This new pilot program identified lines in the Central business District (CBD), with significant alternate services, for full closure (all tracks) of a segment over four consecutive weekenights from 10PM to 5 AM, while full regular service is maintained on adjacent CBD lines.   The first Fastrack shutdown occured Jan 9 - Jan 13 on the Lexington line from Grand Central Station to Atlantic Avenue.

While the customers are impacted during these night hours, the benefits are great:
(1) Because of the expanded full closure shutdown period, workers are more productive.  Jobs that typically take weeks or months are accomplished in days.
(2) It is a much safer environment for workmen.
(3) There are fewer train delays due to work gangs along tracks in regular revenue service.  Leader noted that when a train has to pass through a work zone it adds 2 minutes on average to the trip.

While the main thrust of the work was track and right of way, NYCT took this opportunity to attend to other components of the stations that needed maintenance as well: elevators and escalators; fire systems; CCTV monitors and cameras; lighting, tiles, paint, steps; and heavy duty cleaning.

Based on the success of this initiative, NYCT is moving forward on other lines in the pilot program: 7th Avenune, 6th Avenue, and 8th Avenue.   Leader closed the presentation by reminding the audience that “the better you maintain, the more you can put off capital investment.”

See the MTA story at http://www.mta.info/news/stories/?story=553

The LIRRCC has also announced that its new poster will be placed in LIRR stations during the upcoming weeks.  The Council is looking to hear from the riding public about their issues and suggestions for improvement.

Bus and Rail Field Operations — evaluates operating division compliance with safety regulations, policies and procedures, and conducting the Internal Safety Review program.

Environmental Protection & Industrial Hygiene — responsible for compliance, oversight, and technical assistance on generation, handling, and control of hazardous materials to minizmize any releases to air, water and soil and existence and exposure to health hazards from an industrial hygiene perspective.

Hazard Assessment — conducts hazard assessment where changes to rules, operations and equipment are proposed so as to evaluate and mitigate potential hazards; and manages NYCT’s extensive lead and asbestos programs.

Investigations — performs investigations of all collisions and derailments on both the mainline and yard tracks at NYCT and the Staten Island Railway; and on fatal employee accidents.

Operations Support — responsible for maintaining, analyzing and reporting on NYCT’s safety statistics.

Risk Assessment, Fire Safety & New Tech — reviews plans and specifications for design, construction and renovation of facilities, structure, and rolling stock and equipment.  Also, participates in the development of procedures and training programs to assure safe use of facilities and equipment.

You may recognize some of the customer awareness safety programs that were initiated by the Office of System Safety: surfing, hold the pole, moving between cars, and platform gaps.  Bus messages addressed safe boarding/alighting, not distracting the driver, and holding on while moving.  To see the full presentation click here.

Statement on Congress Failure to Extend

Pre-Tax Commuter Benefit Limits

The Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council (LIRRCC) is extremely disappointed in the failure of the United States Congress to approve legislation extending increased limits on pre-tax commuting benefits.  LIRRCC Chair Mark Epstein states “We have been informed that, due to Congress’ failure to pass any tax extenders, including the mass transit benefit, in current budget discussions, riders will see this vital benefit expire at the end of this month. In this fragile economy, this refusal to act is a slap in the face to hard working Long Islanders who use commuter rail, buses, and subways to travel to and from their jobs.  Starting January 1, 2012, commuters will be hit with a tax hike on the money they pay to commute to work. We urge the Congressional leadership to reconsider this decision and to restore this lifeline to struggling commuters.”

For the past several years, transit riders have been able to deduct up to $230 a month pre-tax to pay for commuting costs, which is equal to the pre-tax deduction that motorists can use to pay for parking. The expiration of the higher limits for transit commuters means that the transit deduction will revert to $125 as of January 1, 2012.

The LIRRCC again calls on Congress to do the right thing and immediately restore this critical relief for working families, who are already stressed by economic conditions and battered by service cuts and fare increases.

Re-opening of the West of Hudson line from Port Jervis
MNR brought back full train service to the Port Jervis Line on Monday, November 28 — a full month earlier and at a substantially lower cost than originally expected.  In October, the Council was briefed by Bob Lieblong, Senior Vice President of Operations, on the progress of the restoration effort.  At that time he anticipated completion of the single track by the end of the year and that it would probably cost between $30 and $40 million for the restoration work.  While service has been restored, a few things remain to be completed such as installation of slope protection and new drainage and piping structures to help prevent future washouts on the track.  All work should be completed by Spring 2012.  The Council commends MNR on this impressive effort to restore service.

Quiet Car Program
The Council has been very supportive of the efforts to introduce “Quiet Cars” into MNR service (see previous story).  Now that the pilot program on the West of Hudson line has been deemed successful and MNR has introduced “Quiet Calm-mute” on selected Hudson and Harlem trains, the Council is very encouraged.  MNRCC Chair David Buchwald commented, “After years of advocating on behalf of riders for quiet cars, the MNRCC is very pleased that Metro-North has expanded its quiet car program. I believe that giving riders a choice in their commuting environment will make for a more pleasant traveling experience.”

Winter Weather Preparations
The recent announcement about MNR’s winter weather preparations is heartening indeed.  According to the December 6th press release:
“To fight snow on the tracks and yards, the railroad added three new jet turbines to blow snow, two new cold-air snow blowing trucks and 150 modern switch heaters.  Also on the shopping list were an additional front-end loader and a backhoe to better plow the tracks and access interlockings and substations.”

This action is good news in view of the problems from last winter’s storms.  According to Bob Lieblong, MNR Senior Vice President of Operations, who briefed the Council last January: ” There were three major storms occurring on December 26, 2010, January 7, 2011, and January 11, 2011.  The storm of the 26^th produced from 12 to 20 inches of snow across the Metro-North service area.  In the January 7 event, there were lesser amounts in New York City, but 12 inches of snow in Brewster and on the New Haven line.  In these storm events, part or all of the Railroad was covered by snow rising above the running rail.”  The December storm resulted in a shut down of the system and forced the Railroad to conduct a limited schedule for several days.  The second storm on January 7 was not a major problem for the Railroad as the equipment held up well.  However, the third storm took a devastating toll on the old New Haven line fleet which had been battered by the two previous weather emergencies.  Fortunately, the arrival of the new M8’s over the next few years will utimately solve this problem.

Other precautions for this winter include door panels being sprayed with an anti- freeze agent; air brake lines are purged of moisture to prevent them from freezing; electric trains are fitted with special third rail shoes with holes in them to prevent snow from sticking; exposed shoes are treated with deicers; and exposed couplers are covered to keep snow out.  Also, on the New Haven Line, bridge reconstruction between Southport and Bridgeport has been suspended for the winter so that there will be three tracks in service, thus providing more operational flexibility when it is most needed.  Mechanics have winterized all rail cars to the fullest extent possible before the weather gets bad.   Check out a full description of the winter plan at http://www.mta.info/mta/news/releases/?en=111206-MNR64

This thought is also reflected in the MTA’s assumptions for the 2010-2014 Capital Plan:
” With approximately 60% of the MTA’s expenses driven by labor costs, it is essential that growth in this area reflect the economic realities of this region and the State.  The MTA’s plan includes three years of “net zero” wage savings which are in line with the contract agreements reached by the State and its two largest unions.”

Gelinas called on Governor Cuomo to sell this point, “If Cuomo abandons the MTA to, well, the opaque MTA labor-negotiation process, he will hurt the capital plan and hurt the downstate future.”  She supported this statement with some disturbing facts:

The last three years of the latest capital plan assumes 56% local borrowing of $7.3 billion dollars.  The MTA must support this new borrowing with roughly $200 million a year in operating-budget savings efforts  - at a minimum - in order to pay the debt service. Without labor savings, the operating deficit in 2014 is $508 million, going to $513 million in 2015.

Gelinas suggested that the points to push in labor negotiations were healthcare and workrules, not pensions, as they are legislative.  Healthcare costs are going up 46% in the next four years to $1.7 billion.  She noted that there is real room for a deal on healthcare costs, with sharing of achieved savings after a set time period.  Work rules, too, drive overtime and are costing $578 million this year.

When a question was raised about the possibilities of more Federal funding, she was not optimistic about an increase when the reauthorization of the transportation bill is finally passed.  Her final advice to the group was, “as advocates you need to get the public to think more about the capital program and keep a focus on the Governor.”

Nicole Gelinas is the Searle Freedom Trust Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Gelinas writes on urban economics and finance, municipal and corporate finance, and business issues. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Securities Analysts. Her most recent book, After the Fall: Saving Capitalism from Wall Street—and Washington was published on November 2009 by Encounter Books.

Gelinas has published analysis and opinion pieces on the op-ed pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union Tribune, the New York Sun, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the Dallas Morning News, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and the Boston Herald. She has also written for Crain’s New York Business and National Review Online.

Before coming to City Journal, Gelinas was a business journalist for Thomson Financial in New York, where she covered the international syndicated-loan and private-debt markets. She also wrote a regular op-ed column for the New York Post.

Gelinas graduated from the Newcomb College of Tulane University with a B.A. in English literature. She and her husband live in Manhattan.

Here are a few of her articles on MTA issues:

The  Real LIRR Scam
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/labor_law_racket_4X8DbDjMn8wnbSd1qME9YI

MTA budget is still a trainwreck
July 28, 2011
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/mta_budget_is_still_trainwreck_TDTaOIEzJlZIitxXPQXPiJ#ixzz1eSLlPd4a

MTA’s too-nice pay
Why subway service suffers
July 13, 2011
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/mta_too_nice_pay_yaOJpA4zHnVb6YRskNqB3K#ixzz1eSMldeRS

Third-world trains
Metro North’s latest disaster
February 9, 2011
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/third_world_trains_Ye7IF53XSFPzfTHTG0T6hI#ixzz1eSNi3gfr

Can the next MTA chief be a fighter
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/can_the_next_mta_chief_be_fighter_d7JJHgZBaERzeII37cdJzL#ixzz1eSMLTsBg

Sears passed out open-ended survey forms which are used for the first phase of the intercept interviews.  Normally, interviewers in the field would be stationed near the kiosk.  Often incentives, such as a round trip MetroCard, would be offered if the riders participate in answering the questions.  The Council members indicated some problems that they experienced when using the kiosks:

– There is some confusion between this machine and a ticket machine
– One must push hard on the typewriter buttons to get the letters to register
– On the Trip Planner, a push on “bus” repeatedly got “subway”
– Some people were observed using the kiosks looking to ”surf the web”
– Some people were observed having trouble “scrolling” pages
– Could not access information about the next station that was accessible
– There is no sound component so use of the machine is not obvious
– The advertising is distracting
– Felt like people were watching and could see what was selected for a destination; could be a security issue

Suggestion from the members included:
– Provide a hand sanitizer at machines
– At locations like South Ferry the kiosk should have information on other transportation options
– The kiosk should feature local points of interest (although this is included in some key destinations)
– The kiosk should be located at intermodal centers and stations heavy with ADA use
– At GCT there should be stand alone kiosks near the information booth
– The kiosks should be at all area airports, the AirTrain terminal in Jamaica and on the Staten Island side of the Staten Island ferry

Riders should take the time to visit these pilot kiosks and send their feedback to www.mta.info.

The Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council (LIRRCC) today called upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to modify policies and procedures relating to ticket expiration dates and refund policies.  On December 30, 2010, a set of ticket policy changes significantly reduced the validity period of one-way, round-trip and ten-trip LIRR tickets and instituting a $10 per transaction refund processing fee for all tickets.  Current validity periods are 14 days for one-way and round-trip tickets, reduced from six months, and six months for ten-trip tickets, reduced from one year.

“These new policies are not working for Long Island commuters,” states LIRRCC Chair Mark Epstein. “They are leading to inconvenience, confusion, financial hardship, and frustration for Long Island Rail Road riders.  Riders are now reluctant to purchase tickets for future trips and risk being left with a worthless ticket or being forced to pay a refund processing fee.  The impact of these policy changes falls most heavily on occasional and discretionary riders, who often can choose whether or not to use the Rail Road.  This is not the way to build a new customer base.”

The Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council recognizes that there are costs involved in ticket refunds and has extensively discussed existing ticket policy.  After consideration of the issues the Council recommends that the MTA Board revise current LIRR ticket validity and refund policies to provide that, once issued, tickets remain valid without expiration and without provision for any refund.  We recognize that procedures to deal with fare increases may be necessary, but it is the position of the LIRRCC that a valid ticket should retain the value of the fare initially paid.
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It should be noted that NJ TRANSIT has this policy, “no expiration, no refunds”, and it seems to work well.

Council members that participated were : Mark Epstein, Chair; Matt Kessler, Vice Chair; Gerry Bringmann; Ira Greenberg, Chair of the PCAC; Sheila Carpenter; Owen Costello and Larry Rubinstein.  They were aided by staff members: Bill Henderson, Executive Director, Karyl Cafiero and Ellyn Shannon.  The Council would also like to thank the LIRR for helping to publicize the event in Train Tracks, sending out an email alert in the afternoon prior to the start of the program and making announcements at Penn Station throughout the 4-7pm period.