Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (2:33)

how does the wind play into it? I mean, I'm calling it a snow at Cane I get the temperature. Snow is snow. But like the wind and the various trucks that you have, I mean, underground, it doesn't affect it. But how do you adapt to the wind? GENERALIE Burke, the.

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (2:51)

The issue with wind mostly is actually the impact it has on drifting. What it, you know, when you have, for example, we have some areas of the subway system that are what we call an open cut. That's like a little valley, a depressed area below grade, but it's still open to the sky, and snow tends to accumulate and the wind pushes the snow into those areas. The drifting on the commuter railroads sometimes will cover the third rail, our source of power. So that is, and obviously for, for people who are driving buses and even trains, the visibility issues associated with wind, that wind is the dominant factor in determining when we can bring back Long Island Railroad service at the east end of our system.

Host (3:34)

So what is the latest thinking, Jono, about the Long Island Railroad here? Because again, as you mentioned, and we've heard from the weather folks, that's really bearing the brunt of this storm.

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (3:45)

Yeah, well, we did an orderly shutdown last night at about 1am the goal is always to get everybody home. We did that last night with some extra service, late, late. And now we're going to be focused on orderly resumption of service, hopefully in time to operate tomorrow when the world will be getting a little bit back to normal. So that's the approach that we take. Safety first, you know, and taking account of where the snow accumulations and the drifting may have impacted on service. You know, one thing to bear in mind is in our big train yards, that's where we tend to get, you know, the biggest drifting issues. And, you know, sometimes that inhibits your ability to put cars into the system, into service. So we'll be digging out from in the yards and making sure that again, the third rail and, and that the, the tracks themselves are clear of snow.

Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (4:40)

We continue with Jenna Lieber, MTA chair, quality time from his crisis center, Paul Sweeney with Jenna Lieber.

Host (4:48)

Jenna, so all your personnel, the critical personnel of the mta, how do you manage getting those folks to where they need to be? Because, boy, they have to get there just like the rest of us.

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (4:59)

It's part of the deal when you sign up to work for the mta, that you may have to come in under extreme circumstances when the rest of the world is being told to stay home. Our workers are being told to come in, and they do. They worked through the night. They worked heavily. Yesterday we got 70,000 employees at the MTA thousands of them have been out. Many of them have slept in, you know, in bus garages or in rail. The rail control center, where our head of subway spent the night at the bus command center. It's part of the deal working for the mta. And I talked to Governor Hochul in the last. In the last hour or two, and. And she's really focused on. On, you know, tip of the hat to the. To the workforce generally.

Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (5:44)

I love artificial intelligence. It can ruin your day. General, you got to help me here with the $1.8 million per inch myth. Now, this is a department of sanitation that every inch of snow costs $1.8 million. What's your every inch of blizzard that costs the MTA? Do you have a number? Even if you don't tell me. Do you have a number in your

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (6:06)

head, I'll tell you the absolute truth. I have no idea whatsoever. It's. You've given me a new metric. We use analytics here like crazy to evaluate how well we're doing, hopefully to operate more efficiently every day. You know, revenue. You know, cost per car mile, cost per revenue mile for subway and bus and commuter rail. You've given me a new metric to study, but right now, I have no idea what to say to you.

Host (6:32)

John, this is the second big, big winter storm of the season. It's arguably one of the biggest storms we've had in decades in this area. How's your system kind of holding up? Does it. Is there a cumulative effect where, boy, we can't. We really don't want to have a third or fourth storm this season.

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (6:50)

Honestly, the challenge is, is, you know, the same every time, which is you have to get the snow off. You have to make sure you have enough people to operate fully. You have to chain all the buses. You have to move, you know, subway cars around and put them in the tunnel, store them in the tunnels. You know, it's not that we. Every storm makes it harder. To the contrary, you know, for better or worse, we're getting better at preparing for these because we've had repetitive storms, and we're going to continue to try to get better. In the era of climate change, we're dealing with all kinds of extreme weather events. You know, right now, we're forgetting about torrential rainfall and. And. And rising sea levels, but those are issues for the MTA as well.

Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (7:36)

What does the morning look like? Let's say 4 or 5am Tuesday morning. Mr. Lieber, can you say back to normal?

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (7:45)

I don't know about normal, but listen, our friends at the department of sanitation are clearing not just the streets, but the bus stops. That's really important, something that I know the mayor wants to do better at compared to the, the first time around, so that our bus people who depend on buses will be able to get on and off them without having to climb, climb over a four foot mine of snow.

Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (8:08)

Who should.

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (8:08)

That's important issue.

Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (8:10)

That's brilliant. Who actually picks up a shovel and shovels a bus stop? Who is that person?

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (8:16)

It's a lot. It's, it's folks who work for the department of Sanitation. They're supplemented. This is city of New York as opposed to mta, but they're supplemented by parks department workers and they're actually hiring folks off the street for extra shovelers this time around. So I'm very hopeful that that particular challenge will be addressed. And we're, we're going to be clearing not just the tracks but also our yards, as I mentioned, which is where trains tend to get stuck. And there are, you know, a lot of complex switches that can inhibit things if they're not properly in order.

Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (8:50)

One more question, Paul. You were, you were impressed by the buses.

Host (8:53)

Yeah. Just walking to work this morning. I saw some of the buses here. Talk to us about the buses because, boy, I haven't seen too many snow plows out yet because the storm is still raging here. How did the buses adapt here?

Janno Lieber, MTA Chair (9:06)

It's, it's old fashioned stuff, Paul. It's, we put chains on every, on the tires of every bus. And that, that, that gets done in the days leading up to, to the storm when we know it's coming. You know, forecasting is getting better and better. We chain the entire fleet and we take all the articulated buses which are, you know, tend to move around a little more in slippery conditions. We take them out of service and we make plans accordingly.

Interviewer/Reporter Paul Sweeney (9:33)

Jenna, thank you so much for taking precious time this morning. This is the MTA of New York City as they deal with the storm, as I'm sure we're seeing in Philadelphia and Boston.

Producer/Announcer (9:45)

Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift. Well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now. You, you call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a try@mintmobile.com switch.

Mint Mobile Advertiser (10:04)

Limited time, 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required, $45 for three months, $90 for six month or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See Terms.