NYC Transit President Richard Davey’s agreement with the Transit Workers Union Local 100 to preserve the jobs of 2,000 station agents primarily assigned to subway station booths makes no sense. Worse, is his commitment to hire several hundred more.
As NYCT completes the conversion to One Metro New York (OMNY) cards, staffing of station booths becomes obsolete. Converting former subway booth attendants to station ambassadors represents featherbedding. We have entered the digital age of OMNY fare-payment system, which lets riders go through turnstiles by tapping credit cards, debit cards or smartphones.
Giving former station agents cell phones to use when observing criminal activity to notify transit police will not be meaningful. Those committing criminal acts are not going to wait around for transit police to arrive. Having former station agents periodically walk the platform several times an hour and be available to answer questions or provide directions does little to enhance service. More riders use apps to obtain this information.
The public’s priority is safety and security, open bathrooms and curtailing $500 million yearly fare evasion. Real management would not hire more station agents to perform these new functions outside obsolete token booths. Why not assign station agents remaining on payroll to stand by turnstiles and emergency exit gates and attempt to curtail fare evasion? This would save $1 million a month currently spent in hiring 200 private security guards assigned to deter fare evaders.
Let the existing station agents keep their jobs. With attrition as they retire in coming years, reduce the headcount. Reallocate funding to pay for more transit police. They can be assigned to support safety, security and curtail fare beating station by station. This would go further to enhance ridership comfort who utilize the New York City Transit subway system and are concerned about criminal activity.
This needs to be dealt with if the MTA wants to see a return to its pre-COVID-19 ridership of 5 million plus. It is time to return to the days when a transit police officer was assigned to ride each train and patrolled subway stations. Along with installation of security cameras on trains and stations, this might help to reduce vandalism and crime. The long-term NYC Transit management goal over time should be to convert all NYC Transit station agent positions serving as “Station Ambassadors” to finance increasing police protection in our subway system.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
(Transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as a former Director for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office of Operations and Program Management.