You don't have to tell straphangers that things down below in the subways of New York City are under par. Though MTA President Howard Roberts did just that....and more in an interview yesterday with the Post (hoping that not as many Post readers travel on the subway on Sunday perhaps?). He fessed up to the dire conditions and the fact that even two fare increases on the near horizon wouldn't do the trick. Well, maybe this is rare bit of honesty from a MTA admin.
From The NY Post:
"There's not anything out there that anybody is very proud of," NYC Transit President Howard Roberts Jr. told The Post in a wide-ranging interview about the fundamental problems plaguing the city's 468 subway stations as the agency slashes its budget and talks about raising fares twice more in the coming three years.[...]With the MTA reporting a steep decline in revenue, especially at bridges and tunnels, straphangers won't see any improvements. The two proposed fare hikes, Roberts said, would "only maintain the status quo."
"For years, they slashed station cleaning, and they slashed station maintenance," Roberts said of his predecessors at NYC Transit, who he said were forced into the cuts.
"It created issues."
Issues? Ya think?
Well, to Mr. Roberts credit, there is one good thing coming soon for the millions who ride the MTA, as long as they have a cellphone that is. Now we'll at least know ahead of time when the trains are going to completely fail and not as many people will be stifling in the heat of a crowded platform, waiting hopelessly for a train that isn't coming. Fixing that problem will cost way more than $600K
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