"I have directed my team to identify and resolve every root cause of delay; in doing so, we can then implement the right fix, often for little or no cost,” NYC Transit President Andy Byford said in a statement. “The SPEED Unit continues to examine hundreds of miles of track to find areas where we can safely increase speeds. Their work is absolutely essential and demonstrates that New York City Transit employees are fully committed to making tangible changes that will improve service for our customers."
Paraphrasing:
"As captain, I kept asking why we had no time for training. I was told because painting the ship took up a huge amount of time. So I asked 'Why do we need to paint the ship?'. I was told because the bolts used on the hull are not stainless so they rust and the ship looks bad so we paint it. 'Can't we use stainless bolts?' I asked. 'No', I was told because the Navy stores didn't have stainless bolts. So I gave my credit card to the supply officer and told him to go buy some stainless bolts. Hundreds of hours saved and now available for training."
EVERY SINGLE PROJECT I have ever worked on could apply this story and I would bet that there are similar examples of this on the MTA. The "speed team" from the article here is a perfect example of how sometimes lots of small fixes in the same direction can have enormous impacts.
"I have directed my team to identify and resolve every root cause of delay; in doing so, we can then implement the right fix, often for little or no cost,” NYC Transit President Andy Byford said in a statement. “The SPEED Unit continues to examine hundreds of miles of track to find areas where we can safely increase speeds. Their work is absolutely essential and demonstrates that New York City Transit employees are fully committed to making tangible changes that will improve service for our customers."
Which reminds me of a story from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Its-Your-Ship-Management-Anniversary/...
Paraphrasing: "As captain, I kept asking why we had no time for training. I was told because painting the ship took up a huge amount of time. So I asked 'Why do we need to paint the ship?'. I was told because the bolts used on the hull are not stainless so they rust and the ship looks bad so we paint it. 'Can't we use stainless bolts?' I asked. 'No', I was told because the Navy stores didn't have stainless bolts. So I gave my credit card to the supply officer and told him to go buy some stainless bolts. Hundreds of hours saved and now available for training."
EVERY SINGLE PROJECT I have ever worked on could apply this story and I would bet that there are similar examples of this on the MTA. The "speed team" from the article here is a perfect example of how sometimes lots of small fixes in the same direction can have enormous impacts.