Machines and technology

There is no question that Jay H Walder our boss is moving at lightening speed to embrace the technology of machines as a manner to phase out the human element. Thus it creates a saving of the labor expense in their view. It is not good that we the members of Local 100 be happy about that. It may be short lived however in the long run the machines will phase out the labor.

Currently the Select Bus Service has been embraced as a success - why? Due to the fact that the farebox has been removed from the bus and now the customer has to pay before boarding the bus on the fareboxes on the sidewalk. Now the most odd thing about it is the bus operators are happy about it. We here in why did you join the union believe that the removal of the farebox from the bus should not be celebrated. 

It may appear that removal of some responsibilities that were conferred onto the bus operators of the collection of fares may result in some demands from the management. Imagine the management in the event of a spit assault on a bus operator of a select service claim that there is no farebox on the bus so the bus operator is to be blamed for this incident. In addition indirectly by the removal of the farebox from the bus that may lead to the elimination of the titles of those who were maintaining the fareboxes in the buses. Thus that should not be embraced. 

The MTA on January 20, 2011 removed the gates on the E-ZPass lanes on the Henry Hudson Bridge as part of a pilot program to move to completely cashless tolling on the bridge by 2012. Drivers with E-ZPass can now roll through the tollbooth without having to wait for the barricade to rise, making it quicker to move across the bridge. 

‘There’s a better way to collect tolls in the 21st century, and it’s called all electronic tolling.’ said Jay H Walder, chairman, CEO of the MTA. ‘By removing the gate arms today, we begin the process of ushering in this new era in toll collection. If all goes according to plan, by next year the Henry Hudson Bridge will be the first cashless bridge in the country, reducing travel times for drivers and expenses for the MTA.’ 

There are still three lanes in each direction for drivers without E-ZPass. In 2012 when the bridge goes cashless those lanes will be eliminated. For drivers without E-ZPass and for out-of-state drivers, a picture will be taken of the car’s license plate and the driver will be billed the non E-ZPass toll, currently $4.00. The E-ZPass rate is $2.20.

Many of our sister transit authorities in the country for a long period of time are operating their metro systems without station agents who collect fares as we do. However it is important that we think ahead looking towards the future before we are phased out by the machines. It is important our brethren in the station department begin to embrace the technology based on section 2.21 which confers upon us the members of TWU Local 100 the Joint labor - management training program. Perhaps in the contract of 2010 they should create a transition mechanism to move the station agent out of the booth into the responsibilities of stocking those machines with rolls of tickets, metro cards, receipts and removal of the funds that would definitely keep them around due to the fact that those machines need the human element - to defeat Jay H Walder’s theory of ‘reduction of labor expenses for the MTA’ .