A meeting of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) to the MTA was convened at 12:00 noon on December 4, 2008, in the 5th floor Board room, at MTA Headquarters, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City. The following members were present:
Andrew Albert
Ira Greenberg
James F. Blair
William K. Guild
Ronald Breuer
Gerard Kopera
David Buchwald
Douglas McKean
Richard Cataggio
Edith Prentiss
Francis T. Corcoran
Michael Sinansky
Shirley Genn
Burton Strauss, Jr.
The following members were absent:
Gary Babyatzky
Thomas Jost
Gerard Bringmann
Sharon Santa Maria
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas
Trudy Mason
Rhonda Herman
James L. McGovern
Marisol Halpern
Maureen Michaels
Toya Williford
In addition, the following persons were present:
William Henderson – PCAC Executive Director
Jan Wells – PCAC Associate Director
Ellyn Shannon – PCAC Transportation Planner
Karyl Berger – PCAC Research Associate
Leonard DeSimone – MTA
Howard Binaum – Concerned citizen
Yvonne Morrow – Concerned citizen
George Haikalis – Concerned citizen
Ken Stewart – Concerned citizen
Joseph Garber – Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the December 4, 2008 meeting was approved as amended. The minutes of the June 5, 2008 meeting were approved.
Chairs’ Reports
William K. Guild read the PCAC Chair’s Report. The NYCTRC, LIRRCC and MNRCC Chair Reports were distributed to the members. It was agreed that the Chair Reports will be distributed to the members prior to future meetings.
Introduction of S. Leonard DeSimone, President – MTA Business Service Center
A copy of Mr. DeSimone’s presentation is on file in the PCAC office.
Mr. DeSimone briefly outlined how the MTA Business Center came into being. He said over the years a number of studies have been conducted to look at shared services amongst the agencies. Booz-Allen looked at the notion of centralizing back office functions. Recently a study was performed by Accenture, in which they developed a road map of how to implement the Booz-Allen recommendations. Mr. DeSimone noted that he had participated in this study on behalf of Metro-North. In February, 2008 he was named President of the MTA Business Service Center (BSC). Mr. DeSimone reports directly to MTA Chief Executive Officer, Lee Sander. He said having the support of top management was absolutely necessary to ensure that the effort would be successful.
Mr. DeSimone said the Business Service Center’s role is to provide standardized support services to all the MTA agencies. He said the goal is to generate cost savings, better services and opportunities for MTA personnel.
Mr. DeSimone said he meets monthly with the procurement officers, chief information officers and human resources staff from the various agencies. He said everyone has been extremely supportive and on board to making this effort work. He said the goal is to allow the employee to update information through a self service procedure. He cited the example that an employee could simply go on to the computer and change their tax exemption status whenever necessary. He said that merging many of these functions will allow the MTA to eliminate redundancies that now exist.
Mr. DeSimone said that they intend to automate the transaction processing functions of the MTA and its agencies. He took the MNR PeopleSoft staff over to the Business Service Center to implement the MTA Wide program. He said they put technology on PeopleSoft to create electronic workflow applications so that supervisors can track employee work flows. Mr. DeSimone said that the objective in Phase 1 is to build a single PeopleSoft system for all the agencies.
Mr. DeSimone said that Phase II will include development of an electronic employment screening program. He said that the individual agencies will interview and chose candidates for open positions, but the BSC will do all the background checks on the individuals.
Mr. DeSimone indicated that they project that there will be a reduction of 259 employees, resulting in $30 million a year in savings, with the completion of work for Phase I work and this amount is much more than Accenture estimated because they are building from the existing systems. He said they anticipate payback in four years, but the time required could be less if all goes well. He said they anticipate a $50 million cost savings when PeopleSoft is fully implemented.
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Mr. DeSimone said he meets monthly with the operating agencies’ Presidents, Vice Presidents, and directors of affected divisions within the agencies. He said he has developed a single chart of accounts and he is now working on a cleanup of the systems that have been built. Mr. DeSimone said they are now selecting two vendors to perform the implementation of the system and quality assurance. He said they hope to have the vendors in place by March 2009.
Mr. DeSimone said the Business Service Center staff is currently using space in the Graybar building, but they got a great deal on space at 3 World Financial Center and will be moving in the next few months. They will be there until 2011 and will have room for 130 employees.
Mr. DeSimone said he is talking with MTAHQ about taking all the PeopleSoft staff in the operating agencies as well as assuming other related functions, including taking over the MTA pension unit succession planning function. He emphasized that they want to be customer focused.
Mr. DeSimone said they are in the progress of taking over MaBSTOA, SIRTOA, and LIRR pension functions in addition to those in the MTA Defined Benefit programs. He said they are using MNR’s accounts receivable system that is used to track reimbursements from the State of Connecticut. He said there are no costs because the savings went into the Business Service Center. The Center is currently upgrading PeopleSoft’s human resources and payroll modules, which will include an upgrade of the pension systems.
Mr. DeSimone said they are helping MTA Bus out with their new timekeeping system as well as implementing inventory management systems.
Mr. DeSimone said they have helped the LIRR implement E-Recruit and continue to support the system. He said to date the LIRR has processed 18,000 resumes. The BSC is also working with the LIRR IT group on the integration of PeopleSoft with older systems used by the LIRR.
Mr. DeSimone said they are continuing to help Metro-North Railroad maintain and support their systems. He said they are in the process of implementing the KRONOS timekeeping system and they are also implementing a budget reporting system.
The BSC staff has also started developing a fact gathering and FIT/GAP analysis system. They are looking at systems and how they would fit in with the PeopleSoft system. He said that the payroll systems for all the agencies will go live in January 2011, although NYC Transit and Bridges and Tunnels dates have been extended until 2012 because of the Civil Service and DCAS requirements applicable to these agencies. He does hope that the issues connected to these requirements can be resolved quickly and that they will be able to come on board in 2011.
Mr. DeSimone said they will probably start making money in 2011 if all planned personnel transfers are completed by that time. He expects to reach payback of initial costs in 2014 or 2015. He said that when Phase 2 is implemented, the payoff is richer and the payback will be quicker. There have been no major problems arise with Phase 2 to date.
In response to Karyl Berger’s question as to how past shared projects will play into the work that is done by the BSC, Mr. DeSimone said that the BSC has been working with McKinsey and Company on these issues but noted that equipment issues are technical in nature so they are dealt with directly through the agencies.
Ms. Berger commented that there are other areas where there could be shared services such as marketing campaigns. Mr. DeSimone noted that the agencies are working more closely on many things such as procurements as well as coordinated messages.
In response to Ellyn Shannon’s question about joint work on the MTA website, Mr. DeSimone said they are currently working on the projects with the biggest return on investment, but noted that work on the website would occur in Phase 2.
Edith Prentiss noted that it is important that all customers are treated equally and given access to all the same services. She noted that the commuter railroads advertise the need to watch the gap between the train and platform while New York City transit does nothing to promote gap safety. She said she hopes that standards used in joint efforts are based on MNR and that standards don’t fall to those used by the LIRR.
Francis Corcoran said that the subject of shared services has often been discussed at the MNRCC and the members are very enthusiastic about the Business Service Center. Mr. Corcoran thanked Mr. DeSimone for doing such a great job. He noted that it is wonderful that it has been such a team effort and that the agencies have done more than what has been asked of them.
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Mr. Blair asked how NYC Transit will be integrated into the BSS functions since their procedures are so different than those of the two railroads. Mr. DeSimone said that President Roberts has been extremely supportive of the BSC and provided the necessary staff to assist in the integration. He said he has taken each of the agencies’ functions and has been able to show that what they do is not much different from other operating agencies. Mr. DeSimone said that he built the Metro-North and MTA Bus systems so they are already on board. He said Bridges and Tunnels must have some custom systems but he can build a MTA wide system.
Richard Cataggio said the concept of shared services would never go anywhere but is very pleased to see how far it has come. In response to Mr. Cataggio’s question whether this effort has been publicized, Mr. DeSimone said eh likes to stay in the background at this point in time.
New Business
Discussion of Fare Policy
Francis Corcoran made a motion that the PCAC accept the recommendations of PCAC Executive Committee to defer until 2010 or such time that the Executive Committee determines to be appropriate the completion of the current PCAC research project. The motion was approved by the members.
Ms. Genn said she would like to request that staff arrange a meeting with Governor Paterson to discuss the MTA budget.
Mr. Blair said he just wanted to clarify that the PCAC is opposed to the proposed fare increases and service cuts that are currently outlined in the 2009 MTA budget and that PCAC endorses the need to look at other alternatives.
Mike Sinansky said he hopes that PCAC would come out strongly in favor or the Capital Finance Authority contained in the Ravitch Commission recommendations.
Approval of PCAC 2009 Budget
The room was cleared of staff and guests for a PCAC Executive session. The PCAC approved the 2009 PCAC budget as proposed.
Old Business
Joseph Garber noted that December 22 will be the first anniversary of the passing of PCAC member Jon Schachter.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Karyl Berger
PCAC Research Associate
PCAC Chair’s Report – William K. Guild
The PCAC is pleased to welcome our newest MNRCC member, Doug McKean, who commutes from Rye. We also want to recognize the contribution of Norman Werner of Irvington, who served on the Council for two years.
In October the PCAC released its 2008 report, Welcome Aboard: Accessibility at the MTA. Reporters from the Daily News and NY1 attended the press conference and NY1, am New York and Newsday have written supportive articles about the report.
On September 22, Bill Henderson testified in Mineola on behalf of the LIRRCC at the Ravitch Commission on MTA Financing. Our testimony advocated taking into account all of the LIRR’s needs, including the Third Track, when considering the Rail Road’s capital funding requirements. A week earlier, Bill also testified before the Ravitch Commission in Manhattan on behalf of the PCAC; this testimony centered on the MTA’s debt burden. As you are well aware, the commission’s recommendations are due out tomorrow.
Along those lines, PCAC staff and members have spent much time pouring over the MTA’s proposed 2009 budget that will be voted on at the MTA Board meeting on December 17. I would like to suggest that we talk about a PCAC response to the Ravitch Commission recommendations and the proposed budget under new business.
In October, Bill, Ellyn, Andrew Albert, and Gerry Bringmann participated in a Transportation 4 America press conference calling on the presidential candidates to implement a five-point plan for economic prosperity through transportation. Community and business leaders in 10 different cities joined similar efforts to support adequate and responsible funding for transportation on the heels of the Wall Street bailout and hours before the final Presidential debate.
On October 20, Bill attended a meeting of the Friends of Moynihan Station meeting. This project has received new life with Governor Paterson’s recent announcement of his interest in its successful completion. The current direction of the project emphasizes its transportation function, which the PCAC has always supported.
New wrinkles in the project include a proposal to expand the current Penn Station southward by adding three or four additional tracks, the involvement of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the project, and the possible shifting of current Penn Station users with the completion of NJ TRANSIT’s new station under 34th Street and the LIRR’s East Side Access project under Grand Central. The progress of this project is of concern to each of the Councils, as the LIRR and NYC Transit have a presence at Penn Station, and many Metro-North West of Hudson passengers depart from Penn. In addition, the extension of Metro-North East of Hudson service to Penn Station is currently under study, and a pilot of through service from Metro-North territory to New Jersey is planned.
Members and staff participated in the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council’s public workshops on its 2010–2035 Regional Transportation Plan. These meetings were held to solicit comments from the public on the preliminary work that has been done. The plan will include as its foundation the following projects: Access to the Region’s Core rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey, the LIRR East Side Access project, the 7 line extension, and the Second Avenue Subway. A draft plan will be released for public comment in the spring.
At the end of October, Jan Wells and Ellyn Shannon attended the Rail~Volution conference in San Francisco where they made a presentation on how PCAC advocates for transit from the “inside”. This presentation was part of a panel entitled “Building Support for Transit through Community Activism.” Jan will post the presentation on the website.
On November 14th, Jan Wells attended a half-day conference on transit-oriented development sponsored by NYU’s Rudin Center. This well-attended gathering featured a keynote address by Douglas Foy, President of the Serrafix Corporation, an entity that works with cities and states, commercial and residential property owners, private developers, agricultural firms, utilities and institutions to develop and implement strategies for improving energy performance. Foy served in Governor Mitt Romney’s cabinet, overseeing transportation, housing, environment, and energy agencies. Later in the program there were two panel discussions that featured a wide-range of experts including Metro-North’s Randy Fleischer who has been a leader in working with communities on improving station areas.
Finally, I want to thank Jan for her tireless efforts to enhancing the PCAC website. I hope you all make time on a regular basis to look at it as it is updated frequently. It is a useful and informative tool for the Council and we appreciate her work on it.
NYCTRC Chair’s Report – Andrew Albert
In October Bill Henderson sent a letter to NYC Transit President Roberts expressing the Council’s opposition to the proposed program to fold up seats on subway cars as a way to increase ridership capacity. The Council believes that having subway cars without seats is unacceptable, and our position has always been that the solution to overcrowding is more service rather than packing riders tighter into subways and buses. We received a response from President Roberts that basically indicated that Transit seems determined to press forward with this initiative. The Council also sent MTA Executive Director, Lee Sander a letter expressing the Council’s opposition to folded seats on subway cars during rush hour periods. We have not received a response as of today. It will be interesting to see if this program is cut in light of the service reductions that have been proposed to address the MTA’s budget deficit.
We received a response to a letter that Bill Henderson wrote in May asking NYC Transit President Roberts to include the NYCTRC in the process of developing the next generation of fare collection technology. Bill cited the integral role of the Council in implementing MetroCard and noted that the Council could provide valuable feedback and assistance as NYC Transit evaluates options for new fare media. President Roberts wrote that NYC Transit is close to entering a second phase of its smart card pilot, and will reach out to NYCTRC as it moves into the development of a new system.
In October, the MTA unveiled its first subway train with its exterior wrapped with advertising. The train is in service on Track 1 on the Grand Central-Times Square shuttle, where the interiors of trains have regularly been wrapped for the past several years. The wrapping job is done well and does not obscure windows or car markings, and in the current financial climate the MTA needs to maximize its advertising revenue, but this Council has long had concerns about this form of advertising. The use of subway car wraps must be monitored to ensure that it does not affect the quality of service.
We’re continuing to participate in the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan that NYMTC is producing with the assistance of several consultants. Bill Henderson is representing us at these meetings. Presently, an inventory of existing resources and conditions has been completed and the consulting firm NelsonNygaard Associates will be conducting focus groups to refine their needs assessment. The Stakeholder Advisory Committee is scheduled meet again in February 2009.
In September, Lieutenant Brendan Kelly, NYPD Transit Bureau – Manhattan, was our guest. He discussed enforcement of sound level and other regulations governing subway station performers. In October, Ronald Saporita, MTA Director – Construction Oversight, briefed the Council on risk assessment practices at the MTA. Steve Feil, NYC Transit Senior Vice President – Department of Subways, spoke to the Council last month about his plans to reorganize management of the subway system.
LIRRCC Chair’s Report – Gerard Bringmann
I am pleased to report that in response to the recent on-board seat drop, we received over 60 inquires about membership on the LIRRCC. We sent the interested parties packets of material on how to go about becoming a member and have received a number of copies of letters that the respondents have sent to their elected officials. Hopefully the process will move more quickly now that the elections are over. Bill has spoken with the Nassau and Suffolk County Executive offices as well as the Brooklyn Borough President’s office. Thank you to Deborah Morrison for coordinating this project.
Ellyn participated again this year in the Energeia leadership program. The Energeia Partnership is a leadership academy dedicated to identifying and addressing the complex issues challenging the Long Island region. Ellyn co-facilitated the Transportation Workshop, in addition to being a panelist for the afternoon session. Ellyn spoke about the efforts of the LIRRCC and the Council’s concerns regarding the LIRR’s capital program.
It has been hard to miss the press coverage of the high rate of LIRR retirees qualifying for federal Railroad Retirement Board disability payments. The office of Senator Clinton reached out to me and I sent her a letter, with copies to Senator Schumer and Long Island’s Congressional delegation, offering our assistance as our elected officials move to reform the Railroad Retirement Board disability benefit system. Bill attended a press conference that the LIRR held on October 2 where Helena Williams outlined the Rail Road’s plans to reduce unwarranted federal disability claims among LIRR retirees.
Over the past few months, we have been an active part of the Long Island Transit Coalition, a group of advocacy organizations who have come together to advance transit related issues on Long Island. The group feels strongly that the economic benefits of transit must be highlighted. This is seen as particularly necessary in the case of bus services, as Long Island Bus faces severe funding and service cuts. Another point that the Coalition is making is that capital improvements are important investments in infrastructure that will yield economic benefits for Long Island.
At our November meeting, Daniel Perkins, Vice President, Government Affairs for the Long Island Association and Ryan Lynch, Senior Planner, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, briefed the members on recent efforts that the Long Island Coalition has been undertaking. For more information, see the latest Council update to the PCAC website.
The Council is closely following the investigations by the FRA of the two incidents that occurred within a week of each other on the LIRR. In the first an engineer apparently ran a red signal and bumped the train in front of his own, and in the second a single train derailed just west of Jamaica Station.
In October, Karyl Berger and Ken Stewart met with members of the Long Island Rail Road staff including Holli Dunayer, Director – Government and Community Relations, and Walter Johnson, Senior Attorney, who is responsible for ADA issues and staff who work at Penn Station, to discuss issues at Penn Station that affect the visually impaired community. It was a productive meeting and a list of concerns was developed. The Rail Road staff was very responsive and Karyl will monitor any actions that are taken and will attend any future meetings.
The Council is in the process of putting together a set of goals for 2009. Thanks to Ellyn Shannon for putting the initial document together to jump start the process.
On November 13th, Jan Wells, PCAC Associate Director, attended the Vision Long Island Summit in Melville. She heard a variety of town supervisors, as well as County Executive Tom Suozzi, proclaim the need to move to more transit-oriented development. In the downtown revitalization workshop a developer, planner, land use lawyer and a representative from Empire State Development discussed the need and the problems in redeveloping older town centers. At the TOD session, Ernest Tollerson of the MTA spoke strongly on the need for Third Track. This feeling was enthusiastically echoed by the other panelists and audience members. Over lunch a panel of state agency representatives indicated that New York State is focusing on sustainability and described programs that exist to offer support to municipalities. Jan has passed out to LIRRCC members a useful handout summarizing state legislative actions needed, town and village accomplishments, and a “blueprint for smart growth” on Long Island.
MNRCC Chair’s Report – Richard Cataggio
We are happy to welcome our newest member, Doug McKean, who commutes from Rye. We also want to recognize the contribution of Norman Werner of Irvington, who served on the Council for two years.
In October, Ellyn attended a meeting on the Tappan Zee project. The project is under the leadership of NYSDOT, NYS Thruway Authority and Metro-North Railroad. The presentation detailed the tremendous decay of the current bridge in explaining why repairing the bridge is not an option. As many of you have probably heard, the three-agency team has recommended the bridge be replaced with a transit-ready bridge and that bus rapid transit (BRT) and commuter rail transit (CRT) be added to the corridor. The recommendation calls for full-corridor bus rapid transit from Suffern to Port Chester with transfer points and new stations in between, as well as a new, two-track commuter rail transit service from the Port Jervis Line at Suffern, across Rockland County with several new stations and over the new bridge, connecting to the Hudson Line south of Tarrytown and thus providing direct service to Grand Central Terminal. Some bus rapid transit service routes would extend beyond the project limits and could be modified as demand changes.
Now that the transportation decision has been made, the actual bridge can be designed, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared, and a plan to finance the approximately $16 billion project ($6.4 B bridge, $2.9 B BRT, $6.7B CRT) can be developed. NYSDOT is finalizing a contract for a financial advisor to develop the funding options and will release the initial phase of a finance study soon. The Draft EIS is scheduled to be completed by late 2009, with a Final EIS to be completed in early 2010.
Ellyn contacted MNR’s Director of Government and Community Relations Mark Mannix to discuss concerns regarding the New Haven rail yard. The Connecticut state legislature expected an audit of the yards to be ready in September, but Governor Rell says the audit is not ready and it is unclear when it will be ready. The legislature is looking to this document before it makes any decisions on allocating additional funding. Mr. Mannix said that a critical component of the M-8 project schedule is the acceptance facility for the new equipment, which is currently under construction and on schedule for completion in fall 2009. This is good news, but he also noted that the other critical component in the M-8 project schedule is the maintenance facility for these cars. While its design should be completed by the end of this year, MNR says that they “continue to express their concerns with CDOT that an investment in the facilities to accommodate the new equipment remain a priority and is completed expeditiously.”
The West of Hudson Regional Transit Access Study, which is being jointly funded by Metro-North and the Port Authority, is moving forward. In October, MNRCC members were emailed a link to a community participation questionnaire that the study is using to develop lists of interested persons and groups. While our staff will participate in the study and update us on its progress, I would encourage anyone interested to join the study mailing list or email list as well.
In October, Howard Permut, MNR’s new President met with the council and outlined his goals and initiatives for the railroad.
Over the last few months, the MNRCC members have put together a list of 2009 Goals. One of the changes they have made is that they will only have a guest four times a year so they can concentrate on Council business in the rest of the meetings.