A state bill signed by Governor Kathy Hochul Tuesday will require the MTA to release more data to the public in a format that is easily readable and accessible. Advocates have long clamored for the MTA to release its data on ridership figures, service delivered, and spending.
The bill requires the MTA to first release a list of all the data sets it has within 180 days. After that, the agency has three years to release that information on the state’s open data portal.
Currently, the MTA only has 76 data sets on the open portal, compared with other more transparent agencies, like the state Department of Health, which publishes more than 500. While the MTA does release a good amount of data each month in its board materials, that is in PDF documents, which make it difficult for independent researchers and journalists to analyze and compare trends. The new bill requires the data to be released in “formats that can be easily accessed, downloaded and manipulated,” like in a spreadsheet.
Even though the MTA shares some data, such as real-time train service, which allows third parties like Google and other apps to tell you when the next train is coming, advocates like Rachael Fauss, senior research analyst at Reinvent Albany, believes the MTA is still too selective about what it releases to the public.
“So much of the information that the MTA releases, they release it in their own context, with their own framing,” Fauss said. “Sharing [all of] this kind of data lets not just those who have access hold the agency accountable but the public at large [too], and I think it will help create a more accountable organization.”
This isn’t the first time the MTA was asked to release more internal data to the public. In 2013, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an Executive Order asking state agencies to release more data when possible. But the order left many opportunities for them to evade the release of information if it would “hinder the operation of government, including criminal and civil investigations, or impose an undue financial, operational or administrative burden on the covered State entity or State.”
When Pat Foye was appointed Chairman of the MTA in 2019, one of the first things he pledged to do was reform the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) process.
“I’m not happy with the FOIL process here. We can do better, we need to do better,” Foye said at the time.
Ultimately, he did not reform the FOIL process. He stepped down at the end of July.
READ MORE: Everything You Need To Know About The Freedom Of Information Law
"There's no excuse for keeping New Yorkers in the dark on the actions governments take to help their constituents, and we've been committed to greater transparency since Day One," Hochul wrote in a statement. "These pieces of legislation will require important local government documents and MTA data to be properly available for constituents to read and utilize. New Yorkers should be informed about the work government does for them every day, but we have to make it easier for them to get that information."
The bill signed by Hochul contains language that refers to a comment made by Foye in which he said there is a "credibility gap" between the MTA and the public. The bill also noted the MTA’s FOIL process in which the public requests information is “known for its occasionally poor responses.”
This reporter continues to wait for a request for documents related to the costs of the L train project, which was filed in 2019. An email from the MTA this month extended its deadline to December.
Other reporters have had similar experiences, reporting years long waits only to receive completely redacted documents.
"Better transit hinges on greater transparency. Opening up MTA data to public scrutiny will help deliver fast, frequent, reliable, accessible, and affordable commutes for millions of New Yorkers,” Riders Alliance Policy and Communications Director Danny Pearlstein, wrote in a statement.
In a statement the MTA said it’s on board with Hochul’s request.
“The MTA fully shares Governor Hochul’s commitment to transparency and will look to continue to expand data offerings on the Open Data NY website,” MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan wrote in a statement. “The MTA will also continue to build on recent transparency improvements we’ve made to our own website, where it’s easier than ever to find information about each MTA Board and Committee meeting in one place, searchable meeting agendas and supporting documents side by side with embedded livestream feeds of meetings that are archived in real time.”
