Audit Finds Metro-North & LIRR Waste Money

At a time when Metro-North commuters are facing a possible 32 per cent fare hike, a report by the MTA's Inspector General has found Metro-North and the Long Island RailRoad are wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars each year because workers in the field are illegally idling their vehicles - WAMC's Dave Lucas reports

In New York State the maximum vehicle idling time is 5 minutes.

An audit found vehicles idled for a combined 20,000 hours each month, wasting over $800,000 a year.

MTA Spokesman Sam Zambuto says both the LIRR and Metro-North agree with the Inspector General's recommendations to reduce unneccessary vehicle idling

Metro-North had already been analyzing the benefits and costs or implementing an automated vehicle location monitoring system prior to the audit.

(C) 2012 WAMC