Statement by Ellyn Shannon, PCAC Associate Director
Support for addressing Subway Signal Timer Delays
At the Transit and Bus Committee
MTA Headquarters, 2 Broadway, New York, NY 10004
March 19, 2018
Good morning President Byford! It’s been two months, and we remain thankful that you have come south to our system! I am Ellyn Shannon, the Associate Director of the PCAC.
There is no small amount of press covering the issues on bus and subway concerns right now. However you have remained a steady, clear and thoughtful voice in every article. The voice of integrity, transparency, and a willingness to address areas of critical importance that have long gone unaddressed. While emotions are high, we also understand the high integrity of those running the system. And how hard those in the Department of Subways and Operations Planning are working on behalf of all the riders. While the press is also working hard to improve the system, this acknowledgment is missing from their coverage.
The most recent issue is that of the subway timers in the system that are causing track speeds to be slower than necessary in some areas. When the signal timer plan was first devised, it did not unduly affect operations, given the system was not at capacity and ridership was significantly lower. But now, slow track speeds are compromising the systems resiliency after an incident.
We appreciate that within the first few weeks of your arrival, you took the issue seriously, put a task force together to review this potential root cause. We appreciate your focus and drive to solve our problems. We also recognize that the ultimate answer is CBTC, across all our lines.
Today our greatest hope is that the leaders in Albany, NYC and this MTA board provides you with the solid support needed to improve the track speed deficiencies – thus improving the resiliency of the system after a major incident and decreasing travel times for our riders.
Thank you.