NYC Transit takes new tack on subway station renovation

With a weekday ridership that averaged 5.225 million last year, New York City’s subways face a Herculean task maintaining 468 stations. To say that some of the huddled masses are never happy with the results is an understatement.

While they see hundreds of millions of dollars being spent to rebuild whole stations with state-of-the-art architectural refinements, they also dodge pools of water and crumbling concrete in their own stations.

This has not gone unnoticed.

Starting with its new five-year (2010-2014) capital improvement program, MTA New York City Transit says it will adopt an approach to station renovation "that will allow more stations to be addressed in a shorter period of time in contrast to more costly station rehabilitations."

In a statement Wednesday responding to recommendations in a Controller’s Office audit, NYC Transit said "a more cost effective, efficient, flexible, and realistic approach to station conditions … will focus on remediation of different station components while maintaining those components that are in good condition."

While responding immediately to some of the Controller’s audit recommendations, NYCT Transit said others–including some requiring the use of web-based technology–are under review for future incorporation.

Meanwhile, said the agency, "Improvements are currently under way in the areas of the procedures governing station inspections and the efficiency of these inspections, while supervisors receive additional training in the identification of station defects."