Late last year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul <\/span>vetoed<\/span><\/a> a bill that <\/span>would have required<\/span><\/a> two-person operating crews on New York City subways, despite heavy pressure from transit unions. While the veto looked like a win for fiscal sanity, two-person train crews\u2014and needlessly expensive transit systems\u2014are likely here for the foreseeable future.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill, which would have mandated both a driver and a conductor on each train, cleared the state Legislature somewhat unexpectedly last year. It was pushed by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) to permanently codify more union jobs into state law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most NYC subway lines <\/span>already<\/span><\/a> operate with two-person crews under the current labor contract between the TWU and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Hochul’s veto stopped two-person crews from spreading systemwide, and it theoretically left the door open for the topic to be renegotiated in future labor talks, rather than being cemented into state law.<\/span><\/p>\n

NYC’s two-person system is a global outlier. An <\/span>analysis<\/span><\/a> from New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management found that just 6 percent<\/span> of the world’s commuter rail lines use two-person crews, with most operating safely with a single driver for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although unions insist two-person crews are essential for safety, evidence suggests otherwise. The Manhattan Institute’s Adam Lehodey has <\/span>documented<\/span><\/a> that London, which uses one-person crews, operates one of the safest rail networks in the world. Research from the Association of American Railroads, which compared one-person trains in Europe to America’s multiperson freight train system, similarly <\/span>found<\/span><\/a> no evidence of a safety impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, as TWU President John Samuelsen told <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/i><\/a>, “It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” adding that a driver and a conductor make trips “visibly safer.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The fight over crew size extends beyond New York. Under President Joe Biden, the Federal Railroad Administration enacted a <\/span>rule<\/span><\/a> mandating two-person crews for freight trains nationwide. While one might expect this rule to be repealed in a Republican administration, the GOP’s continued bear hug with organized labor has muddied the waters.<\/span><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FRA Administrator David Fink both <\/span>voiced support<\/span><\/a> for the Biden-era two-person crew rule during their confirmation hearings. During his time in the Senate, Vice President J.D. Vance <\/span>co-sponsored<\/span><\/a>\u2014along with numerous other Republicans, including Sen. John Hawley (R\u2013Mo.) and then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R\u2013Fla.)\u2014the <\/span>Railway Safety Act<\/span><\/a>, which would have legislatively mandated two-person freight crews.<\/span><\/p>\n

The contradiction is especially stark in rail policy, as Trump recently <\/span>fired<\/span><\/a> numerous Surface Transportation Board members, presumably in an effort to greenlight railroad mergers\u2014the type of pro-railroad stance that collides with the administration’s pro-union crew-size priors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond failing to improve safety, two-person crews are substantially more expensive. Switching to one-person crews would save the MTA <\/span>$442 million<\/span><\/a> a year. That money could fund real safety improvements, such as the installation of <\/span>platform doors<\/span><\/a>, which provide a physical barrier between passengers and the train until the train has come to a complete stop. After platform doors were installed in Seoul, South Korea, annual subway deaths <\/span>dropped<\/span><\/a> from 70 to two.<\/span><\/p>\n

If anything, Hochul’s veto merely gives new NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani more flexibility in future labor negotiations between the TWU and the MTA. Based on the mayor’s <\/span>track record<\/span><\/a>, it’s unlikely he’ll be a voice for one-person crews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given likely political support from both City Hall and the White House, two-person crews appear entrenched\u2014and riders will keep paying for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The post Why Can't New York Get Rid of 2-Person Subway Crews?<\/a> appeared first on Reason.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill mandating two-person subway crews, but union contracts and bipartisan support ensure New Yorkers will keep paying for them anyway. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[19,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124362"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}