NYC Subway Delays Way Up
by Judd WileyJuly 22nd, 2008, 12:30 pm
Surprise, surprise – New York City subway delays have increased dramatically over the last year.
The numbers are really quite amazing. We’re talking about a 24% increase in the number of MTA delays systemwide, measured over the year ending in May.
According to the New York Times, “officials were at a loss to fully explain the increase in delays.” This is because “information about those delays comes mainly from reports by train crews, a method that authority officials acknowledged may not be adequate.”
May not be adequate? Of course this method isn’t adequate. It’s completely bass ackwards. That’s like asking Milosevic how many Bosnians he killed. Forget counting the number of bodies. Forget interviewing those fleeing the crime scenes. Forget reviewing the satellite feed.
Gene Russianoff, a lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, adds that MTA’s on-time numbers also don’t reflect how late trains are at busier stations, since trains often make up time in less-crowded stretches before reaching the end of the line, where the number is measured.
In other words, this “24% increase” is much likely a low ball figure. Great, the MTA can’t even get its own metrics right.
But even though “officials were at a loss to fully explain the increase in delays,” they found time to speculate as to the cause of the delays (based on the train crew reports). And guess what, the train crews blamed everyone and everything but themselves.
Transit officials cite track work, customers holding doors, sick and unruly riders and signal trouble as the leading causes for the delays, based on reports from train crews.
Customers holding doors. That’s my favorite.
How does an MTA subway operator define “customers holding doors”? Does he check the “customers holding doors” box anytime anything blocks the doors from closing? For instance, when he himself closes the doors on people trying to get on and off the subway?
An incensed MTA board member, Mark Lebow, who called the MTA statistics “astonishing” and has demanded quick action, made an interesting point about increased ridership:
I don’t think you can blame increased ridership, because the commuter railroads have the same increased ridership percentages as the subways do, and they seem to be dealing with it … Their on-time performance is at least as good as it was before and sometimes better.
Rather, he said, the problems pointed to a “management issue.”
Of course they do. When you hire stupid people and put them in charge of more stupid people, the result is stupidity. It’s like adding 0 + 0.
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The problem of the delays lies in the system itself - it’s old, dirty, and out of date. I mean, this is the system that stops running when there is pouring rain that’s been forecast!!! The tunnels get flooded and people are either stuck or get even travel via the subway.
People holding train doors does not cause 15 minutes of delays.
I don’t know what is MTA’s policy on sick passengers but if they move the sick passenger off the train, that would help a lot but I think they keep sick passengers on board the train until paramedics arrive. A friend of mine told me a story how he helped a sick passenger and basically had to stay on the train with her until help arrived while everyone was evacuated off the train.
Also, people wouldn’t get sick if the air was properly circulated. Trust me, I’ve had my experiences of feeling light headed due to the air on the train. I’ve even got light headed while seated!
Track work is such a lame excuse that’s tossed out there. Everyone rolls their eyes when they hear that explanation come over the loud speaker.
The problem is train congestion. There aren’t enough trains to accommodate the increase in ridership. The platforms are more packed than ever and there just enough frequency of the trains pulling in and out to get people to work on time. Not only that, every commuter is aware of MTA’s inability to operate in a timely fashion so everyone tries to cram into the first train that pulls in even though it is packed to the gills!
I’m not surprised that the City and MTA is not prepared to handle the increase ridership. And with the budget cuts and not getting their tax revenues, the commuters ain’t going to see an increase of service and trains….