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> New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority operates commuter trains that require higher staffing levels -- but as Smith wrote in another 2012 Bloomberg View pi
by jcoffland 10y ago
> New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority operates commuter trains that require higher staffing levels -- but as Smith wrote in another 2012 Bloomberg View piece, those higher staffing requirements are the result more of union rules than of necessity.
This is also true for construction. Anyone who's seen construction in progress in the US knows that there are usually 5 guys standing around for every one working. Everyone one of them is getting health care, a pension and a decent salary if they are standing around or not. And they are getting the best health care and pensions of just about any group in the US.
- Shivetya 10y agoYou want a true transit authority horror story go read up on Washington DCs. The unions are not their big issue though they do cost the TA a lot of time and money, its the money games that came about because of years if not decades of mismanagement by government appointees and officials. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metro-sank-into-crisis-despite-decades-of-warnings/2016/04/24/1c4db91c-0736-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/met... and its not just infrastructure. Canada privatized into a non profit entity their air traffic control to good success. We have the TSA running security in airports where if you want timely service it will cost you hours of time and nearly a hundred bucks for membership and even that is not guaranteed. The worst example of how government mismanages everything is sadly still not fixed, the VA There is just too much up front cost in government projects that weighs down the economy but the real danger is all the deferred costs from maintenance to pensions.