MTA

The MTA is making a bunch of changes that will take effect at the end of the month. Basically, they are experiencing heavy financial troubles because of carelessness and an inability to reach efficiency. This is upsetting for a lot of people.

It does not affect me significantly. However, I am taking the N line on a regular basis. This train normally runs express in Manhattan but that will soon be history. The train will still operate express in Brooklyn, which is good because otherwise it would take me thirty minutes more to get to Manhattan.

What makes me displeased about the whole situation is the MTA’s attitude to continue ignoring inefficiencies and other issues. For example, now that they are changing the traffic in the subway, they are making unnecessary changes that will affect many other trains.

The W train is taken out of service and to compensate for this they will make the N train local. This is exceedingly unnecessary, as the R train already runs over the W line. There is no need to alter the traffic of the N trains.

A recent article also discussed the cleanliness on trains and discovered that more than half of cars are “dirty” to some extent. The N train is actually one of the cleanest trains in the subway, which pleases me. Even with all these budget cuts there is plenty of room for more to be done.

It is still a common sight to see lazy maintenance workers not doing any work. For example, when something needs to be done, it seems like the MTA always sends twenty people to do the job while only two of them actually do some work.

In addition, it is hard to find kind and helpful staff. Many of these people who usually sit in a booth to help people with questions lack education, manners, and knowledge. The MTA is doing nothing to train or educate them. They have let off a bunch of these workers, which is a decision that I agreed with, but a machine could many times do the same job for free.

In my neighborhood, these workers never do any work. They do not clean the station, fix leaks, or stay alert. Not many people ask questions and when they do, the MTA employee usually has no answer. I asked about the service changes last week and he had no clue what would happen. I suppose the MTA does not inform employees about changes.

Other inefficiencies include unnecessary spending. A news channel reported a few months ago that the MTA headquarters bought newspapers for delivery that could be picked up for free outside the entrance. I have no idea why things like these are happening, but I do know that something needs to be done for the MTA to be able to continue to operate without a complete breakdown.