Three days ago, the MTA started to eliminate station agents at numerous entrances throughout the system. In the buildup to this cost-saving measure, the agency has faced criticism on numerous fronts from those who feel that eliminating the agents will decrease safety underground. While I believe the agents create the illusion of safety and don’t actually make the stations safer, it is hard to dispute the deterrent power of an official-looking station worker.
As the agents head out, the MTA suffered something of a public relations setback. No one really explained how the MTA was going to maintain safety in the subway. Today, the Daily News has word of a plan unveiled tomorrow that should quell some fears. As the MTA rehabilitates stations, it will include platform intercoms every 200 feet. These intercoms will will allow customers to report problems nearly at the source.
This is a great safety measure and one that should have been announced as the agents were being eliminated. Why we are hearing about this only know, I do not know. Pete Donohue has more:
Intercoms linking platforms and token booths are now few and far between – but NYC Transit is including them in all future station rehabilitation projects, a spokesman said. Among the first to see the communications upgrade will be riders at five Brighton line stations in Brooklyn.
Workers will install 61 of the devices, one every 200 feet, the spokesman said. The series of station overhauls began in October and will be completed in December 2011.
“The bottom line is it will be a lot easier for riders in an emergency to reach help, and that’s a good thing,” Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said. “It doesn’t completely make up for the smaller human presence in stations, but it helps.”
I don’t think Russianoff gets it right. The intercoms won’t act as deterrents as people would, but the technological should make riders safety. The intercoms could connect directly to outside help, and while the initial plans are to connect them to the token booth or the NYC Transit control center, if customers can summon emergency response teams from the platform without having to track down a station agent, straphangers would be far better off than they are now.
The MTA deserves applause for this initiative, and they should earn praise from the board tomorrow when the full plan is unveiled. The rollout may be slow and steady, but the intercoms represent a true measure of subway security.
9 comments
This is a great idea, but I worry about accessibility. I’m deaf and although I was born oral (and so can speak) a lot of my fellow deaf were not. Also, I would be unable to have an actual conversation with anyone over an intercom, it would just be me sort of yelling. Which is better than nothing, I suppose. But would this meet accessibility requirements?
It’s a good point, but I would think even hitting the button and not saying anything would trigger some sort of action. Just like if you call 911 and hang up, they have to send a car over.
Inevitably, though, someone will prank the token booth/NYC Transit control center. There has to be some level of control, but I do like this idea.
I think you have to read between the lines of this announcement. Intercoms will be installed “in all future station rehabilitation projects.” How often do stations get rehabilitated? How long will it take to get intercoms installed in all 400-plus stations of the system?
A while. There’s no denying that. It’s certainly not an immediate replacement for station agents, and it’s probably a technology that should have been installed a long time ago.
I think there are already such intercoms…usually rectangular metal faceplate with a button in the middle. Installed on steel columns on platforms. Barely looks like they work though.
What about the 3500 or so station agents who do actually work?Where do you put them? If you kill all station agents,that would be a disservice to every single person in the city whether they are Seniors,people who have disabilities,tourists,people who don’t ride everyday,people with bikes,strollers,shopping carts,bulk items,even heavy set people who can’t fit through the high wheel…..I think I covered 7,999,997 of the 8 million people in the naked city except for the anal yuppies who do not give a rats ass as long as they have a job,$30 million in their 401K and hope the MTA lowers the fares.
No one is advocating for killing the station agents. This is just a far better way to insure safety considering the legal ruling that station agents have no obligation to help and that platforms are problematic safety-wise even in stations with full-time agents.
After all, the agents don’t leave the fare-control area. They can’t see what’s happening on platforms that can stretch as far as 2.5 city blocks away from the token booth.
You can rebuild turnstiles to be usable by people with strollers or in wheelchairs without station agents. I believe Calgary does.