The Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA published its annual assessment of the Authority yesterday, and as I did last year, I’m going to offer up a few takes on what the report says. You can read the whole thing right here as a PDF. It’s an interesting perspective on the MTA from those tasked with giving riders a say in the way the authority is run and the policies it pursues.
In noting that 2009 was a “tumultuous year” for the MTA, the PCAC offered up praise for Transit’s development of numerous initiatives aimed at improving travel times, comfort and accessibility. Select Bus Service again earned high marks, and the new component-based station assessment plan garnered praise. Yet, as we all worry about the MTA’s financial future moving forward, so too is the PCAC. “We are concerned,” the report says, “that available resources will not be sufficient to satisfy the demands of maintaining the system and providing acceptable levels of service.”
The tumultuous year, of course, started at the top. Over the course of the summer, Howard Roberts left Transit and Thomas Prendergast took over. The PCAC had appreciated Roberts’ willingness to solicit rider feedback even if the Rider Report Cards weren’t the most rigorous statistical sampling of subway riders, and the Committee has been pleased with Prendergast’s outreach efforts as well. The impact of the recent shake-up of the line manager program remains to be seen, and the PCAC isn’t convinced this program improves station or car equipment maintenance.
In terms of service, Transit has made due with less. Despite suffering through some tough financial times, the midday 5 extension to Brooklyn was a welcome development last year, and the Jermone Ave. express pilot program earned some praise as well. Whether that will be continued in the future has yet to be determined. The PCAC strongly urged Transit to be aggressive in its Select Bus Service rollout as well.
From a pilot perspective, the PCAC praised the F line study, the new DesignLine buses and the luggage racks on airport-bound buses. I think it’s important to acknowledge Transit’s desire to improve its service, but the PCAC report is silent on the future of these initiatives. As with many pilot programs, these began this fall but particularly for the luggage racks, obvious needs remain simply pilots. Transit should be quicker to bring these initiatives to the system at large.
As far as accessibility concerns, the report is guardedly optimistic. “It is gratifying that the NYCT is ahead of schedule” to outfit 100 stations for ADA compliance by the end of the decade, it says, but “given the current tight financial situation, it remains to be seen if the remaining 30 can be finished by 2020.” The PCAC urged Transit to make the new Mets/Willets Point station completely compliant as quickly as possible.
Finally, the report touches upon a sore subject for Transit and one that has plagued the agency for years: communication and customer service. Despite the unreliability of TripPlanner, the PCAC generally praised the agency’s attention to online directions and appreciated the new PA/CIS rollout. All is not wine and roses there, however. “There are many stations,” the report noted, “still without public address systems and NYCT needs to move expeditiously to remedy this situation for the reassurance and security of all subway riders.”
Additionally, both service diversion signs and the decreasing number of MTA employees leave the PCAC worried. As I reported earlier this week, the PCAC is no fun of the confusing weekend signs, and, says the report, “the prospect of an additional 500 locations without agents will further erode confidence in the security and accessibility of the system.” MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder plans to address both of these issues.
So where does this leave Transit? By and large, this PCAC report is a generous one. It does not attack the current physical conditions of the agency’s infrastructure, but it does recognize that financial support, or lack thereof, for the city’s subways is a problem largely out of Transit’s hands. Overall, the pilot programs are seen as positive steps, but turning many of them into permanent features has so far not happened quickly. Innovation benefits everyone only when it is brought to the masses.
Stay tuned for more on the PCAC report. The Committee levied some charges against the way the MTA lobbies Albany, and I’ll explore that in depth later today.