The MTA is a state agency. The mayor of New York has limited influence at best. He gets to nominate a few board members but the majority are appointed by the Govenor of NY. This is part of the eternal battle of upstate/downstate politics, and even downstate there are conflicts with other divisions of the agency like the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North Railroad which serve the counties outside of NYC for passengers on commuter rail.
Exactly. That said, my experience is that people outside the US (and I don't know if that's the case with the poster to whom you responded) don't quite "get" the distinction between local, state, and federal governments here. In London, for instance, the elected mayor doesn't do much
except run the transit system (a lot of other things done by mayors here, such as overseeing police, are handled at the national level).
That said, to the poster's point, the MTA isn't held in particularly high regard here in NYC, though to their credit they did an excellent job responding to Hurricane Sandy. To be fair, they are in a bit of a tough position. Only about half their budget is covered through fares. Most of the rest is through a 0.50% sales tax surcharge in NYC and the surrounding areas. They haven't received enough funding for capital projects as they'd like, and even in a city with $30/day parking would still face a near-riot if they raised fares much beyond the $2.25 per trip they charge now, so they have lagged behind other systems such as London or the BART.
----------
How much is a ride in London? It is $2.50 in NY.
$2.25, actually.
From my recollection it is £2 which is about $3.30. That said, London had the displays with the time to the next train 10 years ago when I lived there. NYC is just getting them now. On the other hand, they still haven't figured out a way to add air conditioning to the trains. It can be downright miserable to take the Tube in the summer.
London leased out most of their lines to private operators in long term deals in the late 1990s, which provided a source of funding for capital improvement. The MTA is still dependent entirely on fares and tax dollars, so is somewhat at a disadvantage in that regard.
----------
The tube in London (which first opened in 1863) has had real time app updates for years. And it has had real time updates on the platforms for as long as I can remember.
There is no excuse for New York being this slow for something this basic.
The MTA has air conditioned trains. The Tube does not. It would be illegal under EU directives to transport farm animals in conditions like the London Underground during summer.
