Cuomo Declares State Of Emergency For MTA, Calls Transit System’s State Of Decline ‘Unacceptable’...Here's what healthcare would look like if the government ran it!

Cuomo Declares State Of Emergency For MTA, Calls Transit System’s State Of Decline ‘Unacceptable’

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Just days after a subway derailment in Harlem, Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will be signing an executive order declaring a state of emergency for the MTA.

The governor made the announcement Thursday at the Genius Transit Challenge Conference, an international competition with a $1 million prize to come up with solutions to improve the transit system’s reliability.

Cuomo said the state of emergency will “allow us to expedite many of the normal government processes.”

“One of the processes we’re going to expedite is the MTA procurement process. I’ll ask the comptroller and the attorney general for a special team to expedite the process,” he said. “But it will no longer be a tortured exercise to do business with the MTA.”

While he said issues with the transit system have been going on for years, Cuomo said its “current state of decline is wholly unacceptable.”

“The delays are maddening New Yorkers,” he said. “We need ideas outside the box because, frankly, the box is broken.”

He said he will also be tasking the Public Service Commission with investigating MTA power outages.

“If there is a power outage and if Con Ed is responsible, they are going to be fined heavily for the delays that they have been causing New Yorkers,” Cuomo said.

In addition, the governor said New York state will commit another $1 billion to the MTA Capitol Plan “so the MTA has the resources they need to get it done.”

This week, an A train derailment in Harlem left dozens injured. Officials said it appeared to have been caused by an improperly stored piece of rail and two track maintenance supervisors have now suspended without pay.

There have also been multiple breakdowns, delays and countless inconveniences for those who rely on the trains. Earlier this month, riders were left sweltering underground in a stuck F train.

On Wednesday, a group of fed up commuters took their voices and their messages right to Cuomo’s doorstep.

“If you do not fix the subway, next year’s election will be a referendum on your governorship,” said subway rider Michael Sciaraffo.

“If you underfund a public transit system by billions of dollars, eventually it’s going to melt down,” said Executive Director of the Riders Alliance, John Raskin. “That eventually is now.”

Last week, Cuomo reappointed Joe Lhota as MTA chairman. Also speaking at the event Thursday, Lhota said “we need to listen” to customers, adding that “the customers are always right.”

“They are why the MTA exists every day,” Lhota said. “To allow them to go to work, to allow them to go to school, to go wherever they need to go and none of them need to go there and worry on whether or not they will get there on time.”

One woman who was injured during the derailment in Harlem earlier this week has announced her intention to file a $5 million lawsuit.