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New York City Transit announced the locations yesterday of eight subway stations where token booths will be permanently closed, now that tokens have been phased out. Under a new program, the station agents will be redeployed to answer questions from riders.
Starting on May 22, designated agents at the eight stations, in Manhattan and Brooklyn, will be known as station customer assistance agents. Wearing burgundy blazers or vests, they will give directions, help riders use MetroCard vending machines and turnstiles, and distribute maps, timetables, brochures and other information.
They will also help disabled customers, report unsafe conditions and even clean the card-swipe readers on turnstiles and the screens on the fare card vending machines.
"More than half of our customers now use an unlimited-ride card to travel, which means they now only buy a new card once a week or once a month," the agency's president, Lawrence G. Reuter, said in a statement. With station agents now spending far less time selling fare cards, they can use that time to help customers one-on-one, he said.
The eight stations are, in Manhattan, 47th-50th Streets/Rockefeller Center on the B, D, F and V lines; 34th Street-Penn Station on the A, C and E lines; 34th Street and 14th Street-Union Square on the N, Q, R and W lines; 23rd Street on the No. 6 line; Delancey Street on the F line; Chambers Street on the J, M and Z lines; and Jay Street-Borough Hall on the A, C and F lines in Brooklyn.
The announcement signals the expansion of a pilot program, begun last May, in which 14 agents volunteered to stand outside booths at 10 stations as customer assistance representatives.
One of those agents, Maria Davis, saved the life of a passenger in November at the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station in the Bronx, according to the transit agency. Ms. Davis reported that the passenger had fallen onto the tracks, and the trains were stopped.
"By removing the physical barrier between the agent and the customer, we feel we'll be able to provide better and more comprehensive customer service," Mr. Reuter said.
Officials said the customer assistance agents would carry two-way radios and be able to alert the authorities immediately about emergencies. Unlike station agents, they will not sell fare cards or make change.
In 2003, the agency closed 62 booths that were staffed part-time. In December, the transit agency said it would close 164 full-time and part-time booths. After hearing criticism from riders, the agency backed down from dismantling the booths. Instead, starting with the eight this month, they will be redesignated as "station kiosks" and painted a distinctive burgundy. They will be accessible to the customer assistance agents in emergencies.
Even after the 164 booth closings, each of the system's 468 stations will continue to have at least one 24-hour token booth. At many stations, however, that booth may be far from platforms or accessible only to riders on one side.
Gene Russianoff, a lawyer at the nonprofit New York Public Interest Research Group and its Straphangers Campaign, and usually a critic of the transit agency, praised the change. "What started as an exercise in budget cutting and personnel reduction has become a way to serve customers," he said.
But Roger Toussaint, the president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union of America, said, "The best-tailored blazers in the world cannot address passenger needs and passenger safety." He said the agency had "settled on a plan that will not save a penny and cannot improve customer service."