Johnson skeptical of MTA reorganization plan
BY BILL PARRY
When the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority approved
a reorganization plan for the
fi rst time in more than half a
century, Gov. Andrew Cuomo
called it “a good start,” but the
leader of the New York City
Council says the state-run
agency is on the wrong track.
The plan, which was approved
by the MTA Board
Wednesday, would cut costs
by nearly $500 million per
year over the next three years
while eliminating as many
as 2,700 jobs that will prepare
the agency to “dramatically
improve service, end project
delays and cost overruns, and
fi nally establish the modern
system customers deserve,” according
to its press release.
“Now that the Board has
approved these recommendations,
the work of transforming
the MTA into a world-class
organization that provides its
customers with the service
they deserve begins,” said
MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick
J. Foye. “It’s a new day at
the MTA, our customers have
demanded change, and we’re
going to deliver it for the fi rst
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22 COURIER LIFE, AUG. 2-8, 2019
time in nearly 50 years.”
The MTA said the plan
would “institutionalize the
enormous success of the Subway
Action Plan, which has
proven to be working and has
increased on-time performance
to 81.5 percent, marking the
fi rst time it had crossed the 80
percent threshold in six years.”
The controversial plan,
which was prepared by a consulting
fi rm in just three
months, was approved by the
Board in a 10-1 vote with one
abstention, and of the 42 public
speakers who testifi ed to the
Board before the vote, not one
endorsed the plan.
While Cuomo said it “now
comes down to execution and
sound management,” City
Council Speaker Corey Johnson,
who called for municipal
control of the MTA when
he delivered his fi rst State of
the City address at LaGuardia
Community College in March,
had strong doubts about the
reorganization plan, which he
said would take power from
NYC Transit president Andy
Byford who launched the $40
billion “Fast Forward” plan in
May 2018 to modernize the subway
system.
“I am disappointed but not
surprised with the MTA reorganization
plan and the process
by which it is being pushed
through,” Johnson said. “The
plan creates new layers of bureaucracy
and takes critical responsibilities
away from Andy
Byford. Byford is the one who
is actually showing us that improvements
in accessibility
and on time performance are
possible.”
Byford added his endorsement
to the plan.
“This reorganization builds
upon the progress made and
will transform every aspect of
our service and deliver modern,
fully accessible transit to
riders,” he said.
But the Johnson remains
skeptical and vowed to hold a
hearing on the matter.
“This was rushed and is being
pushed through the board
without any real public review,”
Johnson said. “We need
real accountability, not another
opaque power grab. We
won’t really fi x the MTA until
New York City controls its own
transit destiny. The subways
and buses are the lifeblood of
New York. Massive changes to
that system should not be made
in 90 days, so the Council will
hold a hearing on the MTA’s
plan. New Yorkers deserve
real answers and a chance to
be heard.”
The transit advocacy group
Riders Alliance said the reorganization
would be judged
by its impact on the quality of
public transit in the city.
“No matter how the MTA is
organized, Governor Cuomo is
on the hook to provide service
that is safe, fast, reliable and
accessible,” Riders Alliance
spokesman Danny Pearlstein
said. Any monetary savings
from the reorganization must
be reinvested in more and better
transit for over eight million
daily riders. Following today’s
vote, the governor should
focus squarely on delivering an
MTA capital plan that spends
congestion pricing money to fi -
nally fi x the subway.”
NOT SO FAST: Council Speaker Corey Johnson vows to hold a hearing
on the MTA’s reorganization plan calling it “rushed and pushed through”
without proper public review. John McCarten/NYC Council
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