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| Re: $787K Study Seeks to Find Ways to Encourage Subway Riders to Ride LIRR and MNRR (1472156) | |||
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Re: $787K Study Seeks to Find Ways to Encourage Subway Riders to Ride LIRR and MNRR |
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Posted by lirr42 on Mon Apr 9 16:26:26 2018, in response to Re: $787K Study Seeks to Find Ways to Encourage Subway Riders to Ride LIRR and MNRR, posted by sloth on Mon Apr 9 13:14:07 2018. I'm specifically thinking of all the drill moves that are performed in locations with manually operated switches. You don't want engineers shoving blind, or changing ends multiple times in a move, or running back 12 cars to get a switch. Not efficient in the least, nor is stationing a drill crew in a place like Far Rockaway where that move only happens four times a day. Remember the MTA spends $549 million on railroad conductors every year...if they are not bearing that significant expense every year, replacing the limited number of hand-operated switches with remote-controlled switches would not put the MTA out of business. Further, PoP would drastically lower the marginal cost of running more service, so instead of putting a train in the yard where it will sit doing nothing for hours, the train can keep running during the off-peak period so they don't even have to bother using the small yards that require these types of drill moves. I think it would be reasonable to station a single conductor at each terminal and a handful at NYK/ATL/JAM to help with turning trains, brake tests, these types of drill moves, etc. Doing this on the LIRR would cost just $8.676 million a year, much less than the $316 million spent having two conductors on every train. The current methods of door operation also require an assistant conductor. So change the current methods of door operation...make it so the cars are programmed to know which doors to open at which stop, or, even better, install sensors do doors only open when it detects its stopped at a platform. Remember, the human conductors aren't perfect...they do open doors off platforms all the time. Technology may eventually change all this, but there is also a social cost of replacing good jobs with McJobs or no jobs that the bean counters do not include in their bean count. A computer can be programmed to count beans as well. Perhaps I should counsel young assistant conductors to find a good expressway off ramp and write a snappy slogan on a cardboard sign instead. As another poster has already said, the MTA's job is to provide useful and affordable transportation for the people of this region, not provide a source of income for a few hundred conductors at the expense of the region's economy. Others have been going to great lengths to justify wasting a half-billion dollars a year on employing people to punch holes in tickets but have completely ignored the detrimental economic impacts of poor and expensive commuter rail service. Cutting costs allows the MTA to drastically improve service, especially for those in undeserved parts of the city (the whole original point of this study/thread). If the LIRR had frequent and affordable reverse-peak service, for example, it could become a brand new destination for job growth, especially with development near transit projects currently underway. Also remember that by eliminating conductors and expanding service, there will be lots more new positions to fill. If PoP allows the railroads to increase service by 25%, that's 25% more enginpeople needed to run the trains. PoP would also require a number of fare inspectors to do enforcement, positions that can be filled by conductors. As the financial savings from PoP is put towards capital expansion projects, there is more work for trade labor. As part of the savings is put towards fleet expansions, there will be a need for more car repairpeople. Conductors can be given first priority for filling these new positions, so no significant workforce reductions would necessarily be required, and service becomes so much better and more affordable as a result. Some very short term pain during the transition for lots of long-term gain. |
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