Gothamist: MTA Head Says Poor Conditions Are Here to Stay

sadpanda

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:59:12 -0500

if unions are the problem, then how do you explain the excellent public transportation system in france? oh, you mean the one where the transit workers strike twice a year?

NannyState

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:22:36 -0500

True, #23, which is why you privatize the personel and management of MTA but not the critical support and maintenance functions. Service cuts would be a political, not a mangerial issue but day to day operations could be much more efficient and cost less than what we have now. Saving a few billion over the term could mean MORE service and maybe even more lines.

Asphyxia8

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:02:45 -0500

We are still one of the richest countries on earth and live in the wealthiest city in that country, right? It is both embarrassing and appalling how barbaric our subway system is in the year 2008. I waited nearly 20 minutes on the scorching hot platform for the A/C train at the Columbus Circle station on Friday -- during rush hour!!! -- and had to leave before the train arrived because my shorts and t-shirt were literally soaked through from sweating. Not to mention I felt like I was going to pass out. It should be a crime to force commuters to endure such third-world conditions. A-8

JMH

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:53:58 -0500

Privatizing the MTA is a terrible idea. What do you think will happen if the MTA is privatized? Fare hikes and service cuts to areas that aren't as profitable. Time Warner Cable is a private company with a monopoly in some areas of the city and is anyone happy with THEM?

TKaisen

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:30:13 -0500

if unions are the problem, then how do you explain the excellent public transportation system in france? Higher fares and a 20% sales tax?

Matt Joyce

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:20:38 -0500

There is only one answer. Privatize the MTA

virgil

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:38:14 -0500

Bongo, you seem upset. Rough weekend in the Hamptons with Muffy and Binky?

NannyState

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:58:38 -0500

Every part of the MTA except track and equipment maintenance should be privatized. Let contract personel run the system and send the union packing. Unions made sense right on up to 1970.

willw915

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:51:48 -0500

*fair* = fare

Doctor Memory

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:06:54 -0500

Pardon me, that was 2002 when the MTA management got caught cooking their books, not 2005.

Doctor Memory

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:12:39 -0500

Joclyn: congratulations on managing to complain both about late service, and about conductors not waiting for stragglers on the platform. You've officially won this week's "...and the portions are so small!" award for braindead entitlement issues here on Gothamist. What's your prize, you ask? It's a one-way Greyhound ticket to a smaller city. Enjoy your $4.50/gallon commute! Meanwhile, I'm just waiting for someone, anyone to explain why we should believe any financial numbers that come out of the MTA, ever, since they were caught running two sets of books back in 2005 and nobody got disciplined, fired or arrested.

cucarachita

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:29:17 -0500

Talos is right: the Parisian subway was great. I paid a LOT of taxes there, though -- but somehow felt it was worth it for what I got in terms of public transport and health care.

cucarachita

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:28:00 -0500

I have an idea for congestion pricing: make Broadway a completely pedicab-only 2-way lane between 116 and Canal Street. People can walk to wherever they're planning on going east or west of it. Maybe they'd be healthier too. And I stand by my proposal to puree commuters and pour them into subways to fit more people in.

SimonLok

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:17:54 -0500

The workers AND the management need to be cut severely. Automate the system as they do throughout the world and the rest of this country. The only other system with this level of non-automation is in the outlands of India. Once we get rid of most of the workforce the long term costs will come down significantly and you can have more trains operating on the tracks. The MTA collects billions so they are obviously not cash starved, the money is completely wasted on totally incompetent employees at the top and bottom.

talos

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:23:52 -0500

erm, rapid transit is very expensive. we don't publicly fund ours enough. this is why our stations & service are so pathetic compared to paris, moscow, london, etc. the american way is to cash-starve public bureaucracies to the point that they're entirely ineffective, and then loudly bitch about how public bureaucracies are always ineffective. you deserve what you pay for, kids.

AvenueHebrew

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:53:15 -0500

I think the problem is the people actually involved in the union, who care far more for steady increases in their pay than getting the job done. You need to boot out pricks like Toussaint. I'd love for the TWU to come forward with a union president who is willing to say, "Our workers are important, what they do is vital to the city and they deserve protection. But they are not more important than the police or emergency services, and that we make at least 5 to 10k more than a cop with comparable tenure is appalling." That doesn't mean that the MTA board isn't full of morons and leeches too, though.

Joclyn

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:51:08 -0500

I think the commenter was saying that it is the TWU, specifically, that is the problem. Transit workers are disgusting animals. Cut their salaries and their pensions to monies consistent with jobs that do not require a college education. I know I'm not the only one who experiences-- every single time there is a service change requiring running up the stairs, across, and down the next flight of stairs-- the incoming train on the opposite track seemingly intentionally closing the doors and pulling away, even as people yell "Wait!" and almost kill themselves running as fast as they can to make the transfer, knowing that it will be a good 20 minutes before another train comes again. I can't wait for the TWU to illegally strike again so I can not support them and laugh as they are hauled off to jail. Angry much? Yeah, a little. The trains have become un-ridable on the weekends because of the service change, get off here, go up and over to the other side and come back bullshit where the incoming trains don't even communicate with each other. I actually think they do it on purpose.

bagelman

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:19:06 -0500

if unions are the problem, then how do you explain the excellent public transportation system in france?

Dirk

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:15:24 -0500

Wow, I'm speechless. The people running the MTA are utterly incompetent.

David McCaffredy

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:58:51 -0500

It has to be time to start discussing a radical overhaul of NYC transit. As in completely get rid of the MTA management structure. The current system is obviously broken.

fugothamist

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:47:18 -0500

bust the TWU for starters biggest waste of money is right there

Ace

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:45:23 -0500

Poor conditions are caused by poor management.

TKaisen

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:39:01 -0500

Maybe they should revisit the 20 year retirement program? Nothing like a job where you'll likely collect benefits for twice as long as you worked.

Peter

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:27:16 -0500

Just an idle thought, but perhaps it might not be a bad idea to prohibit transit workers from retiring on full pensions at disgustingly young ages.

Roquentin

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:01:58 -0500

The only certain thing at this point is that the argument over the deficits in MTA funding and the larger NYC budget is going to get good and ugly before it is resolved.