The Trains are not All Right

"For Sweden" (rallybeetle) 07/15/2020 at 10:15 • Filed to: Trains, Trainlopnik, NYC, New York City, Subway, MTA, Organizational Culture

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So Sarah Feinberg, the new interim president of NYC Transit, is !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

First, how is the organization structured? No one knows!  Though they all know a guy.

Some managers maintain a chart of their own employees, but there is no unified document for the whole agency, Feinberg said.

That chart would serve as a sort of Rosetta Stone for the massive bureaucracy, and she said it’s necessary in order to find ways to save money.

Still, some MTA sources said an org chart might further complicate the agency because so much of its work runs on personal relationships.

She has thoughts on this!

There are people who do not work here who we are paying,” said Feinberg. “It’s crazy ... I absolutely believe there are a lot of people wandering around and no one knows who they report to.

She is also a woman of my own organizational heart.

Feinberg expressed a distaste for many MTA consultants — and said she does not need them in order to find ways to cut costs or build out her master org chart.

And this dysfunction is literally killing people.

The lack of organization at the MTA has also hampered transit officials’ efforts to do in-house contact tracing among employees who may have been exposed to COVID-19. The disease has killed at least 131 agency employees.

The agency has no phone number or email address on file for thousands of its workers, Feinberg said. Officials have mulled giving every single worker an MTA email account, but found that it would cost $3 million annually.

It really is just a matter of time until everyone on a subway train dies in a crash.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:19

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It’s not as though they actually need to know whether the person on the payroll is actually doing work, right? Right? Free-range employees are the way of the future!

Just like their trains, they don’t know where they are, where to go, or when to arrive.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:20

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For Sweden > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 07/15/2020 at 10:21

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Schedules are a social construct.

For Sweden > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:22

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Double post, thanks K inja

For Sweden > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:22

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Dexter Holland has a Ph.D., and is therefore  a dweeb.

For Sweden > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 07/15/2020 at 10:22

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Dexter Holland has a Ph.D., and is therefore a dweeb.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:26

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So are employees. Both should be left to run free without oppressive oversight.

user314 > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:27

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Still, some MTA sources said an org chart might further complicate the agency because so much of its work runs on personal relationships. 

Alcoholic denies having problem, takes a swig of MD 20/20.

Thomas Donohue > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:30

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Oh, you need someone to fix the signals on the N & the R line? I gotta guy....

Org chart? Microsoft Project? What’s that? We ain’t got a guy for that. But hold on, Louie say’s he’s got a guy in Jersey, he can do the computer stuff.

That guys expensive though, know what I mean?

Grindintosecond > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:30

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All of those shipping port cranes and large dockside shipping companies run on unions full of brothers, cousins, uncle’s, relatives. They all make stupid money. It’s bad when organizations get that way. (Ahem, not unionized. I mean nepotistic and near fraudulent)

The US airways regional air service back in the day, in Philly, lost half of it’s ramp workers in one day because of a large gang bust. They were all cousins, brothers, girlfriends who got a job cause someone got promoted to gatekeeper and let the foxes in to the henhouse. One ramper was this attractive asian girl in her twenties, with an attitude, and a huge ornate dragon leg tattoo. Rode a motorcycle to work....she mysteriously vanished after the gang takedown. They were all moving drugs in the cargo from Florida to Philly and back.

I hope the new MTA leader straightens up. Cuts unverifiable paychecks until they go see her to prove they have a job.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:31

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But his hot sauce is good tho

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:31

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Sounds like it’s time to fix the glitch. I would wager, though, that most New Yorkers don’t care as long as the trains are running.

Is anybody riding the subway these days?

ClassicDatsunDebate > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:36

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Tammany Hall runs all trains south of the Bowery.  Dry Dollar Sullivan has the Whyo gang collecting “fares”

For Sweden > ttyymmnn 07/15/2020 at 10:38

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No. You can’t ride  a train that is on fire.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:40

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So somebody halfway competent finally got promoted to the top? Color me surprised.

Also, this quote “ Feinberg said she’s also put a hold on spending money for employees to travel out of state ”

Besides maybe a few exceptions why the hell do any employees need to travel out of state?

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 07/15/2020 at 10:41

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“ The agency’s human resources department is given a budget, and just brings in new staff until its spent, a process the transit boss said she wants to fix.”

Holy shit...this reads like a parody.

For Sweden > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 07/15/2020 at 10:46

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It’s NYC.  Working with the Port Authority or New Jersey Transit would likely mean traveling out of state.

TheRealBicycleBuck > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:48

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Now I’m a dweeb too?

Yeah, ok. Description is correct. Carry on.

For Sweden > TheRealBicycleBuck 07/15/2020 at 10:49

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ttyymmnn > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:55

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MTA chairman Pat Foye has requested an additional $3.9 billion in relief from Congress in order to keep mass transit service running across the five boroughs for the rest of 2020. The agency in March received roughly $4 billion from the feds.

Eight billion dollars to run that system? For one year? Surely they could do it for seven .

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 10:56

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Yes, but I don’t think that’s what they’re talking about. I’m sure there are plenty of junkets to Boston, San Francisco, or Chicago to rub elbows wither other bus and train people.

ttyymmnn > Grindintosecond 07/15/2020 at 10:58

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I knew a woman who ran a crane on the LA docks and was making six figures. Good work if you can get it, I suppose.

facw > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 11:00

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I wish her luck, she’s going to need it, especially with a governor and mayor who see the system as a money pit that should be scaled back rather the essential engine that drives NYC.

Personally given how critical it is, I’d say they should make the whole system free, and just have the city collect a uniform tax (perhaps scaled by distance to the nearest subway station) to fund things. I certainly would not be talking about ending 24-hour service to save money.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 11:07

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Ah...that makes sense. But I would think that would be a part of the normal operating costs, not a separate “Out of state travel” line item.

TheRealBicycleBuck > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 11:23

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No need to mean about it.

I bet I’d could still ride a bike farther and faster than that lump of meat.

Where have all the lightweights gone? > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 11:23

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This sounds like a recipe for disaster. London’s Transport system was just as dysfunctional 30 years ago, relying on personal relationships and a very informal and rigid role structure. When a fire broke out in the Kings Cross tube station in 1987, it was made worse due to these rigid roles.

DipodomysDeserti > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 11:24

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I don’t remember this episode of The Sopranos.

For Sweden > ttyymmnn 07/15/2020 at 12:40

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Think of all the Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi you could listen to at work.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond 07/15/2020 at 13:35

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Longshoreman are really very interesting in how they are structured with regards to unions as well. See I support unions, but only to a certain extent.

I like that they fight for benefits, wages, employment and keep a company sort of honest but if they get far too large it’s just a pain in the ass as a new worker. So much so that you end up becoming the people you hate because the structure wipes out any spirit you have. Both times I worked for stronger unions I was harassed with shift changes, over worked, and my career progression halted by seniority traps .

Also another reason longshoreman are exclusive is that they’ve been involved with crime from the get go. They’ve skimmed forever and it’s only since automation where it’s quicker and less hands on that it’s actually decreasing. T hey’ve worked with criminal organizations for kickback and many ports still have the ties and likely  engage in it.

punkgoose17 > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 15:55

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I am sure there is enough fat in the system that should be cut out they can fix the subway twice over.

For Sweden > punkgoose17 07/15/2020 at 15:56

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You can’t fire people if those people don’t have email accounts

punkgoose17 > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 16:01

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You just stop mailing out the checks and the problem sorts itself... Where does the money even go if they don't have contact information for the employees, only bank info?

For Sweden > punkgoose17 07/15/2020 at 16:23

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Maybe they pay in cash

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 19:26

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... so much of its work runs on personal relationships...

How can this be a bad thing?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > For Sweden 07/15/2020 at 19:28

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Or  Dvoák  or Scriabin...

Merkin Muffley > For Sweden 07/16/2020 at 13:46

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so much of its work runs on personal relationships.

Like the mob?

Merkin Muffley > Grindintosecond 07/16/2020 at 13:48

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Hey!  Without all that revenue?  America-USAir is headed to Chap 11

Merkin Muffley > ttyymmnn 07/16/2020 at 13:49

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Wasnt the entry level BART janitorial job $97k plus a double dip pension scheme?

user314 > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 07/16/2020 at 14:05

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Dude, like 99% of the Federal government runs just like that. You spend every dime you get, that way you get more money in the next budget. Don’t use it all and you might get less , and God forbid budgets ever go down.

user314 > Merkin Muffley 07/16/2020 at 14:07

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Yes, “like” the mob.... 

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > user314 07/16/2020 at 14:20

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I know, but it’s unbelievably stupid.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > For Sweden 07/17/2020 at 18:22

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Fuck New Jersey Transit in the ass with a syphilis laced Cactus.  

Signed
NJT rider for 8 years.