On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Christina Rodriguez entered the B/D subway station on Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse looking to buy a MetroCard. The problem was, she only had a $20 bill and the MetroCard machines were not accepting cash.

Rodriguez scanned the station for assistance, but no one was in sight.

Rodriguez’s experience at the Kingsbridge Station was not unique. Since the MTA discontinued all of its Station Customer Assistants (SCAs) at all New York City subway stations on Sept. 20, MTA customers must now turn to intercoms instead of nearby MTA employees for assistance.

According to James Anyansi, a spokesperson for New York City Transit, the main function of an SCA was to “look around the station and help customers with travel directions.”

An MTA employee at the Kingsbridge B/D station who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said SCAs also fixed the MetroCard machines and called the police if a customer was in distress.

Now, customers must use a “Customer Service Intercom” for assistance. The intercoms are labeled with a large red sign and they connect directly to the Station Agent at another entrance to the subway station.

These Station Agents are present at one entrance of every subway station and they “sell MetroCards, give directions and give out maps,” said Anyansi. Now, they will also help customers over the intercom.

Despite the intercom assistance, MTA customers throughout the Bronx are frustrated with these changes.

“There should be someone there to answer questions,” said Kisha Rodriguez as she struggled to get her son, who was on crutches, through the turnstile at the D train station on 205th Street. Rodriguez could not open the emergency exit door for her son because they are now only open at full-time station entrances with a Station Agent.

“We are paying for no service,” said Ronald Williams, a frequent MTA customer. “At night it is unsafe to be here.”
While MTA customers bemoan a lack of service, the MTA claims that subway stations will still provide reliable customer assistance and remain safe. 

“The NYPD patrols the system,” said Anyansi. “Undercover police are all over the place. We do feel things are safe.”

Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, a campaign to improve New York City Transit, disagrees. “An MTA motto is ‘If you see something, say something’—to who? No one is there. If you saw a suspicious person, would you call the intercom or would you run out of the station?”

“It is not safe back there [on the other side of the station],” said one MTA Station Agent in the northwest Bronx. “Police aren’t going to be there forever. I get complaints all the time.”
As for the effectiveness of the intercom, the Station Agent said,

“Sometimes people use the intercom, but they don’t like it when I tell them they have to come over [to this entrance].”
One common complaint is that the MetroCard machines are not working. Without SCAs, customers at un-manned stations are unable to buy tickets.

Some able-bodied customers might choose to hop over the turnstiles. Winston Calvo, a frequent subway rider said, “If I come here and the machine doesn’t work, I skip over the entrance.”

Other customers may choose to buy tickets from “Swipers,” according to another MTA Station Agent. “Swipers” buy a few unlimited tickets, jam the MetroCard machines and sell entrance “swipes” to customers without MetroCards.

Although one MTA employee said SCAs had “no authority” to stop “Swipers” or turnstile-hoppers, they could fix the machines and help ensure that customers were paying the MTA.

Considering the combined problems of “Swipers,” and fear for customer safety, the MTA employee concluded the discontinuation of SCAs “is horrible for people who live around here.”