New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering a bill to change how New York City’s subway operates.
Senate Bill 4091 would force the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to have two operators on all subway trains.
As technology changes, more lines are using communication-based train control for driverless trains, reducing the need to have both a motorman and a conductor on board.
Proponents of the bill say this will improve public safety, but Rachael Fauss, senior policy analyst with Reinvent Albany, said this is government overreach.
“It would take away their discretion and their ability to work with the labor force, and make decisions for each line, what makes the most sense,” said Fauss. “It just sort of is an across-the-board prohibition on being able to run trains efficiently.”
While the subways have been moving toward one-person train operation, the Citizens Budget Commission finds fully implementing this concept can save the MTA $442 million annually. The group also notes that staffing two operators on all trains would cost $10 million each year.
Since opening in 1904, the New York City subway system has used a motorman and a conductor for the majority of its trains. But a New York University Marron Institute for Urban Management report finds this is uncommon.
Many systems worldwide upgraded to one-person train operation in the 70s and 80s, and New York City currently uses a single operator for smaller trains.
Eric Goldwyn, a professor of transportation and land use who works with the institute, said the bill forces outdated ideas onto future transit lines like the Interborough Express.
“It would require that that train also has two operators,” said Goldwyn. “We would argue if you’re building a new line, which is definitely the case everywhere else in the world, you definitely would try to build it to the most modern standard, which would be automated, and this law would preclude that from happening.”
The same idea would also apply to the Second Avenue Subway, which is also in development. Goldwyn added that job security concerns are worth discussing, but MTA and labor unions should have that conversation, not the state legislature.
The NYU report also points out the bill originated 30 years ago, meaning it’s not aligned with modern subway operations.
