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Despite Fare Increases Next Year, Subway, Bus Cuts Loom as MTA Faces Financial Crisis


Via Garibaldi 8

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U.S. | NEW YORK |TRANSIT

Subway, Bus Cuts Loom as MTA Faces Financial Crisis

Some MTA board members worry about transit agency’s plan for $562 million in cost reductions as it hires more workers for Subway Action Plan

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The MTA believes it will save $28 million through 2022 by postponing the expansion of the select bus rapid transit service, according to the preliminary budget. PHOTO: YANA PASKOVA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

By Paul Berger

Aug. 14, 2018 4:50 p.m. ET

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to stop expanding a bus rapid-transit service, reduce bus fare-evasion patrols and cut dozens of positions for subway car cleaning as it seeks $562 million in cost reductions during the next few years.

According to emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, some MTA board members are concerned that the authority is taking such cost-savings measures even as it hires more than 1,000 workers under a plan launched last year to improve subway service, known as the Subway Action Plan.

MTA board member Carl Weisbrod, an appointee of Mayor Bill de Blasio, wrote in an Aug. 5 email to fellow board members and senior MTA officials: “It’s hard to escape the conclusion that we’ve giveth with one hand through the Subway Action Plan, and we’ve taketh away, to some extent, through these service cuts.”

In an interview Monday, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota rejected assertions that the reductions are service cuts, calling such talk “pejorative and inaccurate.” He said the moves are a “redeployment of resources.”

Mr. Lhota said any organization as large as the MTA must constantly re-evaluate its deployment of resources. “Not doing so would be malfeasance,” he added.

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A commuter waited for the M15 Select Bus at a 1st Avenue and East 14th Street stop in Manhattan. PHOTO: YANA PASKOVA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

He also said that despite staff reductions in some areas, overall the MTA would increase head count across the subway and bus systems by more than 700 positions in the next few years.

The cost savings are laid out in the MTA’s 521-page preliminary budget and financial plan, which was presented to MTA board members in July.

MTA Chief Financial Officer Robert Foran explained the broad outlines of the cost savings at the time to the board. But the emails show that some board members took a closer look at the budget after the presentation and said Mr. Foran failed to highlight specific cuts that affect service.

Veronica Vanterpool, another appointee of Mr. de Blasio, wrote in an Aug. 3 email that the MTA board relies on staff to flag important issues and “the omission perpetuates a sentiment shared by many regarding the opacity of some of the information we do receive.”

Mr. Lhota defended Mr. Foran’s presentation, saying it was transparent.

Some of the budget reductions didn’t raise objections from board members. For example, the MTA expects to save $4 million annually by eliminating overtime payments to the New York Police Department for extra fare-evasion patrols. The NYPD recently relaxed its enforcement of fare-beaters, opting to issue summonses instead of make arrests in most cases.

The expected expansion of bus rapid transit, known as select bus service, would have been a boon to people in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, especially those living in so-called transit deserts.

The MTA doesn’t intend to add five new routes previously planned through 2021 while the authority re-evaluates the entire bus network as part of a systemwide overhaul, according to an MTA spokesman.

The MTA believes it would save $28 million through 2022 by postponing the expansion, according to the preliminary budget. Officials estimate they could save a further $2.4 million annually by reducing staffing for fare-beating patrols on select bus service routes.

On the subway, the MTA plans to save $8.4 million annually by reducing staffing for subway car cleaning at some terminals.

In an Aug. 3 email to board members, Andy Byford, head of the MTA’s subway and bus systems, said he had made “tough choices,” adding that the reductions “are intended to be temporary in nature while the necessary funding and revenue stream discussions sort out.”

Since Mr. Byford arrived at the MTA in January, he has announced ambitious plans to overhaul and modernize mass transit.

The MTA is a sprawling transit agency with a $17 billion budget that also runs two commuter railroads and nine bridges and tunnels.

Passenger revenues are falling, as an increasing number of riders flee the subway and bus systems. During his July presentation, Mr. Foran said that, even with an anticipated fare and toll increase in March 2019 that would raise fare revenues by 4%, the authority will struggle to maintain a balanced budget within a couple of years.

Now, Mr. Byford finds himself having to make staff reductions. His agency employs about 50,000 workers.

All of the cuts—about 450 positions during the next 18 months—will be through attrition, according to the preliminary budget.

The suspension of new select bus service routes until 2021 is a blow to Mr. de Blasio, who has championed the program.

The service, which uses off-board fare payment, all-door boarding and dedicated bus lanes, is faster and more reliable than regular buses. Ridership is growing, according to the city’s Transportation Department, bucking a citywide trend of declining subway and bus ridership.

A spokesman for Mr. de Blasio, Eric Phillips, said in a statement: “These secretive plans outline unacceptable delays in service improvements for hundreds of thousands of riders who depend on select bus service every day.”

A spokesman for the MTA, Jon Weinstein, said in a statement that the MTA is committed to select bus service. “It would be nice if the Mayor showed he cared at all about the millions of riders stuck in never ending traffic on his streets by actually enforcing bus lanes and supporting a real solution for debilitating congestion—instead of just more of the same old empty rhetoric,” he said.

Write to Paul Berger at Paul.Berger@wsj.com

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/subway-bus-cuts-loom-as-mta-faces-financial-crisis-1534279819

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12 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The MTA believes it would save $28 million through 2022 by postponing the expansion, according to the preliminary budget. Officials estimate they could save a further $2.4 million annually by reducing staffing for fare-beating patrols on select bus service routes.

Whats so special about SBS thats costing so much money? A little bit of fare enforcement and gasp! Added service! I guess NY bus riders, don't expect to see any service increase on any bus routes throughout the city. 

12 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Passenger revenues are falling, as an increasing number of riders flee the subway and bus systems. 

It will continue to fall for the foreseeable future until the MTA realize that not everyone works a 9-5 shift.

12 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

A spokesman for the MTA, Jon Weinstein, said in a statement that the MTA is committed to select bus service. “It would be nice if the Mayor showed he cared at all about the millions of riders stuck in never ending traffic on his streets by actually enforcing bus lanes and supporting a real solution for debilitating congestion—instead of just more of the same old empty rhetoric,” he said.

When the MTA spokesperson have the guts to say things like this, you could really tell who controls the agency. 

And they demand more contribution from the city while at it too.

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2 hours ago, LaGuardia Link N Tra said:

At the rate were going, I feel like a majority of people will eventually stop riding (MTA) all together. I wonder what it's going to take for the management team to realize that they've been doing it all wrong

For at least 3-4 million(?) New Yorkers this is literally not possible. Without the subway and bus system existing in some form the city would not be able to function. Remember that NYC is not built around automobiles, and we are feeling the effects of this with the amount of FHVs that have come in. If you don't believe me head to Houston or Broome during rush hour. We're soon about to feel the effects of losing the (L) and that will be very telling of how people will get around without the subway.

At absolute worst we will see a drastic service reduction (no express, no nighttime). The subway must exist in some capacity, New York is too densely populated for anything else.

Also on an unrelated note I would like to point out that enforcing fare-evasion is more expensive than it's worth. 

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6 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

Whats so special about SBS thats costing so much money? A little bit of fare enforcement and gasp! Added service! I guess NY bus riders, don't expect to see any service increase on any bus routes throughout the city. 

Dedicated maintenance teams for the fare machines.

 

 

6 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

And they demand more contribution from the city while at it too.

That's because the City actually owns the MTA Bus Company as well as all of the subway infrastructure. 

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5 hours ago, kosciusko said:

For at least 3-4 million(?) New Yorkers this is literally not possible. Without the subway and bus system existing in some form the city would not be able to function. Remember that NYC is not built around automobiles, and we are feeling the effects of this with the amount of FHVs that have come in. If you don't believe me head to Houston or Broome during rush hour. We're soon about to feel the effects of losing the (L) and that will be very telling of how people will get around without the subway.

At absolute worst we will see a drastic service reduction (no express, no nighttime). The subway must exist in some capacity, New York is too densely populated for anything else.

Also on an unrelated note I would like to point out that enforcing fare-evasion is more expensive than it's worth. 

Right... That's precisely why the (MTA) is hemorrhaging money via fare evasion.

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The press seems to have missed some really disturbing cuts here. I read through the budget last night, and have picked out the highlights for your analysis:

Document here -- I'll be citing PDF page numbers, not the confusing numbering system they use:

http://web.mta.info/news/pdf/MTA-2019-Prelim-Budget-July-Financial-Plan-2019-2022-Vol2.pdf 

- (in conjunction w/ MTAHQ) the continuation of a hiring freeze for "non essential positions." Sounds like an instrument in a war against bureaucracy, but the reality is that this freeze is stretching the managerial staff quite thin. Since 2008, a lot of these 'efficiencies' have come from the top of NYCT, to the point where something like 40% of NYCT's administrative positions have been lost since 2009. To be fair, some of that loss has been caused by various functions being re-delegated (IT being a big one), but the loss is nevertheless there. See page 421 for more.

- Reduction in the number of traffic checkers. Yay. Less accurate service delivery. 423

- Termination of the employee wellness program. This was an agency-sponsored portal that was designed to help employees mitigate potential health risks in their lives, thus reducing healthcare costs in their lives. I know little about its success, but it's sad to see such a program go. 425

- So it seems that NYCT has been overpaying their water/sewer bill for the last 16 years. Instead of computing actual usage, they somehow doubled usage at single stations (so they were paying on the premise of the system having 936 stops) to account for multi-part stations. As it turns out, that led to over-payment, so we get a credit on future bills. Good, I guess (?) though the sheer myopia involved here is comical. 427

- (for buses, apologies mods) they're changing fleet maintenance cycles on some bus types from 4 and 8 year cycles to 6 year cycles. This saves money through fewer visits, I guess, though I don't completely follow what is being done currently. Maybe one of our members more proficient in bus mx can fill me in here... 430

- They're eliminating 91 terminal car cleaner positions. Impact will be especially great at night, it seems. 431

- This is a big one: they're eliminating elevator operators at the Washington Heights stations. The justification here is "oh, we have PA systems in there now and the elevators work most of the time." I hope this one meets some good pushback -- many of those stations are only accessible via those elevators. See page 432.

- They're replacing manual track inspections with TGC runs. I like this one, actually -- not only is embracing tech good, but TGC records can be useful for reviewing past conditions in an objective manner. 433

- They're killing 3 eagle teams. When the agency has posited that half of the ridership loss seen on buses recently is chargeable to fare evasion, this move makes little sense. On a similar note, they're cutting back on NYPD fare evasion patrols. See pages 434 and 440, respectively. 

- They're cutting booth staffing (of course) -- killing 8 full time ones, 4 part time ones, and making 7 fulls into parts. They don't say where. 441

_______________________________

Generally, I blame SAP for this madness. The $836 million cost of that program caused deep disruption in NYCT ops budget calculations for little benefit -- SAP does jack shit about the ops environment problems that make the maintenance issues into disasters. The above is just an overview of stuff they'd budgeted and now have to cut because of the gap looking forwards (and mind you, this is the longest list since the financial crisis) Such cuts, of course, does not include an accounting of planned initiatives that were deferred or cancelled because we don't have enough cash to do the basics, so the real scale of displacement is probably much, much larger. If the Guv'ner wanted SAP, great, I love magnetic wands, but he should have done that while preserving $$$ for the normal ops budget, not while raiding the latter to fund the former.

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54 minutes ago, RR503 said:

The press seems to have missed some really disturbing cuts here. I read through the budget last night, and have picked out the highlights for your analysis:

Document here -- I'll be citing PDF page numbers, not the confusing numbering system they use:

http://web.mta.info/news/pdf/MTA-2019-Prelim-Budget-July-Financial-Plan-2019-2022-Vol2.pdf 

- (in conjunction w/ MTAHQ) the continuation of a hiring freeze for "non essential positions." Sounds like an instrument in a war against bureaucracy, but the reality is that this freeze is stretching the managerial staff quite thin. Since 2008, a lot of these 'efficiencies' have come from the top of NYCT, to the point where something like 40% of NYCT's administrative positions have been lost since 2009. To be fair, some of that loss has been caused by various functions being re-delegated (IT being a big one), but the loss is nevertheless there. See page 421 for more.

- Reduction in the number of traffic checkers. Yay. Less accurate service delivery. 423

- Termination of the employee wellness program. This was an agency-sponsored portal that was designed to help employees mitigate potential health risks in their lives, thus reducing healthcare costs in their lives. I know little about its success, but it's sad to see such a program go. 425

- So it seems that NYCT has been overpaying their water/sewer bill for the last 16 years. Instead of computing actual usage, they somehow doubled usage at single stations (so they were paying on the premise of the system having 936 stops) to account for multi-part stations. As it turns out, that led to over-payment, so we get a credit on future bills. Good, I guess (?) though the sheer myopia involved here is comical. 427

- (for buses, apologies mods) they're changing fleet maintenance cycles on some bus types from 4 and 8 year cycles to 6 year cycles. This saves money through fewer visits, I guess, though I don't completely follow what is being done currently. Maybe one of our members more proficient in bus mx can fill me in here... 430

- They're eliminating 91 terminal car cleaner positions. Impact will be especially great at night, it seems. 431

- This is a big one: they're eliminating elevator operators at the Washington Heights stations. The justification here is "oh, we have PA systems in there now and the elevators work most of the time." I hope this one meets some good pushback -- many of those stations are only accessible via those elevators. See page 432.

- They're replacing manual track inspections with TGC runs. I like this one, actually -- not only is embracing tech good, but TGC records can be useful for reviewing past conditions in an objective manner. 433

- They're killing 3 eagle teams. When the agency has posited that half of the ridership loss seen on buses recently is chargeable to fare evasion, this move makes little sense. On a similar note, they're cutting back on NYPD fare evasion patrols. See pages 434 and 440, respectively. 

- They're cutting booth staffing (of course) -- killing 8 full time ones, 4 part time ones, and making 7 fulls into parts. They don't say where. 441

_______________________________

Generally, I blame SAP for this madness. The $836 million cost of that program caused deep disruption in NYCT ops budget calculations for little benefit -- SAP does jack shit about the ops environment problems that make the maintenance issues into disasters. The above is just an overview of stuff they'd budgeted and now have to cut because of the gap looking forwards (and mind you, this is the longest list since the financial crisis) Such cuts, of course, does not include an accounting of planned initiatives that were deferred or cancelled because we don't have enough cash to do the basics, so the real scale of displacement is probably much, much larger. If the Guv'ner wanted SAP, great, I love magnetic wands, but he should have done that while preserving $$$ for the normal ops budget, not while raiding the latter to fund the former.

What's frightening about all of this is the City is FLUSH with cash.  More New Yorkers are employed AND more importantly they have more disposable income, which should translate into more rides for the (MTA), and thus more revenue. During the recession people were taking fewer trips because they had less money to spend on things like going shopping and such.  When you consider that AND the fact that the real estate sector while down is still strong, it does not bode very well for the (MTA). Population is exploding and they're struggling to get more riders.

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Yes the city may be flush with cash now but we have a mayor and a city council  with an ideological agenda that has nothing to do with maintaining quality services. It is my opinion that  the attitude is the city will have this on a regular basis as if it is not transit, it is public housing,or it is the jails and on and on. I have written about the upcoming budget crisis on this forum so many times as I  recognize the symptoms and I lived through the 1970's fiscal crisis.  The crisis is right around the corner and those in charge see nothing.

I hate sounding like a broken record as this crisis is far worse as compared with  the 1970's and the fools in charge are like ostriches with their head in the sand as this one will not only take  down the city but the state as well. There is no leadership on either level that can present and implement new ideas that will move the city and state forward in terms improving transportation with  Andy Byford, the sole exception but his hands are tied as the city and the state are not interested in improving the system. The key indicator is that people are looking at alternatives in terms of getting around just like the riders did in the  1970's and look at the  MTA at that time. They did not care then and they do not care now about transit as they are part of the protected class as despite all the press releases that a large percentage of the top has been let go, the privileged ones will stay on by being transferred to other items in or outside the agency until they retire with a six figure pension.

 

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The city is flushed with cash, which is why the mayor is spending it like no tomorrow. Its the "American way". No need to worry about the next crisis

In seriousness, I understand why Deblasio may not want to give more money to the MTA. Why give a agency more money, only for them to demand more, use the money you gave them to paint subways to the "states color" because another boss who actually control the agency say so, and on top of that blame you for all the problems they face?

If I was deBlasio the only way I would agree for the city to pitch in more money is to have a lockbox. The funds pitched in by the city MUST BE DECIDED BY THE CITY. Not Cuomo, trying to get reelected

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On 8/16/2018 at 1:09 PM, RR503 said:

- They're replacing manual track inspections with TGC runs. I like this one, actually -- not only is embracing tech good, but TGC records can be useful for reviewing past conditions in an objective manner. 433

 

Why isn't this being done system-wide. Surely the TGC can inspect better than a human can.

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21 minutes ago, kosciusko said:

Why isn't this being done system-wide. Surely the TGC can inspect better than a human can.

It's a pilot program -- I think the agency needs to ascertain that superiority before they expand to the whole system. 

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On 8/16/2018 at 2:38 PM, Interested Rider said:

Yes the city may be flush with cash now but we have a mayor and a city council  with an ideological agenda that has nothing to do with maintaining quality services. It is my opinion that  the attitude is the city will have this on a regular basis as if it is not transit, it is public housing,or it is the jails and on and on. I have written about the upcoming budget crisis on this forum so many times as I  recognize the symptoms and I lived through the 1970's fiscal crisis.  The crisis is right around the corner and those in charge see nothing.

I hate sounding like a broken record as this crisis is far worse as compared with  the 1970's and the fools in charge are like ostriches with their head in the sand as this one will not only take  down the city but the state as well. There is no leadership on either level that can present and implement new ideas that will move the city and state forward in terms improving transportation with  Andy Byford, the sole exception but his hands are tied as the city and the state are not interested in improving the system. The key indicator is that people are looking at alternatives in terms of getting around just like the riders did in the  1970's and look at the  MTA at that time. They did not care then and they do not care now about transit as they are part of the protected class as despite all the press releases that a large percentage of the top has been let go, the privileged ones will stay on by being transferred to other items in or outside the agency until they retire with a six figure pension.

 

 

22 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

The city is flushed with cash, which is why the mayor is spending it like no tomorrow. Its the "American way". No need to worry about the next crisis

In seriousness, I understand why Deblasio may not want to give more money to the MTA. Why give a agency more money, only for them to demand more, use the money you gave them to paint subways to the "states color" because another boss who actually control the agency say so, and on top of that blame you for all the problems they face?

If I was deBlasio the only way I would agree for the city to pitch in more money is to have a lockbox. The funds pitched in by the city MUST BE DECIDED BY THE CITY. Not Cuomo, trying to get reelected

The city already increased its funding to the same level it would have been had Giuliani and Bloomberg not made their cuts. And of course the MTA continues to demand more.

De Blasio funds half of Subway Action Plan

City pays for additional $2B+ of the Capital Plan

At this point, the City giving more money to the MTA as a blank check would be enabling a junkie.

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Let me guess: the (MTA) is close to bankruptcy right? If this is the case, get ready for the government intervening to bail the TA out and a crap ton of strikes and lawsuits. I imagine NYC itself under a state of emergency if the subway shuts down over financial issues. 

On 8/16/2018 at 5:30 PM, Lawrence St said:

Goodbye (W)😢 it was a nice 3 years to get to know you again.

The (W) has more of a purpose for it's existence this time round with the (Q) going to 2nd Ave 24/7, so that line is not going anywhere. 

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40 minutes ago, TheNewYorkElevated said:

Let me guess: the (MTA) is close to bankruptcy right? If this is the case, get ready for the government intervening to bail the TA out and a crap ton of strikes and lawsuits. I imagine NYC itself under a state of emergency if the subway shuts down over financial issues. 

The (W) has more of a purpose for it's existence this time round with the (Q) going to 2nd Ave 24/7, so that line is not going anywhere. 

I still dont understand why the (Z) wasnt cut back in 2010. Was it a service in demand back then?

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7 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

I still dont understand why the (Z) wasnt cut back in 2010. Was it a service in demand back then?

The (Z) is basically the (J) train but skips a few stops. By running the (Z) you actually save money. If we run it as all (J) some skip stop will essentially get service increases. The only time eliminating the (Z) will save money is when they are not replaced but that would create a 10 min headway on the (J) .

BTW anyone know what happens the the (Z) once it gets to Jamaica? Does it deadhead back to yard?

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57 minutes ago, Mtatransit said:

BTW anyone know what happens the the (Z) once it gets to Jamaica? Does it deadhead back to yard?

One roundtrip. AM trips do Broadway junction->Jamaica->Broad Street->Broadway Junction and PM is the same except trains from the junction to Broad Street bound for Jamaica afterwards.

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3 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

The (Z) is basically the (J) train but skips a few stops. By running the (Z) you actually save money. If we run it as all (J) some skip stop will essentially get service increases. The only time eliminating the (Z) will save money is when they are not replaced but that would create a 10 min headway on the (J) .

BTW anyone know what happens the the (Z) once it gets to Jamaica? Does it deadhead back to yard?

They layup or get turned into (J) 's.

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Am I the only one who doesn't think that any of these amount to palpable "Cuts"? 

I mean - the elevator operators for instance - like at 168 street - at present only one elevator of the four has an operator, and they're literally just pressing the buttons that a passenger would press. If something happens to the elevator, they're using the same intercom as a passenger to call someone to fix it. Outside of allaying the fears of I don't even know who, that is the most useless staffing possibly in the city. Correct me if I'm missing something. 

I know i'm gonna get attacked as an MTA apologist here, but I do think the headline of "subway, bus cuts" is somewhat of an exaggeration. 

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On 8/18/2018 at 11:48 AM, Lawrence St said:

I still dont understand why the (Z) wasnt cut back in 2010. Was it a service in demand back then?

I believe in 2009 they proposed cutting it and raising the (J) frequency to every 6 minutes or something, but I think the amount saved was something small like $30,000 which is basically nothing to the MTA.

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