Inside the surge in MTA ‘late slips’

[Via Garibaldi 8]

METRO EXCLUSIVE

Inside the surge in MTA ‘late slips’

By Melkorka Licea June 2, 2018 | 3:09pm

David McGlynn

 

Chronic MTA train delays are making New Yorkers late for work — and the job-jeopardizing subway snafus are getting worse every year.

The number of subway-delay verification forms the transit agency handed out to steamed straphangers has nearly doubled over the last five years, reaching a record 152,316 last year, according to records obtained by The Post under the Freedom of Information Law.

That’s 12,693 late slips per month, or 3,173 per week.

The number has climbed every year since the MTA began offering the get-me-out-of-boss-jail forms online in 2010.

The 2017 total has surged 97 percent from 2012, when commuters requested and received 77,296.

Tardy straphangers fill out 10 questions on the MTA website about the train they were on or that never showed up, station, exit times and length of delay — and the agency sends an email back within 21 days confirming the delay, the time it occurred and the reason for it.

Riders are thankful for the late slips, but see it as a band-aid on a hemorrhaging wound.

“If a person can’t get to work they run the risk of losing their job,” said Stephanie Burgos-Veras, senior organizer for the Rider’s Alliance. “And yeah they offer this slip, but it’s not even close to enough. New Yorkers need to be able to rely on the subway.”

Adja Fall, 26, was stuck on a slow-moving downtown 2 train and 30 minutes late for work at a Midtown restaurant in February when she thought she’d get the ax.

“I was just full of anger because you can’t do nothing about it,” she said. “I was just standing there waiting for my boss to fire me. Thank God he didn’t do that.”

After showing her boss a photo of her form, she was let off the hook.

In Fall’s case, the MTA blamed train traffic for the delay. But commuters often clamor for late slips when blizzards hit.

January 2016 saw the highest number of forms handed out with 16,637. That month Winter Storm Jonas caused the MTA to shut down all above-ground train stations for days.

“Even though we have winter storms in New York City every year, the MTA does nothing to prevent the issues for the next year,” said Burgos-Veras. “The city doesn’t stop because of weather and the trains shouldn’t either.”

The hefty uptick in late slip requests unsurprisingly correlate with a major increase in subway delays across the city.

In 2012, there were about 20,000 monthly delays on average, but by May 2017 that number more than tripled to 67,450 delays, according to a study by the Independent Budget Office. From January 2015 to May 2017, the trains with the worst delays were the 5, 2, and 4 trains respectively. The 5 reached the end of its route on time only 40 percent of the time.

Now, the MTA finally admits that lags in the entire system of 27 subway lines affecting 472 stations is a major problem.

“There’s no question that delays on the subway are at an unacceptable level,” said MTA spokesman Shams Tarek.

Last week, new Transit president Andy Byford unveiled a $37 billion plan to fix the city’s rotting subway system, including a complete revamp of the signal system and dilapidated platforms.

“It’s all up to the elected officials to actually put the money in and if they don’t do it, then I guess they’re OK with people losing their jobs and livelihoods,” said Nick Sifuentes, director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

Source: https://nypost.com/2018/06/02/mta-late-passes-soar-for-tardy-commuters-as-subways-lag/

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The question I have is all of this money is being poured into the system.  When will the system be stable enough to stem to the tide of these cascading delays?

[INDman]

21 days is too long especially if a complainant can provide their metrocard number. Check when they swip in, check iTrack to see when their train arrived, check the schedule as to when it should have arrived and reached the complainants final destination or transferpoint. If a trainsfer was made, check the scheduals again. At most, this should take a week or two. Years ago, a ten or fifteen minute delay could be excused as the “cost of business”, but today, the delays are just way too long and consistent.