A meeting of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) to the MTA was convened at 12:00 noon on June 3, 2010, 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
• Gerard P. Bringmann
• Sharon King Hoge
• David Buchwald
• Maureen Michaels
• Mark Epstein
• Edith Prentiss
• Shirley Genn
• Michael Sinansky
• Randy Glucksman
• Burton M. Strauss Jr.
• Stuart Goldstein
• Toya Williford
• Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas
• Neal Zuckerman
The following members were absent:
• Richard Cataggio
• Rhonda Herman
• Sheila Carpenter
• Thomas Jost
• Francis T. Corcoran
• Matthew Kessler
• Owen Costello
• Trudy Mason
• Marisol Halpern
• Larry Rubinstein
• Sharon Santa Maria
In addition, the following persons were present:
• William A. Henderson -PCAC Executive Director
• Jan Wells -PCAC Associate Director
• Ellyn Shannon -PCAC Transportation Planner
• Karyl Berger -PCAC Research Associate
• Donald Baker -NYSDOT
• Alan Kritzler -MTA OIG
• Hector Garcia -LIRR
• Sara Ferguson -Public Advocate
• Yvonne Morrow -Concerned citizen
• Matt Shotkin -Concerned citizen
• Ken Stewart -Concerned citizen
• Joseph Garber -Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the June 3, 2010 meeting was approved. The minutes of the March 4, 2010 meeting were approved as amended.
Chair’s Report
The PCAC, LIRRCC, MNRCC and NYCTRC Chairs’ Reports are attached to these minutes.
Ira Greenberg asked the newest PCAC/MNRCC member, Neil Zuckerman, to introduce himself and for staff and the other PCAC members to do so as well.
Maureen Michaels gave the LIRRCC report and highlighted a few of the issues the Council has been dealing with over the last three months. She noted that the Council is very concerned about station houses that have limited hours of access. She noted that she met with MTA officials about the customer satisfaction surveys that are done for the agencies and helped to develop a more meaningful scoring system. In addition, she expressed concern that the LIRR’s ADA Task Force has not met more often.
David Buchwald gave the MNRCC report. Mr. Buchwald summarized the highlights of the MNRCC President’s Forum and the outreach meetings that MNRCC members and staff have attended.
Andrew Albert gave the NYCTRC Chair’s Report. He noted that it had been a very busy three months for the Council. He highlighted the support the Council has given to the 15 Penn Plaza project and how the Council has been involved in NYC Transit’s initiative to improve they way they report their performance indicators. Mr. Albert also summarized some of the service changes that will go into effect on June 27 because of the budget crisis.
Old Business
No Old Business was discussed.
New Business
Discussion of PCAC 2010 Research Report Topic.
Bill Henderson summarized the recommended topic that had been outlined in a memo he had sent via email to the members earlier in the week.
Toya Williford suggested that bus performance measures should be part of the paper as well. She said it is important to look at impact of service on child care and the overall economic health of the City.
Mr. Greenberg suggested the report should include some real life delay stories to underscore the impact that they have on commuters. He said he knows an individual who had a friend who lost his job because he was delayed so often on the LIRR that his employer could no longer depend on him.
Maureen Michaels suggested the title of the report be “Minutes Matter.”
Edith Prentiss suggested that the Access-A-Ride program should be included.
The members voted unanimously to approve the recommended project, which is to examine passenger-based performance indicators at the MTA’s operating agencies.
Introduction of Donald Baker, Executive Director, New York State Public Transportation Safety Board to Discuss the Work of the NYSPTSB
A copy of Mr. Baker’s presentation is on file in the PCAC office.
Mr. Baker noted that the PTSB was established in 1984 and was modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board. The PTSB was created in response to the LIRR accident at Herrick’s Road in Nassau County, in which nine teenagers were killed. Mr. Baker said the mission of the PTSB is to reduce the number, rate, and severity of accidents. He noted that the PTSB has not published an annual report since 2007.
Mr. Baker reported that the PTSB has investigated over 3,000 reports since 1984; he said they have focused on management and training. Mr. Baker noted that the MTA Inspector General, Barry Kluger, is a member of the PTSB Board. He said Mr. Kluger only votes on issues specific to the MTA region.
Mr. Baker said that the PTSB staff has a bus and a rail group. There are three rail staff and two bus staff who all work closely with the MTA. He said that a recent FTA audit report recommended that the PTSB add more staff to deal with rail issues. The report also looked at the MTA and noted the authors were impressed enough with their safety operation that they used MTA as a model. Mr. Baker said PTSB staff is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, to deal with serious incidents. He said they can call on staff from the New York State Department of Transportation for assistance.
Mr. Baker acknowledged that they are not notified of every accident, but only receive notice when an accident meets specific criteria, such as involving a fatality, five or more people transported to a hospital, or having a cause that is related to mechanical failure.
Mr. Baker explained that there is a progressive enforcement system with regards to the issues investigated by the PTSB. He said that the actions taken can range from making immediate changes on site to withholding State Transit Operating Assistance funds.
Mr. Baker said that on the bus side, there has been a recent expansion into security as well as safety in the system. He said the MTA system safety plan is due in November, 2010. He said the security part of the plan will be put off until early in 2011.
Mr. Baker said the criteria for investigating rail accidents include the occurrence of any fatalities that within 30 days after the accident, and the need for two or more individuals to receive medical attention away from the scene of the accident.
In response to Ms. Michaels’ question as to who controls the investigation, Mr. Baker said that it depends on the accident. He said that in many cases the MTA Police may take the lead. He indicated that the PTSB can ask questions about whether there are issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the PTSB.
In response to Gerry Bringmann’s question as to how long investigations take to complete, Mr. Baker said that an investigation can take six months or more to complete and that reports of the findings of the investigations are available.
David Buchwald asked why near misses are not included in any type of review. He asked if the PTSB has the authority to investigate these types of incidents even if they are not officially reported. Mr. Baker said the PTSB can look at other issues. For example, they have looked extensively at the gap issue. Mr. Baker said it would be an interesting study to look at near misses but noted there is not sufficient staff to undertake such a project at this time.
Mr. Baker said that 49 CFR 659 is a new federal rule mandating oversight of transit operations by state regulators. Under these regulations, the PTSB is New York State’s safety oversight agency (SSO) for rail issues. Mr. Baker said that the requirements for reports under this regulation have resulted in an increased number of accident investigations by a factor of five.
Ellyn Shannon noted that there is a range of preparedness of security of employees at the various operating agencies. She asked if it is possible for the PTSB to recommend that the agencies have adequate staffing to develop and submit a security plan.
Mark Epstein noted that there have been a number of signal violations and other problems on the LIRR Mr. Baker said they are following up about the signal violations. He noted that his staff’s knowledge of the system is less than agency system safety officials so that they rely on others as well as the MTA to investigate and report findings, which is also necessary because of their lack of staffing. Mr. Baker indicated that he would welcome any input the PCAC members would give to the PTSB. Mr. Baker reported that he only has a staff of five who conduct investigations.
Mr. Baker said the PTSB does not have jurisdiction over ferry operations.
In response to Sharon King Hoge’s question if the PTSB looks at bicycle issues, Mr. Baker said that NYCDOT and NYSDOT have pedestrian and bicycle programs.
Edith Prentiss asked about issues involving situations that are known to be dangerous. She cited silent buses, which pose problems for people who can’t see because they can’t hear them coming. Mr. Baker indicated that he would have to check to see if any follow-up has occurred based on Ken Stewart’s presentation to the PTSB on the silent buses.
In response to Mr. Albert’s question as to what is the PTSB’s relationship to and with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Mr. Baker said the NTSB can get involved in any accident that occurs on a public transportation system.
Ms. Prentiss noted that the new NYCT buses have an elevated seat that she believes will cause problems and asked if the PTSB gets involved in design issues. Mr. Baker said that the PTSB does not have the authority to comment on bus design. He said there are a total of two people at the National Highway Transportation Safety Board who are responsible for bus standards.
Mr. Epstein noted that the LIRRCC has leaned that there are only a handful of MTA police who cover all of Long Island. He noted that when a grade crossing goes down, two radio cars are required to be on site to regulate traffic. He said that the local police are pulled in to respond to the incident and that LIRR security is totally inadequate.
In response to Mr. Buchwald’s question as to whether the PTSB has jurisdiction over private bus companies, Mr. Baker explained that the PTSB has jurisdiction over them as long as they provide scheduled service, but noted there are very few of these companies still doing business in this manner.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Karyl Berger
Research Associate