THEY'RE CUTTING STATION AGENTS, TOO?

THOMPSON AND ADVOCATES TO MTA: DON'T CUT
SUBWAY STATION AGENTS

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. and transit advocates, including the Straphangers Campaign, Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 and others, today urged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to keep its promise to restore service, including service agents at 199 subway stations.

"Despite the funding package it just received, the MTA is nonetheless proposing to reduce station agents and close booths that would unnecessarily jeopardize rider safety and significantly reduce rider convenience," Thompson said. "As a critical part of the public service the MTA provides, the MTA needs to ensure that it keeps station agents in the subways where we need them."

Thompson and transit advocates gathered at the 77^th Street subway station on the 6 line to urge the MTA to keep station agents in subway stations, noting that agents bring a feeling of safety to transit riders. They also stressed that agents offer directions, assist with MetroCard Vending Machines, and provide information regarding delays or police activity.

"Riders want station agents," said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney of the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign. "The agents provide security, are there to summon help in an emergency, and give customer assistance, from directions to buzzing in passengers who need the help."

"With the $2.3 billion bailout from Albany that maintains existing service levels and eliminates the need for 1,100 layoffs, it is foolhardy for the MTA to proceed with its plan to close down station booths which provide a critical safety function for riders in the system," said Curtis Tate, Acting President of TWU Local 100.

"Putting our customers at risk in this age of awareness of terrorism and other possible dangers is not, in my opinion, worth the risk, just to save a few dollars," said Andrew Albert, Chair of the New York City Transit Riders Council and a non-voting MTA Board member.

"Anyone who has ever escorted an elderly parent or pushed a stroller in our subway system knows the value of station agents and their role in keeping transit accessible. Removing agents will raise new barriers in a system that already falls short of accessibility standards," said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives.

"Older New Yorkers riding the subway must feel safe and receive directions if they need them," said Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy for the Council of Senior Centers and Services. "Station agents provide an important measure of safety and information throughout the subway system for senior citizens."

The group sent a letter - available at www.comptroller.nyc.gov - to MTA Chairman Hemmerdinger and asked the MTA to reconsider the cuts: "Reducing station agents and closing booths would unnecessarily jeopardize rider safety and significantly reduce rider convenience."

"The MTA," the letter reads, "appears to want to have it both ways by claiming that it only committed itself to a restoration of 'direct service' to riders. But what would the reduction of agents be but a reduction of direct service?"

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