{"id":182655,"date":"2026-04-01T21:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182655\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:00:08","slug":"groups-urge-albany-to-reject-nyc-transit-unions-2-person-subway-crew-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182655\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups urge Albany to reject NYC transit union\u2019s 2-person subway crew push"},"content":{"rendered":"

An alliance of business groups, government watchdogs and transit advocates is calling on state lawmakers to reject the Transport Workers Union\u2019s renewed push to enshrine two-person subway crews<\/a> in state law.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent Wednesday to state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and the relevant committee leadership in both houses, representatives of nonprofit groups Reinvent Albany, the Partnership for New York, the Regional Plan Association, the Citizens Budget Commission, the Effective Transit Alliance and NYU\u2019s Marron Institute voiced their opposition to a pair of bills working their way through Albany.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation would prevent the MTA from adopting the industry standard and realizing operational efficiencies as it deploys new trains designed to work with the billions of dollars of advanced signal technology being installed throughout the subway system,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n

At issue are Senate Bill S9586<\/a> and Assembly Bill A10706<\/a>, both backed by the TWU, which \u2014 if made law \u2014 would require the MTA to keep a two-person crew on all subway trains currently staffed that way.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of subways in the system are staffed by a crew of two: a conductor stationed mid-train, and a train operator in the forwardmost operating cab.<\/p>\n

But some trains \u2014 like the gray-bulleted shuttle trains, or weekend service on the G train \u2014 run with only a train operator in an arrangement known as \u201cone-person train operation,\u201d or OPTO.<\/p>\n

The TWU has historically been opposed to scaling back train crews. OPTO was briefly in place on the L train in 2005<\/a> \u2014 after the Canarsie line was equipped with modern signals that allowed for significant automation of train operations \u2014 but was ultimately abandoned amid contract negotiations with the union.<\/p>\n

The MTA has since installed modern signaling for the No. 7 train, portions of the E, M, F and R trains along the Queens Blvd. line, and portions of the F and G along the Culver line in Brooklyn. Modern signals are due to begin operation soon on the Crosstown line \u2014 the remainder of the G \u2014 as well as on the Eighth Ave. line of the A, C and E.<\/p>\n

With the union\u2019s urging, state legislators passed a law last year that would have required all trains \u2014 including those already running under OPTO rules \u2014 to run with two crew members.<\/p>\n

Gov. Hochul vetoed that effort, which would have cost the MTA an estimated $10 million in order to add conductors to the system\u2019s handful of OPTO lines.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, union leaders \u2014 who say they expect the MTA to try to expand OPTO during upcoming contract negotiations \u2014 pushed for the modified legislation that\u2019s currently in committee, which would allow all trains currently operating under OPTO rules to remain so.<\/p>\n

The union has argued that, despite the automation made possible by modern signaling, two-person train crews serve important roles in an emergency and can aid disabled passengers.<\/p>\n

The consortium of organizations behind Wednesday\u2019s letter wrote that \u201c[fewer] than 6% of 400 rail lines around the world use two or more train operators,\u201d citing a report<\/a> written by one of the signatories, NYU\u2019s Marron Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese systems have operated safely without conductors, or any staff in some cases, on board,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n

It costs the MTA roughly $400 million per year to cover payroll and benefits for the New York City subway system\u2019s roughly 3,600 conductors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An alliance of business groups, government watchdogs and transit advocates is calling on state lawmakers to reject the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[85,267,9,24,264,10,12,56,63,65,64,608],"class_list":{"0":"post-182655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-county","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-nyc-headlines","18":"tag-nyc-news","19":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}