By Philip Newman
The MTA, facing a budget gap of more than $800 million, said it is “on track” to reduce overtime pay by $54 million this year.
“Reducing overtime is a key part of our efforts to use every fare and taxpayers dollar wisely and I am pleased that we have been able to achieve real results in just a few months,” said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder. “We have a lot of work still to do, but we’ve shown that by focusing in key areas we can earn critically needed savings across our agencies.”
Overtime pay has been costing the MTA more than $50 million annually.
The MTA said the savings were the result of changes to policies and operating procedures throughout MTA agencies.
The New York City Transit Authority, which operates buses and subways, is projected to save $24 million by identifying workplaces with the highest levels of sick leave, limiting overtime only to critical activities like safety inspections and air-conditioning maintenance and filling critical vacancies that were creating a lot of overtime.
The Long Island Rail Road is expected to save $13 million and Metro-North Railroad $3 million.
In other transit news:
• Police announced a campaign against subway fare beaters, with 15,600 arrests so far in 2010, up 11 percent over last year.
• Police centered recent crackdowns on two stations where MetroCard vending machines had been damaged, at Utica and Church avenues, both in Brooklyn.
• Transit officials announced plans to install a newly designed intercom system that passengers could use in emergencies in two Manhattan subway stations.
“The HPI intercom could be used for subway riders who need to report an emergency or simply ask, ‘What trains go to the Rockaways?’” according to an MTA official.
Transit officials said the prototype intercoms would be installed at the Brooklyn Bridge and 23rd Street stations on the Lexington Avenue subway line.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at timesledgernews@cnglocal.com or phone at 718-260-4536.
