Fixing the subways: We’ve got this
The subway is the lifeblood of the city, the economic engine that propels New York. We can continue to rehash past mistakes — decades of disinvestment and deferred maintenance — or we can actually do what needs to be done to secure New York’s future.
What I care about and what New Yorkers tell me they care about when I see them on the subway is getting the job done. Here is how I know we’re going to do it. During Superstorm Sandy — one of the darkest times in New York City’s history — the brightest light turned out to be the city’s transit system. Propelled by the dedicated women and men who work on our subway cars, tracks and signals, we were able to get the subways running again when no one thought it was possible.
It is that same grit that will restore riders’ confidence in our system.
Just Tuesday, we announced the hiring of Andy Byford, a world-class transit leader, to oversee the city’s subways. His hiring is indicative of Gov. Cuomo’s commitment to get the trains running more reliably. Byford has a track record of getting results in Toronto, London and Sydney. We’re thinking outside of the box.
We are already taking the first, critical steps to stabilizing the system right now. The Subway Action Plan, which we developed this summer and began implementing over the last few months, is bearing fruit.
We have a renewed focus on maintenance. After deep cuts almost a decade ago, we are hiring more workers to increase the frequency of repairs and, just as importantly, do preventative work to stop problems before they start.
We analyzed the primary drivers of delays and our teams are attacking them with an unprecedented vigor. Doors on subway cars open and close 7 million times a day; we’re inspecting and repairing them at a rate we’ve never done before. Quite literally every door in the system will be inspected and repaired, if needed, within a year.
We are plugging thousands of leaks, cleaning hundreds of drains and replacing miles of track.
Above all else, we are reinforcing our signal system and the power supply that feeds it. Yes, we need a long-term plan to upgrade our signals. But the actions we are taking right now — deploying new technology, replacing components, more frequent inspections — are stabilizing the system.
The MTA is also working with Con Edison to ensure power-related subway problems are addressed. Our new Smart Meter technology recently helped deter a power issue and avoid a major service disruption in Brooklyn, and more technology is coming online every day.
At the same time, we’re measuring our performance in a way New York City Transit has never done before — with a clear focus on the rider experience. Our new performance dashboard is on mta.info. We are in a new era of transparency.
Major incidents have declined significantly since we started implementing the action plan. In October, we had 16 fewer major incidents than June and six fewer than in the same time frame one year before.
We cut the number of track fires nearly in half in September of this year compared to last year, from 41 to 23 — the result of an aggressive anti-littering campaign combined with the most aggressive track cleaning program we’ve ever instituted.
Notably, a big driver of the decline in major incidents is in the signals category — a 23% drop from July to October compared to January through June. That reflects better preventative maintenance.
But let me be clear: There is a tremendous amount of work to do. In addition to the nitty-gritty of enhancing subway performance, we are also focusing on reinventing the entire MTA operation into a much more efficient and effective organization.
We need to all work together on the path forward. The governor has been a partner; we need Mayor de Blasio to join us too.
The long-term security of the subway demands a new sustainable, permanent revenue source to fund continued repairs. There are proposals on the table — none more promising than congestion pricing, which will benefit nearly 6 million subway riders and 2 million daily bus riders. Stakeholders ranging from labor groups to antipoverty organizations to business leaders to dozens of state legislators support tolling the East River bridges. Reshaping New York City Transit and the MTA is not a simple task. From stabilization, we must move quickly to modernization. And we will.
Our riders, our customers, are New Yorkers — and they rightly demand a better transit system. It is our pledge to deliver that to you, day in and day out. We are fixing it.