Daily News from New York, New York • 164

DAILY NEWS, MONDAY," MARCH 6, 1972 Subways; Track Record S3 Inkles yer Breary Statistics By FRANK MAZZA "We run the best service in the world. Our riders are spoiled." "The system is never as bad as people complain it is." "Anyone who says service today isn't better just doesn't remember the old days." It may coree as a small shock to the average straphanger, but the "service" referred to in the above quotations is the New York City subway system. And the men who are shouting their success are the top executives of the Transit Authority. Men like Daniel T. Scannell, senior executive officer of the TA; Frank T.

Berry, general superintendent of rapid transit; Harold McLaughlin, superintendent of rapid transit transportation, and Joseph Kilkenny, chief of operations. The Facts and Figures Their optimistic assessment of the city's underground railway was offered in a series of interviews centering on assorted statistics and findings that seem to point to an exactly opposite conclusion. For example: A steady decline in ridership, with 60.9 million fewer fares last year. The trend is continuing into 1972. There was a 3.3 million drop in rides in January of this year compared with January 1971.

Safety on the subway continues to slip. There were 25 passenger train collisions and derailments reported in 1971, a 50 increase over 1970. One passenger was killed last year, marking the second year in a row that subway fatalities occurred. For 41 years before that there were no deaths due to subway mishaps. No new cars were added last year or the year before, although 1,130, or 16.4, of the 6,885 cars in service today are more than 35 years old the normal life span.

About 200 new cars are required every year just to maintain the system. Subway crime continues to increase with 10,776 crimes reported last year compared with 10,445 in 1970. The Deficit Set Record Although subway fares increased from 20 cents to 30 cents in 1970, the operating deficit at the end of 1971 was the worst in subway history. Even under the 35-cent fare which went into effect in January, TA officials admit privately that unless service cuts are imposed, there will be at least a $20 million deficit in 1974. While the on-time perfonnance of the system inched forward last year to 83.88, the figure was less than 1 above the all-time low of 82.95 in 1970.

Last year's performance meant that one of every six trains was unacceptably late. In earlier years 19 of 20 trains were on time. In the face of indictment by their own statistics, the top brass of the TA is unhappy but unbowed. Most riders, they suggest, are unaware of many of the services they get on the subways and of the improvements that are in store for them. For example: A partial merger of BMT and IND lines in 1967 has made it possible for thousands of riders in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to travel from one point to another without changing trains.

Special shuttle lines exist to provide special services for some riders. The Culver shuttle, in Brooklyn, is one of these. It runs four stops to hook up with two other lines, at a cost of $2 million a year for an estimated 200 regular daily riders. Points to Other Systems "You don't get that kind of service anywhere else in the world," said Scannell. "On the London underground, the Paris Metro and the Moscow subway, trains run straight routes and any changing has to be done by the passengers." Obsolete cars, a major cause of breakdowns and delays, are being phased out.

By the end of this year there will be 300 new75-foot-long cars in service on the A and lines of the IND. Another. 300 are slated for delivery to the IND and BMT by the end of 1973. They will replace existing 60-foot cars in effect replace the capacity of 750 of the 1,130 cars still in service that are more than 35 years old. But to the straphanger who has arrived late at work by 20 minutes or more because his train was held up, all these services and improvements fade from view.

How to get the trains to run on time is still in his opinion the critical test of a subway service. Scannell insists that even here the TA is showing improvement. In the first five weeks of 1972, only one of seven trains ran late by four minutes or more, compared with one of six in 1971. Yet, other officials acknowledge that the on-time performance of trains during the rush hours is "slightly behind" the over-all average. And there's the rub on the rider's nerves.

Next: The subway's "on-time" performance chart. Is it off -target? ,11 i -li Coogee. Coogee Coup Councilmen Probe Car Safety By MARK LIEBERMAN Members of the City Council Committee on Public Transportation will seek answers at a public hearing today to the question of safety and stability of new cars being tested by the Transit Authority. Delivery of 300 cars is due to begin later this month, despite numerous claims that what they add to the subway system in beauty they detract in safety. The Transit Authority has been testing the cars dubbed the R-44 for nearly two months and has deferred any questions about the test3 or acceptance of the cars until the testing is completed.

According to transportation committee Chairman Bertrand R. Gelfand (D-Bronx), TA officials have refused to reveal any test results so far to the committee. More than a year ago the TA defended the structure of the cars and promised delivery of test models shortly. The deliveries began several months later, Gelfand reported. He said the cars included several modifications which councilmen had suggested but which the TA said were unnecessary.

Gelfand said TA officials rejected as ridiculous council complaints that the structural support of the R-44s was weak but later explained that delivery had been held up because the structure was being strengthened. Trapped Between Cars? One TA critic, the Committee for Better Transit, claims that the R-44 cars, because of their locked end doors, would become traps for passengers beset by criminals or fleeing subway fires. In fact, the committee said, a transit policeman at one end of an eight-car train would have to go through 16 locked door3 to reach the last car, a process which could cost precious minutes in an emergency. According to the authority, the locked doors are necessary because riding between the contoured cars would be extremely dangerous. Gelfand said the TA, after council urging, Some questions about subway cars.

agreed to provide an emergency lock release to open doors, but that once a passenger got out of a car he would face a locked entrance to the next car. "If the reason for locking the doors was because of" the danger of riding between cars, it would only be sensible to ensure that passengers are not locked between cars," Gelfand said. The committee also has taken issue with the TA about the number of doors in each car. The R-44s are 75 feet long, compared with the 60-foot length of standard cars. Each new car has four doors on a side.

Each R-44 is designed to carry 300 passengers, while present cars hold 220. A train of eight new cars will hold 200 passengers more than a 10-car train now in use, but will have 20 fewer doors, which will slow down loading and unloading in rush hours, according to the critics. The TA said the R-44s are onlv eight feet longer than cars used until 1909, and that those older cars also had only four doors per side. 1 Hit by Power Poopout By FRED LOETTERLE A brief power blackout hit half of Staten Island yesterday, affecting traffi. lights, burglar alarms and some telephone service as well as household current.

Associated Press Wjrephoto Coogee Beach, near Sydney, Australia, is one of the island continent's scenic wonders thanks to help of Diana Ma'. Diana is taking sun and light exercise at same time. The Greening of a City Park As part of a project to expand the Bowling Green subway station in lower Manhattan, the Transit Authority announced yesterday that it will restore Bowling Green Park once the recreation site of early Dutch settlers to its original appearance. The Transit Authority will seek bids from contractors which call for the removal of the subway entrance at the park's west entrance and the construction of an additional subway platform. Two new entrances will be built in front of the U.S.

Customs House and on the north side of Battery Place. Plans for the park's historical restoration, will be coordinated with the city Parks, Recreation and "CultuS-aP Affair Adtwinistra tion and the city Landmarks Preservation Commission. About 50,000 Consolidated Edison customers (more than half of the 97,000 customers on the island) managed without electricity for 28 minutes or more after two transformer banks at the Fresli Kill station tipped out at 11:04 a.m. I Almost 43,000 customers' 'got the juice back at 11:32 a.m., but others had to wait until 1 p.m. The power failure mainly affected the north and south of the island, including Oakwood and communities to the south." and homes in and around Willowbrook, Westerieigrh, Spring- Brook, Mariners Harbor and Port Richmond.

Con Edison said it was still seeking the cause of the prob lem, which temporarily cripple-" 18 substations linked to the Fresh Kill transformer banks. At the St. George police station, the telephones went on with the lights. Police said th--were unable to- make out-' calls for about a half hour..