved in five high-tech transit projects, including plans to run computer-driven trains on the L line, a project several years behind schedule and about $70 million over budget. Then there’s those message boards telling you how long until the next train arrives – now operational on the L train, the signs were supposed to be up and running at 156 stations on 1/2/3 and 4/5/6 lines almost a year ago. Now completion is slated for 2009 at the earliest.

As with any subcontractor job, everyone wants to blame someone else. “What we found with all five projects is, in our opinion, one systemic issue, and that is the schedule and the ability to deliver the work on-time,” MTA Consultant Jerome Gold said to Cuza. If that’s not an understatement, I don’t know what is.

After months of burning its own money employing workers for these technological upgrades, the MTA is chomping at the bit to go after Siemens. “I’m for doing the most damage we can do to a company that has caused us an enormous amount of difficulty and an enormous amount of problems,” MTA Board Member Barry Feinstein threatened.

Siemens, on the other hand, says that the 100-year-old system, run 24 hours a day every day of the year, cannot easily accept technology undreamt of in 1904 — or 1924 when the Canarsie Line opened. A few Subchat folks were willing to accept Siemens’ excuses, but the reality is that if Siemens signed a contract with an expected due date for this technology and failed to meet that delivery date, it’s time for the MTA to wield what Board Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger called its hammer.

If the MTA is serious about entering an age of fiscal responsibility, it’s time to stop wasting $10-$20 million a year on cost overruns that should be borne by the contractor. We need this technology to keep our subways a state-of-the-art public transit system, and the MTA needs to see its contracts honored. No more excuses.