Transit problems in NYC similar to those in D.C., Chicago…

The New York Times has taken advantage of the web by providing a useful Q&A forum for its readers that is directed at public and private officials who are involved in city planning and improvement. It goes some way to increasing transparency of public works and services.

This week’s Q&A should strike a familiar chord for all commuters, as New Yorkers direct their questions toward public interest attorney Gene Russianoff on the subject of improving public transportation. Many of the queries are similar to those that I have had as a commuter in D.C. and Chicago: Why aren’t transit employees at the kiosks informed about delays, and what prevents them from announcing delay times over the speaker system? Why does a sick passenger cause such extensive delays? Why can’t there be special bus lanes in the city? Why isn’t there more of an effort to fix elevators and escalators?

On balance, we should avoid being the impatient and unrealistic commuters who expect everything to run like clockwork all of the time, if only for sanity’s sake. This is actually why transparency on the part of the public transportation system is so important: if commuters know, for instance, why it takes a while for trains to resume when a customer gets sick, are informed of a delay before entering a turnstile, and have the option to re-route our commutes, we will much sooner tolerate inevitable delays, and the transit workers will have less angry crowds to deal with.

D.C.’s Metro deals with some of these problems more smoothly than most.  Still, I can only hope the increase in oil prices puts renewed focus on making even the U.S.’s best public transit systems more service-oriented and in better repair.