Comments on: Credibility Crisis: Seven Ways the MTA Can Help Itself

By: Kate Slevin

Kate Slevin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:02:49 +0000

Blogs can be impersonal and it’s important to maintain a level of civility when posting comments. If you have something to say, say it, but please do so without insulting organizations or people.

Regarding the substance of Merkman’s post, we agree that both the city and state should find more revenue for our transit network. Yes, ultimately it is the politicians who are to blame for the MTA’s financial problems (see recommendation #3), but the MTA could certainly do a better job explaining its goals, accomplishments, and generally communicating with the public. Sander’s raise is certainly deserved. The point of the first recommendation is to point out the public perception of his raise and the problems it creates for the agency.

By: Jefferson Chase

Jefferson Chase — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:55:27 +0000

No, Red, Merkman did not say that the MTA is perfect, he said that Slevin’s column is self-serving drivel and he did not go far enough. Knowledgeable transit activists have far more important criticisms than that. Both Tri-State and Straphangers (which is merely Gene Russianoff using his Ralph Nader-PIRG employees) are establishment groupies who have backed every one of the MTA’s bogus construction projects, not one of which would survive honest cost/benefit analysis and most of which involve commuter rail when most people who work in Manhattan by far use subways and buses. Neither one objects to the fact that the MTA is willing to postpone subway station renovations and, more importantly, fire-proofing the subway signal relay rooms (two major fires in three years), but is going ahead with the unneeded LIRR East Side Access, the worthless puny 2-track Second Avenue Subway, and the unneeded (and hopelessly inadequate) #7 subway extension. They both, like the pathetically self-important and equally worthless and unrepresentative Regional Plan Association, will back any idiot project the MTA comes up with as long as someone will listen to them. And none of these “transit activists” voiced any objection when the MTA announced that it would only be increasing rush hour fequency on its most-crowded L line from 4 minutes to 3-1/2 minutes when its capacity is 2 minutes. If anyone reading this comment wants to know what knowledgeable transit activists think and what subway riders really want, you can e-mail me at jwchase11377@yahoo.com and give me a postal address (Yahoo’s e-mail program will not let me include files in an e-mail and I have some maps I think you will want to (and should) see. Meanwhile, I have an old lapel pin that says it all: MTA – More Transit Abuse.
Posted by Jefferson Chase, TRIP-2-WORK+

By: Red

Red — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:50:48 +0000

So, Merkman, are you disputing the idea that the MTA has some credibility issues?

…Have you been reading the news lately?

By: Merkman

Merkman — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:53:23 +0000

Your column is nothing more than self-serving drivel. Are you just stooges for the Strapangers and their “what ever the question, the answer is don’t raise the fare” approach to mass transit? Why should Sander give back his raise? Bread is going up, gas is going up,rents are going up, but Sander’s 3% raise is some sort of mortal sin? Bloomberg, not the MTA, killed the service enhancements. Why not beat up on him? Oh that’s right, you are too busy cozying up to him. And, it’s the MTA’s responsiblity that board members are rich jerks? Who apppointed them? The billionaire and millionaire politicians. Even the union reps are a joke. The MTA should just tell the politicans to shove it; if they just did what they needed to do, everyone would be better off.

By: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog » Blog Archive » Subway news and views from around the Internet

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:18:26 +0000

[...] Slevin at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Mobilizing the Region blog suggests seven ways in which the MTA can start to restore some credibility. Her suggestions should be considered and implemented by an increasingly beleaguered transportation [...]