NEW YORK (WPIX)—
New York state's comptroller says a post- 9/11-security plan for the nation's largest mass transit system is overdue and over budget.Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's report released Tuesday says the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's overall costs for the plan ballooned from $591 million to $833 million, leaving just only $59 million to finish the plan's high-tech measures.
DiNapoli says that's not enough to install digital security cameras and motion detectors throughout the city's transit system. But the MTA vowed to finish the project.
Lockheed Martin was in charge of the electronic security plan but sued the MTA last year blaming the agency for delays. The MTA countersued.
A Lockheed Martin spokeswoman declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
Meanwhile, the MTA is under fire for voting to eliminate student MetroCard program.
At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, transport workers and teachers will protest the MTA's plan to cut jobs, thereby cutting service, and to terminate student MetroCards. This group will be in front of the MTA headquarters at 347 Madison Avenue at 45th Street.
Soon afterward, at 9:30 a.m., Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer will be presenting the 16,500 he has collected since December 15 during the MTA's monthly board meeting. The petition urged the agency to restore student MetroCards.
Later in the day, at 3:45 p.m., New York Senator Diane J. Savino will be at Narrows Road South and Fingerboard Road in Staten Island to collection signatures for a petition against the MTA's plan to cut express bus lines that serve the borough.
Article was supplemented by The Associated Press.
