(The following article by Mark Ginocchio was posted on the Stamford Advocate website on October 19.)
NEW YORK — Rail transit operators and experts met yesterday to discuss two of the most daunting challenges facing mass transit in the metropolitan region — service expansion and security.
With ridership at its highest point in more than 50 years, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority urgently needs funds to protect and expand services on all its subway and commuter rail systems, said MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow, who was the keynote speaker at yesterday’s Tri-State Transit Symposium at New York University.
“At 8 million customers a day, our trains are as crowded as they’ve ever been,” Kalikow said, referring to New York City subways, Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Railroad. “We need to solve this problem because we carry the population of the world in 24 months. We have become a victim of our own success.”
The biggest financial victory for the MTA could come in the form of a $2.9 billion bond act New York state residents will vote on next month, Kalikow said to more than 100 transit operators, planners and advocates at the symposium. It was organized by Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School.
If passed, the MTA would receive $450 million for a new subway line along Second Avenue and $450 million to provide Long Island Railroad access to Grand Central Terminal and Metro-North access to Penn Station.
Freeing up track space at Penn Station would also enable the MTA to operate a $100 million rail link to JFK International Airport.
Kalikow said the projects included are among the most important ones the MTA will ever pursue.
The LIRR East Side Access project has been on the table since 1968 but has never received the backing it needs to go forward, Kalikow said. Because the LIRR has to share Penn Station with Amtrak and New Jersey Transit, it can’t run enough trains to meet its demand. Grand Central, which is solely operated by Metro-North, is an “underutilized resource” that could help connect the two commuter rails, he added.
“If you could take the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central, it balances where people want to go,” Kalikow said. “And by allowing Metro-North to go to Penn Station, this is a case where one plus one equals five. It’s not just a deal for Long Island.”
Because the tunnels are already constructed, “the most expensive part of the project is finished,” Kalikow said.
Even if the bond passes, concerns linger about adequately securing the railroad and its customers from terrorist attacks.
“I think privacy is one of the greatest gifts we have,” Kalikow said of rail security. “We need to have a balance and not go too far. The people who want us to go far, I call the ‘Ready, fire, aim’ people.”
In a panel discussing transit security, speakers agreed the federal government hasn’t done enough to protect mass transit.
David Gaier, a security consultant and former special agent with the U.S. Department of State, said security screeners should not target obvious non-terrorists such as children.
“There needs to be more of a risk-based approach, because one size does not fit all,” Gaier said.
Eva Lam, president of Palisades Consulting Group, a transportation research firm in New Jersey, said more needs to be done in schools, offices and transit centers to educate passengers on evacuation procedures.
“We should have bystanders, ordinary citizens, participate in these exercises and provide input,” Lam said. “There should be a plethora of exercise and drills so our children know what to do.”
When an MTA official challenged Lam’s comments, noting that the MTA posts evacuation instructions in its rail cars and on its Web site, Gaier said more could be done to educate people.
“Putting messages in a subway car or on a Web site won’t work alone, because people aren’t going to be checking the Web site unless they want schedules,” Gaier said. “This is something that has to be taken to the level of society.”