NEW YORK (WPIX)—
It's day 2 of the investigation the MTA says it's doing into a broken emergency exit gate in the Grand Central Terminal. WPIX 11 News Reporter Greg Mocker has been talking to station agents and MTA officials about the breakdown in the process.Mocker first notified a station agent on July 23 that the door was not latching or locking. He returned to the booth, which is about 100 feet away, 3 additional times over the next 11 days. He gave specific location information to Transit Customer Service by phone and told a MTA official who inspected the door and took down notes.
He made the report initially as a citizen and not as a member of the media.
Nothing happened for 12 days. After Mocker's story aired on WPIX 11 News at 10 on Monday, crews fixed the door the next morning.
In the last 24 hours, viewers and MTA Board Members have been emailing Mocker. The reoccurring question is "what went wrong?" MTA board member Andrew Albert says it should have been caught and secured the day it broke.
Here's what's supposed to happen. When someone tells the station agent about an issue, the agent logs the item and calls it into a command office. That generates a trouble ticket. Crews called "maintainers" are assigned the task. There's a group dedicated to fixing turnstiles and gates. Response times vary from a few hours to a few days. The MTA tells Mocker about 400 gates need fixed every month.
Mocker asks if there had been any layoffs in this particular division. An MTA spokesperson said no.
MTA workers, from managers to station agents, are supposed to check their areas and gates each shift.
