New Supervision for Queens trains put in place

Riders of the No. 7 and L trains will have new people to contact to submit a complaint or pose a question about their subway lines, as part of a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit pilot program that installs general managers responsible for the individual subways.
The plan, which MTA officials recently announced, will give the newly appointed general managers control of the day-to-day operations including train announcements, station cleanliness, availability of MetroCard machines and on-time arrivals.
“I think for years, people have complained that Queens’ lines such as the No. 7 train have been treated as orphans of the system where repairs and changes are often delayed inexplicably,” said City Councilmember John Liu, who chairs the Council’s Transportation Committee. “Having a manager that is going to be accountable and responsible makes more sense than having all decisions go through Madison Avenue [MTA headquarters].”
Twenty-six-year New York City Transit veteran Lou Brusati will take over as general manager for the No. 7 train while Greg Lombardi will take over the leadership of the L train.
“We have chosen these line general managers for their leadership abilities and their talent to inspire their people,” said New York City Transit President Howard Roberts. “They will be responsible for sizing up situations and making innovative and immediate decisions.”
Earlier this year, the No. 7 line, which runs from Flushing Main Street to Times Square in Manhattan, received a C-grade from nearly 16,000 riders who filled out a survey ranking the train’s overall performance. Riders will again have the opportunity to grade the subway at the end of the first quarter of 2008 to help determine the effectiveness of the new plan.
If the pilot program on the No.7 and L lines is successful, NYC Transit may consider implementing general managers for all of its subway lines - a process that could take three years to achieve citywide. The general managers of the individual subway lines would compete for incentives determined by the performance of their particular line.
“The only caution is that President Roberts needs to keep an eye on things to make sure that we are only dealing with manager accountability and responsiveness so there doesn’t become a cutthroat competition between managers for resources,” Liu said.