Elliot Sander New York Times Editorial
Recently resigned MTA CEO/Executive Director Elliot Sander took the time to write a powerful & honestly refreshing editorial about the MTA & the need for it to have full support from our elected leaders. Here is a sample of his editorial which will appear in tomorrow’s print edition:
NEW YORK’S straphangers breathed a collective sigh of relief last month when Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature offered up $1.8 billion to allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to impose only modest fare increases and make no deep cuts in subway, bus and commuter-rail service. But in the political process that led up to this rescue, damage was inflicted on the M.T.A.’s reputation.
Elected state and city officials leveled the old and discredited accusation that the agency keeps two sets of books, one real and one for public consumption, and suggested that agency officials were untrustworthy and corrupt, comparing them to Bernard Madoff, the self-confessed mastermind of an enormous Ponzi scheme. These false charges landed enough sensational headlines to help camouflage the politicians’ own inability to reach a timely agreement on how to finance public transportation.
The M.T.A.’s shortcomings are well known: crowded subway cars (ridership has increased by 50 percent in the past decade), outdated signal technology that limits the number of trains that can run per hour, decaying subway stations, buses stuck in traffic, the still incomplete Second Avenue line. But long-time New Yorkers who remember the transit system’s sorry state during the 1970s know how much it has improved in 25 years. Even today, despite a global recession, the agency continues to make progress.
The M.T.A. has long been burdened by convoluted and overlapping operating charters, work rules and politically dictated mandates. But during my two years as chief executive we made significant progress in consolidating the back office functions of seven regional agencies — those in charge of trains and buses as well as bridges and tunnels. We arranged for the two commuter railroads, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, to save money by jointly purchasing equipment and supplies. And we merged what had been three bus companies into one.
Only with genuine support from our elected officials can the next chief executive keep improving the transit system. With enough financing, for example, the M.T.A. could form a single regional bus authority to provide seamless service from Suffolk County to Westchester County. And with the Legislature’s political support for labor negotiations, the agency would be better positioned to conduct serious and respectful conversations with its nearly 60 unions about modernizing work rules to increase productivity and embrace new operating technologies.
Click here for the complete editorial.
This editorial should be printed & sent to every elected official in the state who in one way or another can make a difference (positively or negatively) to the agency. Elliot clearly laid out the current world that is the MTA while being completely accurate in what it needs presently & for the foreseeable future. If the MTA is to ever become the best agency it can be, it needs the support of our elected officials. The millions who depend on the system deserve it & last I check our elected officials are supposed to serve us!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Many TWU Members Ineligible To Vote
Back in February, I touched on how TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was not running for re-election due to being appointed director of strategic planning for the international union which is the parent company of Local 100. In the meantime, the race to be his successor has been hotly contested. However the outcome will be highly affected by the loss of 44% of workers who are ineligible to vote due to owing union dues. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more:
Transit workers will soon vote for a president to replace strike-leader Roger Toussaint, but roughly 44% of them aren’t eligible to cast ballots, union officials said.
About 16,200 bus and subway workers violated long-standing union rules by failing to pay monthly dues covering an entire 18-month period when automatic payroll deductions were suspended, union officials said.
A judge suspended the deductions to punish Transport Workers Union Local 100 for the December 2005 strike that crippled the transit system for three days.
The TWU represents about 37,000 MTA employees.
“It’s up to an individual to do their duty and pay their dues,” Acting Local 100 President Curtis Tate said. “It’s to ensure the union survives when in dire straits.”
Toussaint, promoted to a high-ranking post with the international union, backs Tate in the race against John Samuelsen, a track worker and union activist.
Click here for the complete report.
Years after the transit strike of 2005, the repercussions of it are still being felt in some way. This is a major election for union members & to have 44% of members ineligible to cast a vote is not good. The people who were detractors of Roger Toussiant will be sure to add this to his list of failures as President. However if you ask me, I don’t think that would be a good argument as the strike was the right thing to do at the time.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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MTA Introduces Trip Planner Voice
This past Friday, the MTA announced the introduction of a new feature to their popular Trip Planner system. The new feature is called “Trip Planner Voice“. To celebrate the new addition, the agency issued a press release via e-mail with more information:
MTA New York City Transit now offers a new dimension to the Trip Planner experience with Trip Planner Voice, enabling customers to access bus and subway travel itinerary information via the telephone 24/7 without the need to wait to speak to an agent. Using advanced interactive voice response (IVR) and speech recognition technology, Trip Planner Voice allows customers to access NYC Transit’s Automated Travel Information Service (ATIS) to plan their trips.
“Trip Planner Voice is yet another example of how the MTA and its operating agencies seek out and employ the latest in technology to upgrade the customer experience,” MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger said. “Finding the easiest and fastest way to take a trip should not be a chore. We are constantly working to make the experience of using our subway and bus system as easy as possible and this new element that we have just added to Trip Planner goes a long way towards achieving that goal,” added Hemmerdinger.
Introduced three years ago, Trip Planner, NYC Transit’s award winning on-line itinerary service, already makes it easier for bus and subway customers to access travel directions to unfamiliar destinations. Available on-line at www.tripplanner.mta.info, Trip Planner is a full-featured, itinerary planner incorporating geographic and transit data to provide bus and subway customers with the best and most accurate directions, fare information, walking distances and scheduled connections to and from other transit modes and transfers. In April 2009, an average of 18,045 customers used Trip Planner daily, up from 6,640 in 2008, a 172% increase.
On average, 4,560 customers call the Travel Information Center (TIC) daily. By adding a Voice component to Trip Planner, NYC Transit is aiming to reduce the wait time customers experience on TIC phone lines while providing customers with the ability to access travel information via the phone at their convenience. “This is another means by which we are improving customer service and helping to satisfy requests for information,” said Paul Fleuranges, Vice President for Corporate Communications. “Trip Planner Voice is a big step forward in the effort to help give our customers easy access to information that will help them travel to unfamiliar destinations throughout the five boroughs.”
Trip Planner Voice is a combination of three separate but compatible technology solutions – speech recognition functionality provided by Nuance Communications and route and schedule data retrieval through an interface to the traveler information solution provided by Trapeze Group. Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, supplied the capabilities to link these first two systems together and create the logic behind the interaction. With the three solutions working together in the background, the voice capability allows callers to the Travel Information Center (TIC) to speak their requests around travel origin and destination directions by address, intersection or landmark using bus, subway or Staten Island Railway schedule information.
The Trapeze traveler information software provides the route and schedule data to Trip Planner, Trip Planner Voice as well as the software used by the TIC customer service agents. This ensures that regardless of the method used by our customers to get their information, the response is consistent and accurate. Trip Planner Voice was released in a Beta version in January 2009. Since then, 62,877 customers have used the service with the number of daily customers that use the service increasing from 366 to 741. “Trip Planner Voice is still very much a work in progress,” said Fred Benjamin, Assistant Vice President for Customer Services. “Since we launched, we have worked with our vendors to make adjustments in the program to respond to caller requests and comments. It’s something we’ll be doing over the next few months as we work to ensure that Trip Planner Voice is as customer-friendly as possible.”
Trip Planner Voice is easy to use and accessible through the main travel information number, 718-330-1234. Getting accurate travel directions is as easy as following the prompts. “The Trip Planner Voice system acts as a virtual customer service agent,” said Greg Bullock, Senior Director of Systems Administration for Customer Services. “By taking advantage of the efficiencies this technology provides, we’re able to extend the number of hours callers can obtain travel plans while simultaneously providing our agents with the time to interact with customers that have complex requests that require more attention.”
Trip Planner and now Trip Planner Voice provide customers with a variety of search options, including service in the area and route schedule information. In addition, customers are offered the most reliable and convenient access to planned service changes. Up to 96 customers can use the customized IVR simultaneously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Trip Planner Voice is currently available in English only, but a Spanish version is currently in development.
I suggest all of my readers give it a try as anything to assist our commute should be a welcome addition.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Updated MetroCard Grace Periods
Last month, I shared a press release from the MTA which discussed MetroCard grace periods. However with the changes made due to the financial package passed by Albany, the grace periods have changed. Here are the complete details courtesy of a just released press release:
Customers who purchase a 1-Day Fun Pass, 7-Day, 14-Day or 30-Day Unlimited MetroCard prior to the scheduled June 28th fare change, and use them for the first time no later than July 6th, will receive all of the unlimited travel they are entitled to. Pay-Per-Ride MetroCards are not affected and can be used normally after the increase.
1-Day Fun Passes purchased prior to June 28, 2009 will be valid through July 6th. 7-Day unlimited cards (including 7-day Express Bus Plus passes) will be valid through July 12th, and 14-Day Unlimited Cards will be valid through July 19th. 30-Day Unlimited MetroCards purchased prior to June 28th will be valid through Tuesday, August 4th, 2009.
Customers who use Unlimited-ride cards purchased prior to June 28th for the first time on July 7th or thereafter, and find themselves with unused or partially used cards after August 4th, can send in the card for a cash refund. Refunds for partially used cards will be made on a pro-rated basis; unused cards will be refunded in full. Customers can send in their unused or partially used cards to MetroCard Customer Claims by picking up a self-addressed, postage-paid business reply envelope at subway station booths.
Customers can also take this opportunity to sign up for the EasyPayXpress MetroCard, the MetroCard that refills itself automatically. The EasyPayXpress MetroCard is good for two years, which eliminates the need for multiple card purchases, and that’s good for the environment. Customers can use their credit card, debit card or pre-tax transportation benefits card to sign up for EasyPayXpress, and choose either the 30-Day Unlimited Ride or Pay-Per-Ride option. All account transactions can be reviewed on line on a secured website. And there’s no loss if the card is lost or stolen.
Customers interested in information about EasyPayXpress can visit www.mta.info for complete details.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Service Diversions 05-29
I have just updated the service diversions page with the latest scheduled diversions for the weekend & upcoming week (and beyond in some cases). Don’t forget to check in for any changes to the page. I also suggest printing out a copy of the page to use while riding the system. Have a safe & wonderful weekend!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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