New York City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority deserve high marks for coping with the weekend blizzard and coordinating with one another, said one resilience and storm financing expert.
"I'd give them an A-minus," said Alan Rubin, a managing director at Tigress Financial Partners, after the storm dropped 27 inches on the city – its second-worst snowfall ever, as measured in Central Park -- and more than 30 inches in other parts of the Northeast.
"The state and the city coordinated appropriately. No one was trying to outstage one another," said Rubin.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a Brooklyn press briefing that it was too soon to determine the cost of the weekend's snow removal. The city had budgeted $77 million in fiscal 2016.
"This is really the first time we're tapping into that in a meaningful way. So, I think we're good shape," he said.
According to a new data analysis released by city Comptroller Scott Stringer, it cost the city $2.5 million per inch in fiscal 2015 to clear 47.5 inches of snow and ice, the third highest per-inch cost over the last 13 years. From fiscal 2003 to fiscal 2015, said Stringer, the average cost per-inch to remove snow and ice was $1.9 million.
The MTA, a state agency that operates the city's subway and bus operations, the Metro-North and Long Island commuter railroads, and several bridges and tunnels, suspended bus runs and overland train service at noon Jan. 23 while continuing underground subway service. It restored service Sunday, though workday commuters encountered delays.
Authority spokesman Kevin Ortiz also called it too soon to figure out costs.
"Obviously there's a certain amount of cost for overtime and extra staff, but the goal is to restore service as quickly as possible," he said Jan. 25.
Wynton Habersham, vice president and chief officer for service delivery at MTA unit New York City Transit, said the authority is a far cry from its December 2010 fiasco in which service was out for four days. "We have worked in many ways to enhance our preparedness and we saw the benefits this week," he told board members.
City and MTA officials were hiring snow laborers at $13.50 per hour for the first 40 hours, then $20.25 after that.
"That flexibility needs to be recognized," Hartsdale, N.Y., transit advocate Murray Bodin told the MTA's transit and bus committee at authority headquarters in lower Manhattan. "Many other places … Baltimore, Washington … failed to adequately deal with the snow situation."
According to Rubin, one area for improvement would be a "shelter in place" to prevent maintenance workers from being stranded from New York City's outer boroughs. "We're talking about people who commute under water and over bridges. Queens is still an issue and part of the Bronx is still an issue.
"It's been done in a few other places."
