Opinion
Put mayor in charge of subways and buses
BY COREY JOHNSON
We’ve all been there: Stuck in
a crowded subway car due
to “signal problems,” or sitting
on a bus moving so slowly that you
might as well have walked.
Frustration with our mass transit
system is a New York state of mind
we’re all unfortunately accustomed to.
But I truly believe it doesn’t have to be
this way.
The vast majority of the problems
with our system can be summed up in
one word: accountability.
There isn’t any.
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority is a state authority controlled
by the governor, with its own budget
that’s approved by a bunch of board
members most New Yorkers have never
even heard of.
It’s confusing, which is the point.
How else could the people in charge
avoid blame and responsibility when
things go wrong?
The buck has to stop with someone,
and it has to be someone who knows
that if they don’t get it right their job is
on the line.
COURTESY COREY JOHNSON’S OFFICE
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson
wants the mayor to have the
final say over the city’s public
transit system.
This is why I support municipal
control of the subways, which
would mean accountability would fall
squarely on one person — the mayor
of New York City.
It means we run our subways, we
run Staten Island rail, we plan our bus
routes — right now the city doesn’t
even do that — and we control the toll
money from the seven bridges and tunnels
currently run by the M.T.A.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s
all well and good, but how does that
help my commute?
Those signal problems making you
late for work all the time? That is what
happens when no one is responsible.
It’s the result of decades of misplaced
priorities.
Our subway signals date back to the
1930s.
They’ve never been upgraded because
the M.T.A.’s governance structure
incentivized short-term glamour
projects over the long-term investments
we really need. It’s painting the outside
of a house that’s falling apart inside.
And the result? We allow a 21st-century
system to operate with infrastructure
that was built in the 1930s — like
what is happening now.
What about our slow buses?
Municipal control would help get our
buses moving again because for the fi rst
time ever, the city — and not the state
Do you have a th
Special Occasion?
of
— would be able to quickly fi x routes
that aren’t working and work in close
coordination with the Department of
Transportation, which is currently under
our control.
That means better, more cohesive
bus service that gets New Yorkers
where they need to be faster.
It makes no sense that different entities
are covering both our subways and
buses now. Municipal control isn’t just
more accountable. It’s more effi cient,
too.M
aking municipal control a reality
won’t be easy, and it won’t happen
overnight. But this is worth fi ghting for.
We have to think big to solve the problem
of how we move around our city.
We can’t let fear of the politically diffi
cult stop us from taking on this challenge.
We have to get New York City
moving again.
I’m ready to fi ght for this for as long
as it takes to make it happen. I hope
you’ll fi ght alongside me.
Johnson is the City Council speaker
and represents Council District 3
(Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Hell’s
Kitchen, West Soho, Hudson Square,
Times Square, Garment District, Flatiron
and part of the Upper West Side)
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