NYC subway gets ‘group station managers’ to ensure clean stations

[Via Garibaldi 8]

NYC subway gets ‘group station managers’ to ensure clean stations

The group station managers will be responsible for overseeing maintenance, safety, and passenger services

By Ameena Walker  Sep 26, 2018, 11:38am EDT

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Though his comprehensive 10-year Fast Forward plan to fix the ailing subway system remains unfunded, New York City Transit president Andy Byford is working on “quick wins” to improve what he can in the meantime—including ensuring that stations are cleaner.

On Tuesday, Byford introduced a new team of station managers that will be charged with maintaining and cleaning the system’s many stations. This new program was triggered by a trip to the 1 line’s Marble Hill-225th Street station in the Bronx, where neglected bird droppings led Byford to act, reports the New York Daily News. According to Byford, there were conflicting reports from station agents and various departments within the MTA as to who was actually responsible for getting the mess cleaned up.

Going forward, there will be 23 group station managers with four district customer service managers. A single group station manager will be responsible for overseeing maintenance, cleaning, and passenger services in up to 25 stations across four districts. Additionally, each station’s group will have its own email address posted so commuters can submit feedback or complaints. There’s also a new chief station officer overseeing the program for NYCT.

According to the MTA, Byford himself was a station manager for the Underground in London before moving on to manage the transit system in Toronto.

Source: https://ny.curbed.com/2018/9/26/17903060/mta-subway-stations-maintenance-positions-andy-byford-announcement

[NoHacksJustKhaks]

I really hope this "quick-win" is just that, and not the only reminiscence of a failed larger plan to actually address some of these ailing stations. I do actually like the plan however, some upkeep is really needed in this system and it's nice to see the MTA's making efforts to improve communications with riders as well. Lets not be mistaken however, time's gonna tell if this is worth it for now.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

9 minutes ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

I really hope this "quick-win" is just that, and not the only reminiscence of a failed larger plan to actually address some of these ailing stations. I do actually like the plan however, some upkeep is really needed in this system and it's nice to see the MTA's making efforts to improve communications with riders as well. Lets not be mistaken however, time's gonna tell if this is worth it for now.

All I know is they need to hire SEVERAL managers at 57th and 7th. That station is going to the dogs and fast. The last few weekends I've used it, the smell was so revolting as I was coming down stairs that I had to cover my nose.  I don't know what's going on at that station, but it smells like @ss multipled by four, and then the platform and stairs are FILTHY, as if they have never been power washed.  I also for the first time ever saw homeless people congregating about on the platforms.  Even had one guy lighting up a cigarette sitting on the bench.

[Lance]

I think that's because they got booted from the other 57 Street station when it closed last July.

As for the station manager plan, I hope it actually works. While relatively small in overall impact (it won't make the trains go faster, nor will it do anything for overcrowding), success here would greatly improve the customer experience while waiting on the platform. I think I can speak for most passengers when I say we'd very much like the stations to not smell like a sewer and would greatly appreciate it if pieces of the station don't fall on our heads (looking at you Atlantic Av). I just hope it doesn't become another piece in the ever-growing bureaucracy that is the MTA.

[LGA Link N Train]

Today, I walk into the Forest Hills platform at 63rd Drive - Rego Park heading to school. There was this one homeless dude smoking on the platform. (I start coughing) but I look at him thinking in my head “Bro, What the fu-“ and kept walking. I wonder if Station managers would solve relatively minor issues such as this. Because that’s something you’re not supposed to do in the subway. And homeless (in my opinion) have No place in our system when we’re all trying to get to our destinations.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

14 minutes ago, LaGuardia Link N Tra said:

Today, I walk into the Forest Hills platform at 63rd Drive - Rego Park heading to school. There was this one homeless dude smoking on the platform. (I start coughing) but I look at him thinking in my head “Bro, What the fu-“ and kept walking. I wonder if Station managers would solve relatively minor issues such as this. Because that’s something you’re not supposed to do in the subway. And homeless (in my opinion) have No place in our system when we’re all trying to get to our destinations.

It's actually becoming more common to see people smoking on the platforms and on the subways themselves.

[NoHacksJustKhaks]

13 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It's actually becoming more common to see people smoking on the platforms and on the subways themselves.

One thing I wish this agency and plan will address! Enforce a punishment of sorts on them (maybe the managers can kindly ask them to stop, or take action upon a second offense), since putting up a sign or doing nothing at all will result to, well, nothing...

[Jdog14]

3 minutes ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

One thing I wish this agency and plan will address! Enforce a punishment of sorts on them, since putting up a sign or doing nothing at all will result to, well, nothing...

 

They also lose more revenue then they gain so they don't even bother. 

[Union Tpke]

15 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It's actually becoming more common to see people smoking on the platforms and on the subways themselves.

The same homeless person smokes in one of the staircases at Kew Gardens. Usually people like him just do it upstairs, but this is getting ridiculous.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 minutes ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

One thing I wish this agency and plan will address! Enforce a punishment of sorts on them, since putting up a sign or doing nothing at all will result to, well, nothing...

Well people forget that the Mayor went down for a photo op not that long ago bragging about how the City would have more officers underground patrolling and on the subways. Well where are they?   Maybe they're around, but just non-existent when we need one.  Remember this below?

NYPD’s neighborhood policing model to be tested on subways in Brooklyn, Bronx

Critics hope the shift will help reduce — not add to — the number of turnstile-jumping arrests of people of color.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announces the NYPD's new push to bring neighborhood policing to city subways at the Atlantic Avenue -- Barclays Center station on Thursday, April 12, 2018. Photo Credit: Marisol Diaz-Gordon

By Alison Fox and Vincent Baronealison.fox@amny.com, vin.barone@amny.com  @AlisonFoxUpdated April 12, 2018 8:06 PM

PRINT SHARE 

The NYPD is moving its neighborhood policing model underground and testing the program in two different transit districts, officials said on Thursday, but experts wonder if the program will be as effective on subways as officials say it is in communities.

More (Source): https://www.amny.com/news/nypd-neighborhood-policing-subway-1.18003601

---

All of these "pilot programs" and then nothing comes of them.

 

2 minutes ago, Union Tpke said:

The same homeless person smokes in one of the staircases at Kew Gardens. Usually people like him just do it upstairs, but this is getting ridiculous.

Now you have people vaping too since it's easier to conceal.

[Union Tpke]

1 minute ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Now you have people vaping too since it's easier to conceal.

This is an epidemic. So many people do this. I caught a classmate of mine last school year doing that on the subway. I told him to stop and he did. He is very smart so this shocked me. He claimed he wasn't addicted. These companies are doing exactly what Big Tobacco did.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, Union Tpke said:

This is an epidemic. So many people do this. I caught a classmate of mine last school year doing that on the subway. I told him to stop and he did. He is very smart so this shocked me. He claimed he wasn't addicted. These companies are doing exactly what Big Tobacco did.

Yep, it's everywhere now.  

[P3F]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It's actually becoming more common to see people smoking on the platforms and on the subways themselves.

Sometime earlier this year, I was on a  train to Coney Island and a guy was vaping. The entire car smelled awful.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

9 minutes ago, P3F said:

Sometime earlier this year, I was on a  train to Coney Island and a guy was vaping. The entire car smelled awful.

Yeah it's crazy.  

[RR503]

Still one of my favorite subway stories was when I saw someone someone light up a joint between cars. Lighter kept going out because of the wind, but eventually she got a good session in. 

[GojiMet86]

IMG_1935 by GojiMet86, on Flickr

[RR503]

Maybe this is dumb and my google skills are just bad, but I can’t seem to find a map of these manager districts... Seems odd for an agency purportedly interested in transparency.

[GojiMet86]

All I know is that he does at least 137th Street and above, not sure of anything below.

[Trainmaster5]

I wish Mr. Byford  well but I’m really surprised that everyone  in the media or on the forum missed the obvious point here. There have been supervisors assigned to this task since at least the mid sixties. When I was a provisional RR porter the title was station supervisor and each one was assigned a group of stations along a corridor. My Brighton line super was responsible for Prospect Park and down to Newkirk. Cleanliness, supplies and reporting infrastructure problems. Same thing happened in the eighties IIRC. Let’s see how this works out this generation. Carry on.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I wish Mr. Byford  well but I’m really surprised that everyone  in the media or on the forum missed the obvious point here. There have been supervisors assigned to this task since at least the mid sixties. When I was a provisional RR porter the title was station supervisor and each one was assigned a group of stations along a corridor. My Brighton line super was responsible for Prospect Park and down to Newkirk. Cleanliness, supplies and reporting infrastructure problems. Same thing happened in the eighties IIRC. Let’s see how this works out this generation. Carry on.

No I totally get it. He's trying to rebrand the as an agency that is customer oriented. As he says, "we're not tone death". lol I think we're going to see how true that is in the coming months. He has his work cut out for him.

[QM1to6Ave]

Did they promote/hire these people internally, or bring in new people? I hope they are not wasting salaries on new people for this task that, as Trainmaster pointed out, has already existed in various iterations for many years. 

[RR503]

The good news: they made a map.

The bad news: it's riddled with mistakes. 

I'll start off your feeling of horror with the fact that District 20 seems to have *3* headquarters... 

[NoHacksJustKhaks]

21 minutes ago, RR503 said:

it's riddled with mistakes. 

God help anyone that has to look at this map in and around the downtown Brooklyn area

[Italianstallion]

On 10/6/2018 at 11:25 PM, QM1to6Ave said:

Did they promote/hire these people internally, or bring in new people? I hope they are not wasting salaries on new people for this task that, as Trainmaster pointed out, has already existed in various iterations for many years. 

Many of them are outsiders. That could be a good thing.

 

From the MTA press release:

 

"The approximately two dozen Group Station Managers – drawn from a mix of internal and external backgrounds – will report to four new District Customer Service Managers, based in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The newly hired Group Station Managers come from prominent organizations across the airline, logistics, customer service, and communications industries.  The primary reasons they were selected for these roles are their passion for customer service, their ability to motivate and inspire teams, and their obsession to detail."

[QM1to6Ave]

40 minutes ago, Italianstallion said:

Many of them are outsiders. That could be a good thing.

 

From the MTA press release:

 

"The approximately two dozen Group Station Managers – drawn from a mix of internal and external backgrounds – will report to four new District Customer Service Managers, based in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The newly hired Group Station Managers come from prominent organizations across the airline, logistics, customer service, and communications industries.  The primary reasons they were selected for these roles are their passion for customer service, their ability to motivate and inspire teams, and their obsession to detail."

I don't think they need to hire industry geniuses/giants for these positions...they basically need to make sure broken things are getting replaced, surfaces are getting cleaned to a reasonable extent, police are informed of issues, and to make sure the people hired to do those tasks are actually doing it.