When the Senate finally voted to approve an MTA rescue package, it was clear that the beleaguered transit agency had lost at least one battle. While millions of New Yorkers rely on the MTA every day, people just did not have faith in the agency, and at a time when transit advocates needed the authority to win the public relations war, it did not.
Apparently, though, deep-rooted mistrust of the MTA runs deeper than a PR battle over the agency’s short-term financial fate. According to a recent telephone poll conducted by Barcuh College Survey Research on behalf of NY1 News, most New Yorkers simply do not trust the MTA and many more do not understand the sources of the MTA’s financial woes. Bobby Cuza had more:
A combined 61 percent of those polled said they trust little or nothing the MTA says. Twenty four percent said they trust some, and just eight percent trust most of what the MTA says…”They kind of echo the governor’s sentiment in thinking that you can’t believe a whole lot of what the MTA says,” said NY1 pollster Mickey Blum.
In fact, much of the MTA’s problems stem from billions of dollars of debt it was forced to take on because the state cut funding to the agency. But New Yorkers don’t see Albany as the problem; 47 percent say the MTA is at fault for the current economic crisis. Just 22 percent blame state lawmakers, and 17 percent blame the governor, with 14 percent unsure.
Meanwhile, subway and bus fares will go up about 10 percent next month. Then, unless the economy gets significantly worse, the MTA says it won’t have to raise fares again until 2011. But skeptical New Yorkers don’t buy it. Almost two-thirds — 65 percent — think there will be another fare hike within a year. Only 23 percent think this will be the only fare hike this year.
Over the last few years, the MTA has become one of the more publicly accountable governing agencies in New York City. They broadcast all of their Board meetings and make just about every financial document readily accessible. Yet people do not trust them because the politicians in Albany and not the transit policy wonks at the MTA are running the publicity campaigns.
For now, this is a concern that can turn into a problem. The MTA should take heed of these findings and work on a public image campaign. I’ve met with and spoken to numerous MTA officials, and they truly want to help the public. They don’t like being viewed as an agency that can’t finish anything on time or on budget and can’t control its deficit. While perception and reality often align, the MTA must work on its perception if it wants to gain the trust of the public in needs to push for money for a true modernization and expansion program.
10 comments
It is really hard to believe an agency that wastes so much money and has every single project go horribly overbudget. Plus an agency that treats it’s own employees with so little respect is not worthy of the publics adoration.
@Working Class
I agree that they need to rethink how they execute construction projects, because the current system isn’t working. But that’s also an issue with pretty much every large public sector construction project.
I also agree that their treatment of employees is shameful. When the TWU went out on strike, I went and walked the picketline with them (at the NYCT bus depot in West Harlem/ Morningside Heights). I am a vehement defender of worker’s rights and believe that working people should democratically run our society, not wealthy bosses.
However, it must be said that the issue at hand in this posting is where does the blame for the current fiscal crisis of the MTA really lie? The answer is that the vast majority lies with both parties in Albany and the banks. The politicians in Albany gave tax breaks to the rich and then borrowed money from the rich, at interest, in order to fund the Capital plan. That debt is what is weighing the agency down.
Any debt owed by the MTA to any bank that has received public bailout money should get reduced interest rates. Capital construction funding on mass transit projects is a direct economic stimulus with huge public benefits. These banks, many based in New York, all benefited from the MTA’s projects and should have been paying their fair share all along.
In the meantime, small business owners and working people are forced to pay higher fares, higher taxes and more fees. The politicians have cut taxes for their rich friends, but laid the real financial burden on the rest of us. All the while their rich friends get richer off the interest paid by the MTA.
The MTA is an easy scapegoat because it’s the one that decided to do this. I blame the MTA for about maybe 1/3 or 2/5 of the crisis, the rest I blame on Albany, particularly politicians who don’t have a clue about how their district operates (read: Kruger and Diaz). I blame almost half of it on upstate Republicans who mooch off of us then whine when they help the MTA it’s earmarking and pork.
This is not a perception problem. The MTA is perceived as being an agency that can’t complete anything on time or on budget, because it is true. People expect fares to rise again because it is very likely that they will need to rise again – as has been discussed on this blog several times. For that matter only a few years ago the MTA was maintaining two sets of books for the explicit purpose of deceiving people. Why would anyone think them trustworthy now? Trust is earned, not bestowed, and them MTA has done little to earn it.
why is it that rich people get blamed for everything the poorman goes through? good grief man this is about the lack of funding to an agency not about how rich people doing the best they can to screw everyone else. the idea that every rich person takes away from the poorman is as true as every union working for it members instead of only its own exsistance.
anyway the MTA could do better but the true bottom line is that the MTA is run by Albany and it is up them to give us a system that works. too bad that the poor and rich alike do not want there driving privileges curtailed to fund a better train system
Trust isn’t what most people think is lacking with the MTA, it’s confidence. In other words, I don’t think people believe the MTA is out and out lying, I just don’t think people have enough confidence in the MTA that it can do what it claims to do. Most people understand that the lack of funding for the MTA is the fault of the legislature.
If every major project comes in way over budget and years behind schedule, how can anyone expect what the MTA says regarding the next project to be true? This isn’t just true for the big projects. Why are stations only scheduled to be re-painted every 40 years? Why is it so hard to get a reasonably functional PA system in most stations? Why is it so hard to inform the public to service changes that happen with little notice?
Think about the South Ferry platform being too far from the train. It was a stupid error that delayed everything by weeks and added to the overall cost. Imagine that level of error throughout a huge project. That kind of problem is understandable, but not having those problems is what separates good and mediocre management. No one think the MTA intends to deprive us of a good PA system or that the last minute South Ferry re-do was intentional, it just doesn’t inspire confidence.
Most people understand that the lack of funding for the MTA is the fault of the legislature.
I completely disagree with this. Based on what I’ve seen on other sites, based on conversations I’ve had, most people don’t understand that the lack of funding is the fault of the legislature. Most people still think the MTA has two sets of books and is hording cash. Most people don’t even understand that Albany is ultimately in charge of the MTA.
Is hyperbole a requirement in blogging? Must every statement be an overstatement to get attention or something? For example “every major project comes in way over budget and years behind schedule” is purely and simply untrue. To take a reality that there are cost over-runs and turn it into “every single project go horribly overbudget” sort of gee whiz extravaganzas drives the level of discourse into the toilet. The MTA just opened the Metro North Yankee Stadium project, not my favorite project nor my favorite stadium for that matter, exactly on time and exactly on budget. Do any of you guys actually work construction or do engineering on huge projects in the dense environment in NYC? Or are you part of the NIMBY attack squads that actually do drive up construction costs and delay completions of important construction? Back off the over the top rhetoric in hopes of a positive exchange of ideas, or would that lead to fewer posts?
This is a pretty uncalled-for attack, Niccolo. I’m generally sympathetic to the MTA, and I’m clearly a bit transit advocate. That statement you highlight is hyperbole. It’s as the public perceives it and not as reality happens. As I’m sure you know from reading every day, just last week I praised the MTA for getting the Yankee Stadium stop completed, and I’ve been pretty adamant in my belief that Sander was on the wrong end of a raw deal.
Anyway, I challenge you to show me the hyperbole in the sentence you pick. Per the words of the MTA last week, the Yankee Stadium stop wasn’t a “major project.” The major projects recently numbered five — South Ferry, Second Ave. Subway, 7 Line Extension, East Side Access, Fulton St. And you know what? None of those five will be on time or at budget. I don’t really see how stating that as a fact is hyperbole.
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