Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chair and CEO Janno Lieber made a live appearance on NY1 Mornings on 1 with Pat Kiernan to discuss taking mass transit to the NYC Marathon, subway safety, and other transit-related topics.

A transcript of the interview appears below. 

Pat Kiernan: With a 26-mile street closure and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers expected to go to the marathon route to watch the race on Sunday, the MTA has reduced some of the track work that would normally happen on a weekend.  There will still be some essential repair work done on the weekend. And we should also know that access to some stations along the marathon route may be restricted from time-to-time because of the crowds. MTA Chairman Janno Lieber is with us from the marathon route in Central Park. Good morning. 

Janno Lieber: Good morning.

Kiernan: We often say take public transit when there's a big event.  That seems particularly true on Marathon Sunday because there are so many street closures that would make it very difficult to be driving.

Lieber:  You’re absolutely right, Pat. You know if you see the marathon and there are 3 million spectators who are going to be watching it, the best way to do it is to zip around on the subway. You go below ground; you don't get mixed up in the street closures and the difficulty of getting crosstown anywhere.  Absolutely use mass transit. 

Kiernan: We often speak of weekend service in the challenges of weekend service when you're trying to get work done. You have pulled back from some of what you might normally do on a weekend?

Lieber: Absolutely canceled everything except essential work, essential and safety related work. So, we're gonna have the best service that we possibly can. We want to make it an easy weekend for spectators and marathoners to get around. 

Kiernan: I want to ask you also about the focus that we have seen on crime on the subways.  You've been getting out there, looking at some of the statistics, believing that there's finally some traction between the efforts of the MTA and the efforts of the NYPD. How does that continue into the winter?

Lieber: You know what, the commitment that the governor and the mayor have made is to surge cops into the subway system, as long as necessary, to get back the reality and the perception of safety. Just this week, we've had a really good week since this build-up started. We had earlier this week 3.8 million riders, about the same size as the population of Los Angeles.  Four crimes the whole day.  Every one of them resulting in arrest.  All robberies. We're headed in the right direction. The riders are seeing cops all over the system, on platforms on trains, and they're also hearing these announcements. So they know that there are cops present if anything, God forbid, should happen.

Kiernan: Janno, I'd like to get into some of the politics, because this has really become an issue in this governor's race.  Lee Zeldin, at his rally yesterday, was speaking about the MTA. Here's a portion of what he said to a reporter.

Lee Zeldin (recorded 11/3/22): So as far as the MTA goes, what I want them to do is to run the greatest transportation system in the entire world.  I want it to be top notch with regards to safety.

Kiernan: Do you have conversations with the candidates at this stage in the election?  Or would that conversation begin after the fact – if in fact – Lee Zeldin were to be the winner?

Lieber: Yeah, I mean, during campaigns everyone keeps a real separation between government work and political work. So I've not had any conversations with the Zeldin team or with the political team for the governor.

Kiernan: But as we look ahead to what might happen after the election, this has been a hangover over a lot of issues such as congestion pricing.  Both sides going back and forth about whether it's a good idea or a bad idea. Will some of those things get on track, do you think, after this election is settled?

Lieber: Listen, transportation, mass transit is a huge issue for the City of New York and the entire region right now. We've got to, as you said, restore rider confidence in the safety of the system. But the surge in ridership is indicating that people are comfortable.  Look, we’re setting records every weekend in ridership.  We're up at 80% on the commuter railroads and 75% on the subways and buses, relative to pre-COVID. When people have somewhere to go, they are choosing to use mass transit, and they are feeling safe.  But we do have financial issues brought on by the COVID related reduction in commuting to work. And those have to be dealt with by Albany, and by City Hall, and the federal government. All that stuff is going to come to a head in the new year.

Kiernan: Janno, one other thing that we had talked about earlier in the week was the private security guards the MTA is hiring, just to create a deterrent to people, who are considering jumping over the turnstile. I know it's early in that program.  What's the reaction from the public been?

Lieber: Listen, I think New Yorkers are, we all sort of get along, by adhering to the same set of rules when we're in the public space. And so New Yorkers are glad to see that people are paying attention, trying to discourage people from fare evading, especially the opportunistic fare evasion, where someone has a MetroCard in their hand and then they just walk through the gate because it's open. So having those fare gate guards there is making, is deterring, fare evasion. It's definitely stopping people from breaking the vending machines and running swipe scam. And New Yorkers are giving us a thumbs up on the on the confidence they see, in, you know, in discouraging that kind of antisocial behavior.

Kiernan: Good to see you this morning, Janno.  Are you getting tempted to run the marathon by standing out there right now?

Lieber: You know my friend, I did it a few times. 

Kiernan: Oh okay.

Lieber: During the days of yore, and it's a lot of emotions coming back. But this elderly gentleman is not going to be running the marathon this year.

Kiernan: [Laughter] Alright. Fair enough.  Thanks for getting out there for us this morning.  We appreciate it. 

Lieber: You bet, you bet.