Subways Will Be Sub-Par For Some Time

NYC Transit President Howard Roberts Jr. spoke the train truth. It’s something all transit riders know but didn’t want to hear from an MTA official. Even with increased ridership in 2008 and two projected fare hikes over the next three years, there won’t be enough money to fix the subway’s maintenance and service problems. In fact, serious problems are very likely to get much worse. New York City has 468 train stations. Less than 25% are considered “acceptable” (probably a lot less than that) by MTA standards. Roberts claims his predecessors cut cleaning and maintenance services which exacerbated the problems. For example, we’re down to one cleaner patrolling five stations. Safety inspections are conducted every 72 hours instead of every 24 hours as before. The list of health and safety concerns stretches longer than an eight car train! The 3rd rail of the situation is this. The health and safety of riders is threatened every time they ride. Current thinking and approaches will probably never make a meaningful difference to correct these conditions. New people and new innovative ideas must be introduced NOW to fix the problems. Who can lead us from this gloomy and dangerous tunnel we’re in?

Transit Becoming A Sub-Way To Commute

NYC Transit defines a delayed train as one that’s more than 6 minutes late to its terminal. In April, there were 4,117 officially reported delays. That’s up 44% compared to April 2007. The reasons for delay include 1. Track work 4,117 2. Riders holding doors 918 3. Guard-light trouble 833 4. Unruly passengers 819 5. Fire/smoke 695 6. Signal trouble 600 7. Sick riders 591. It should be noted that ridership is up from last year. Admittedly, the system will never run 100% on time. Nevertheless, service can and should improve. Significant deterioration of New York’s trains means that NYCTA President Howard Roberts has some explaining to do … and not of the fast-talking or passing-the-blame variety either.

MTA’s Double-Decker-Play Revisited

New York City Transit is considering a trial program to run double-decker buses in Manhattan this year. Howard Roberts, NYC Transit President said, “Back to the future is, at least in terms of productivity, something we would also like to look at.” The MTA is now reviewing several bus models from companies worldwide. The last time these British-type buses were tried on our streets was back in the 1970’s. Today’s “go green” mentality and the unique appeal buses like these have on riders and pedestrians makes this a play, a winning city could use.

Take The “C Trains” To Complain

Subway riders who took the time to complete their “New York City Transit Rider Report Cards” (maybe during a “slight delay” on their train ride) overwhelming graded the system with C’s and C-minuses. Schoolchildren know that while C-grades are passing, they should strive to do much better. Yet, NYC Transit President Howard Roberts said “if we can move from a C-minus to a C, then I will be satisfied… Moving from that baseline is the important thing.” Can you imagine if your child said the same thing at report card time??? Makes me wonder how someone (see above) would perform on that new TV game show on FOX – Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Yet, who’s really less intelligent? A government official for making that absurd remark … or New Yorkers for not punishing city bosses for poor performance.