MTA Responds To Haters With 6-Step Plan To 'Modernize' NYC Subway 'For 21st Century'

NEW YORK, NY — In response to mounting outrage in 2017 over the crumbling, chronically delayed NYC subway system, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials unveiled a six-step plan Monday that they promised would "modernize New York’s transit system for the 21st century." (A concept which it seems they might have considered some 17 years ago.)

The New York Times recently revealed that subway delays have doubled over the past five years.

“We know riders are frustrated — we are too – which is why we are embracing this new plan," interim MTA Director Ronnie Hakim said Monday.

One of the city's most-delayed stretches of subway, the 8th Avenue corridor of the A/C/E lines — spanning 19 stations in Manhattan, from 125th Street down to Fulton Street — will serve as the official Guinea pig for the plan, along with the 149th Street and 138th Street stations in the Bronx.

The plan will "roll out in phases" along the 8th Avenue corridor over the next six months, the MTA said. Depending on its success, similar strategies will then be applied to the rest of the system.

Below is a summary of the six-step proposal, interspersed with some expert Twitter skepticism from Benjamin Kabak, the transit activist and all-around solid dude behind Second Ave. Sagas.

1. "Reorganizing MTA leadership structure"

The MTA will try to squeeze a bill into this legislative session that would separate its chairman and CEO positions, currently rolled into one. Officials believe this will "strengthen" MTA leadership and better equip the agency to bring the other five steps of the plan to life.

2. "New subway cars and improved car maintenance procedures"

Three hundred new R179 subway cars made for the NYC subway by Canada-based company Bombardier Transportation — which the MTA had previously guessed would arrive by late 2018 or 2019 — are now being "expedited" for delivery. The first of them will arrive this fall, officials say, and the rest by September 2018 at the latest. Officials will also "accelerate" the delivery of another batch of 450 new R211 cars, for which they have yet to choose a manufacturer. (Although Chinese company CRRC is reportedly a frontrunner.)

These cars will replace around 750 old cars that have been kept in service for longer than their ideal 40-year life span, and are reported to be in a constant state of breakdown because of it.

The MTA says it's also planning a "top-to-bottom revamp" of its car maintenance procedures. To do this, officials will be reaching out to the original makers of all their subway cars for advice; bringing on more inspectors and shuffling around resources "to ensure every car receives pre-service inspection before a car ever leaves the rail yard"; and replacing car parts such as doors, heat/AC systems and master controllers on a more regular basis to prevent them from failing in the first place.

3. "Improving tracks and signals"

Problems with the signals that direct trains under the NYC grid and keep them from crashing into each other reportedly cause 13 percent of all delays. Here's how the MTA plans to limit these problems:

• Starting immediately, the MTA will start running more inspections of the track, signal and station components that fail most often. Special "ultrasonic testing" that detects track defects will run twice a month instead of once. And any defects will then be addressed "not only to repair the immediate problem but to prevent recurrence."

• To cut down crew response times to 15 minutes or less when problems do occur, the MTA will be deploying additional personnel (including specialists) to its busiest stations, adding emergency repair vehicles to its fleet and stocking more readily available replacement parts.

• Longer rails with fewer joints (and therefore fewer possible points of failure, and fewer bumps that jolt riders) called "continuous welded rail" will be installed at a faster pace, thanks to a new "self-propelled machine called the Critter" that works much faster than humans. The goal: to cover the entire 8th Avenue corridor in these welded rails by September 2017.

• Two "portable vacuums" proven to more effectively remove trash from train tracks than other tools, thus preventing track fires and resulting delays, will "be immediately focused full-time on the 8th Avenue corridor." And more of these vacuums are on order for other lines.

4. "Mitigating delays associated with sick passengers and law enforcement activity"

Additional paramedics will be deployed at the following five stations so they can respond more quickly to passengers in need of medical help. And a public awareness campaign in trains and stations will encourage passengers to contact these EMTs "as fast as possible without disrupting train service."

• 125th Street
• 59th Street-Columbus Circle
• 14th Street
• West 4th Street-Washington Square
• Fulton Street

The MTA says it's also working with the NYPD to "increase the availability of law enforcement" and link police radio to MTA controller radio so cops can respond more quickly to criminal activity, people acting crazy, etc., in the subway system.

5. "Streamlining passenger loading and unloading in stations"

In an effort to minimize "dwell time" — or the length of time a train must stay docked in a station to let passengers on and off — the MTA says it is "testing a number of different strategies that will allow staff to better communicate to passengers the location of less crowded areas within stations and on arriving trains."

These strategies will help distribute subway riders more evenly on trains and platforms, the MTA says, and give platform controllers the tools to "better inform passengers about station conditions."

6. "Targeting system bottlenecks"

The spots in the subway system at which different train lines cross can often end up bottlenecked. So the MTA plans to deploy more "experienced, dedicated service managers and better technology to ensure trains move quickly through hub merge points to avoid delays."

Any thoughts of your own on the MTA's big six-part solution to the city's subway woes? Reach out: simone.wilson@patch.com.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article stated that Chinese company CRRC is currently manufacturing a batch of 450 new R211 cars for the MTA. In fact, the MTA has yet to choose a manufacturer for these cars, and CRRC is one of multiple companies in the running.

Lead photo by Simone Wilson/Patch