Adding Up Worker Error on the Subways

The Daily News looks at eight "human error" incidents on since last January. All told, the accidents caused over $600,0000 in damages, but, possibly more expensive, if one could put a number on it, were the "harrowing passenger evacuations and service disruptions." There were no serious injuries in any of the incidents included, and some were caused by a lack of experience from some employees while one incident with a Time Square shuttle was caused by a motorman falling asleep. And one incident we remember was when a piece of scrap metal "pierced the underside" of an uptown 2 train, damaging the front seat; the metal had been left by a crew and there were apparently no instructions for removing it. These stories make Gothamist angry and resigned, that odd but familiar combination of emotions one has when dealing with the MTA; on one hand, WTF, on the other, how many times does the MTA need to hear that these incidents are things that shouldn't be happening? The MTA tells the Daily News that things are actually much better these days, as there were tons more accidents in from the 1960s-1980s ("The system is more safety conscious than ever before"), which may be but it's still a BS response. With more riders than ever, how about along with building a platform over the West Side railyards, the MTA make sure training is a priority.