MTA Will Extend Line Manager Program
Last December the MTA announced their plans to shake up the management structure of the NYC Subway. One of the plans to do this was to implement individual managers for each respective line. They would be in charge of every facet of a line from track repair to the station cleanliness & everything in between.
The program was implemented on 
& 
as part of its initial trail basis. After nearly 10 months the MTA feels the program has been a success & have announced their intention to expand parts of it throughout the entire system. William Neuman of the New York Times has more in this report:
Declaring a 10-month experiment to improve service on two subway lines a success, transit officials said they plan in the coming months to extend parts of the program to the rest of the system.
At the heart of the experiment is a new approach to managing trains and workers by appointing a general manager for each subway line with the power to make decisions quickly over train schedules, the cleaning and maintenance of stations and many other areas that directly affect riders.
But some of the more expensive aspects of the experiment, like putting cleaning crews in every station around the clock, will not be part of the systemwide push. Officials said last week that they lack the money and admitted that the transit system’s budget crunch will limit the ability of the new line managers to make improvements that will be immediately felt by riders. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing a deficit next year of close to $1 billion.
Making an impression on harried subway riders is always a tough task.
In interviews last week with dozens of riders on the two lines that have had general managers since December, the L and the No. 7, many said they were unaware of significant changes. Some, however, said they had noticed small improvements like trains arriving at stations with greater regularity, easing rush hour crowding in the cars. And many said that stations and train cars on the two lines were noticeably cleaner than elsewhere in the subway system.
Click here for the complete article.
As I had mentioned last December, I first had my doubts about this program. However when I sat down & thought about it, I saw it had some negatives attached to it but the positives outweighed them. While the program has not set the system on fire, it clearly has made at least a glimmer of progress which has been noted by riders. While the response from riders has not been out of this world, it shows that the idea has some legs & can make a difference in the long haul if handled correctly. You know the old saying that this is a marathon, not a sprint, well it clearly applies in this case.
xoxo Transit Blogger
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
[…] couple of days ago I wrote about the MTA’s intention to extend their line manager program after a successful run on the & lines respectively. Now more specific details have come out […]