An MTA board member said yesterday he and his colleagues should be allowed to keep their free transportation privileges to encourage them to endure the “inconvenience” of riding trains.
David Mack, the MTA vice chairman and chairman of the Long Island Rail Road committee, said it’s important for board members to take mass transit because when they report a problem they’re listened to, but complaints from average Joes are worthless.
“If you [the average rider] saw something and called it in, it goes right there,” Mack told reporters at a committee meeting, kicking a garbage can.
“Why should I ride [the train] and inconvenience myself when I can ride in a car?” asked Mack, who has six free E-ZPasses.
“It has nothing to do with free or not free. We want to encourage [board members] to use it so if they see something, they’ll say something,” he said, quoting the MTA’s anti-terror campaign.
MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin responded: “Board members play a critical and unique role in overseeing the transit system. We have also made enormous strides in gathering customer input, via rider report cards, Webinars [Web seminars] and public workshops, which has already helped shape policy at the MTA.”
Board members will vote on revocation of their lifetime privileges and a policy requiring them to use passes only when they’re on official business.
Several members said they might reject such a resolution.
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has said the law prohibits the freebies since board members are not supposed to receive compensation.
“It is ironic that at a time when the MTA claims to be strapped for money, they can still afford free E-ZPasses and other privileges for board members who are not supposed to be paid,” a special assistant to the attorney general, Benjamin Lawsky, said yesterday.
No one pledged to reject the resolution outright – since it has not yet been finished – but several members also said they were “leaning” against restricting their perks.
“I believe we should have an outside counsel review the law,” said board member Francis Powers.