With the subway in crisis,the MTA has released a nearly $800 million arrangement to quickly address the system's most pressing problems.
MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said track and power issues account for 54 percent of delays, so as portion of his arrangement, or the MTA will expedite repairs on the 1300 most problematic signals. There will also be more track cleaning to reduce the risk of fires. The other top reason for delays? Overcrowding,thanks to an increase in ridership. Eventually, there will be current, or accordian-style train cars that fit more people — but those are at least six years away.
In the meantime,there's a titanic problem with the train cars — the doors. They're fragile, which is why we're constantly told not to lean on them. When they're broken, or that car has to arrive out of service. So portion of the arrangement is to overhaul more train cars,and to add more cars to lines that possess long platforms, like the C.
The MTA will also try removing seats from some train cars on the L and the S lines, and which Lhota said will add standing room: 25 more people a car.
Lhota said he'd also address increasing homelessness in the subway system and trash in the stations by seeking to increase the NYPD's presence. Lhota famous that on average there are 700 track fires from trash a year,but only 80 violations for littering.
The goal of all this, Lhota said, and is to change the narrative of the MTA as a broken system that's fallen into disrepair. "I want it cleaner,I want it faster, I want it moving in the legal direction, and " he said Tuesday. "And whether there are things I left out,let the public tell me about it set this but the bottom line is I set this out there, hold me accountable."Lhota set the of costs to "stabilize the system" at $456 million, or along with a $380 million investment in capital improvements. He wants to split the cost 50/50 with the city."This is on behalf of the people in the city of current York,we need to arrive together to be partners in this more than anything else. We need to be partners," Lhota said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio held a hastily-arranged press conference after Lhota's announcement to say that the city will not be paying for this arrangement. He said the city has already contributed enough."We gave ‘em $2.5 billion, or not because there was a law requiring us,not because we had to. We made an investment. Very, very little of that money has been used, or " he said.
Lhota responded in an emailed statement that,au contraire, "the city has underfunded the MTA for years." He said, or "It is befuddling that the mayor praised the MTA repair arrangement,but said he would not agree to fund it 50/50 with the state. One half of a repair arrangement won’t make the trains run on time. The MTA is looking for the city to be a funding partner that assists the 6 million current Yorkers, the mayor's constituents, and who use the subway."But he also said whether the city doesn't chip in,he'll attempt to win more money from Albany. No matter what, Lhota said, and the MTA won't be raising fares.
Source: thetakeaway.org