NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RIDERS COUNCIL
MINUTES OF OCTOBER 22, 2015
A meeting of the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) was convened at 12 noon on October 22, 2015 in the 20th Floor Board Room at 2 Broadway, New York City.
The following members were present:
Andrew Albert Marisol Halpern
Stuart Goldstein Sharon King Hoge
Christopher Greif Trudy L. Mason
William K. Guild Scott R. Nicholls
Michael Sinansky
The following members were absent:
Edith Prentiss Burton M. Strauss, Jr.
In addition, the following persons were present:
William Henderson -PCAC Executive Director
Ellyn Shannon -PCAC Associate Director
Angela Bellisio -PCAC Transportation Planner
Bradley Brashears -PCAC Transportation Planner
Karyl Berger -PCAC Research Associate
Branko Kleva -NYCT
Deborah Hall-Moore -NYCT
Veronica Pietra -TWU
Ken Stewart -Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for Thursday, October 22, 2015 meeting was approved. The minutes of the September 24, 2015 were approved with addition of Edith Prentiss’ comments.
Chair’s Report
The Chair’s report is attached to the minutes.
Chris Greif pointed out that the D train is operating better than it had been, but the B train’s performance is worse. Mr. Greif also commented on the medical situation that occurred on the bus where he was a passenger and was referenced in the Chair’s report.
Board Report
Andrew Albert delivered the Chair’s Report. He said that there was little to report as the MTA Board had not yet met. Mr. Albert noted that there are some updates on MTA Capital Program funding, and that they agree upon funding level of $2.5 billion from New York City is a major improvement over the $457 million originally proposed. Because the total funding for the Capital Program is not as high as planned, there will have to be adjustments made. There will be “efficiencies” implemented by the MTA which may include spacing out rolling stock acquisitions to shift some costs into the next Capital Program.
Trudy Mason wanted to know if there has been any discussion with suburban counties about how much will be allocated for their projects. Andrew Albert responded that it was made clear that the system is regional and the decisions on funding will be made looking at the entire MTA region. Ms. Mason responded that she heard that upstate elected officials are trying to align with their colleagues on Long Island to get increased funding allocated for suburban areas. Mr. Albert said that if there was an effort, it had not filtered down to the MTA Board.
Mr. Albert stated that Positive Train Control (PTC) deadline is December 31, and if it is not extended there are some commuter lines that have said they will shut down rather than operate in violation of FRA rules. The freight railroads will be limiting their operations and limiting the types of cargo that they will accept. Metro-North may have to staff towers in some parts of its system if Amtrak shuts down operations because of the PTC deadline. He noted that PTC is an unfunded mandate that only increases financial pressures on fares.
Mr. Greif mentioned that there is a rumor stating that only NYC Transit trains will be running after the positive train control (PTC) deadline. Mr. Albert commented that there are ways that the MTA commuter railroads can operate, but both use Amtrak facilities for operations and would need to work around any shutdown in the Amtrak system. He said that legislation has been introduced to extend the PTC deadline. William Henderson added that there is agreement among the House and Senate leadership to extend the PTC deadline.
Mr. Albert noted that, in a MTA Board member briefing that he attended, Chairman Prendergast mentioned Freedom Ticket as an issue that the Board will need to consider. Mr. Albert said that he gave the other Board members a little of the background of Freedom Ticket and noted that under the NYCTRC proposal local governments would have to contribute to the cost of implementing the new fare. He stated that the Chairman spoke favorably of this proposal.
Mr. Albert also noted that as a part of the agreement for Capital Program funding a study of the Utica Avenue line subway extension proposed by the Mayor will go forward. The agreement calls for a $5 million feasibility study of the Utica Avenue line extension.
Old Business
Mike Sinansky wanted to thank Mr. Albert and Bradley Brashear for all the work that has been done on the Freedom Ticket. He stated that on the past Sunday, another poorly planned and coordinated bike tour was held that impacted Manhattan bus routes. The City closed down the West Side Highway, FDR Drive, and other major thoroughfares for the MS Bike Tour. There were many police officers in place to control traffic and buses were diverted while the event continued. Originally, the organizers filed for a permit to close roads for five hours, but there were so few participants that the event was curtailed and the City reopened the highways at 8:30 am. Unfortunately, the event had a larger impact on transit service, as the first M20 he saw was at 10:30 am. Mr. Sinansky asked that a letter be sent to the City’s office of street closures, asking that:
1) When the permits are issued, the City should ensure that there are enough participants to justify street closings for an event.
2) The City confirm whether its costs for events are fully paid by their sponsors and whether the costs of the MS Bike Tour were recovered, even though the event was curtailed.
Ms. Mason said she understands that one of the things asked on applications for street closures is how many participants will be involved in the activity. The responsibility for assessing this is on the sponsor. Ms. Sinansky remarked that the City could require a bond in advance of the event.
Mr. Greif noted that there have been increases in the difficulty of wheelchairs and walkers boarding buses. There are often passengers who stand near the front of the bus that make it difficult to board and will not move back. Marisol Halpern added that these individuals are blocking everyone. Mr. Albert said he will bring this subject up in the Council’s continuing dialogue with MTA Bus Operations.
Ken Stewart mentioned that there is a redesign taking place in the station at 8th Avenue and Columbus Circle and that he is concerned about the design elements that will be used. Mr. Albert stated that the designer of the project came from the MTA, and he will ask her about the design.
Scott Nicholls pointed out that there are no MetroCard machines along the Staten Island Railway. It was noted that the phase out of MetroCard is scheduled to begin within the next five years, and that the cards can also be purchased at participating merchants and these cards include the bonuses available through purchasing at a vending machine.
New Business
Ms. Mason mentioned that people have spoken to her about the closing of newsstand at the 7th Avenue station and said that she has also heard of other closures. She asked that the Council find out if there is a program to close down the newsstands.
Introduction of Branko Kleva NYC Transit Assistant Chief Officer, Quality Assurance and Operations Support, to discuss identifying station maintenance needs and ensuring that they are addressed.
Mr. Albert introduced Mr. Kleva.
Mr. Kleva started out by stating that there are 812 maintainers that he oversees and that they are responsible for 16 million square feet of customer service areas. The areas of responsibility for these employees include a range of preventative maintenance, including a cleaning of vent bays every two years. If a condition is discovered that goes beyond a maintenance need, it may be referred to Capital Program Management if the appropriate remedy involves capital investment. There are a variety of ways that conditions are assessed and the station condition survey also looks at many of the areas covered by maintenance forces.
Mr. Kleva noted that there are 435,000 incidents of graffiti a year in the subway system. Graffiti is addressed immediately on tile or within 72 hours on painted surfaces.
The lighting fixtures in the subway are relamped and washed every two years. There is also replacement of individual lamps as needed, but all lamps are routinely replaced at the same time, as replacing many lamps requires flagging, and so it is more efficient to do the replacement systematically.
Ms. Mason asked what is done about scratchiti. Mr. Kleva responded that scratchiti is mainly done on glass and is more difficult to deal with. On older glass surfaces, the glass needs to be replaced. Newer glass comes with disposable film surfaces where the damaged layer can be removed and the resulting visible surface will be the next piece of film.
Mr. Kleva added they also clean station drains annually. He said that sand is used in the system for traction, but it also has the effect of clogging drains. Painting that is required for safety is also done annually.
In terms of inspections, all stations are inspected by a Supervisor at least once every three days. When defects are identified, they are entered into a defect database. Defects are categorized as A, B, or C:
A. Repaired within 24 hours – generally involving safety, security or revenue
B. Repaired within 30 days – these defects include toilets, service booths, and places where temporary repairs have already been made
C. Repaired within 60 days – other defects not impacting safety, security or essential station functions
Mr. Kleva addressed station painting, noting that in most cases there needs to be a general order in place for painting to take place, especially when some of the painting is done above tracks. He said that he has a group that paints 20 to 30 stations per year and that an additional painting group was added in the 4th quarter of 2014. There will be more painting in the years ahead.
FastTrack also offers maintenance forces an opportunity to undertake projects that require protection from traffic. Mr. Kleva said that they participate in the FastTrack outages, and whenever they can coordinate with FastTrack they do. Typical items addressed in FastTrack outages include repair of platform edges, washing of stations, relamping of lighting, tile repairs and painting.
Mr. Albert commented that Mr. Kleva did not touch on water intrusion in stations resulting from third parties. Mr. Kleva responded that they go through a process to find out who is responsible, sending out water samples if necessary to determine the source of the water. If the source appears to be a sewer, they will contact the NYC DEP, which often finds broken pipe or sewer line. Sometimes the source of water in the stations is ground water, and often little can be done to correct the drainage around stations. Where ground water is the problem, the only thing that can be done is to attempt to stop the leaks by chemical grouting. The success of this procedure varies, as many times water moves to another place and causes leaks elsewhere in the station.
Karyl Berger wanted to know if there is a policy about relamping station fixtures with LED’s. Mr. Kleva said that they are looking into replacing lighting with LED’s but currently they are not retrofitting existing fixtures with LEDs. In the future the fixtures will be replaced with units that use LEDs.
Ellyn Shannon asked what has happened to station maintenance headcount. Mr. Kleva replied that they have had small increases in headcount. They look at the future workload, especially Capital Program work, and new responsibilities and adjust staffing accordingly.
Ms. Shannon asked Mr. Kleva to address cleaning. Mr. Kleva stated that they have 1600 cleaners who work 24/7 and that how often stations are cleaned depends on the amount of use. There are some complexes, Times Square for example, that have cleaners around the clock. The 1600 employees includes those responsible for the removal of refuse and washing of stations.
Mr. Greif suggested that some stations need to be cleaner and remarked that stations on the Brooklyn A/C lines have rodents. Mr. Kleva said that there is a program to bait for rodents and that this has been successful in reducing the number of rats. He said that they have focused on refuse rooms and that while some used to be full of rodents there are not many in that condition now. Mr. Kleva said that they rate the cleanliness of stations and shift cleaners accordingly.
Mr. Greif said that the cleaners do not seem to concentrate on elevators and use cleaning solutions that aggravate asthma. Mr. Kleva said that unfortunately strong cleaning solutions are used on bathrooms and that cleaning them is very difficult.
Stuart Goldstein asked whether NYC Transit inspects station areas maintained by private businesses. Mr. Kleva responded that they inspect these areas and report problems to the property management of the responsible party. He stated that if there is no action from these less formal contacts, MTA Real Estate pursues remedies to have the areas maintained properly.
Mr. Sinansky commented that many City agencies have had meetings between design and maintenance staff to ensure that what is built can be maintained effectively. Mr. Kleva said there is a constant dialogue between the Department of Subways and Capital Plan Management. He said that during scope development for projects there is constant discussion of these issues. There is then review of specifications and designs during specification development. Mr. Kleva said that NYC Transit tests new elements and incorporates them in specifications as appropriate.
Ms. Halpern asked whether there is still an effort to get people to dispose of their trash appropriately or take their trash with them and whether NYC Transit does power washing in stations.
Mr. Kleva said that they do power washing about once a month, but concentrate on platform floors. Walls on platforms and track walls are washed less frequently. Sometimes power washing cannot get the dirt and discoloration off the tile and then it must be replaced.
William Guild asked Mr. Kleva to confirm the figure he gave of 435,000 graffiti hits per year. Mr. Kleva remarked that the 435,000 number represents graffiti on painted surfaces, as when there is graffiti on tile it is removed in the normal station cleaning process. The heavy graffiti activity is near schools, especially in stations on elevated tracks.
Sharon King Hoge asked whether NYC Transit is continuing to do antilitter public outreach and whether the amount of garbage collected has changed. Mr. Kleva stated that it is difficult to estimate changes in the amount of garbage generated, but generally it is about the same. He said that there are still announcements being made in the system to discourage littering.
Ms. Shannon asked whether NYC Transit has done benchmarking on how much staff is devoted to cleaning. Mr. Kleva responded that there are a lot of variables, but that NYC Transit talks with counterparts in other systems. In general, NYC Transit has fewer than average cleaners per square foot, but it is difficult to make an apples to apples comparison.
Mr. Greif stated that he is concerned with the Flushing station, noting that he had heard of problems with trash there. He said that he hopes that NYC Transit puts trash cans back at the station. Mr. Kleva said there is a lot of cleaning going on in Flushing. He did not believe that conditions are bad under normal circumstances, but for special events they assign more personnel.
Mr. Albert asked if anyone looked at rider behavior in stations. Mr. Kleva said they used Flushing in the pilot of stations without trash cans because it is a terminal. The car cleaners help keep the area clean.
Ms. Berger asked whether NYC Transit had looked at different floor finishes to see what works best for cleaning.
Mr. Kleva stated that they have tested many surfaces, and granite pavers are the best, but are more expensive than other flooring. They have been installed at Whitehall Street.
Mr. Albert noted that Mr. Kleva had showed a list of component items earlier and asked how many defects it takes to trigger component work in a station.
Mr. Kleva stated that the consultants do surveys and rate station elements from 1 to 5, best to worst. The Capital Program can address defects rated 4 or above, but will address components rated 3.5 in conjunction with other components that are rated 4 or 5. The components that are rated 5 items get immediate attention, but the treatments applied may be temporary.
Mr. Goldstein asked where NYC Transit is in the cycle of surveying. Mr. Kleva said the last survey was completed in 2012 and the contract is being prepared for the next one now.
Mr. Stewart said that perhaps there could be a survey of rider behavior related to trash.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
Executive Director