Sunday, May 23, 2010

MTA: spending their way

From the Daily News:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Bus Company spent millions on high-grade fuel rather than switching to a cheaper, lower-grade fuel to power the fleet, according to an audit by state Controller Thomas DiNapoli.

"They squandered more than $39 million of taxpayer dollars due to outdated, expensive contracts and delayed decision making," DiNapoli said.

The MTA revealed two years ago it got caught in a no-win, eleventh-hour contract negotiation with the fuel provider. Only one company bid for the business and imposed exorbitant rates to keep the fuel flowing to run buses.


From the Daily News:

A quarter of bus and subway workers took more than two weeks worth of sick days last year - driving the MTA's overtime bill into the stratosphere, officials said Thursday.

Abuse helped inflate the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's annual overtime tab to $560million.

Officials complained that outdated work rules and lax managers also are boosting crippling costs.

"Some overtime is needed to put out a reliable service and respond to emergencies," said MTA Chief Operating Officer Charles Monheim.

"But much of it is unnecessary and can't be justified," he said.

MTA brass vowed to slow the OT torrent, including cracking down on sick- time abusers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Switching to a lower quality diesel fuel causes more maintenance problems and downtime,especially in winter.People get sick and like every other type of jobs,there are are always those that must "get over" The real problem is the Family medical leave act. People take time off to pursue other paying gigs and get to keep the benefits and a "real" job

Anonymous said...

Well geez Morons...............the first thing a company cuts when in financial difficulty is the OVERTIME...

As I said before its union work rules that are causing costs to rise far more then inflation........

You cant time shift employees, without it triggering overtime...why are there school janitors that make over $100K a year?

That should never ever happen

Anonymous said...

People get sick and like every other type of jobs,

--------------------------

Strange, i have been in my current job for 5 years, and have taken 0 sick days.

What is it about union workers and getting "sick" all the time??? So strange!!!