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Will NYC get its subways & buses back?
While meeting with Queens straphangers, Council speaker pitches shift in transit control
BY MARK HALLUM
City Council Speaker
Corey Johnson is not only
gauging riders for their
opinions on the MTA, but is
aiming to create a proposal
where the city takes back its
subways and buses.
The announcement came at
the 74th Street station on the 7
line in Jackson Heights during
the Monday evening rush.
After gathering surveys
from the straphangers
filtering through turnstiles,
Johnson said it was time for
the city to manage its own
transit after years of decline
under state management.
NYC Transit was not
always controlled by the
state government; the city
relinquished control while
in bankruptcy during the
‘70s and ‘80s, a notoriously
dangerous time for the
subway riders in particular.
But Johnson thinks it is
time to reclaim control.
“It’s a very detailed
conversation that we have to
have and I’m going to have
more to say in a detailed way
over the next two months,”
Johnson said. “It’s similar
— though not exactly the
same — as the conversation
around mayoral control of
the schools … If we take over
the MTA, New York City
Transit, which I support,
breaking out the Long Island
Rail Road and Metro-North
from that and just taking
the NYC Transit, we would
still going to state support
and money. The schools still
needed state support and
money when we took it over.
So there’s something still
something analogous in that
way, but it’s a conversation
we’re going to have.”
Johnson, in addition to
being City Council speaker,
currently serves as the
acting public advocate; he
will occupy that office until
voters choose a new public
advocate in the Feb. 26
special election.
His visit to Queens was
one of five stops he is making
to measure straphanger woes
and speak about his proposal
which he will likely use as
fodder to convince the state
government to turn over the
assets and infrastructure of
the city transit system.
But the governor and
MTA may not need that
much convincing.
A year and a half after Gov.
Andrew Cuomo called for a
state of emergency to address
the deteriorating subway
system, Cuomo stated at an
editorial board meeting with
the New York Daily News on
Jan. 7 that the MTA should be
scrapped altogether.
“Blow up the MTA. Blow
it up,” Cuomo was quoted as
saying, meaning that the state
agency should be rebuilt from
the ground up in the style of
Port Authority.
Cuomo claimed the
governor’s office has no
control over the MTA,
although it appoints the
majority of board members
and supplies the funds, but
said remodeling it like Port
Authority would give him
direct control.
“The MTA is so tedious to
deal with that it developed a
boutique industry of people
who just are willing to deal
with this thing called the
MTA,” Cuomo said, according
to the Daily News. “And the
people who know how to do it
normally came from the MTA
FIGHTING FOR THEIR HOMES
Citylights residents hold up signs urging the city to help them stay in their co-ops.
See story on Page 4. Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
and then go to the contractor
and that’s why they know how
to make the connection.”
Johnson said he is not
the first to call for the city to
retake its subways and buses,
but thinks it is something that
needs to be earnestly explored.
He has yet to formally speak
with the Cuomo or the MTA
about his plan.
Newly sworn-in state
Assemblywoman Catalina
Cruz, who represents
Jackson Heights, said
turning over operations of
NYC Transit was something
she campaigned on.
“The first step in solving
a problem is figuring out the
depth of that problem,” Cruz
said. “We don’t know how bad
the MTA is. We know that the
trains don’t arrive, that if the
7 breaks then the E breaks,
the R breaks, everything
breaks. But it’s always useful
to get concrete data and
everyday stories of people
and how terrible the service
really is.”
She said the subways and
buses are “a mammoth of
a system” that needs a new
approach to fix and that could
start with mayoral control
with oversight from the state.
City Councilman Daniel
Dromm and newly swornin
State Sen. Jessica
Ramos were also present at
Johnson’s press conference,
held in the foyer of the
Jackson Heights station.
Last week, Cuomo put
a pause on the scheduled
15-month Canarsie Tunnel
closure that would have
affected the L line, opting
instead for overnight and
weekend service cuts for
Hurricane Sandy-related
repairs.
The MTA has yet to respond
to a request for comment.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4564.
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