May 2010

For those in the upper reaches of the MTA, the key theme of the year is “making every dollar counts.” On the surface, this is seemingly an obvious state of affairs. After all, we don’t want situations in which dollars don’t count or are being flushed away.

But a close examination of the MTA’s recent approaches reveals exactly how the authority is making every dollar, even as market forces conspire against them. For example, the newly re-proposed capital campaign has cut down on $2 billion of proposed expenditures by eliminating those projects that won’t eventually save operating costs and streamlining others. If the authority had original plans to replace old infrastructure simply because of age and not because a modern building would lead to operating cost savings, those plans were scraped.

On Friday, as part of this rearranging of MTA priorities, New York City Transit announced a long-rumored < a href="http://mta.info/news/stories/?story=54">restructuring of the subway division. For all intents and purposes, former Transit president Howard Roberts’ line manager program has been eliminated, and the various functions that were to be centralized under the line managers are being redistributed across various working groups that will focus solely on a specific area or two.

Overall, the five Group General Managers are being scaled down to three, and those three will oversee what Transit is calling the IRT, BMT and IND divisions, maintaining a naming structure that owes its origins to the history of the New York City subways. The line GMs have been cut down from 17 to 12, and those remaining in place will be responsible for customer service and routine station maintenance. Heavy maintenance and car equipment responsibilities will rest with those who are better qualified for those jobs.

“The big change here is centralizing heavy maintenance and giving those responsibilities to the folks who are best equipped to deal with them. But aside from that, the Department of Subways is identifying a leadership team with the capability, know-how and experience to position us to build upon our successes,” Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast said. “This team will stay focused on our customers’ needs and look for every opportunity to improve upon the safe and positive travel experience we already provide.”

It is unclear how much money this restructuring will save the MTA, but at least seven management-level positions are being eliminated via this restructuring. The big question mark, though, remains around the dollars. In an article that should surprise no one, The Post discovered that the MTA’s payroll obligations increased by $70 million in 2009. While The Post highlights some management-level employees who enjoyed significant salary increases, the paper also discusses how the TWU raises imposed significantly higher salary costs on the MTA as well. Across the board, the MTA cannot stop paying higher salaries.

We know that the MTA is cutting administrative pay and positions this year, and last week, the authority announced another round of station agent layoffs. On both sides of the aisle though, the MTA cannot keep salaries under control, and Andrew Albert, a non-voting member of the MTA board, pointed his finger at both sides. “I just don’t know how there is an end to this never-ending [wage] escalation,” he said.

There probably isn’t an end to that problem, and thus, the pink slips will keep on coming. The MTA can reorganize its divisions until fewer people are left. It can eliminate workers until station staffing levels are stretched too thin. But until we see anyone willing to fight for a wage freeze, albeit a temporary one, the expenditures may just outpace the cost-cutting measures.