MTA: Going Their Way

I commuted from Long Island to Manhattan for about 10 years and, although I don't need to currently, I will most likely return to a daily commute very soon. Luckily for me, Glen Cove is serviced by Long Island Transit buses so, I will not need to use the MTA's Long Island Railroad nor subway. But, many of our fellow Long Islanders are forced to suffer the painful change at Jamaica and the underground tunnel at Penn Station.

In my opinion, the MTA has lost it's way long before I moved to the island in 2000. The agency was founded in 1965 initially responsible for regulating and subsidizing the commuter railroads, including the LIRR. Later it grew to include the NYC subways, buses and bridges. Why does government always think monopolies are good things when it pertains to themselves? This daunting agency now pretty much controls all the public transportation in downstate New York. Talk about totalitarian control!

The agency is governed by a 17 member board made up of members appointed by the Governor of New York and recommended by the Mayor of New York City, and the County Executives of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties. The NYC Mayor gets to recommend 4 members while County Execs only get to choose one each. Hmm, no wonder they always fight to save the subway fare while the LIRR fares always climb disproportionately higher. The Executives of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Rockland counties each get to appoint a member as well, however they only get one collective vote. All members must be ratified by the State Senate.

I get so upset with this agency as I see them as an unresponsive and arrogant group. They collect tax money from more sources then you can imagine and still cry for more money. They were caught with two sets of books just a few years ago and still nobody questions when they claim that they have a budget crisis. I want to know what the other set of books say.

What really baffles me is that when challenged they immediately start talking about service cuts, even cutting out certain lines and services. Then in the same breath they take pride in telling you how they are building the tunnel to Grand Central Station or building the Second Avenue Subway or moving Penn Station to the old Post Office site. My question is:

If they can't take care of the stations, tracks and routes that they have now, how can they even think about adding more to their load??

I mean, think about it. If I were in financial stress and couldn't afford to take care of 3 rooms in my house, would I be thinking of building an addition to the house? You would say that I was crazy and being financially irresponsible. You would tell me to first take care of the rooms that I have, get my finances together, save and then consider my addition. Wouldn't you? Why doesn't the MTA take all those billions being spent on these construction projects and put it to keeping essential services? Later, when the financial crunch is past, then we can start building new tracks.

Just take a look at Jamaica Station and you can see how money is wasted in construction. Now, I was at the old Jamaica Station and I will admit that for the most part, the new station is a vast improvement. However, visit the Mezzanine on a brisk winter morning and you will see or feel the joke. The area was meant as a respite for travelers waiting for their train. Yet, the top portion of the area is wide open allowing, wind, rain and snow to flood the area. Didn't anyone think about closing this area up? Then there is the moving sidewalk to nowhere that cuts the whole area in half. Besides being of no real use to travelers since it is awkwardly placed for subway riders, it blocks also LIRR commuters moving from the west to east stairwells. The money for this little toy would have been better used if they had put escalators on the east side stairwells.

I guess the real message of my rant, is that I believe that the MTA Board is out of touch with the commuters. I would bet that most of them have never been inside a subway or bus in years. In my opinion this agency was created to protect the politicians (like the Governor, NYC Mayor and County Execs) from public outcry over increased fares and taxes. I understand that hard measures need to be taken at times, but the MTA board needs to be held accountable. So, I suggest that the members become elected by the regions they represent and that each region get only one member (sorry NYC). Let the MTA budget be approved by the voters just like school board budgets are. Let the MTA members be held responsible to answer to the public for their actions.