New York City Transit Authority
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The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, Transit, NYCT for New York City Transit or simply the TA for Transit Authority) is a public authority in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City. The NYCTA has a daily ridership of 7 million trips,[1] as a major part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the busiest and largest transit system in North America.[2] The NYCTA operates the following systems:
- New York City Subway, a rapid transit system in all boroughs but Staten Island
- Staten Island Railway, a rapid transit line in Staten Island (operated by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, a NYCTA subsidiary)
- A bus network serving all five boroughs (some operated by the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, a NYCTA subsidiary) (see New York City Transit buses)
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[edit] Overview
[edit] Name
As part of a public image campaign, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has assigned "PR" names to each of its affiliates and subsidiaries. These popular names differ from the legal names, which are used in all contracting and legal matters, and are used on public notices, maps, publications, vehicles and stations. The PR name of the New York City Transit Authority is MTA New York City Transit. Current plans are to split MTA New York City Transit into MTA Subways (which would also take over MTA Staten Island Railway) and MTA Bus Company (which would also take over MTA Long Island Bus, and has already taken over from several private operators). In fact, there is no legal connection between the New York city Transit Authority (TA) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The MTA is able to control the TA because the governor and the mayor have agreed to appoint only members of the MTA board to the TA board. Other than the interlocking boards, there is no legal connection between the authorities. Further, the subway system is owned by the City of New York and leased to the TA as the successor to the Board of Transportation, as the operating entity. The mayor may cancel the lease on 365 days notice.
[edit] History
The subway system consists of the lines built by the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) company of August Belmont, The Brooklyn Manhattan Transit (BMT) and the Independent (IND), depression era system built by New York City. The IRT and BMT systems were acquired by the city after they went bankrupt. All of the subways are now owned by NYC, and leased to the Transit Authority for operation. The Transit Authority, a public benefit corporation, was created in 1953 pursuant to Title 9 of Article 5 of the Public Authorities Law, as amended (the "TA Act"), for the purposes of acquiring the transit facilities then operated by the City and operating them "for the convenience and safety of the public." These facilities included the surface lines (buses and, until 1956, streetcars) and the IRT, BMT, and IND subways; before that date these services were managed by New York City's Board of Transportation. A major impetus of the formation of the NYCTA was to remove transit policy, and especially the setting of the transit fare, from City politics.
New York City's subway system is unique in the United States in that its very high ridership has enabled it to almost always pay its operating costs from fares (city bus operations cannot recover their operating costs from the farebox, which leads to the Transit Authority's inevitable overall operating loss), but as with all public transportation in the U.S., requires assistance for its capital needs. Historically, the TA's capital requirements were met by the city and state jointly, but this support was withdrawn, primarily by Governor Rockefeller, in the 1960s. He eventually forced the city to turn over effective control of the TA to the state and put his long time assistant, William Ronan, in charge by the creation of the MTA. This was much the same technique that he used to impose tuition on the free city colleges - initially, the City College, now City University of New York (CUNY),
In 1968 the NYCTA, and its subsidiary, the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA), were placed under the control of, and are now affiliates of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public benefit corporation chartered by the New York State Legislature in 1965.
[edit] Management structure
Although the Chairman and Members of MTA, by statute, are also the Chairman and Members of the Transit Authority and Directors of MaBSTOA, and the Executive Director of MTA is, ex officio, Executive Director of the Transit Authority, the Transit Authority has its own management structure which is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The executive personnel of the Transit Authority and MaBSTOA report to the President of the Transit Authority.
[edit] Strikes
On New Year's Day, in 1966, a 12-day strike was started with the aid of Michael J. "Mike" Quill. This strike started after the union member's contracts had expired, and with large economic demands from the union. After the 1966 New York City transit strike, the Taylor Law was passed making public employee strikes illegal in the state of New York.
Despite the Taylor Law, there was still an 11-day strike in 1980. 34,000 union members struck in order to call for increased wages.
On December 20, 2005, another strike occurred. Workers walked off at 3 a.m. and the NYCTA stopped operating. Later that day, State Justice Theodore Jones fined and warned the transit union that there would be a fine of $1 million for each day the TA is shut down. Also for each day the workers missed during the strike they would be fined two days pay. The workers are members of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 100.
At 2:35 p.m. on December 22, TWU Local 100 had told members to report to work immediately[1], even though no contract agreement had been reached. By late afternoon, the strike was over and bus service resumed in the evening and subway service in the morning of the December 23. The MTA Board of Directors, sitting as the Transit Authority board, repudiated the contract that they had agreed to. The original contract was ultimately imposed on the Transit Authority by a state mediator.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) | |
|---|---|
| Bus | NYC Transit • MaBSTOA • Long Island Bus • MTA Bus |
| Heavy rail | New York City Subway • Staten Island Railway |
| Commuter rail | Long Island Rail Road • Metro-North Railroad |
| Roads | MTA Bridges and Tunnels |
| Law enforcement | MTA Police |
| Fleet | New York City Subway • New York City Bus, MaBSTOA, and MTA Bus |
| Other | Fares • MetroCard • New York City Transit Authority • NYC Subway History |
