What's Worse: MTA Layoffs Or Fare Hikes?

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MTA head Jay Walder says that despite a proposed $100 million budget cut to the Authority, he does not want to pass the burden onto customers. “We will not look to service cuts and we will not look to fare increases. We will look, as we have been doing, for ways that we can continue to reduce our cost structure," he said in front of the state budget committee in Albany yesterday. Of course, that pretty much leaves layoffs as the most obvious way to cut costs, and he didn't rule out that option: "Well we've said and I'll continue to say is that we’re working on a plan right now to be able to deal with that."

At the hearing, Walder was grilled on the MTA's payroll tax, which the state legislature approved in 2009 to help fund the agency. Many suburban legislators questioned why their constituents had to pay the tax when the MTA doesn't serve their counties. "There's a movement here to eliminate that tax," said New York State Assemblyman Mike Spano. Walder said that he saw the payroll tax as a permanent solution.

Walder also argued for legislative approval to expand the enforcement of bus lane rules past the MTA's pilot program on the Select Bus Service lanes in Manhattan. "That’s phenomenal, that's terrific. And if we could replicate that in other places by using camera technology by freeing up bus lanes that already exist I think that would be a huge benefit," he said. But will buses run as fast if there is no one left to drive them? When asked about layoffs, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told us, "To reiterate the Chairman's testimony yesterday, we are not going to fill this hole with fare hikes or service reductions. We are still working on a plan..." But we all know they'll just end up filling the hole with the usual bitumen of broken promises.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on March 1, 2011 2:26 PM

Comments [rss]

dead_himmler

Believe it or not the MTA provides great public transit considering the circumstances of this city. The price is an amazing bargain compared to the rest of the world. After crunching the numbers, the real price should be about 329 for an unlimited monthly card. Don't like it? Then use another form of transit in the city. BTW there will always be people who appear not to be working in the public transit system. Anybody who knows anything about business and capitalism knows that this is the cost of doing business and is basically just written off.

m015094

That is your answer to the deadbeats? How about fire them? Or wait, the unions would have a fit.

Here are some real solutions. Stop messing around with fraudulent overtime pay. The MTA claims they're cutting overtime abuse by $60 million in 2011.
http://mta.info/mta/news/relea...

But, it's estimated that is only about 10% reduction in overtime - they spent $590 million annually last year.
http://articles.nydailynews.co...

I bet this guy received some of that overtime pay. He looks REALLY productive:
http://secondavenuesagas.com/2...

cmdrogogov

You could spend the next two days walking around your workplace, shouting at and recording documentary evidence of everyone who isn't directly engaged in productive activities within the scope of your organization's remit.

Then fire yourself for wasting time :)

All you've linked to is the MTA acknowledging there is a problem and making changes to combat these issues. I don't disagree there's something of a culture of corruption in there, but to punish the good eggs along with the bad ones is going to be counterproductive to the overall health of the system.

My pet theory about re-classifying the MTA as a fully public agency, completely accountable on a line-by-line level for all its expenditure and unable to run a high operating debt is something that I feel would help the situation.

Then again, we've all experienced over the past few decades how utterly ill-equipped the public is to hold their government to account. For instance, I just wasted my lunch hour reading up on the previous articles and trying to make sure I was posting with some level of informed knowledge on the issue - how many people do you think even bother to go that far before attempting to force their opinion on others?

LazyNanny

Fire all the parasites, no one will notice.

gerald

Reduction in management staffing to pre-1980 levels and that would solve most of the problems at the MTA.... Read the article in the Chief this week about the Signal Department.... Last week's Daily News reported a manager selling positions in Car Equipment Division. The manager father a boss in Car Equipment. ........... It is scandel after scandel.... The Christmas Blizzard? Not one boss called up to alert anyone to the need for a Plan 4 snow emergancy........... Do we need paper shufflers?

cmdrogogov

Here's how it should work:

The MTA should first open its books.

The MTA should then be audited by a public panel, dis-assembled and re-formed as a separate city or state agency subject to fiscal restrictions on how much debt it will be allowed to take on.

Both the City and Albany have extreme issues with political meddling but at last the city can usually be trusted to act in its own self-interest, whereas the Albany will simply do its level best to loot any assets and disperse the money upstate. While upstate NEEDS money, we must be careful to re-invest in the economic engine of the state and keep it running.

The MTA should then raise its fare to correctly reflect a historical average - as far as I'm aware we're paying about 30 cents per ride under the odds at the moment.

All in all I think they are doing they best they can with limited resources, but something about the MTA's culture needs to change. Breaking its union is not the answer, and mass firings simply won't be fair on those that do their jobs.

neustreber

First post all empolyee salaries.... Not some sum total, each individual. It'll be immediately clear who should be cut.

m015094

The salaries ARE posted. Here:
http://www.seethroughny.net/Pa...

Like the conductor who made $239K. Family practice doctors in NYC make around $170K and they go to school for 11 years after high school. Gotta love the unions.

http://gothamist.com/2010/06/0...

cmdrogogov

The conductor made $239k because of overtime rules.

Here - it's even in the comments if you were interested in finding out why this happened:

http://gothamist.com/2010/06/0...

Once again, it's unfair and incorrect to blame the union for the LIRR being unable to find and attract enough personnel to prevent this from happening.

Is it fair compensation? I don't really think so. However, it's faulty ammunition to use in the war on collective bargaining and as such, would appear to have backfired.

ANGRYGOD11

Brilliant. Lets eliminate the engineers and high-end tech staff because they must cost more than the people who empty garbage cans.

etypical

what if they only paid the employees that work?

GothamExtremist

Then we wouldnt have any bus or subway service.

Mordicai

What if we just added a small take on the top 1%? Or even better, on corporations? Or oh, oh, congestion pricing on commuters!

etypical

Fuck these motherfuckers if they need one more cent from any of us. The entire MTA should be disassembled if they can't figure out how to turn a profit after 100 years of 'service'.

ANGRYGOD11

Every single NYC private mass transit company went broke.
That includes a lot private bus companies kept afloat with decades with subsidies.
Mass transit is as "profitable" as public elementary school.

Noreaster76

So, what you're saying is, right now would be a bad time to propose privatizing the MTA? ;-)

ANGRYGOD11

History clearly states there never is a good time.

NOER!

the MTA actually turned 43 today. and if you knew even a little bit about what you're complaining about you'd know that there isn't a SINGLE transit system in the united states that turns a profit. if you really want to complain, do it to the state and federal legislatures

Samuel Wong

Fare Hike is more detrimental in the sense that ridership will drop, decreasing revenues, proposing more labor cuts and service cuts.

Labor can handle it and the unions need to promote efficiency than just arguing rights and pensions.

Guest

Exactly. I just switched from a monthly pass to pay-per-ride, and now bike to work whenever possible. I'm sure more people will do the same, especially if there is another fare hike.

$104 is still a good deal for a large subway system like ours, but it is harder to spend this much every month than $89, if you can avoid it.