New York City Transit President Richard Davey made a live appearance on NY1’s Mornings on 1 with Pat Kiernan and Jamie Stelter to discuss weekend subway service and other transportation issues. 

A transcript of the interview appears below. 

Pat Kiernan: And we are heading into the weekend, which means another two days of subway shutdowns and detours. Weekends have long been the time when the MTA is able to schedule track work. It is a pattern that dates back to the classic Monday to Friday commuting patterns that we had before the pandemic, and somewhat, we have, still. Should that pattern continue? Weekend ridership has bounced back from the lockdown faster than weekday ridership. When that trend is combined with the lower frequency of transit you see on the weekend, weekend track work can seem especially painful at times. New York City Transit President Richard Davey is with us this morning. Thank you for being here. 

Richard Davey: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. 

Kiernan: I want to start with a complaint. I'm going to take it straight to the top. If I'm planning out a weekend, and you know I'm on the Brooklyn side, I want to get to the Manhattan side, I go to your website to look at the weekend track workup date, it's, you know, it's Friday morning already, and this weekend's update isn't there yet. 

Davey: Yeah. 

Kiernan: We got last weekend's update.  That’s the thing that's there. I wish you could get that information out there earlier so people could really understand how the weekend is going to be. 

Davey: You know, we put it up, I think, as soon as we know, right. So we have planned work, but there are a lot of changes that occur. In fact, I was looking at a particular change we're going to make later this summer, where we thought, we were prepared to get some work done and we're not, so, but your points are well taken.  You know we need to get the information up as soon as we can, and we do. I encourage you out there, I encourage you now, on air, and all of your viewers to sign up for our Weekender. I get that email too, as a customer, to see what's happening. But you're right. We'll do our best to get the information out as soon as we know. 

Kiernan: So that I guess, that's a sidebar comment here. The real question is, how do you decide when you're going to do that maintenance work? We can all acknowledge that the maintenance work must be done, at some time, and you're trying to choose the time when it has the least impact.  What goes into the decisions about how painful a particular weekend is going to be? 

Davey: Yeah, I mean so we look at, as you said, number one, the customer impacts, right. So are there, I mean, we're blessed in New York with subway service, that has, as you know, express versus local tracks. For example, can we look to mitigate work on one versus the other. Obviously, we have bus routes sometimes that follow our subway routes as well, and so, can that supplement. So we look at those for sure. I also think too, we look at you know, the issues around safety for example. So some of our overnight work, we can't really do on some of the elevated structures. For example, we want to be concerned about our employee and contractor safety. So that all that plays into it. But look, as you said, I mean the good news, and I guess the bad news is, we have a lot of work we need to get done. We run a 24-hour, seven-day a week system, which is unusual, obviously, in the United States. And so we weigh those impacts to customers versus, you know, how can we get work done quickly and safely. 

Jamie Stelter: What about in terms of all of the lines that run over the East River? For example, last weekend was particularly bad. It was pointed out to us, and we noticed that the  was down, the  was down. The lines that go from Brooklyn and Queens, into and out of Manhattan, we're all down at the same time. Is there any coordination to prevent that? 

Davey: Yeah, I mean, I don't think all of those lines, all the lines, were down to say that you couldn't get over to Manhattan from Queens or Brooklyn.  But we certainly do look at that, right. We look at what the alternatives are for our customers.  For example, I mean, I live on the  line, as an example, and felt that pain a little bit last weekend myself. But, you know, our hope is to get this kind of work done. So it's track and signal work. As you know, we have a huge commitment to make our system accessible. And so, for example, that work on the  is requiring us to put in elevators, which is great news for our customers.  But, you know, the short term pain, if you will, will net a long term gain. I mean, think about, you know, the signal system on the on the  and the , for example, those two happened to be shut down last weekend. I mean, those are our best performing lines by far. My customers are the most satisfied on those two lines. 

Kiernan: And I will totally vouch for the . 

Davey: Because of the signal system. 

Kiernan: There were problems, but the signal system was a huge improvement. 

Davey: Exactly. And that's one of the biggest construction projects, if you will, we have ongoing, is to make sure we can replicate those, you know, new signal systems across the rest of the system. And it's, again, when you're running a 24/7 system, we've got to weigh the pros and the cons about when we can get work done. But we're very cognizant of it. We hear the feedback from our customers. I would say this, the good news is, you know, six months or so ago our on time performance on the weekends was in the high 70’s, 78% I think. We appointed a weekend czar and have a team now that's really looking at our weekend service. Since we did that in the fall, our weekend performance is now at 83 to 84%. So there's obviously a lived experience. You might see a delay. But overall, we're seeing improvements because we're so, as you said at the top, people are coming back more frequently on nights and weekends. The recreation ridership is coming back so we need to respond to that. 

Kiernan: I want to ask you about a couple other things. We're running a story this morning about the push in Albany by some legislators to have this free bus program. And the thing they're proposing right now is two free bus routes in each borough. 

Davey: Yeah. 

Kiernan: Is that a solo legislative effort? Do you participate in those discussions at this early stage? 

Davey: So we're not participating in those discussions per se, but I will tell you, I do read the newspaper, and so we're looking at, you know, if that is ultimately enacted, what could the potential bus routes be. So, I mean, if that is enacted and it's funded, you know, we'll be prepared to launch it. But no, we're not participating in those discussions, per se, but we are watching, you know, and observing. I mean, thanks to the governor's leadership, the Assembly and the Senate, I mean, they're having conversations not about whether or not MTA is worthy of investing in, it's about how they're going to do it. And so we're excited to see the budget debate play out over the coming days, but we certainly need the revenue, and it seems like it's going to come.  In what form, we’re not sure. 

Kiernan: We're aware that you're having a press conference at noon today, on bus lanes, and how that can really be sped up. 

Davey: Right. And, I mean, if there's one thing that annoys me, is a vehicle that isn't a bus, occupying a bus lane, or occupying a bus stop. And so we have cameras on our buses now, that can take photographs of cars that are illegally parked in these areas and send tickets. There's a piece of legislation pending, which we're advocating for this afternoon, that would allow us to expand that enforcement to include, for example, double parked cars. So if there's a double parked car, in the way of a bus that has this camera technology, we can send a ticket. I hope never to collect any revenue because I want these obstacles out of our buses’ way. But the reality is it actually changes behavior. So, if typically, if a New Yorker gets a ticket, 80 to 85% of the time, they do not repeat. So one ticket. 

Stelter: They don’t commit the same crime again. 

Davey: Yeah. The one ticket does change behavior. So that’s what we’re going to be talking about today. 

Kiernan: And I don't want you to give away all your data from your noon press conference, but the headline is that when you enforce the bus lanes the buses move faster. 

Davey: I mean, that's exactly, I mean, it's not rocket science. People wait, you know, the wait time is lower, the buses move faster, and it's also safer too, so there's less, you know, bus accidents occurring. So, you know, all in all, we think a worthy reason to go after this legislation. 

Kiernan: Richard Davey of New York City Transit, nice to have you on this morning.