MTA bus command center HVAC system damaged by apparent electrical fire

Certainly one of 4 12-ton HVAC models on the roof of the MTA's still-unopened "lemon" bus command middle seems to have burnt to a crisp, probably resulting from a hearth.

An HVAC unit on the roof of the MTA’s still-unopened “lemon” bus command middle seems to have burnt to a crisp, The Put up has realized.

Pictures from Dec. 30 obtained by The Put up present one among 4 12-ton HVAC models for the command middle’s empty “war-room” blackened by an obvious electrical fireplace.

Simply one of many 4 models is at present operational — and sources stated bus officers have been working it at full velocity.

“They’re supposed to extend and reduce velocity in accordance to the temperature setting. What’s occurring is these machines are working one hundred pc,” stated one transit staff who inspected the unit’s stays. “They only maintain ramping up the machine as a result of they know they can not meet the temperature. It says 65 levels however inside it’s 75, 79 levels.”

The bus command middle represents a longstanding headache for MTA leaders.

Officers minimize a ribbon on the $86 million constructing in 2019, however its state-of-the-art NASA-like dispatching “theater” stays empty and unused, The Put up reported in October. Pictures confirmed the construction beset by points resembling leaks, defective heating, cracked home windows and bug-infested bogs.

The blackened HVAC unit lies within the MTA bus command middle, which has sat empty and unused regardless of officers celebrating a ribbon reducing in 2019.

In response, transit leaders insisted the structural points had been minor and blamed the delayed opening on the MTA’s contractor for a brand new bus radio system. Officers stated they the radio system needs to be completed for staff to maneuver into the power this 12 months.

“We have now been warning them for 2 years that the machines weren’t working correctly,” stated one buses employee. “A few years in the past, we discovered that that specific [HVAC] unit had a leak.”

Quipped one other supply: “One huge lemon.”

An MTA rep declined to reply questions in regards to the state of the nearly-empty constructing.

“The long run Bus Command Middle, together with the brand new digital bus radio system, continues to be in development and this work has no influence on bus service for our clients,” spokesman Aaron Donovan stated in a press release.