LOCAL NEWS OP-ED
Safety, reliability,
effi ciency: The
MTA’s resolutions
BY JANNO LIEBER
It’s a new year but the
MTA’s core mission remains
the same— to keep
New York moving with safe,
reliable, and cost-effective
service. Each of these points
is equally important.
I’ll start with safety, which
is the number one concern of
current and returning riders
according to our latest customer
survey. Security must
be prioritized if we’re going
to continue rebuilding ridership
post-COVID, and we’re
working closely with Governor
Hochul, Mayor Adams and Police
Commissioner Keechant
Sewell to address New
Yorkers’ concerns.
All three refreshingly understand
that perception is
reality when it comes to the
subways. Last week, they
stood together with MTA offi
cials to lay out a public safety
strategy that rightly focuses on
outreach and services for our
most vulnerable New Yorkers
and NYPD visibility on platforms
and onboard trains.
These efforts are especially
important as we continue to
deal with crime and the growing
issue of unauthorized
persons on our tracks. These
episodes often end tragically
for the people involved, many
of whom struggle with mental
illness and homelessness.
There’s also a signifi cant
impact on service to consider
here. In December alone,
there were 116 incidents of
unauthorized persons on the
tracks, which resulted in over
2,000 delays for customers.
This cannot continue, which
is why I’ve put together a task
force within the MTA focused
on preventing track trespass.
With support from the State
and City, we will do better for
New Yorkers.
The second piece of the
puzzle is reliability. It’s no secret
that service has been put
to the test during the Omicron
surge, like every other agency
and company in the region.
With many in our frontline
workforce out sick, we’ve had
to deal with staffi ng shortages
that led to some longer wait
times and line suspensions.
But thanks to the strategic
thinking of our operations
planning team, we’re setting
a realistic schedule every
day. It’s not perfect by any
measure, but every one of
our 472 subway stations has
service, with buses holding
strong at all 16,000 stops on
the streets– leaving no commuter
stranded. As more employees
recover from the virus
and new hires fi nish training,
it will only get better. All the
while, we continue to look for
ways to increase speeds and
improve effi ciency.
The last component to our
core mission is cost-effectiveness.
To help riders to get the
best deal possible, the MTA
is launching its fi rst-ever fare
capping pilot next month for
customers using OMNY.
Commuter railroad customers
can expect a deal with a
new 20-trip ticket option coming
in February, along with reduced
rates for monthly passes
and the extension of our weekend
fl at fare City Ticket to all
weekday off-peak trains.
To sum it up, a better MTA
is on the way. We look forward
to welcoming you aboard.
Janno Lieber is acting MTA
Chair and CEO.
Mayor Eric Adams with Governor Kathy Hochul in Lower Manhattan on Jan. 6, 2022.
Doubling down
Adams, Hochul appear together Downtown
to tackle subway crime, homelessness
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Mayor Eric Adams and
Governor Kathy Hochul
held their fi rst
joint appearance since the
former took offi ce on Jan. 6 to
announce a slate of measures
to combat crime in the New
York City subways and increase
outreach to those experiencing
homelessness.
Mayor Adams vowed to make
NYPD police offi cers an “omnipresence”
on subway trains,
using Transit Bureau cops and
deploying more above-ground
Boys in Blue from the city’s 77
police precincts.
“We’re going to add hundreds
of daily visual inspections from
existing police manpower,”
Adams said at the Jan. 6 press
conference in Fulton Street station
in Manhattan. “The omnipresence
is the key. People
feel as though the system is not
safe, because they don’t see
KEVIN P. COUGHLIN/OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
their offi cers.”
Metropolitan Transportation
Authority leaders have for
months been asking the city to
station more police on platforms
and on trains.
It is unclear how many offi
cers will patrol city’s 472 subway
stations, but former Mayor
Bill de Blasio boosted the ranks
by 250 cops to 3,250 when
then-Governor Andrew Cuomo
allowed the MTA to resume
24/7 subway service in May of
last year.
Recent police stats show there
were 169 transit crimes over the
last 28-day period, up from 101
the same time last year.
Longer-term trends show
that crime has been going down
over the past years and decades,
with a rate of 4.73 major felonies
per day from January through
November of 2021, the lowest
of that time period since 1997,
according to a report the Transit
Bureau provided to MTA board
members in December.
Hochul announced she will
immediately open a public bidding
process through a request
for proposal for new state-sponsored
homeless outreach dubbed
“Safe Options Support” or SOS.
“These are the New Yorkers
for whom the system has failed
and failure is not an option for
us in government,” Hochul said.
The effort will launch with
fi ve teams made up of eight to
10 medical professionals, social
workers, and other outreach
staff to connect the unhoused to
shelters and services.
Adams said the initiative will
free up cops to focus on actual
crimes instead of doing mental
health work.
“They’re going to communicate
with our outreach workers
so they can respond, not to have
the offi cers engage unless there
is some criminal activity taking
place that needs immediate attention,”
he said.
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