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MTA Car

Little things can lead to bigger things. We started out on this story with a tip that a garage on Greenwich St. in lower Manhattan had several MTA cars in it.

The tipster wanted to know how much the parking was costing the taxpayers. While checking things out, we noticed that some MTA employee (who turned out to be Joseph Smith, the MTA bus boss) got a weird chauffeured ride a few blocks to work one morning. It was enough to keep us watching.

The next time we went down to the garage, we saw the guy who give Smith a ride, take Smith's official car on a one hour journey to fill it with gas. We thought it was odd that the same agency that seems obsessed with telling us to take mass transit was practicing some rather bizarre and seemingly wasteful uses of an official MTA car.

Then we saw Smith take his official car, park it in the taxi stand, and have a beer at a bar.

Probably the most interesting outcome of all this is Smith's own admission that taking his buses around town is sometimes not the most efficient way to do things.

As for the parking garage, it's owned by the MTA. The MTA leases it out and makes money on it, so the original tip was off -- but it led us to other stuff.

There are signs in the subways that ask us to report waste and inefficiency in the MTA. We were just doing our civic duty with this one.

I'd love to hear from you.

Comments




  • Someone should look further into the Joe Smith's of the NYCTA.  He's not the only one - he's just the one who got caught.

    Fedup, 3 days ago | Flag

  • It always interests me how many people defend the subject of the story by demeaning the reporter without refuting any of the facts.  


     My only comment:  Leading by example is the preferred method of great leaders.  Leading by word, but not by deed is questionable at best. 


     


    MTA = My tired assets (need a ride)


     


    Daniel

    Sanctus, 6 days ago | Flag

  • Why are you only focusing on the negative things regarding the MTA?  Mr Smith has had Million$ of positive accomplishments.  Are you going to bring this to the light of the public?  In his position(s) he works from sun up to sun down and is on call 24 hours a day seven days a week.  I see why a take home car is necessary.  I have seen many changes for the better since he has been in his titles.

    Ravy, 1 week ago | Flag

  • JP,


      Thanks for your comments..I think everyone who has a passion for their job thinks their job is important.


      And you can believe me or not but if the little "chauffered trip" didn't happen followed up by the "one hour gas trip", this would have never been a story. Unfortunatley for Smith, the next trip was the beer trip. 


    There does seem to be an epidemic in NYC with officials parking illegaly with their official cars.  Maybe Joe is a down to earth guy but parking in  a taxi zone with an official car is not the best way to foster that down to earth guy image. 


     the one hour gas trip is pretty hard to justify no matter how you slice it...


    I understand Joe is in charge of access a ride and we were pretty sympathetic towards the efforts made by the agency in that program.


     


     

    Johndeutzman, 1 week ago | Flag

  • Yes, I am sure there are alot of people who think their jobs are important(such as youself),but how many of them are responsible for 5 Boroughs and Nassau's counties buses? How many of them responded to the World Trade Center, Blackouts and floods in New Orleans. If you stayed home things would still run. Could you say the same for this guy? I understand your point of looking for waste and agree that there is plenty out there, but this guy is not the one. This guy is a down to earth people person, who is very mindfull of waste and the enviornment. The SUV he drives is half the size of the last VP's SUV and is a Hybrid. He also has the responsiblity of LI Bus, MTA and NYCT Transit buses 3 times that of the last VP.    JP 

    flushing, 1 week ago | Flag

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