NEW YORK (PIX11) – With the MTA expected to take in billions from congestion pricing in the coming years— PIX11 News took a closer look at how careful the state agency is with taxpayer dollars.
Hours were spent digging through MTA documents and watchdog reports and following up with the Transit Agency and those watchdogs.
Through the investigation, a clear picture emerged, watchdogs are calling on the MTA for more transparency and responsiveness—and the MTA argues it is transparent, more efficient than most other government agencies, and is working to become even more efficient.
Fare Evasion and gate guards
The MTA has a $35 million contract with Allied Universal Security to provide unarmed guards at subway doors to prevent fare evasion.
However, as people who ride every day know, the guards stand around, sometimes on their phones-- even when people don't pay right next to them.
PIX11 News asked if the guards were truly an effective use of resources.
A spokesman for the MTA said fare evasion costs the agency $800 million annually. In late January, it was reported that the agency had reduced the problem on the subways by 25% in the last six months. He went on to say that guards, in addition to other measures, are part of the solution, blocking the "fare evasion superhighway" of people avoiding the turnstiles.
Subway Help Points
Questions have been raised about the effectiveness of the $252 million dollar help point system.
The blue lights are currently undergoing a $79 million upgrade, even as cell phones make the system increasingly obsolete.
The MTA's own Office of the Inspector General found Help Points were overrun with prank calls and responses to real emergencies could be handled better in one report.
An MTA spokesman said no decisions have been made about discontinuing the Help Point system. He said it is currently one of many resources to help riders and said most use it for directions.
The MTA OIG released the following statement on any investigations that may be related to congestion pricing:
“While the Office of the MTA Inspector General has no immediate role during the implementation of the Congestion Pricing program, it is something we are monitoring and could potentially examine in the future."
Purchasing Power
Late last year, an audit by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli showed the MTA was not achieving tens of millions of dollars in savings by properly streamlining and leveraging its $7 billion dollars in annual purchasing power.
“I think especially with congestion pricing underway, the public, the riders, all stakeholders all really want to see results,” DiNapoli said. “Not only that the system is functioning and in good repair, but that the expenses are being managed in a more efficient way.”
The MTA says the Comptroller’s Office used old data to reach its conclusions-- and that over the last few years, the agency has become much more efficient.
“Unfortunately, in the case of the procurement audit, the response was a bit more justifying what is, rather than embracing our recommendations about how they really need to change,” DiNapoli said.
Recent improvement and calls for transparency
Andrew Rein with the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit government watchdog agency, said the MTA has certainly gotten better at completing projects on time and on budget.
“We need to invest massive amounts of money into the MTA’s infrastructure, it’s crumbling around us, delaying commutes, making us late to work, it’s going to hurt our quality of life and economy,” Rein said.
But Rein said at the same time that the MTA owes the public more transparency — even suggesting that perhaps the state legislature should mandate it by law.
“We need to hold the MTA accountable for spending the money wisely and getting value for New Yorkers,” he said.
MTA pushback
The MTA repeatedly resisted issues raised about daily operations, including overtime for workers. Salaries make up 70% of the agency’s operating budget.
An MTA spokesman said overtime is a tool, and the bottom line is that the MTA has controlled its budget. He pointed to a new report on cost management at the MTA.
In the report, the MTA highlighted how its annual operations cost three percent less than before the pandemic—“in real terms,” which means factoring in inflation. The MTA also said it increased service and avoided layoffs during that time period.
The cost report also highlighted how the transit agency has already found $400 million in efficiencies with no service cuts nor layoffs and is committing $100 million more in savings. It achieved big changes like changing the MTA bidding process and smaller things like examining costs down to the cell phone in an individual employee’s hand.
When PIX11 News questioned chair and CEO Janno Lieber about the calls for more transparency, he resisted, saying no agency in the state publishes more data than the MTA.
“It’s all there online, go look at it and see whether we are already the most radically transparent of state government, I think we are,” Lieber said.
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