The Overhaul The MTA Needs: A New Report Offers Hope for Real Bureaucratic Reform

The MTA bureaucracy has a history of paying consultants to tell them what they want to hear. In that sense, the report on MTA reorganization that was issued on Friday is a breakthrough.

AlixPartners, a consulting firm that specializes in restructuring troubled organizations, has put out an initial report that does not gloss over the serious problems confronting the MTA. It is honest about the current dysfunction of the regional transit system and presents some pretty bold ideas for how to fix it. Their straightforward approach was possible because the client for this report was not the MTA, but the governor and state Legislature, who ordered the preparation of a reorganization plan as part of this year’s state budget.

If successfully implemented, the recommendations outlined promise fundamental improvement in how the $18-billion-a-year MTA behemoth carries out its critical mission.