Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chair and CEO Janno Lieber appeared live from the New York State Capitol in Albany on WCBS Newsradio 880 with Steve Scott to discuss Albany budget meetings and other transportation topics.
A transcript of the interview appears below.
Steve Scott: With Friday’s State budget deadline looming, legislators in Albany still have not committed on funding for the MTA. So, imagine how that might be frustrating for the guy who runs the MTA. That's MTA Chairman Janno Lieber who is with us on WCBS. Mr. Lieber, good to talk with you again. Before we get to the dollars and cents, I understand part of Grand Central was evacuated this afternoon. Can you tell us what happened there?
Janno Lieber: Yes, somebody put out a series of bottles and the MTA PD wanted an opportunity to investigate what was in them. So, they cleared the hall of Grand Central for about an hour to investigate what that liquid was. It turned out to be nothing hazardous and the station was reopened in less than an hour. There was never any delay to the trains. But hey, listen, in this day and age, we are going to be cautious.
Scott: Better safe than sorry. Now you are in Albany. You're talking to lawmakers about funding for the MTA. What are you hearing? Are you optimistic? Pessimistic? Somewhere in the middle?
Lieber: Somewhere in the middle is probably the right answer. One, I'm up here because we're a couple days away from what has historically been the State budget deadline. And I just wanted the legislators who are here to be reminded that New York City Transit riders, subways, buses, commuter rail, need the financial plan for the MTA to be addressed. The Governor has put on the table a plan that fully addresses MTA deficits, deficits that come out of the ridership impacts of COVID. But the legislature, both houses, Senate and Assembly has got to come up, they put on the table their own plans, which has some good things in them, but we got to bring this into port because I don't want to be talking about having to cut service or dramatically raise fares because, you know, remote work, there’s still remote work among white collar workers. That doesn't make sense for a middle class and working-class New York.
Scott: Well, we don't want to talk about those things, but do you have to if you don't get the money? I mean, there's been talk about payroll tax, they don't like that in the suburbs, a Netflix tax. I mean, if you don't get the funding you need, will there be fare increases?
Lieber: The bottom line is we need a plan that addresses the MTA deficit. Right now, service has been great, Steve. You've got highest on time performance in 10 years, Long Island Rail Road ridership on highest levels since COVID. We're headed in a good direction. But you know, none of this can continue without full funding. So, we need, whether, whatever version of funding they choose, and that's something that has to be worked out among the legislature and the Governor. It's got to fully address the impacts of COVID financially on the MTA. There was federal money, thank you Chuck Schumer, for a couple of years. Now that money is running out. We need the legislature to take action. But I am optimistic in the sense that the Governor put on the table a good plan, a really thorough plan that made sense. And the legislature has said that they want to fully fund the MTA’s need, it just needs to be worked out exactly how they're going to do that.
Scott: What kind of pushback are you getting? Is this a downstate versus upstate thing?
Lieber: No, I mean, at this stage of history, the MTA region is 70% of the state's economy. Everybody gets that the subway, mass transit in general, is the lifeblood of the downstate economy. And New York State is going to be successful if mass transit succeeds. At our density, which is, you know, nine times Sunbelt cities like Houston or Phoenix, we can't function without first class mass transit. We don't have a big problem. We just need people to treat it as an essential service in terms of funding, like police, fire, and sanitation. We don't have any choice but to fund this fully, so that New Yorkers can count on frequent, reliable, and safe service. That's what I'm fighting for. And I think Governor Hochul has led the way.
Scott: Right, before we let you go, the subway booth attendants will be leaving the booths starting Thursday. They'll be helping riders at the turnstiles, on the platforms. What's the thinking behind that idea? And what do the booth attendants think of that idea?
Lieber: Listen, the point is we have OMNY, which is the new tap-and-go system we've been instituting at the MTA for a couple of years. There are fewer and fewer transactions that need to take place at the booths. Most of the MetroCard transactions happen in the machine. OMNY is made most of tap-and-go, you can use your credit card, you can use your OMNY on your phone. So, the booth attendants haven’t been really doing as much. They're great customer service professionals. It’s time for them to come out of the booths, we made a deal with the union on how that should happen. And it’s a good career move for those folks. And now they're going to come out and start helping people, help them with the MetroCard machine, help them with OMNY, help them with directions and be the eyes and ears inside the stations. Which you know, sitting in that booth behind the Plexiglas barrier, they weren't seeing all that much. Now they can be out there. It's a great thing, especially for tourists. You know what we need is a little bit more of customer service and I'm thrilled that they're able to do that. Now what does a station agent think? I think they think that their union worked out for them a good deal. They get a few cents more an hour and we are getting the benefit of people really interacting with our customers rather than sitting there in a lonely booth all day.
Scott: All right, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber up in Albany meeting with lawmakers, we appreciate you coming on. Thanks for joining us.
Lieber: Thank you, Steve.