MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford today introduced straphangers to a group of about two dozen “Group Station Managers,” a new position that he created at the agency to bring more accountability and better customer service at subway stations across New York City.

“The subway service we deliver begins the moment you step inside a station,” said President Byford, who was a Group Station Manager in the London Underground before becoming the head of Toronto’s public transit system and then coming to the United States to run NYC Transit.  “We’re working hard to reduce delays, renovate stations and make more of them accessible, and while we do that, we’re also bringing absolute and clear accountability for delivery of cleaner, safer, consistently welcoming station service.”

A Group Station Manager is a single official responsible for all aspects of customer service and station environment for a range of stations, up to 25 each. Group Station Managers, who started this month, have offices in their service areas but will also spend significant amounts of time personally inspecting stations and helping to ensure that customer service, cleanliness, safety, and other customer-facing aspects of station environments are held to the highest possible standards.

To help achieve this mission, the Group Station Managers will also coordinate and follow through with the diverse and sometimes vast array of specialized professionals responsible for station environments, such as cleaners, painters, electricians, plumbers, customer service personnel, countdown clock specialists, MetroCard Vending Machine technicians, elevator and escalator repair personnel, cellular and wifi service providers, police, and others.

The Group Station Managers will also be the faces of New York City Transit to subway customers and community partners, working to foster relationships and open lines of communication.

Previously, subway officials in charge of individual aspects of station environments would oversee those operations on a citywide level, spreading their work across hundreds of stations in four boroughs.  Also, station supervision previously oversaw approximately 100 stations, making it hard to focus on detail.  Under the new system, Group Station Managers will be able to apply a targeted and holistic focus on a much smaller number of stations, making sure that issues are being handled top to bottom with much greater attention to detail.

The approximately two dozen Group Station Managers – drawn from a mix of internal and external backgrounds – will report to four new District Customer Service Managers, based in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.

The newly hired Group Station Managers come from prominent organizations across the airline, logistics, customer service, and communications industries.  The primary reasons they were selected for these roles are their passion for customer service, their ability to motivate and inspire teams, and their obsession to detail.

“This new management model will allow our teams to have more resources at hand so they can take ownership and really build pride in their territory,” said Rachelle Glazier, NYC Transit’s newly hired Chief Stations Officer.  “This will bring a new level of empowerment and pride to our workforce, and a new level of service for our customers.”

Watch a video featuring the new managers here.