The Maryland Transit Administration’s slogan is “Save the Bay, Ride MTA.” That would be a good idea — if its employees showed up to work. MTA statistics show that the agency loses more than 10 percent of its available work hours from people “calling out.” That means fewer buses run the routes and more crowding on the ones that are in service. Remind us how poor service encourages people to drop their cars for public transportation?
The numbers are even worse when you break them down. Time lost translates to 28 days per union employee on average — and that figure does not include vacation, holidays and personal leave. The bad eggs know that when others call out they can make up their lost time by being paid overtime at $35.50 per hour to fill in for someone else. While that means a higher paycheck for them, it means taxpayers must pay millions more for fraud. That is never a good idea, especially when we face a $1.9 billion budget hole.
That’s why we applaud the MTA adopting a new absenteeism policy that at least introduces the concept of accountability. In its own words, “MTA has an attendance problem that is costing it millions of dollars a year. The MTA cannot continue to have this level of absenteeism without serious consequences to our customers and service.”
We would argue that 10 percent of lost work hours is already affecting service — and that it would be better to cut 10 percent of its work force since it’s already making due without their help. But given the MTA’s history of financial mismanagement, it is at least showing it is fiscally sentient. You may recall that a recent audit found that employees were stealing fares and that the agency did not monitor fare collection; it also lost a multimillion-dollar federal grant to study the proposed Red Line because of missing a deadline.
No private employer would tolerate 28 days of unexplained leave time, especially in an economy where people are scrambling to find work. And while we’re pleased MTA is trying to cut its budget, it does not need a policy. It needs zero tolerance for people who abuse the public trust — and that includes bus drivers who do not aid riders being attacked on MTA buses — an all too common occurrence in the city. If that happens, MTA will become a viable option for all of us who do need to show up for work on time every day.
