5 Things To Know Midway Through The ‘Summer Of Hell’

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NEW YORK CITY, NY – It’s summertime, and the commutin' ain’t easy. Recent weeks have seen nightmare conditions, new officials, policy proposals and political fighting.

While the term "Summer of Hell" was coined about repair work at Penn Station, delays, torrid heat and other woes have largely shifted that focus to the subways.

Ongoing problems will likely lead to an Awful Autumn and Winter of Whining – but we’ll leave the epithets to more clever wordsmiths.

Until then, here's what you need to know about the state of the subways.

Why Things Got So Bad

If the subway is part of your daily commute, you’ve almost certainly experienced train delays. Only a few lines run on time more than 70 percent of the time, according to the New York Times. Most others do much worse.

That is due to major increases in ridership in recent years. Nearly 6 million people use the subway every day, up from 4 million in the 1990s, the Times reported. The overcrowding clogs platforms and delays trains.

Add problems like decades-old signals and tracks, plus years of underinvestment in maintenance, and the subways are in crisis conditions.

The Governor Controls the MTA

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have been fighting all summer about who is really to blame.

First, Cuomo argued that documents from the 1950s and 1980s show the city is responsible for funding the mass-transit system, and that the state has paid for the MTA out of a sense of moral duty. And as the subway crisis put a dent in Cuomo’s poll numbers, he came up with an ingenious way to keep de Blasio on the defensive.

The MTA proposed a sweeping range of emergency fixes – and Cuomo demanded that the city foot half the roughly $800 million bill. De Blasio refused, saying the state has raided funds the city intended for the MTA and allocated them for other purposes.

As the feud continues, though, make no mistake: Cuomo controls the MTA, and has more power over the state budget than anyone else. The governor appoints the MTA chairman and six of the body's 17 board members, and has been perfectly happy to take credit for the subway system when things seem to be going well.

The Mayor Is Still Being Pressured To Help

Nevertheless, politicians and other influencers are calling on de Blasio to do more about the subways. After all, the people being affected are his constituents.

The New York Times editorial board recently echoed many other voices in the media, saying de Blasio should pay more for the MTA and show more leadership overall.

City and state elected officials remain divided on how to solve the transit crisis. At a recent press conference, one councilman attacked the governor, the city comptroller called for a memorandum of understanding between the city and state and the public advocate refused to pick sides.

The comptroller’s proposal seems to represent the growing consensus among politicians – that one way or another, Cuomo and de Blasio have to join forces.

On Sunday, de Blasio unveiled a plan to tax the wealthiest New Yorkers to help pay for subway fixes and subsidize rides for low-income riders.

There’s No End In Sight

The subway “action plan” unveiled last month included a range of projects for turning around the system. Those included adding new cars to trains, replacing aging track and increasing maintenance staff.

But asked when commuters can start to see improvements, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota was left sputtering.

“Riders should start – you know, it’s going to be interesting. Some riders see things differently, so it’s my hope and expectation that... quickly,” he said on July 25. Whatever he mumbled between the words “expectations that” and “quickly” was too quiet to hear.

This much is clear: systemic improvements are years away. Last month, Lhota called for "modernizing" the signal system, but didn't provide a target date. Also, a new batch of trains isn't expected to start service until 2020.

One Positive Note

While there’s no end in sight for the subway crisis, major repair work at Penn Station is going much better than expected.

Cuomo and many commentators expected the project to cause problems at the transit hub and have a ripple effect throughout the transit system.

However, the construction at Penn Station is said to be on track to meet its Sept. 1 deadline, and there haven’t been any more delays than usual for Amtrak, NJ Transit and the Long Island Rail Road trains. Some commuters even say the LIRR has been better than they’re used to.

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Lead image by Shant Shahrigian/Patch.