Report: 94% of World’s Subways Operated by One Person. Hochul Should Veto Bill Requiring Two

An important new report by the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management’s Transit Costs Project found that less than 6% of the world’s biggest 270 transit lines use two or more train operators. Of the 94% that use one or fewer operators, many are completely automated – like the JFK Airtrain – and the trend globally is clearly towards automation as modern signal systems are installed.

The Marron Center report, “How Many People Does it Take to Operate a Train?” notes the MTA already uses one-person train operations on its shuttles, and on the G and M trains on the weekends. The report, which was covered today in The New York Times, concludes that a bill passed by the State Legislature earlier this year that would require the MTA to use at least two operators on subway trains “will stymie the authority’s efforts to become a world leader in transit operations.”

Reinvent Albany agrees with the transit experts at the Marron Center and we – and others – have asked Governor Hochul to veto the bill. We oppose the bill because it will do nothing to improve subway service, and instead will add costs that will ultimately be paid by transit riders. 

Reinvent Albany believes the facts highlighted by the Marron Center clearly show that New York’s two-person train operator bill – while perhaps well intentioned – is more an instrument for securing special advantage for a powerful political stakeholder than improving the welfare of the broader, transit riding public.