Hello, is Seymour Butz there?
A damning new probe shows the cash-strapped MTA dropped a mind-boggling $250 million on an emergency subway intercom system where 50% of the calls are pranks — and critics questioned why it’s even needed since nearly everyone has a phone anyways.
The MTA’s quarter-billion-dollar boondoggle has attracted mischief-makers like moths to a flame — with thousands of monthly prank calls ranging from attempting to place McDonald’s orders to reporting a plane landing on the tracks of an underground station, according to an investigation by the MTA Inspector General’s Office and sources.
“Count me as being not surprised,” Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella said of the debacle under the troubled transit agency — which recently helped push through a hated congestion toll in Midtown Manhattan, crying poverty for upgrades and expansions.
The MTA’s $252.7 million “Help Point” system was completed in 2018 and includes a network of 3,016 emergency intercoms across all 472 stations in the city’s sprawling subway network.
But a newly released audit from the MTA IG revealed that just 28% of the 140,698 calls made through Help Point between May 2023 and October 2023 were from subway riders in need of assistance — and a staggering 50% were deemed “mischief.”
Alarmingly, the auditors found that NYC Transit was unaware of the extent of the issues with the system, including nearly 1,200 unanswered emergency calls.
Investigators also found a significant number of emergency calls experienced long delays before being answered, in part because of NYC Transit’s practice of answering calls in the order received without prioritizing emergency calls over those just seeking information.
“The Help Point system is important for public safety, and an immediate response to genuine emergency calls is crucial,” MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort said in a statement. “This system is in need of significant improvements.”
Noting the agency’s pledge to try to correct the system’s manifold issues, Cort added, “And I appreciate NYC Transit’s cooperation with our audit and acceptance of our recommendations.”
While the “Help Point” pranksters might not quite stoop to Bart Simpson’s level with the “Seymour Butz” joke, a source told The Post that some examples of their impish behavior include:
- Someone calling from an underground station and saying an airplane just landed on the tracks.
- Someone who tried to place a McDonald’s order.
- Somebody asking if they could get free rides.
- Someone asking for somebody to bring him water.
Some of the practical jokers are so prolific — making multiple calls in a row on multiple consecutive days — that the operators answering the calls know them by name, the source said.
One dedicated trickster also was so committed to his craft that he rode from station to station, hitting the emergency call button at each Help Point before getting back on the train, the source said.
Some critics wondered why the agency even still has the system — and is spending more dough to upgrade it under an ongoing capital-improvement program — given that cell phones can relay 911 calls.
An MTA spokeswoman acknowledged in a statement that “Help Point” is used to “supplement police presence and the 911 system that’s accessible to anyone with a phone” — essentially admitting the pricey intercom network was rendered obsolete by the smartphone revolution before the first unit was installed.
The rep added that the agency has “closely reviewed” the IG’s recommendations regarding help points and are “evaluating ways to improve their effectiveness.”
As of mid-2024, an MTA capital project — estimated to cost $79.2 million — was under way to upgrade multiple communication systems, including “Help Point,” station booth equipment and customer assistance intercoms, the IG report said.
The upgrade began in 2018 and was meant to be completed by 2020 but was pushed out to the end of this year.
Fossella and other local pols critical of the new congestion-pricing told The Post they weren’t surprised by the high-price, low-value project by the MTA, which is tens of billions of dollars in debt.
“Sadly, too many have become immune to the failures,” Fossella said of New Yorkers and the MTA. “Not only is 70% of the Help Point system used as a toy, but also too many emergency calls are left unanswered. And, to add insult to injury, emergency calls that are answered are not prioritized.”
“What’s the solution? More money, of course,” he said dryly.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican whose district includes parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn, also put the MTA on blast for its wasteful spending.
“This is yet another example of government waste by the chronically cash-strapped MTA that abuses taxpayers by shoveling money down their black hole,” she told The Post.
“Instead of treating commuters like bottomless ATM machines and hammering them with a congestion tax, they should get their own books in order and start cutting ineffective programs like the Help Point system that serve no purpose in today’s age where most everyone owns a mobile phone.
“Maybe what we really need is Kathy Hochul to ask Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to create a DOGE at the MTA to identify and cut the waste,” she said, referring to the billionaire businessmen tapped by President-elect Trump to stamp out government inefficiency.
Straphangers also questioned the usefulness of the intercoms.
“I never had to use them before. I feel like that’s a waste and calling 911 is better because [authorities] can respond,” said a Bronx 17-year-old named Lazaro, who was waiting for a train at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street station in Brooklyn.
“If it’s a ‘Help Point,’ it will be someone on the line. It won’t be as immediate. If you call 911, they’ll be there instantly,” the young straphganger said.
A Cobble Hill, Brooklyn resident named Liz, 54, who works for the city doing policy analysis, said she’s “not surprised at all” that “Help Point” have been monopolized by pranksters, whom she suspects are motivated by curiosity.
“They just want to know if there’s a human response. It’s human curiosity and kids,” she said of the prank calls.
She says if she had an emergency, she’d probably call 911 instead.