The city's comptroller is calling for more transparency at the MTA in light of allegations that the agency is misleading residents about subway delays.
Comproller Scott Stringer claims the MTA is operating under what he calls a "culture of concealment," saying research done by his office reveals the agency is not being honest about the real reasons behind subway delays and hasn't been for years.
Stringer says his staff reviewed internal MTA memos and interviews with employees to find that the causes of subway delays are often categorized incorrectly, and that the agency's operational failures are overlooked.
He says the documents also show that agency executives were warned that "wait assessment scores" to measure how long passengers wait for a subway were seemingly meaningless, yet they used that data to support claims that service was improving throughout 2016.
The comproller says while he acknowledges improvements made to the reporting system under current New York City Transit President Andy Byford, he's still calling for more transparency.
The MTA responded in a statement that reads in part, "NYC Transit's performance reporting is among the most transparent in the world, is only getting better with ongoing reforms, and what we really need is modern signaling systemwide that allows officials to see real-time diagnostics and the exact movements of trains at all times."
The agency says that to get that done, it needs congestion pricing legislation to be passed. Stringer says he will be heading to Albany on Monday to discuss that legislation.