Standing at the foot of the multi-lined queens Plaza station, Ferrer charged that the TAs plans would reduce access and security at key stations throughout the subway system, currently maintained by 6,000 token booth clerks. He also criticized the TA for trying to implement these plans without conducting public hearings.
Strongly denying these charges, TA spokesman Al OLeary declared that the TA intends to mechanize the sale of MetroCards. "We want to convert the role of the booth clerk to customer service," he said, "from sales clerk to someone who provides assistance and information." These changes, he said, had been negotiated with officials of the Transport workers Union (TWU).
"No booth clerk," said OLeary, "will be laid off or furloughed."
Eddie Kay, education director of TWU, Local 100, told The Queens Courier the union had never agreed to closing subway token booths. "This is much larger than a union issue," he said. "This is a public issue one of safety and convenience."
The Union held press conference Wednesday, denouncing the idea. Kay said he hopes to secure as many as 1,000,000 signatures in opposition of the TAs plan.
Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer of The Straphangers Campaign, a public transit activist group, said that last December, the TAs new budget revealed a reduction of 230 change booth positions. He called on the TA "to level with the public, because cutbacks of these station personnel does not provide a savings of money."
Joining the fray, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (D-37th AD) said the Mayoral appointees on the MTA and TA "were asleep at the switch" when the token booth reductions were considered.
Public Advocate and Mayoral candidate Mark Green released a survey Tuesday indicating that that the removal of subway token booths could not only increase subway crime, but also force pedestrians to cross busy and dangerous intersections. He noted that at one planned closure, at Rockaway Blvd., customers who need to use the main booth would have to cross two busy thoroughfaresCross Bay blvd. and Rockaway Blvd.
"NYC Transit shouldnt turn back the clock on subway safety by closing token booths that are the eyes and ears of the systemand a crucial deterrent to vandalism, robbery, and fare-beating," said Green. "And it cant avoid giving straphangers a voice when it restricts safe access to stations.
Across the City, 122 locations would be closed, hitting Brooklyn and Manhattan the hardest. The first phase, which begins in August, is to close 35 booths permanently and reduce 18 hours at othersresulting in 1,2799 token booth operating hours per week.
Darlene Lawson, TWU VP for Station Operations, said that TA cutbacks involved the publics safety and comfort. The proposal, she said, "will also eliminate the many people who might use the closed stations, including those who require wheelchairs."
Adding to the tension, the City Councils transportation committee began a series of hearings Tuesday on the proposed booth closings. Its chairman, Councilman Noach Dear, has already called the phasing out of token booths "a big mistake."
