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/\ Consultant fees to the tunes of billions? Naw, that's not what's happening. I'm sure they're wasteful, but not to that extent.
Fact: MTA workers, white and blue collar, are grossley overpaid. You can scream and temper-tantrum all you want about it, but if the MTA slides back into 1970s condition, the city has no one to blame but themselves.
Some years ago, MTA brought in a group of consultants to examine the Lexington Avenue line and make recommendations for service. These consultants came from Atlanta--they had absolutely no knowledge of New York City or its transit system. Would you like to know what they recommended (after being paid $500,000 each)? Try this on for size:
They suggested running two-car trains on the Lexington Avenue subway! It's simply not possible to make a more ridiculous recommendation than that. So you must always keep in mind that there are consultants and consultants. They aren't necessarily the sources you want to rely on. (MTA would never consider something like asking the people who actually work on and move the trains about service. They don't want to hear from us!)
As far as pay scale goes, I notice that nobody has condemned the MTA Board itself--which meets once a year, consists of quite a few people from upstate who know nothing about mass transit (their appointments are generally political favors)--and they get paid half a million dollars a year.
And for Shizzles and his wonderfully informed comment about MTA workers being grossly overpaid...that does not deserve a response. If you thought we got paid so much, you would have taken one of the exams and jumped onto the alleged gravy train.
People think this is some sort of witchunt, when the truth is that if things keep going the way they are, you only think you [transit people] and the city of NY at large have problems.
I'm not a transit employee, or a union employee, I am only stating my opinions as a fellow NYer, and MTA rider, that is concerned about the city as a whole. I also depend on MTA to get around the city. I would like to have as much service as I can possibly have, in terms of frequency, safety, and comfort.
Upstaters...another excellent posting..maybe now people will understand more clearly why the MTA is in the mess that it is in..at least one of the reasons that is. If you cannot control your expenses as a company, whether private or public, how can you stay afloat? If you and your husband were supporting 2 kids, and your wife got laid off due to the economy (you are down to half income), what do you think will happen if your kids demand (and get) the same lifestyle that they are accustomed to? Sorry mommy and daddy, you are down to one wage but you can't sell one of the cars, I am used to being driven in two. Too bad mom and dad, you can't cut down on eating out, I am used to eating out 4x a week. Sorry mom and dad, you have to keep buying me clothes at Saks...I deserve it. See a problem here? What do you think will happen to this family when they cannot control these expenses? That's exactly what is happening to the MTA.
The city population is decreasing and the people who responded to the NYT, the majority of them, had already left. And while there has been a consistent inflow of people to replace the people who leave in the past, with these economic times, those new transplants will decrease in number. And then what is going to happen?
The increase in taxes, the increase MTA fares and the high cost of food and real estate (including rentals) does not make this city affordable even for MTA workers.
It's really annoying to read someone living in another area of the country or state who compares their transportation costs to our costs and says that we get a better deal. How so? Transportation is only one subset of the cost of living here. Rent and real estate is most expensive here than in most other places. So while your transportation costs are higher, your cost of living is lower mostly due to lower cost of housing, food etc. So it's really unfair to compare apples to oranges.
And this is why people are moving from our fair city. Why is that so hard to believe?
1. Joe works at a GM engine plant and is a UAW member. Joe says "I am in the union and I make a good wage, and I deserve it because I work hard and have a family. What I do is important to the economy. My employer is incurring major losses. Even though I don't like it, and I think my bosses are overpaid, and my employer is inefficient, I must take a small pay and benefits cut to save my job, because if I don't, my employer will go out of business and I will be unemployed and so will my union brothers. This situation really stinks and I feel cheated, but we are in a severe recession and it could be a lot worse for me. I still make a pretty good wage.".....
I won't post the rest. But why don't the higher paid consultants that have never worked at any position for MTA say "The city and state is suffering from a severe financial crisis, before I put in my 2 cents of ideas, that I have no idea of what I'm suggesting, because I absolutely, really don't know anything about the job, or the MTA system, I'll give up my consulting position, so that MTA can consult with experienced men, and women, that know the job, are already on the payroll, that can give their ideas on how to improve the system. This may save millions and prevent layoffs. At the very least this should be tried first"
As far as pay scale goes, I notice that nobody has condemned the MTA Board itself--which meets once a year, consists of quite a few people from upstate who know nothing about mass transit (their appointments are generally political favors)--and they get paid half a million dollars a year.
Board members are volunteers. They receive no pay.
I won't post the rest. But why don't the higher paid consultants that have never worked at any position for MTA say "The city and state is suffering from a severe financial crisis, before I put in my 2 cents of ideas, that I have no idea of what I'm suggesting, because I absolutely, really don't know anything about the job, or the MTA system, I'll give up my consulting position, so that MTA can consult with experienced men, and women, that know the job, are already on the payroll, that can give their ideas on how to improve the system. This may save millions and prevent layoffs. At the very least this should be tried first"
Nobody has suggested that there is no waste, fraud or abuse, including clueless consultants, inept management and all kinds of other stuff.
I agree that eliminating this stuff is a good start.
But the reality is that you could fire every consultant and make every executive work for free, and you wouldn't come close to closing a billion-dollar budget gap. It simply cannot be done without addressing the largest expense - wages and benefits.
Upstater...people just don't get it..and I have no idea why not. It seems so simple and straight forward to me. For some reason, as I stated earlier, even brushing the idea that something must be done about the Unions which account for 2/3 of all expenses of the MTA, quickly turns into accusations of "anti-union" and the like. If it were $500 million in bonuses I would say THAT is the problem of the MTA, but it isn't. Pure and simple, unless they can restructure and reduce their expenses (aka Union wages/benefits, etc), nothing will change and the fares WILL skyrocket. Not sure why this is confusing.
Nobody has suggested that there is no waste, fraud or abuse, including clueless consultants, inept management and all kinds of other stuff.
I agree that eliminating this stuff is a good start.
But the reality is that you could fire every consultant and make every executive work for free, and you wouldn't come close to closing a billion-dollar budget gap. It simply cannot be done without addressing the largest expense - wages and benefits.
Everything is in such bad shape financially with the state and city governments, everyone will feel some pain, we all know that. Service cuts, and higher fares, will be the beginning.
However this should coincide with the things you named in your first paragraph as the start. When the city tried layoffs as a way to save money, in the past it didn't work. It ended up costing more. One reason is that most people trained for certain jobs are not transferable to other types of employment, for many reasons. The economy is already in bad shape and people with many skills in the private sector can't find work. So these people end up being supported by the remaining tax payers. This extra chunk taken out of the remaining tax payers, along with loss in revenue from these former tax payers, starts a steady decline.
Paycuts? did I actually see postings on paycuts? OK I saw them. Most people on this forum don't support rent stabilization, and want free market rents, and now you want paycuts from the people that help keep the NYC median household income at around $50K. How do expect people to live off of less than $40K - $100K depending on position, years of experience and overtime.
You want to cut medical benefits, and do what? supplement it with medicaid?
Pensions? did you know that the average MTA worker suffers from many stress related illnesses, due to the hard nature of the work that they perform? Most only live to collect a couple of years of their pension. I know that seems grim, but it is true. Sometimes the pension is used to support a spouse and underage children given in a lump sum, not continued payments, because the person died while still employed. I hate to state this, but you hardly ever see an OLD retired transit worker. If there are some on this forum, they should post on how well they are living on their pensions.
Research the history of unions in this city, and see what conditions people worked under before unions. Compare it with some of the suggestions posted on this thread. Some of the suggestion echo, the same things that were imposed on workers some generations ago, in the not too distant past. People fought and died for unions and changes. Unless a transit worker was born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth, they need the unions. There is strength in numbers. Otherwise the powers that be would do what ever they wanted to them. If they were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, they wouldn't work that job, in any position.
If the job were easy and paid so well as Fred314X stated "you would have taken one of the exams and jumped onto the alleged gravy train."
/\ what pension do the millions of cooks, cleaners, construction workers, shopkeepers, nannies, and the like slaving for 8-12 hrs a day coming from some third-world horror show get? These people live and die by the subway and are the ones who will suffer most once the evil yuppies/rich and what remains of the 5 boroughs middle class have abandoned the transit system (and maybe even the city as a whole).
No one here says transit workers aren't important or that the MTA's white collar force isn't corrupt, but spare me the heart-string hallmark stories. FDNY and NYPD are paid less for crying out loud! I have suggested giving city workers section 8 vouchers, which would put a dent into the cost of living issue. Asking more contributions towards the pension and health plans isn't facism. Put down the Marx literature and get real.
Fred 314X, your transit job isn't going to get better when the system once again becomes a haven for thug life and general social filth, which is what will happen if the situation is allowed to spiral out of control. For a period in the late 70s, TA workers were actually losing their lives to street crime.
And DAS, hyperbolie much?
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. FDNY and NYPD are paid less for crying out loud! I have suggested giving city workers section 8 vouchers, which would put a dent into the cost of living issue. Asking more contributions towards the pension and health plans isn't facism. Put down the Marx literature and get real. 
