MTA token booth clerks call in 400+ emergencies a day; 500 clerks will be cut

[Harry]

Token booth clerks - whose ranks are being slashed by layoffs - relayed information about subway emergencies nearly 500,000 times in the last three years, the Daily News has learned.

 

Dealing with everything from sick passengers to suspicious packages to lost children, the clerks used an emergency-only telephone line connecting them to the transit command center an average of 412 times a day last year, data provided by NYC Transit reveal.

 

Their calls summoned police officers, firefighters, ambulance crews or transit agency workers, depending on the situation.

 

The MTA is in the process of laying off up to 500 clerks, or station agents, to cut costs. Transit officials insist riders won't be more vulnerable with fewer workers in the booths, citing the NYPD's success in driving crime down to historic lows.

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/03/26/2010-03-26_doomed_clerks_call_in_400_emergencies_a_day.html#ixzz0jHlE7kv2

[metsfan]

Ticking time bomb, plus you don't recover from a recession by firing people.

 

- A

[Harry]

Ticking time bomb, plus you don't recover from a recession by firing people.

 

- A

 

According to the experts the recession is over. :confused:

[RTOMan]

Oh btw i heard that the "pay cut" that certain people in the MTA was supposed to get..

 

They "found" the money so they wont be getting thier pay cut..

 

Somebody @ work said there was an article in AM New York a few weeks back..

 

Darn wish i knew that then...

[Dan]

We definitely need a full time presence in the stations...

[DevilBus65]

Too bad a lot of times they call me in Bus Command instead of Station Command.