The more I read about Jay Walder, the more I feel as though he gets it. After his comments about increasing and improving bus service earlier this week, Walder spoke to the Citizens Budget Commission yesterday about the the fate of the MTA’s big projects. With the CBC criticizing the MTA’s capital construction efforts for constant delays and cost overruns, Walder believes the MTA must focus on its current projects and not add new ones.
“I don’t really think this is the time for grand plans. We have enough on our plate already,” Walder said. “I think we have to focus this organization right now on execution and delivery.”
For those of us who dream of the TriboroRX or the numerous other pie-in-the-sky subway expansion plans, we’ll have to suffer. But on the whole, Walder’s vision is the right one. The MTA should work toward completing projects currently under construction before taking on new ones. They should continue to work on the Fulton St. Transit Center; they should pick up the pace along Second Ave.; they should continue apace with the East Side Access project.
Yet, although I think Walder’s priorities are in the right place, he should consider looking ahead to a time when these projects are finished. He should think about planning for Phase II of the Second Ave. Subway simply because much of the tunnel is already in place. He should think about ways to improve service that don’t cost billions of dollars per mile.
At the same time, he has a perception problem to battle as well. As a part of the Daily News article covering his speech, the paper’s website presents a poll asking readers which project should be the first one tackled by Walder. The vast plurality of voters chose “Better service. Too many subway and bus lines have been cut.”
The reality is that no subway lines have been cut, and bus service hasn’t been reduced to a point where anyone should notice. Generally, a bunch of buses that carried few people were eliminated from the schedules, and no routes were axed. Could service be better? Sure. But most the improvements would come from the other proposed solutions — station renovations, mechanized trains lines with arrival boards, etc.
This poll simply highlights the disconnect between people’s knowledge of the subway and reality under ground. During the Doomsday talks last winter, the MTA said it would cut service, and the Straphangers held highly publicized funerals for the W and Z. Yet, in the end, Albany stepped, and these trains were not cut. Riders, however, are unaware of this fact.
So far, Walder has talked a good game, but he has to convince Albany that he is for a real and an ignorant public that he is looking out for riders’ interests. He’s had the job for all of 17 days now. In two and a half months, he plans to a report with goals and timetables for MTA projects. Then, we’ll see just how well he plans to handle a demanding job.
12 comments
I don’t know what’s sadder: the fact that the Daily News spread misinformation about the service cuts almost half a year after they were no longer necessary, or the fact that most of the readers believed it prior to reading anyway…
The headline is a bit deceptive. Well before Walder arrived, it was clear that the MTA would not be launching any “big new projects” anytime soon.
Walder’s focus on getting the house in order is exactly right, because no one would approve those projects anyway until the MTA proves it can nail down the ones it has. His focus on bus service is important, too, because that’s an area where he can move the needle much more quickly.
I suspect Walder realizes that Phase II of the SAS is the “next big thing” that has to get done, but there is no point in pushing it now. I think you over-state the existing tunnels. Relative to what still needs to be done, Phase II of the SAS is still massive—a bigger project, for instance, than the #7 extension.
Since the tunnels dug in the 1970’s are already there, what do you mean when you say “more massive than the #7 extension”?
The tunnel for the #7 extension is being built from scratch, and besides they rendered that project sort of ridiculous when they dropped the plans for the 10th Ave. station.
The tunnel dug in the 1970s covers only a portion of the total required for Phase 2. Also, Phase 2 includes 3 stations, while the #7 extension at the moment has only 1 station.
Can Mr. Walder come speak to my boss?
Check out http://mta.info/mta/employment/index.html — unless your boss is a politician or media personality, this is as close as you’ll get!
If it so happens that your boss is one of the people who read this blog, I guess you’re lucky that you use a pseudonym.
P.S. Jerrold is my real name, and I don’t work for anybody.
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Someone needs to sit the NY Daily News (and the NY Post, while we’re at it) down and give them a good stern lecture about what the MTA is, who funds it, how it works, and what it can and cannot do.
As it stands now, I’d say the majority of what both of those papers write about the MTA is factually incorrect, or at least topically misleading.
They are both sensationalistic papers (the Post even MORE than the News), and so I believe that their distorted reporting is intentional.
How anyone aware of the fact that subway station ceilings are collapsing could possibly think this isn’t the right thing to do is beyond me.
Triboro isn’t that expensive – it’s on the surface, which is much cheaper than tunneling. At normal-city construction costs, it’d cost $1 billion, and SAS Phase 1 would cost $1.3 billion.