Report: NYC Subway Car Breakdowns Increase
by Judd WileyJuly 30th, 2008, 1:48 pm
The Straphangers Campaign, a New York-based transit advocacy group, released a disturbing “report card” yesterday on the state of the NYC subway system.
By far the most outrageous finding is that subway car breakdowns have increased dramatically over the past year.
The car fleet breakdown rate worsened from an average mechanical failure every 156,624 miles in 2006 to every 149,646 miles in 2007. This is a troubling trend, raising questions about the condition and maintenance of the aging transit fleet. We found that: seventeen lines worsened (1, 4, 6, A, B, C, D, F, G, J/Z, L, M, N, Q, R, V and W), while just five lines improved (2, 3, 5, 7 and E).
We should remember that New York is currently witnessing the highest increase in mass transit ridership since 1951, largely due to high gas prices. More and more commuters are parking their cars or being dropped off at subway stations, and taking mass transit to work. How does the MTA expect to retain these new riders if the subway car fleet breakdown rate continues to worsen at this sad rate?
Another disturbing finding is that subway car announcements (when the operator relays important information over the loudspeaker) have become decidedly less accurate and understandable.
Accurate and understandable subway car announcements worsened, going from 90% in the second half of 2006 to 85% in the second half of 2007. We found that: fifteen lines worsened (1, 3, 7, B, C, D, E, F, G, J/Z, M, Q, R, V and W) five lines improved (2, 4, A, L and N) and two remained unchanged (5 and 6).
This is shameful. Many disabled and impaired riders rely on these subway car announcements to give them the critical information they need to make it safely and efficiently to their destinations. If you’re a blind man, for example, how do you know which subway is pulling into the station if the announcement is garbled, mangled, distorted, or nonexistent?
According to the New York Daily News, MTA had no immediate comment on this report card.
If you go to the MTA Newsroom, however, you can read all about how the MTA has decided to spend tax dollars on photography exhibits in various subway stations to “enliven subway passageways and the underground environment with bright, vivid photographs that showcase the work of primarily New York-based photographers.”
New Yorkers will appreciate [photographer Saul Leiter’s] image of postmen on their rounds in the snow, passersby under the signage of the day, or riding by on a city bus. …
[Nicole Bengiveno, another photographer] uses long exposure times to reveal the arcing streaks of light, whirling patterns of sunlight bouncing off a metallic surface, late afternoon’s golden glow, or illumination from streetlights and passing cars to create the appearance of painterly brushstrokes in the faces of evening commuters.
All of this while the NYC subway system slowly disintegrates. And we’re supposed to nod our heads, purse our lips, and sign on with the beard scratchers and greenie weenies who tell us to give up our cars for this more efficient, most cost effective, more environmentally friendly system.
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Posted in Mass Transit, Subways |
