The Works

New York City Subway Tries to Pry Booth Attendants Out Into the Open

Whether the unions will allow it is another story.

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Ever since the New York City Subway ditched its iconic tokens in favor of not-quite-so-iconic (albeit far more logical) magnetic swiping MetroCards, the booth attendants who used to dole out the trinkets haven’t had much to do. Even at busy stations, they spend their days holed up in a dirty, bulletproof booth, “occasionally dispensing a MetroCard, a map or a scowl at some straphanger,” as Ben Kabak at the blog Second Avenue Sagas so eloquently put it. Most passengers now interact with a machine for their MetroCard needs, and those looking for information often find it hard to communicate through the thick glass, the difficulty compounded by the fact that in such a diverse city, chances are that someone on at least one side of the interaction is not a native English speaker.

The MTA already eliminated 184 of these booths and many more attendant jobs back in 2009 and 2010, and is now looking to move workers in 25 more stations out from behind the glass. The Daily News reports:

Instead of a clerk behind the glass, each station would have a transit worker carrying out a wider-range of duties that might include such tasks as crowd control on platforms, emptying garbage cans and waiting with an ill rider for an ambulance to arrive, according to union and management sources.

Workers in this new role would not handle cash or sell fares but they would still provide riders with travel directions and information, sources said.

“The idea is an employee can do a lot more for customers outside of the booth than inside,” an MTA official said.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority brass outlined the proposal in broad terms recently during contract negotiations with Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents bus and subway workers.

The idea of sequestering employees in these glass boxes was the sort of thing that might have seemed rational in the days when New York City had a much higher crime rate – back when subways functioned as rolling graffiti galleries, and many people made a conscious effort to ride in the middle of trains, where the conductor is easily accessible – but nowadays, the safety measures can seem a bit anachronistic.

In fact, the safety measures for employees too often seem to be getting in the way of safety for riders. In one particularly horrific incident in 2005, a woman was raped in a G train station in Queens while a booth attendant who looked on was supposedly prevented by MTA rules from leaving his booth. “I can’t forgive those five seconds when I stared into his eyes, screaming for help, imploring him with my tears,” the victim told the Daily News of the booth attendant, “and all I got back was a cold stare.” In another more recent incident, a rider was repeatedly stabbed while police stood just feet away in the driver’s booth.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey may not have the best record of customer service or efficiency, but their workers on the PATH subway between Manhattan and North Jersey are proof that you can have employees roaming around stations, helping customers use the ticket vending machines, without posing a serious safety risk.

In fact, the wisdom of having conductors on subways at all is debatable. Most subway systems around the world have dropped the second employee, leaving the driver to open and close the train doors, with New York’s two subway systems as the notable exception. But on the PATH train, the conductors stand out in the open in cars. They even walk through the train at one point in its run, making them much more useful in terms of safety and helping riders. This contrasts sharply to the conductors on MTA trains, who are isolated in a tiny box, unable to walk through the train and check on things even if they want to.

“Under long-standing contract language,” writes the Daily News, “the MTA can’t assign a worker in one job title to duties now proscribed to another title. A station agent, for example, can not be ordered to mop a station floor or remove graffiti.” The union is, of course, opposed to any merging of job titles, which it calls “broadbanding.”

As with any change to normal operating procedure, the MTA needs to get the union to agree to the new rule. Unlike in most cities, where transit authorities could liberate workers from their booths by fiat (Philadelphia, we’re looking at you), management forcing it on them and risking a strike is not an option in New York.

The Works is made possible with the support of the Surdna Foundation.

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Stephen J. Smith is a reporter based in New York. He has written about transportation, infrastructure and real estate for a variety of publications including New York Yimby, where he is currently an editor, Next City, City Lab and the New York Observer.

Tags: new york cityinfrastructurepublic transportationtransit agenciesthe workssubwaysunions

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