MTA's Watchdog Group Blasts Authority, de Blasio Piles On

The chief watchdog group for the MTA released their annual report today (read it yourself below) sternly criticizing the agency on its mismanagement of several different projects. The Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee said in the report that it was "extremely disappointed" that a lawsuit between the MTA and Lockheed Security has ground plans to install anti-terror video cameras around the city to a halt. $833 million has already been invested in the plan, which is currently in limbo: "There is no definitive word on what the next step will be. The lapse in moving forward with this initiative is inexcusable," the report states.

The Committee also criticizes the "indecision" surrounding the SmartCard fare system, which would eliminate card swipes on subways and buses. The report isn't all negative: it also praises the "development of numerous initiatives aimed at improving travel times, comfort and accessibility" during a "tumultuous" year, reports Second Avenue Sagas

Meanwhile, public advocate Bill de Blasio criticized the MTA for threatening to lay off over 1,000 workers in an attempt to cost-cut, NY1 reports. "If the subway system is no longer safe, people won't be riding the subways...You know, for a long time we've been encouraging people to use mass transit. It's actually started to happen and now we're going to make the subway system less safe? That makes no sense," de Blasio told reporters. Nearly $27 million in revenue is lost a year due to turnstile jumping, and nearly $8 million is lost from bus fare evasion.

Streetsblog points out that the budget cuts that have led to many of these drastic cost-cutting measures (which include axing student MetroCards and raising fares nearly 7.5 percent next year) have a more insidious origin:

The overwhelming majority of the $143 million reduction in transit funding did not originate from the state budget. Instead, Albany took dedicated transit tax revenues from the MTA and redirected them to the state's general fund. In effect, Albany stole $118 million from transit to subsidize the rest of the state budget. That's enough money to restore all the subway and bus cuts currently on the table in the MTA's austerity plan.

Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee 2009 Review Of MTA

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By Ben Yakas in News on March 19, 2010 2:18 PM

Comments [rss]

pinball29

Theres an MTA WATCHDOG GROUP????? WTF have THEY been doing the past few years. 833 MILLION dollars allowed to be spent on video cameras? Who oversaw THAT bidding process? And the system is nowhere near being implemented? All the other amounts being discussed in this post wouldnt add up to the interest on the amount poured down this corrupt rathole. The MTA has to be replaced, and everyone even remotely connected to any contracts needs to be thoroughly investigated. Lets spend 833 million on that.

MT

Is there anyone who is familiar enough with the MTA to know exactly how it became a state agency? At least the NYC Transit part? How exactly did our local transportation come to be at the mercy of Albany? Anything we do here is just viewed as a piggy bank to them, and obviously transit is no different.

NattyB

I believe it has something to do with when the City went (or nearly went) bankrupt in the 70's. There was a bailout and the City had to sign it's rights away in order to take the funds.

That's why, I think, the MTA needs Albany's approval to install cam's on city busses to issue tickets to cars parked/illegally-using bus lanes.

Ishtar

What you type makes sense logically, but I thought MTA (the Albany controlled government agency) took control in the late 1960s. If this is true, I wonder why.

How Ya Doin

Station agents aren’t allowed to do anything about fare-jumpers other than report them and cameras might help security identify who’s doing the jumping, so then you can issue a fine to someone who is likely fine-proof, so to speak. Aside from draining $165K from city coffers, what’s the point of the public advocate again? (I’m aware that the role involves being “responsible for monitoring the public information and service complaint programs of city agencies and acting as Mayor in the Mayor’s absence,” which sounds like what I’m advancing – nothing).