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Audit Finds Metro-North & LIRR Waste Money

New York City Subways.
MTA

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

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.