MTA says staffing shortage continues to cause delays for subway riders
NEW YORK -- Staffing shortages that have plagued the MTA for months are still causing delays in the subway system.
Monday, the MTA president said he's launching a new plan to address the transit troubles, CBS2's Astrid Martinez reported.
If anyone knows New York City's transit system, it's Sharon Goldstein. She's been riding the city's buses and trains nearly all her life.
"For 70 years easily. I'm older than that," Goldstein said.
In recent years, Goldstein has seen significant upgrades on her rides.
"I feel that they have improved. They've gotten cleaner," Goldstein said.
But with trains and buses getting more crowded after the peak of the pandemic, Goldstein has also noticed significant delays.
"It takes forever to get, you could be standing out there a half an hour before a bus comes," Goldstein said.
Trains also suffered delays and cancelations. According to the MTA's public social media feeds, Monday saw several delays.
"The good news is we are running pretty good service on the subway overall. But you are right, the number one issue we continue to have for subway challenges is employee availability," said MTA President Richard Davey.
At an annual event calling attention to the city's slowest bus routes, Davey blamed some of the transit issues on staffing shortages, which caused 25 percent of weekday train delays in June.
"So that is hiring, which we continue to do. But it's making sure that our employees are safe at work. We've seen an uptick in assaults, for example. That means folks are out of service. So we're gonna look at a holistic way to not only hire, but then encourage our employees to be coming to work," Davey said.
Davey plans to launch working groups to address crew availability, which shrunk due to COVID-related losses. The working groups will provide social services and resources to workers to encourage employee attendance.
The MTA said its most-recent stats are for June and there were nearly 33,000 weekday delays on subways and buses. The agency said about 25 percent of the delays were caused by crew shortages.