Currently, New York City’s 422 subway stations are staffed by 3000 station agents. These folks are supposed to serve as the eyes and ears of the MTA. They sit in their booths to help passengers in need, assist those who can’t negotiate the turnstiles and, ideally, guard against crime. In a few months, their numbers will drop by 450, and although every station will still be staffed, people will be inconvenienced.
For the MTA, the elimination of station agents should allow them more flexibility. Many of the station agents provide help that can be centralized. For example, if a person in a wheelchair or with a stroller needs to use the emergency exit, that person could readily call an MTA employee at a centralized location who could, with the use of closed-circuit camera technology, verify the need for help and press a button to activate the emergency door. This employee could oversee multiple stations at once, and the agency wouldn’t need to staff the stations with as many people. The same can be down for people who need directions as well.
In fact, the MTA has already been promoting their Customer Assistance Intercoms as solutions for those straphangers who encounter an agent-less station. Bright red signs direct customers to the intercoms, and on the other end should be another station agent who can offer assistance. The problem, reports amNew York’s Heather Haddon is that these intercoms are hard to find and don’t always work.
The subway intercoms that straphangers must increasingly rely on for help have left many riders stumped about how to use them — if they can find them at all. “I’ve never noticed it,” said Queens rider Maryanne Bannon, 58. “Most New Yorkers are not trained for this.”
…In a small survey of straphangers by amNewYork, no one was familiar with the rather cryptic-looking boxes. “They have to come up with a better design. It’s not consumer friendly,” said Karl Kronebusch, 54, a Park Slope rider.
Even MTA CEO Jay Walder recently admitted that he had a hard time finding the intercom in a station he frequents, saying he was “disappointed” by the obscure system. “We’ve almost hidden them away,” Walder said last week.
The boxes also periodically break, with an entire bank of them out recently, union officials said. Furthermore, many stations where the station agents are being removed don’t have the safety devices installed yet, said MTA board member Andrew Albert. “Before we remove booth agents, we should have a method of contacting the police,” Albert said.
Albert’s quote speaks for itself. The MTA has chosen to replace people with a centralized system, but they’ve done so in an obtuse way. Transit needs to install easy-to-see intercom boxes in convenient places, and the agency must ensure that someone is always on the other end. Many college campuses have a blue light phone system, and the MTA should use that visible approach as inspiration.
As more station agents are eliminated, riders may encounter more problems with their commutes. As station agents seemingly field only a handful of requests a shift, it may seem that not many will be inconvenienced, but a few people per day will quickly add up.
While Transit may 
For years, the city has neglected this beautiful building. Just twenty feet wide, it extends 160 feet down John St. and at eight stories, was one of the tallest buildings in Lower Manhattan when it opened 111 years ago. Its ties to transit extend back to its origins as it was named for Austin Corbin, the man responsible for uniting all of the Long Island-based rail lines under the LIRR umbrella. 
As states struggle through a period of high deficits, rail subsidies are a taking a hit at a time when we as a country should be investing in mass transit. We know how poorly the MTA is faring right now, and today, we hear word that another key player in the New York region’s network of transportation service is in dire need of funds. To close a $300 million budget gap, New Jersey Transit will be rising its fares and cutting services across the state.