Torin Reid - The New York City Subways Motormans Rant

THE NEW YORK
CITY SUBWAYS
MOTORMANS RANT

TORIN REID

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2019 Torin Reid. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 11/29/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3815-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3813-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3814-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019919340

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CONTENTS

Day after working day, the view from the New York City Subway motormans cab is roughly the same. Looking out through the weathered front window, the motorman sees, in between stretches of dark tunnel or open air elevated, the faces of thousands of New York City subway riders at the stations. The faces of the riders reflect many different moods upon their seeing the oncoming subway train. The expression that I saw the most was that of contempt.

The look upon my face when I was driving the train (I am now retired) is that of indifference. I have realized a long time ago, that 95% of the time, the attitude of the riders is misplaced. Along with the bus driver, the vanishing station agent, the subway conductor (who opens and closes the trains doors) and the subway motorman (now more widely known as the train operator - the person who drives the train) all get the blame for whatever goes wrong within the Transit system. It does not matter whether blaming any or all these workers makes any sense.

Perhaps it is a little repetitive to say this here, but it needs to be said. The bus driver did not create the traffic jam. The train operator and conductor did not create the sick passenger. Nor did they, along with the station agent, create the infamous service diversions (disruptions?) that occur every night and weekend. And, the station agent did not create the rise in fares.

But, all of the above is not the reason why I have written this book. The far larger purpose of this book is for you, the New York City subway or bus rider (and everybody else) to get a better understanding of what is really going on every time you descend into the darkness or ascend those steep elevated stairs.

But to get that better understanding of what is really going on within the subways, I need you the reader to get beyond the usual knee jerk reactions and outright ignorance that populate most of the current thinking about the subways.

I can tell you, right now, what is wrong with the state of New York City subways. Basically, there are two main reasons why the New York subways are the way that they are. The first reason is that the first customer of the MTA not just the NYC subways is NOT the passenger it is the contractor or sub-contractor. And this is nothing new. It has been this way for the past 15 or 20 years. All the various contractors or sub-contractors have been sucking the MTA and, therefore, New York state and the taxpayers dry for many years.

In this instance, we can think of the subways as a man in the jungle who has fallen into a swamp pond. He is able to make it out of the swamp, but now, he is covered with blood sucking leeches. He now staggers over to a tent, otherwise known as 2 Broadway, the MTA Headquarters building. Within this tent he sinks into a chair. An MTA doctor takes away some of the leeches. The man, now weakened, cannot seem to leave his chair. The doctor is busy applying new, stronger and greedier leeches to his helpless patient, while telling him that, in time, the leeches will make you feel better.

The suits and ties people within the upper echelons of 2 Broadway hand out contracts like so many sweet lollipops to contractors who have not previously set foot in a subway. I wonder, are they getting kickbacks for this behavior? Yet both groups, the vice presidents and the contractors, enjoy long belly laughs over champagne as the tabloid news media trumpet over a few well- placed union employees who made thousands in overtime.

And the second reason why the New York subway is the way it is, is because the subway is made up on different departments, none of whom work together. I strongly suspect but I cannot prove, that this particular form of internal dysfunction dates back to the early 1990s during the time when Peter Kalikow, a real estate developer was at the head of the MTA. I believe that Mr. Kalikow, fearful of the power of numbers and faced with the threat of a strike from what was then a relatively strong and united Transport Workers Union, successfully sought to break up the unity of those times by having department heads introduce policies and directives that often set one department at odds with another. Since those times, we now have at least two generations of workers that work, but not necessarily with each other. If two departments work together on a project, it is because they have been forced to work together or that someone saw some kind of mutual benefit of working together.

As another analogy, let us now think of a symphony orchestra (or may be just a musical band) that is attempting to make music without a musical conductor or even a band leader. Now each section of the orchestra is committed to making their own personal music, sometimes as loud as possible. But each departments music, is set to their own personal drumbeat. The result is that you and I and the rest of the public hears a lot of noise. And, dear subway rider, if you are only half aware, you can see a lot of the noise for yourself, every time that you are redirected to a shuttle bus because of a service diversion. For those readers who are not in New York, dont worry, please read on and I will back up what I wrote, other than my suspicions about the era of Mr. Kalikow.

In the past 15 or 20 years, there have been dozens and perhaps hundreds of construction projects that have veered from the necessary to the dubious on through to the ridiculous. Someone needs to erect a McDonalds type of sign that flashes billions and billions spent, in front of the building at 2 Broadway.

Most New Yorkers including those with power hear all of this noise. But, like a car alarm in the middle of the night, they simply wish it would go away. And there are those that have the knowledge many with more knowledge than me - to silence this alarm and make everything run right. But these people are usually working for the MTA and they dont want to interrupt their personal cash flow. And so, the noise continues, and the contractors and the MTA top management insist that the riders and the taxpayers pony up yet more money for another subway fix.

One might say, well, arent you retired? Why do you even care? Why dont you just pack up and go down south or to Florida/Arizona/North Carolina, etc., like everyone else? Well, theres just that small matter of me liking the subway trains. Ever since I was a kid. And then there is the adult realization that under that dirt and piss and rats lies one of the five best railroads on Earth. No one seems to recognize that.