Peter Derrick collection

Peter Derrick

Peter Derrick (b. 1944) is a New York City historian, transportation scholar, author, and professor whose career has centered on urban transportation planning, with a special focus on the socio-political and historical factors behind the development of mass transit systems in New York. Born in the Bronx, Derrick received his early education at DeWitt Clinton High School, from which he graduated in 1960. He went on to receive a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from NYU’s Washington Square College in 1965, majoring in History, and continued his studies in the fall of that year, enrolling in Columbia University, where he majored in American History, with a minor in East Asian History. At Columbia, he delved deeper into his core interests, producing his Master’s thesis on the origins of the Independent Subway System in New York. After receiving his M.A., Derrick joined the Peace Corps, and spent three years teaching English as a foreign language at Bo Sung Middle and High School in South Korea. He returned to the United States in 1971 to enroll in the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University, where he once again focused his studies on transit in the New York metropolitan region, specializing in Urban History within his American History Major, and pursuing his interest in Asia with a minor in East Asian History. His PhD was awarded in 1979 with the honorable reception of his dissertation, “The Dual System of Rapid Transit,” a work which served as the springboard to his mass-trade publication, Tunneling to the Future, which appeared in print decades later in 2002 from New York University Press. While working on his Doctorate degree, Derrick served as graduate assistant and lecturer in the History Department of NYU, while holding other professional posts, and making his first political foray in the New York State Senate; from 1976-1977, he oversaw the restoration of the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage for the Bronx Historical Society, where he would later serve as archivist; and from 1977-1979, he worked as Senate Fellow and Senior Legislative Analyst on the Transportation Committee in Albany.

Under this Committee, Derrick analyzed capital and operating requirements of public transit systems in New York State, with a focus on the services of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and its subsidiary agencies, particularly the Long Island Rail Road’s West Side Yard project. After his PhD was completed, Derrick became Director of Policy Studies for New York State Senator John D. Caemmerer’s Legislative Commission on Critical Transportation Choices, where he supervised research on statewide transportation needs, organized public hearings, and assisted in drafting and promoting transit-related legislation. His primary research activity was on MTA’s New York City Transit and commuter railroad divisions, and he played an active role in securing legislative approval of the pivotal MTA Capital Program launched by Richard Ravitch, an initiative which would indelibly mark the Authority’s services and administrative processes for decades to come, and also prepare Derrick ably for future roles within the MTA’s corporate structure.

Derrick left his Albany post in 1982 to become the Manager of Long Range Planning at MTA’s Planning Department, a newly-formed body designed to strategize the advisements and goals outlined in the first and groundbreaking Capital Program. As Manager of Long Range Planning, he led efforts to analyze changes in transit demand and potential responses to those changes, and wrote portions of the Authority’s Strategic Operations Plan and Strategic Planning Initiatives. From 1987 to 1996, he worked within the MTA’s Capital Program Management Department, serving as Assistant Director of Commuter Railroads’ capital programs. In this capacity, he was instrumental in the development of LIRR’s and Metro-North’s respective programs, matching projects with potential funding sources, making recommendations to senior management, and preparing reports on myriad aspects of Capital Program planning.

Throughout his work at MTA, Derrick remained active in the academic fields of transit planning and urban studies, serving as adjunct professor at various institutions of higher learning, including Fordham University and New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, where he taught Urban Transportation Planning from 1992-1993. In 1990, Derrick was also appointed Associate in the University Seminar on the City, a series organized by Columbia University, where he served a three-year term, lecturing on past, present, and future transit issues in the New York metropolitan area. After formally leaving MTA in 1996, he remained involved in agency goings-on, authoring articles and encyclopedia entries on the topics in his areas of expertise, following current projects, news, and developments, and proposing a book-length publication on the history of the Agency, to be co-authored with former chairman Jay Walder. While this project did not culminate in a completed draft, the research gathered for its writing comprises a substantial component of Derrick’s papers, shedding light not only into the history of the Authority, but the research methods and bibliographic leanings of this lifelong transit scholar.

MTA Founding and Early Years

In the years between the founding of MTA and the proposal of Ravitch’s Capital Program, the agency went through various major changes. MTA was initially founded in order to lend sweeping state oversight to the LIRR (acquired by the State in 1966 and promptly turned over to the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA), MTA’s immediate predecessor). Another purpose of the Agency’s establishment was to unify NYCTA and TBTA under a single authority, such that TBTA revenues could offset NYCTA deficits, fulfilling an administrative initiative which Mayor Lindsay had been unable to pass at the municipal level, facing blowback from the automobile-loving Robert Moses and his vociferous supporters. When Governor Nelson Rockefeller argued for the umbrella-like structure, it was both to secure effective LIRR management and to advance the fiscal sustainability of NYCTA, as both agendas were unfeasible to effect at the city level. Making the State a main player in the transportation industry was a chief platform issue for Rockefeller and principal among his enduring legacies.

In the years following its 1968 founding, MTA quickly acquired a series of additional transportation networks in the area: SIRT was purchased July 1, 1971; the commuter rail networks were acquired by 1972; and in 1973, MTA added MSBA (Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority) into the fold. (NYCTA, TA buses, MaBSTOA, and TBTA had been transferred to MTA simultaneously on March 1, 1968.) Air transit represented part of the transportation acquisition heyday as well, by way of the regional Republic and Stewart Airports, purchased in 1969 and 1970, respectively.

A Program for Action (aka the Grand Design), a series of proposals produced by MCTA in February 1968, had outlined various priority projects for the first ten years of the new agency’s administration. In 1973, MTA issued a report summarizing the program’s first five years, enumerating the accomplishments achieved thus far “at the halfway mark.” The 1973 report happily announced that “almost all of the projects are well ahead of the goal recommended five years ago.” The upper level of the 63rd Street Tunnel had been dug through Roosevelt Island; LIRR substations and infrastructure had been built; the New Haven, Harlem, and Hudson lines had undergone satisfactory modernization initiatives; new R-40, R-42, R-44 and R-46 cars, along with a refreshed bus fleet, had been procured or were soon to be purchased for NYCTA operations; the lower deck of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge had opened; and countless other goals had been met. Additionally, plans were in place to gain control of the Erie Lackawanna commuter lines to Port Jervis (now operated jointly by MNR and NJT).

In July 1977, at the request of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA), the predecessor to today’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA), a second report was issued, outlining Ten Year Capital Needs for the agency. The document projected a series of capital projects totaling an estimated $17.3 billion (in 1977 dollars) for the ten-year period 1978-1988. By 1982, this outline had been effectively supplanted, owing to stipulations mandated by pivotal legislation passed in 1981, and to the visionary planning of MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch.

MTA Capital Program

In the fall of 1980, MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch had the Authority prepare a full report on its capital plant, developed to assess the Agency’s capital needs and to determine what it would cost to get the system into a “state of good repair” (SOGR). The report initially called for a ten-year, $14 billion system revitalization, but the daunting price tag would eventually be halved, setting the precedent for capital programs issued thereafter in five-year increments.

The standard political and economic obstacles germane to financing the aged transit system hindered the smooth acceptance of the Capital Program as originally proposed, and Ravitch negotiated extensively with local watchdog groups, union representatives, and elected representatives at the federal, state, and local levels for months. In June of 1981, the State Legislature passed the Transportation Systems Assistance and Financing Act of 1981 (TSA&FA). The bill provided for a $5.8 billion capital program for MTA, and authorized the agency to issue special obligation bonds up to $1.6 billion, backed by NYCTA revenues. Another innovative component of the legislation was the authorization for the NYS Budget Director to enter into annual service contracts with MTA, providing for a maximum annual flow of $80 million, against which MTA could issue debt. In addition, TSA&FA established the Capital Program Review Board (CPRB) and formalized the protocols governing that body’s review and approval of the Capital Program as proposed. In addition to this legislation, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 provided additional incentives for private investments in mass transit. Innovative financing methods introduced by the Act, together with Federal funds, State bond funds, and City capital funds, ultimately yielded a comprehensive MTA Capital Program released to the tune of $7.4 billion, disbursed over the course of five years.

The legislation also mandated several administrative instruments designed to effectively manage the Capital Program. These included the formation of several departmental and managerial components of the MTA organization, and the formal scripting and submission of various documents. The Program’s passage called for a newly-founded Financial Control Board; the issuance of two discrete five-year plans (one for NYCTA/MaBSTOA/SIRT, and a second outline for commuter rail services LIRR and MNR); a Capital-Value Matrix by which to assess capital projects; solidified performance measures and service standards against which to measure progress; and a formal strategic planning arm to manage projects, contracts, and procurements. This final requirement ultimately evolved into the MTA Planning Department.

MTA Planning Department

Following the passage of Ravitch’s Capital Program, renderings of the Planning Department’s scope and structure were pitched by various stakeholders under diverse terminology. In 1980, NYCT President John D. Simpson proposed the development of a new strategic platform, referred to then as “Policy Planning.” On May 6, 1981, James B. Huff proposed to David Z. Plavin the establishment of a TCRC (Transportation Capital Revitalization Corporation) – a wholly-owned MTA subsidiary which would coordinate and assess bids, make recommendations to the Board for consultant contracts, and handle relevant legal and financial issues.

These initial proposals were followed more definitively by Robert A. Selsam’s 1981 pitch for a “Long Range Planning Process at MTA.” This embodied a series of proposals outlining strategies for planning processes and methodologies, including rigorous system research and analysis, ridership forecasts, strategic plan development, test phases, and implementation. The first drafts of the planning scheme were drawn up in late 1981 and early 1982 by Selsam and submitted to Richard Ravitch on March 8, 1982 (by way of David Z. Plavin). By June of 1982, Peter Derrick, since appointed Manager of the Long Range Planning Department, had drawn up the first draft of a work program, outlining definitive tasks set against a firm timeline. Throughout 1982, the shape and procedures of the Department were continually refined, and Committee members at that juncture began strategizing the next five years of planning goals to align with the second phase of the capital program (1987-1992). To prepare for that installment, a working group was proposed, comprising various staff members hailing from MTA, NYCT, LIRR, and MNR, who would together collaborate on a detailed agenda; the deadline was set for 1983 to allow ample time for formal State and Board approval. Drafts of this work program, as well as a broader MTA Planning Agenda, were elaborated by Derrick as early as 1982. The plan’s visions included the rehabilitation of subway line structures; a definition of standards of service, due by October 1983; and a Staff Report on Strategic Issues, due March 1983.

Most endeavors of the Planning Department were accomplished collaboratively based on demographic and ridership statistics garnered from local advocacy associations and agencies, predominantly the Regional Plan Association (RPA) and the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission (TSRPC), later the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the region. These bodies were instrumental to the Planning Department in their provision of Hub-Bound and 1980 Census Comparisons Data, among myriad demographical and statistical figures reflecting trends and forecasts in the Journey-to-Work (JTW) embarked on by the bulk of the region’s commuters.

In 1985, various major service changes were considered by the Authority, proposed “in order to reduce projected capital and operating expenses while maintaining essential services.” Related to this effort was a proposed reduction of system stations, floated by Bob Olmsted in 1985, put forth in a revision of a memorandum of similar nature issued ten years prior, in May 1975. Under this conceit, Derrick elaborate a “laundry list” of service adjustments to consider in promoting the more efficient and streamlined provision of transit services. This development prompted a new direction for the Department, which would call for a distinction between Strategic Planning and Operations Planning.

On March 27, 1985, a new proposal was formulated, involving the founding and co-operation of three administrative planning elements: Strategic Planning, serving as a framework within which basic systems planning decisions could be made; Operations Planning, generating reliable ridership data and service cost approaches as a basic input to both operational and strategic plans; and Managerial Flexibility, engaging managers who could suggest and implement service modifications. This tri-phasal planning effort was designed to support decision-making processes and meet critical deadlines in the legislative and funding arenas.

As part of this restructuring, the Strategic Planning Initiative (SPI) was launched under the leadership of Planning Director Gregory Johnson. SPI proposed a series of service reductions, mainly drawing from the “laundry list” compiled by Derrick in 1985. The proposal received intense critical feedback from private citizens and their elected representatives.

The Operations Planning Department, established in 1985, was assigned the charge of “designing effective and efficient bus and rail service for the New York City Transit Authority.” It was composed of four sections: Schedules, System Data, Service Planning, and Graphics, accompanied by an internal budget and administration unit. Changes proposed involved instituting “skip-stop” service on the IRT Seventh Avenue Line north of 96th Street; the modernization of the NYCTA Command Center; a series of service changes to the B Division (IND and BMT networks); the engagement of a third track crossing the Williamsburg Bridge; as well as various studies, analyses, and projects conducted jointly with other and independent bodies. Demographic ridership and future forecasting studies were conducted both internally and externally, with comparative data yielded from MTA surveys, public census data, TSRPC/NYMTC reports, as well as a comprehensive study commissioned to Charles River Associates in 1986.

By 1991, the Planning Department had elaborated a Strategic Business Plan (SBP), to unfold concurrently with MTA’s Third Capital Program. Submitted by Gregory Johnson in January of 1991, the Plan outlined four major themes: greater involvement with land use in conjunction with MTA transit facilities; capital expansions “over and above the state of good repair”; the durability of proposed projects despite the threat of funding slashes, and the finagling of “innovative funding” methods in their eventuality.

From 1993-1994, the Long Range Planning Committee met regularly to discuss new forecast studies, evaluation criteria, reports on expansion, and accommodation of the mandates required by the ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Assistance Act). By the summer of 1994, a “Work Plan for 1994 and Beyond” was submitted as part of the Long Range Planning Framework.

That framework evolved into a Technical Committee which met regularly from 1994-1998 to address a wide array of planning tasks. MTA Planning Director Bill Wheeler supplied updates and reports throughout the latter months of 1994, focusing on Trans-Hudson service into Grand Central Terminal; East Side Access; overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Line; and travel times to/from Manhattan and Orange County, Rockland County, and Suburban Long Island. Studies commissioned in support of these initiatives included ARC (Access to the Region’s Core), MESA (Manhattan East Side Transit alternatives), ERX (East River Crossings), and LIRR ESA (East Side Access). These and other large-scale projects and studies (collectively known as the Long Range Planning Framework, or LRPF), overseen jointly or exclusively by the Planning Department are discussed individually at length in Series Descriptions (under Container Inventory).

1944 Born, Bronx, NY

1960 Graduates from DeWitt Clinton High School, Bronx, NY

1965 Receives B.A. in History from NYU, Washington Square College

1967 Receives M.A. from Columbia University

1967-1969 ESL Teacher, Bo Sung Middle and High School, South Korea (Peace Corps)

1971-1973 Graduate Assistant, NYU Graduate School of Arts & Science

1972-1973 Instructor, Emanuel-El. Course in history and politics

1973-1975 Graduate Assistant, CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College

1976-1977 Curator & Manager, Edgar Allen Poe Cottage, Bronx, NY

1975-1979 Lecturer, CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College

1977-1979 Senior Legislative Analyst, Transportation Committee, NYSS 1979 Receives PhD from NYU Graduate School of Arts & Science

1979-1982 Director of Policy Studies, Legislative Commission on Critical Transportation Choices, NYSS

1981 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Siena College Dept. of Political Science

1982-1987 Manager of Long Range Planning, MTA Planning Dept.

1987-1996 Assistant Director, Commuter Railroads, MTA Capital Program Mgmt. Dept.

1990-1993 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Fordham University School of General Studies, New York University, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

1990 Appointed Associate at University Seminar on the City, Columbia University