So, like, did you know that New York City’s subways aren’t actually controlled by City Hall? Nope, they’re actually run by the governor, who chills a cool 150 miles north of the five boroughs. Wild, right? This setup has been the deal since 1953 when the New York City Transit Authority was like, “Hey, let’s be a state-run agency that technically leases the subway system.” And ever since then, people have been like, “Yo, can we get this mass transit system back under local control?”
This week, City Comptroller Brad Lander — who’s also running for mayor, by the way — dropped his campaign’s transportation platform. And get this, he’s all about “exploring” the possibility of the city regaining control of the subways, buses, and tolled bridges and tunnels from the MTA. If he had his way, Lander would have subway trains running every six minutes 24/7 and make all the transit fares in the city consistent. Can you even believe that right now, you can’t seamlessly go from the subway to Citi Bike or from a ferry to a bus? What a hot mess, right?
Lander’s big idea involves creating a new city-run public authority called “Big Apple Transit.” Sounds pretty snazzy, huh? This same idea was tossed around by former City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in 2019 when he thought he had a shot at being mayor. Spoiler alert: Johnson didn’t make it to the mayor’s office, but he did end up losing to Lander in the race for comptroller. Another mayoral candidate, state Sen. Jessica Ramos, is also down with giving the city more control over transit. She’s like, “I would love for the mayor of the City of New York to have more say in what happens in the system.”
In theory, the city could snatch back control of the subway system pretty easily by breaking up with the MTA. But in practice, the system would still need cash from Albany — and that means being at the mercy of the governor and state Legislature. MTA Chair Janno Lieber ain’t feeling the whole idea, though. When asked about it, he was like, “Bureaucratic rearrangement of deck chairs? Nah, not my vibe.”
The last time someone was all gung-ho about the city taking over the subways was six years ago when transit service was a hot mess under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Fun fact: Cuomo is now also running for mayor this year. Talk about a full-circle moment, right? In 2017, during the “summer of hell,” the transit system was a total disaster, which led to a bunch of new funding — like congestion pricing — to fix up the aging MTA infrastructure.
Lander didn’t miss a chance to throw some shade at Cuomo while laying out his transportation plan. He straight-up called Cuomo “a disastrous leader on transit as governor.” Ouch. But hold up, Cuomo’s spokesperson fired back, calling Lander a “back of the pack candidate” who’s just trying to distort the governor’s track record because he doesn’t have one of his own. Shots fired!
It’s not really clear if the subway getting more crowded has anything to do with congestion pricing. I mean, ever since the tolls kicked in on Jan. 5, subway ridership has gone up a bit. But it’s hard to say for sure if the two things are connected. Like, on Thursday, April 24, there were 4.2 million entries through the subway turnstiles — the second-highest number in a single day since March 2020. Before the pandemic, there were over 5.5 million subway rides a day. Ridership has been on the rise since January, but the number of people using the system usually goes up in the spring compared to winter. The MTA did notice that about 82,000 fewer cars were going into the congestion zone in Manhattan every day in March. So, maybe some of those drivers decided to hop on the subway instead. But who really knows, right?
Anyway, the MTA is planning to install some new fare gates at 20 subway stations later this year to crack down on fare evasion. These new gates will have glass sliding doors that are supposed to be super hard to force open. Big Brother is also watching, apparently. The MTA is working with AI companies to use software that can analyze security camera footage in real-time and alert the cops if someone is acting sus.
Oh, and get this: NJ Transit locomotive engineers are on the verge of going on strike. The transit agency is saying the union members are asking for crazy high pay raises. They even told office workers to be ready to work from home so they can save transit seats for essential workers. Talk about drama, am I right?
The MTA board is all up in arms about Amtrak’s plan to shut down one tube at a time in the East River tunnels for the next three years. They’re like, “Um, hello, what about us Long Island Rail Road commuters?” Amtrak isn’t exactly known for being top-notch at fixing things. The inspector general for the national railroad company has found all sorts of inefficiencies, waste, and mismanagement. Yikes.
And just when you thought things couldn’t get any wilder, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’d be cool with renaming Penn Station after Donald Trump — but only if he coughs up the cash. Like, can you even imagine?
If you wanna hear more about all this transit drama, download our app and tune in to “All Things Considered” on Thursdays around 4 p.m. And if you missed last week’s segment, go catch up! Oh, and if you have a burning question about subway cars or anything else NYC-transit related, hit up the newsletter and maybe we’ll answer it in a future issue. Just remember, Curious Commuter questions are only for the cool kids who subscribe. So, sign up already!
