MTA EconomicsMTA Politics

Report: Cuomo to cut state transit funding

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 31, 2011

Governor Andrew Cuomo hasn’t ridden the subway since “last year, and now he’s planning on removing some state funds for the MTA when he unveils his budget tomorrow. According to a report in The Daily News, Cuomo will attempt to limit the cuts to “an amount the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be expected to absorb while maintaining both the current MetroCard prices and level of service.” Color me skeptical.

Pete Donohue has the bad news:

Gov. Cuomo soon will propose a reduction in MTA funding – but he doesn’t want to trigger an increase in what riders pay to ride the subway, buses and commuter trains, a source close to the administration said. The figure will be limited to an amount the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be expected to absorb while maintaining both the current MetroCard prices and level of service, the source said…

MTA executives cut $500 million in spending last year. About 3,500 positions were eliminated, many through painful layoffs. But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority remains in a constant state of fiscal crisis. Its 2011 budget plan has a $75 million reserve – lunch money for an authority operating the largest subway system in North America and the country’s two largest commuter railroads.

Whatever its shortcomings, the MTA’s money problems aren’t the result of corrupt transit executives, bungling bureaucrats or greedy workers, as some critics contend. There never was an illegal “two sets of books,” a myth that emerged after an ethically challenged state controller released a scathing report on MTA finances. The real shell game takes place in Albany. Much of the MTA’s funding comes from a series of taxes the state Legislature enacted over time specifically to help pay the cost of transporting millions of people to their jobs every day – a public service one has a right to expect is both safe and affordable. The state collects the dough – but doesn’t always pass along the full amount to the MTA. It quietly skims off the top and uses it for other purposes.

In my opinion, Donohue is glossing over some key facts. He’s right to shoot down the claims of two sets of book; that’s one of the more infuriating myths that just won’t die. But a bloated bureaucracy, an inflexible union and some poor contracting practices that may or may not resemble corruption are certainly to blame, in part, for the MTA’s structural and economic problems. The MTA is not a blameless victim here.

That said, Donohue hits on a few key points here. The MTA has made a concerted effort to save money over the past 12 months, but that doesn’t mean the authority can absorb another funding raid. Had Albany not removed $143 million from the MTA’s budget last year, the service cuts could have been averted. Another cut will require the MTA to scale back on either services — such as station cleaners or in-system eyeballs — or transportation service, and neither of those choices is a desired outcome. If Gov. Cuomo truly believes he can cut the MTA budget without impacting service levels or the fare structure, he may be in for one unpleasant surprise.

Meanwhile, the very idea of dedicated funding is under attack. When the state legislature approves a tax with revenues dedicated for transit, that shouldn’t be an option appropriation. Those monies should never come under attack from politicians who aren’t responsible in their other spending decisions. Money for collected for transit should always be redistributed to transit.

Advocates are worried about the impact cuts will have on the MTA’s bottom line because those cuts will be passed onto the riders. How much more can New Yorkers take before holding Albany responsible for this mess?

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MTA

Moving forward while making every dollar count

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 31, 2011

For the MTA, 2011 will again be able making every dollar count. (Click the image for to read the PDF report.)

For the MTA, 2010 was not what I would consider to be a banner year. The authority had to enact sweeping service cuts in June that saw two subway lines and countless bus routes wiped from the map, and then in December, the agency jacked up fares for the third year in a row. Still, spurred on by an early January promise, Jay Walder did his best to make every dollar count, and he’s doing it again this year even as the MTA’s financial picture darkens.

This past Friday afternoon, Walder and the MTA released their agenda for 2011. In keeping with the 2010 theme, this year’s report is again titled “Making Every Dollar Count,” and it builds upon the progress the MTA made last year in both improving its customer relations and shoring up its bloated bureaucracy. “It’s a new year, but our focus remains unchanged,” Walder said in a statement. “We will make every dollar count. We will continue to cut costs to create a more efficient MTA. We will continue to improve service for our customers. We brought change to the MTA in 2010, and we’re going to build on that success in 2011.”

While acknowledging the financial problems facing the MTA and the current capital funding crunch, Walder in his report highlights the MTA’s savings from 2010. “As our customers faced service reductions and an end-of-year fare increase, we sought to ensure that we were doing everything possible to reduce operating expenses. This effort—the most aggressive cost-cutting in the history of the MTA—helped limit the impact of a devastating economic downturn,” the report says. “The emergency cost cutting we implemented in 2010 will set the stage for a more fundamental reshaping of the MTA, with cumulative cost savings expected to reach $3.8 billion in 2011.”

Of course, that’s well and good. We’ve heard a lot about the MTA’s push for internal reorganization, and we know what the authority is doing to save dollars and what it could be doing to save even more. That’s not the sexy part. Yet, within the 2011 report — available here as a PDF — are the progress items the MTA hopes to implement this year. The highlights involve better bus service and more real-time information. A new fare card is on the horizon as well. Let’s see how this shakes down.

Bus Improvements: According to the MTA, 2011 will be a banner year for bus improvements. Leading the charge will be bus lane cameras for 34th St. and Fordham Road in the Bronx. After a successful test run on 1st and 2nd Aves. this fall, the cameras have been shown to reduce congestion in the bus lanes. To expand this program though, the MTA will need authorization from Albany, and that has been slow to come. Buses will also soon sport security cameras to keep passengers and drivers safe.

Real-Time Information: Meanwhile, after years of no progress, real-time information is coming quickly to the MTA. Later this year, says the report, every bus on Staten Island will be equipped with BusTime, which tells riders via their phones or computers exactly where every bus in the borough will be. Signs on the B63 in Brooklyn promise BusTime later this week as well. Taking the guess work out of waiting for the bus will make it a more appealing mode of transportation.

Underground, the MTA is promising that over 200 stations will have countdown clocks by the end of 2011. Those include stations along the 7, which may be in line for an RFID-based train tracking system, and along Queens Boulevard. The real-time information screens in place at a few stations will expand to other key areas around the system as well, and Metro-North will join the LIRR on the MTA’s CooCoo service.

Station and Fare Improvements: Walder also tackled the MTA’s fare structure and physical plant as well. He anticipates that the next-generation fare payment system will be on all buses and subways by 2015. This year, the MTA will “begin entering into contracts for the behind-the-scenes work” that will allow for seamless integration amongst Transit, PATH, New Jersey Transit, LIRR and Metro-North. That’s an effort years in the making.

Finally, the MTA is vowing to clean up some subway stations. In 2010, the authority targeted 19 of its heavily-used stations for constant cleaning, and this year, the effort is going to expand to 96th St. on Broadway, the new Jay St.-MetroTech complex and 14 other stops. The authority is vowing “better-maintained stations,” but this is a prime example of something they must show instead of tell. As I mentioned over the weekend, the MTA’s physical plant is in terrible shape.

The report ends with a vow to produce a “leaner, more efficient and effective MTA,” and Walder has to stress that. Transit activists are worried about upcoming New York State budget cuts, and the five-year capital plan must be taken up again in Albany this year. The MTA is trying to move forward under difficult circumstances, and the economic storm may be gathering to halt this progress.

For now, the authority is talking a good game and producing results. To change public perception is nearly impossible, but if the MTA can show that it needs that capital investment and political support to keep improving services and providing transportation, perhaps Albany will listen. If every dollar counts, those that do trickle down to our transit system will be used for the good of us all.

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AsidesInternational Subways

GOOD: On the best transit system in the world

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 29, 2011

GOOD Magazine recently asked its readers to opine on their favorite transit systems throughout the world, and they published some answers earlier this week. The rest, which are available right here on GOOD’s Facebook page, ran the global gamut. People seem to love Paris’ Metro, and Tokyo’s system earned a few pluses as well. While one or two people mentioned New York, the bulk of the comments about our system concerned its cleanliness.

So why, I wondered, does New York’s subway system get such little love? It’s one of the few 24-hour systems around the world, and it powers the city. We have new rolling stock, and crime has declined precipitously over the past 15 years as ridership spikes. Perhaps, then, the problem is one of use vs. comfort and the reality of public perception. New York’s subway is very utilitarian in that it’s great for getting to and from various places in New York City and horrendous to look at. As the cars are new, the stations are not, and rats, garbage and grime mar most of the stops.

Is there a way to fix this image problem? Despite rising fares, the subways still remain very cheap in New York City, and the average fare, in inflation-adjusted dollars, is lower today than it was in 1996. Yet, until the system looks nicer, and the physical plant — that is, the stations — doesn’t appear to be falling apart, our subway system won’t earn too many accolades from those who ride around the world.

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Service Advisories

Snow scales back some service changes

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 28, 2011

Due to the ever-popular inclement weather, the MTA has decided to scale back some service changes this week. The GOs issued for the 5, 6, A, C, D, E and M lines have been called back, and those lines will operate as scheduled. Otherwise, the following changes are in place.

As always, these come to me via Transit and are subject to change without notice — especially if the weather takes a turn for the worse. Check signs in your local station and listen to on-board announcements. Subway Weekender has a map, but I’m not sure it covers the changes announced today by Transit.


From 11 p.m. Friday, January 28 to 5 a.m. Monday, January 31, uptown 1 trains skip 50th Street, 59th Street-Columbus Circle and 66th Street due to switch renewal north of Times Square. Customers traveling to these stations may take the 1 or 2 train to 72nd Street and transfer to a downtown 1. Customers at these stations traveling uptown may take a downtown 1 or 2 train to Times Square-42nd Street and transfer to an uptown 1 or 2.


During the weekend overnight hours from 11 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. (5 a.m. on Monday), 2 trains skip 50th Street, 59th Street-Columbus Circle and 66th Street due to switch renewal north of Times Square. Customers traveling to these stations may take the 1 or 2 train to 72nd Street and transfer to a downtown 1. Customers at these stations traveling uptown may take a downtown 1 or 2 train to Times Square-42nd Street and transfer to an uptown 1 or 2.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, January 29 to 5 a.m. Monday, January 31, Brooklyn-bound 2 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to track work at Grand Army Plaza. Customers traveling to these stations may take a Brooklyn-bound 2, 3, or 4 to Franklin Avenue and transfer to a Manhattan-bound 2 or 3.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, January 29 and Sunday, January 30, Brooklyn-bound 3 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to track work at Grand Army Plaza.


During the weekend overnight hours (12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m.), Brooklyn-bound 4 trains skip Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway due to track work at Grand Army Plaza.


From 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Saturday, January 29 and from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Sunday, January 30, 5 trains run every 20 minutes between Dyre Avenue and Bowling Green due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday. January 29 to 5 a.m. Monday, January 31, uptown 6 trains skip Canal, Spring, Bleecker Streets and Astor Place due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, January 29 to 6 p.m. Sunday, January 30, Manhattan-bound D trains run on the N line from Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street. There will be no Manhattan-bound D trains at the stations between Bay 50th Street and 9th Avenue. This is due to steel repairs in the line structure, platform edge repairs, concrete repairs and station mezzanine rehabilitation.


From 12:15 a.m. Saturday, January 29 to 4 a.m. Monday, January 31, N trains run local on the R between Canal Street and 59th Street (Brooklyn) due to station rehab work at 86th Street.


From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, January 29 and Sunday, January 30, Manhattan-bound N trains skip 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue and 39th Avenue due to rail renewal.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, January 28 to 4 a.m. Monday, January 31, there are no R trains between Whitehall Street in Manhattan and 95th Street in Brooklyn due to station work at 86th Street. For service between Whitehall Street and 59th Street (Brooklyn), customers may take the N. Free shuttle buses replace R service between 59th Street (Brooklyn) and Bay Ridge-95th Street.

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ARC Tunnel

PA Chair: ARC will return

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 28, 2011

When Gov. Chris Christie canceled the ARC Tunnel in the fall, transit advocates from around the region were exasperated. Although the project had its design flaws on the Manhattan side, 20 years of planning and lobbying were flushed down the toilet by one stroke of the Governor’s pen. Furthermore, the region needs improved cross-Hudson rail access and simply cannot afford to wait another two decades to see shovels hit the ground.

Luckily, the major players involved in the region’s transportation policy seem to recognize the importance of cross-Hudson crossings. In a talk last week, Anthony Coscia, the chairman of the commissions of the Port Authority, spoke with financiers and construction magnates on the need to build. Transportation Nation was there and offered up a transcript. Coscia spoke a length about the need to reform pricing and the cost of building as well as the funding mechanisms. He pushed for more private sector investment opportunities as well.

The part that caught my attention was his bit on the ARC Tunnel. I’ll quote at length:

The Port Authority’s role was as a financing partner in the project. We did have certain responsibilities in terms of acquiring real estate on the New York side, but that was more a legal function of our ability to acquire land in the state of New York, which New Jersey Transit didn’t have. Our real role was: we were a $3 billion partner in the project. The reason we were a $3 billion partner in the project is that our mission is to move people between New York and New Jersey. We’re of the view that building another lane in the Lincoln Tunnel isn’t really going to solve that problem, even if we could do it, which we can’t. Mass transit or intercity rail was our way of addressing that problem.

I have to say that—since finance is really where my professional activities have been—I’ve never gone through an episode where I raised $3 billion dollars and it hasn’t been used. That’s never happened. But then it happened. We did raise $3 billion for the project, but I think [Governor Christie], for a lot of reasons that are fundamental of the time we’re in right now, was not comfortable going ahead with the project.

We are still looking for solutions to trans-Hudson commuting, and those solutions will come in some form. I also serve on the Board of Amtrak and I know that Amtrak has remained pretty dedicated to finding a solution to that issue as well, because the Northeast corridor is very dependent upon it.

We have the $3 billion and we are reinvesting it in other projects that hopefully will add to the region’s transportation strength. In terms of “will a new tunnel be built?” I think the answer to that is yes, but it will be in a configuration, of a financial model, that will be acceptable to a broad variety of stakeholders, and that’s still a work in progress.

It’s interesting here to see Coscia talk directly about the funding. Christie has long maintained that New York was not a solid funding partner, but due to its contributions to the Port Authority, a good deal of money came from New York. It wasn’t as a big a contribution as New Jersey’s portion, but considering which state’s residents stand to benefit more, it was arguably a fair allocation of dollars.

Meanwhile, it’s comforting to hear that the Port Authority is still working toward an ARC-like solution. Unfortunately, it sounds as though concrete plans are still a few years off, but hopefully, with a groundswell of support and an obvious need, the region can find something to build before the decade is out. We can’t afford to wait much longer.

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Buses

DiNapoli faults bus inspection efforts

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 28, 2011

A new state comptroller's report questions the MTA's bus inspection efforts. (Photo by flickr user Stephen Rees)

The MTA has an inspection problem. As the investigation into falsified subway signal reports is ongoing, Thomas DiNapoli, New York State’s comptroller, released an audit yesterday damning the MTA’s bus inspection efforts. According to the report, nearly half of the MTA’s bus fleet has not been properly inspect, and the costs for these less-than-complete inspections are astronomical.

“New Yorkers aren’t getting what they pay for when it comes to bus service,” DiNapoli said. “Other cities across the nation spend much less on maintenance and get better results. The MTA needs to step up bus maintenance performance and bring down maintenance costs.”

The audit, available here as a PDF, paints a rather bleak picture of bus inspection efforts. For instance, of a random sample of 23 buses from various depots, 584 of the required 1255 inspections over a two-year time frame were “not performed on time, were not performed correctly, or were not performed at all.” Additionally, the engine inspections required for hybrid buses at 48,000 and 96,000 miles were not conducted on any of the 17 hybrid buses selection.

The news gets worse. Buses at 18 of the MTA’s 29 depots did not reach their performance goals. For instance, at one depot the mean distance between failures clocked in at 3581 miles while the target was 4674 miles. A whopping 52 percent of depots saw their buses break down well before scheduled maintenance intervals.

DiNapoli looked at costs as well. The report says: “The maintenance cost per bus mile is another measurement that is used in the evaluation of a maintenance program’s effectiveness. We compared this measurement at the MTA and eight other metropolitan transportation agencies in 2008, and found that the MTA’s maintenance cost of $5.53 per bus mile was at least 64 percent higher, and as much as 199 percent higher, than the cost at the other eight agencies. We question whether it is necessary for the MTA’s bus maintenance costs to be so much higher than the costs at other comparable transportation agencies. We recommend that the MTA identify the reasons for this discrepancy and develop a plan to reduce its bus maintenance costs, which exceed $770 million in 2008.”

Ultimately, DiNapoli’s office recommends a series of items that seem almost banal by comparison but strike at the heart of the problem. DiNapoli recommends better communication and monitoring of bus inspections; better enforcing standards for mean distances between failures and improving those numbers; and identifying ways to save money on the ridiculously high costs of bus maintenance. It’s up to the MTA to identify and control those costs.

In reply, the MTA essentially agreed with DiNapoli’s findings. While they questioned some of the technical aspects of the bus reliability measures and the focus on mean distance between failures as a benchmark, the authority admitted that their costs are simply too high. “The MTA agrees that our bus maintenance program must deliver both reliability and cost effectiveness,” agency COO Charles Monheim wrote. “During the past year, we have undertaken a number of initiatives to reduce bus maintenance costs, and we will continue to seek further improvements while minimizing the impact on customer service.”

In its response, the authority alleged that the unique nature of New York’s bus system leads to these high costs. Because bus utilization is up to four times higher in New York than in other cities and because buses operate at low speeds and along routes with “poor road conditions,” they suffer a higher degree of wear and tear than similarly situated vehicles in other cities. Furthermore, because the MTA’s labor costs are nine to 122 percent higher than the other systems cited in DiNapoli’s report, the costs add up.

DiNapoli’s findings certainly aren’t comforting. Our buses seem to be taxed heavily, and it costs too much to maintain them. Shirking on inspections only serves to put passengers in harm’s way, and that’s bad news for everyone.

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AsidesMTA

Scenes from the Snow: Stranded passengers, overloaded websites

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 27, 2011

As New York City digs itself out from yet another monster snow storm, the city’s public transit system held up admirably well. Although a few bus routes are delayed, trains are running, and service ceased above ground only for a few routes. That doesn’t mean there weren’t a handful of problems though. So let’s run down a pair of them.

Approximately 100 passengers commandeered an N train at 2 a.m. and remained on it at Stillwell Ave. for four hours until the N moved again. Apparently, the train operators didn’t do a very good job communicating the snow changes to customers on the train, and as the service patterns altered with the snow drifts, the MTA eventually decided to take the train out of service. “Of course, there was a strong probability that the train would not make the run easily and what we did not want to do is strand these customers on a stalled train between stations,” MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said. Eventually, the passengers convinced MTA employees and police officers to let them stay in the heated train, and they had shelter for the night.

The MTA’s website suffered a snow outage as well. For a few hours after dawn on Thursday morning, the site was sluggish or inaccessible as over 500,000 people tried to log on. That number is a testament to the way the MTA has redeveloped its website, and it’s more than double the authority’s usual traffic during weather emergencies. The MTA, though, acknowledged a need to keep the site running during such times and said it has plans to increase bandwidth capacity. “The website has come under extreme usage,” Jay Wadler said to The Observer. “We have been progressively reducing the amount of graphic content on there to keep it up. But to put this in some context, the early indications are that the website received twice as many hits as it did during the blizzard. It really is a question of expanding the pipe and that’s what we have to figure out how to do.”

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View from Underground

Rats on a Train II: Electric Boogaloo

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 27, 2011

Has it already been two weeks since our last rat-on-a-train video? My, how time flies.

Today’s special glimpse at a rodent on an R train comes to us via NYC The Blog. Paolo Mastrangelo writes that, this time, “Unlike the nonchalant passengers in the former video, these commuters responded appropriately—by screaming and jumping up on their seats.” The rat boarded at Wall St. and got off at the next stop, and for that, the passengers were thrilled. Anyway, take a glimpse. I got a chuckle out of watching the straphangers scurry away from the small rat, but I don’t blame them.

In discussing this video at Runnin’ Scared, Joe Coscarelli of The Village Voice wonders about the proliferation of rats on trains. Before, most rodents were content to seek food in the tracks or behind garbage storage areas. Lately, though, the rodents are more aggressive. “Is the infestation of our subway system getting worse,” he asks, “or is the prevalence of mobile recording devices just rising?” Either way, I’d rather take my chances with the pigeon I saw hopping around the 36th St. station in Brooklyn this afternoon than a rat on a subway car any day of the week.

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AsidesNew York City Transit

Building a better blizzard response

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on January 27, 2011

Before I went to sleep last night and before the 19 inches of snow stopped falling, the MTA started to cancel services. Buses went first, followed by the above-ground shuttle routes and finally the Q train between Prospect Park and Stillwell Ave. Transit didn’t have to shut down the A train across Broad Channel or the N or D trains in the open-air parts of their routes in Brooklyn, but the authority was prepared to if necessary.

What we saw happen last night was part of the MTA’s new approach to blizzard-like conditions. As amNew York’s Theresa Juva details, the agency is working to establish a new Level V plan that would involve preemptively shutting down services before the storm becomes a major issue. It’s a way to ensure that people don’t get stranded. “It’s planning for extreme storms in which suspension of service or suspension of some services may be required,” MTA Chair and CEO Jay Walder said. It is, of course, far, far better to be safe than sorry.

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