Guest Op-Ed: Subway Diversions Off the Rails

Millions of New Yorkers depend on our subway system each day forgetting around our great city. Whether it’s a trip to the doctor, aride out to the beach or a commute to work, a functioning subway isthe circulatory system that keeps our economy, and our lives,running.

In early 2010, the offices of the state and city comptrolleridentified that there were problems with how the MTA was managingits subway diversions. In our roles as fiscal watchdogs for thecity and state, we collaborated on an audit that would take acloser look at how this problem was affecting New Yorkers. What wefound was that on almost all aspects of subway diversions, frombudgeting to alerting riders, the MTA was going off the rails.

First, auditors found that the frequency and duration of subwaydiversions are increasing. Between 2008 and 2010, the number ofweekend diversions rose from 47 to 74 and the number of diversionslasting for at least one month increased from seven to 57. Everytime a subway is diverted, riders are inconvenienced and localbusinesses along those routes lose out. MTA must find a way to getmore work done in its allocated time.

Second, auditors discovered that spending on weekend or earlymorning track work was not properly managed. Our offices reviewed asample of 15 diversions with a budget of almost $142 million. Fourof those contracts went over budget and left taxpayers on the hookfor a combined $26.6 million. That’s simply not acceptable in anera in which all of us must do more with less.

Third, when these diversions occurred, many riders were leftuninformed. Stations lacked adequate, appropriately locatedsignage. In June and July 2010, auditors visited 39 stationsaffected by diversions and found no more than 20 signs at anylocation – despite Transit’s claim of posting 50 on each platform.Transit must follow its own guidelines for signage on thesediversions; riders deserve no less.

Fourth, the MTA’s budget for communicating transit diversionswas woefully inadequate. In 2010, its budget for informing its 2.3billion annual riders of service diversions was $228,000. Incomparison, the Long Island Rail Road, with 81.9 million annualcommuters, spent $742,432 to notify its riders of servicediversions that year. When riders are inconvenienced, that meanseveryone is less productive.

Finally, our auditors found that when stations are shut down,work may not be actually happening. Transit management provideddocumentation for 29 of 50 subway diversions completed during oursample period. Of those 29 diversions, work started late on 28 andstopped early on 21. Unproductive work time ate up anywhere from 10to 27 percent of the time trains were diverted, though there was nocost mitigation. If just 10 percent of unproductive time wasproperly managed on all 3,332 diversions that occurred during thesample period, they could save an estimated $10.5 million intaxpayer dollars.

With an aging infrastructure and a 24/7 schedule, subwaymaintenance is simply a fact of life. But the MTA must do a betterjob to ensure subway diversions are done with riders, taxpayers andlocal businesses in mind. New Yorkers need to know when work willbe done, and Transit needs to use its work time more effectivelyand efficiently. Our offices will be keeping a close eye on how theMTA manages its diversions in the coming months.