Subways

Multiple lines were delayed on Friday — but here's the good news: the governor got to drive his favorite old car across the Tappan Zee Bridge!

What would it look like if Cuomo and Lhota stopped making gestures and started exercising real leadership at the MTA? Here are three steps that could make a difference for subway service.

Speaking in Manhattan this morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a "state of emergency" for the MTA, giving his newly-appointed agency chairman Joe Lhota 30 days to redesign the agency's organizational structure and 60 days to address shortcomings in the agency's $29 billion, five-year capital plan.

The Times came out with a piece on subway delays this morning that's getting heavy play on Twitter. It has some compelling visualizations of the rise in ridership and decline in reliability, but it starts off by framing poor service in a way that obscures the root of the subway's troubles.

New Yorkers are already paying for Cuomo's deteriorating MTA in the form of lost time, increased pollution, and poorer health.

Remember when Andrew Cuomo announced that he'd sealed the deal on a new contract with the TWU? Or when he empaneled an "MTA Reinvention Commission" to shape the agency's five-year capital program? Or when he ordered the MTA to quit dragging its heels on cashless tolling, and the agency promptly delivered? The governor would like you to forget all that.

As it happens, FDR's car is the same vintage as many components in the signal system of the New York City subway. The difference is that the signal system isn't a museum piece that Cuomo can commandeer for a day -- it's real equipment that keeps millions of people moving on a 24/7 rail system.

The subways remain vulnerable to routine weather events setting off enormous disruptions, while the governor touts bells and whistles like underground internet connectivity.

After spending the first half of the year touting frills like Wi-Fi and charging ports on buses, Governor Cuomo finally delivered some news this morning that will make a real difference to transit riders. The MTA plans to buy hundreds of open gangway subway cars, which can carry more passengers and help relieve crowding on maxed-out lines.