00:00MTA data just confirmed what most New Yorkers already know, the subways were a disaster this summer.
00:07According to new numbers reported last week, there were 138 major incidents in June and July,
00:14the highest for those two months since 2018.
00:17NYC Transit's Vice President of Subways, Bill Amorosa,
00:22blamed the spike on the MTA changing the way it tracks major incidents in 2023,
00:27resulting in more delays being classified as major incidents.
00:31But that number isn't the only data point that shows the system is getting worse for riders.
00:37There were more subway train delays attributed to infrastructure and equipment problems in July
00:43than in any month since the MTA began collecting that data in 2020.
00:48And that makes sense, considering how much of the system is in a state of disrepair.
00:53In March, while justifying the agency's need for more cash from the city,
00:58MTA Chief Financial Officer Jay Patel told city council members
01:03that many components are falling apart and need to be replaced or preserved,
01:08and warned that if we don't do this critical work,
01:11it's not an exaggeration that we will be looking at another summer of hell.
01:16But a summer of hell is exactly what New Yorkers got,
01:19despite the fact that the city coughed up $3 billion of the $4 billion that the MTA wanted.
01:25While MTA spokesperson Joanna Flores pointed out that data shows
01:29that roughly one in five weekday subway trains are delayed,
01:32which is roughly the same as last summer,
01:35that ignores the fact that delays were worse.
01:38Both the scheduled wait time for trains
01:40and the amount of time riders actually ended up waiting for a train
01:44reached near five-year highs this summer.
01:46The MTA has long argued that huge improvements need to be made
01:50and the agency needs more funds to do it.
01:53New Yorkers might be more sympathetic to that argument
01:56if the agency wasn't constantly flushing cash down the toilet.
02:00Last year, a probe found that the MTA blew $252 million
02:05on an emergency subway intercom system for riders in need of assistance.
02:10But 50% of the calls made on the help points were pranks,
02:14probably because almost everyone just calls 911 on their cell phone
02:18if they're in trouble.
02:20Then there's the hundreds of thousands of dollars
02:22the MTA has spent on a series of gimmicks,
02:25like spikes on turnstiles and taller barriers,
02:28meant to sabotage would-be turnstile jumpers,
02:31all of which have been immediately and easily thwarted.
02:35These examples individually are a drop in the bucket
02:38in the MTA's massive budget,
02:40but it all adds up,
02:42and the agency never seems to run out of ways
02:44to waste cash that should be going towards infrastructure repair.
02:48It doesn't help that so many of the agency's projects
02:51end up running years late and far over budget.
02:55It seems like construction is constant,
02:57yet service gets worse, not better.
03:00That just makes the MTA's planned fare hike next year
03:03feel like salt's being rubbed in a wound.
03:06Advice to the MTA,
03:08stop wasting money and making excuses
03:11and start getting serious about delivering acceptable service
03:14to New Yorkers before they give up on public transit altogether.
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