2023 New York Laws › PBA - Public Authorities › Article 5 - Public Utility Authorities › Title 9 - New York City Transit Authority › 1204 - General Powers of the Authority.

§ 1204. General powers of the authority. 1. To sue and be sued.
2. To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure.
* 3.  To  acquire,  hold,  use  and  dispose of equipment, devices and
  appurtenances, and other property for its corporate purposes, including,
  the power to dispose of personal property with a value of  five  hundred
  thousand dollars or less by public auction in accordance with guidelines
  adopted by the metropolitan transportation authority pursuant to section
  twelve  hundred  sixty-five  of this article and title five-A of article
  nine of this chapter.
* NB Effective until June 30, 2028
* 3. To acquire, hold, use  and  dispose  of  equipment,  devices  and
  appurtenances, and other property for its corporate purposes.
* NB Effective June 30, 2028
3-a. To acquire by purchase or condemnation pursuant to the provisions
  of  the  condemnation  law  real property or rights or easements therein
  necessary or convenient for the corporate purposes of the authority, and
  to use the same so long as its corporate existence shall continue.
3-b. To apply for and receive and accept grants of property, money and
  services and other assistance offered or made available  to  it  by  any
  person,  government or agency whatever, which it may use to meet capital
  or operating expenses and for any other use  within  the  scope  of  its
  powers,  and to negotiate for the same upon such terms and conditions as
  the authority may determine to be necessary, convenient or desirable.
4. To make rules and regulations for  its  organization  and  internal
  management.
5.  To  appoint  officers,  assign  powers and duties to them, and fix
  their compensation.
* 5-a. To make, amend and  repeal  rules  governing  the  conduct  and
  safety  of  the public as it may deem necessary, convenient or desirable
  for  the  use  and  operation  of  the  transit  facilities  under   its
  jurisdiction,   including  without  limitation  rules  relating  to  the
  protection or maintenance of such facilities, the conduct and safety  of
  the  public, the payment of fares or other lawful charges for the use of
  such facilities, the presentation or display of documentation permitting
  free passage,  reduced  fare  passage  or  full  fare  passage  on  such
  facilities   and  the  protection  of  the  revenue  of  the  authority.
  Violations of such rules shall be an offense punishable by a fine of not
  exceeding twenty-five dollars or by imprisonment for not longer than ten
  days, or both, or may be punishable by the  imposition  by  the  transit
  adjudication bureau established pursuant to the provisions of this title
  of  a  civil  penalty  in an amount for each violation not to exceed one
  hundred dollars (exclusive of interest or costs  assessed  thereon),  in
  accordance with a schedule of such penalties as may from time to time be
  established  by  rules  of the authority. Such schedule of penalties may
  provide for the imposition of additional  penalties,  not  to  exceed  a
  total  of  fifty  dollars  for  each  violation,  upon  the failure of a
  respondent  in  any  proceeding  commenced  with  respect  to  any  such
  violation  to make timely response to or appearance in connection with a
  notice of violation of such rule or to any subsequent  notice  or  order
  issued by the authority in such proceeding. There shall be no penalty or
  increment  in  fine  by  virtue of a respondent's timely exercise of his
  right to a hearing or appeal. The rules may provide, in addition to  any
  other sanctions, for the confiscation of tokens, tickets, cards or other
  fare  media  that  have  been forged, counterfeit, improperly altered or
  transferred, or otherwise used in a manner inconsistent with such rules.
* NB Effective until January 1, 2025
* 5-a. To make, amend and  repeal  rules  governing  the  conduct  and
  safety  of  the public as it may deem necessary, convenient or desirable

  for  the  use  and  operation  of  the  transit  facilities  under   its
  jurisdiction,   including  without  limitation  rules  relating  to  the
  protection or maintenance of such facilities, the conduct and safety  of
  the  public, the payment of fares or other lawful charges for the use of
  such facilities, the presentation or display of documentation permitting
  free passage,  reduced  fare  passage  or  full  fare  passage  on  such
  facilities   and  the  protection  of  the  revenue  of  the  authority.
  Violations of such rules shall be an offense punishable by a fine of not
  exceeding twenty-five dollars or by imprisonment for not longer than ten
  days, or both, or may be punishable by the  imposition  by  the  transit
  adjudication bureau established pursuant to the provisions of this title
  of  a  civil  penalty  in an amount for each violation not to exceed one
  hundred dollars or, in the case of certain repeat violations relating to
  the payment of fares in accordance with subdivision  eleven  of  section
  twelve  hundred  nine-a  of  this title, not to exceed one hundred fifty
  dollars (in each case exclusive of supplemental penalties,  interest  or
  costs assessed thereon), in accordance with a schedule of such penalties
  as  may from time to time be established by rules of the authority. Such
  schedule of penalties may provide for  the  imposition  of  supplemental
  penalties,  not  to  exceed a total of fifty dollars for each violation,
  upon the failure of  a  respondent  in  any  proceeding  commenced  with
  respect  to  any such violation to make timely response to or appearance
  in connection with a  notice  of  violation  of  such  rule  or  to  any
  subsequent  notice  or order issued by the authority in such proceeding.
  There shall  be  no  penalty  or  increment  in  fine  by  virtue  of  a
  respondent's  timely exercise of their right to a hearing or appeal. The
  rules  may  provide,  in  addition  to  any  other  sanctions,  for  the
  confiscation  of  tokens,  tickets,  cards or other fare media that have
  been  forged,  counterfeit,  improperly  altered  or   transferred,   or
  otherwise  used  in a manner inconsistent with such rules. The authority
  shall not  use,  or  arrange  for  the  use,  of  biometric  identifying
  technology,  including but not limited to facial recognition technology,
  to enforce rules relating to the payment of fares.
* NB Effective January 1, 2025
6. To appoint employees and fix  their  compensation  subject  to  the
  provisions  of  the  civil  service law and to grant, in its discretion,
  cash payments to the surviving spouse or to the legal representatives of
  its  deceased  employees,  equal  to  the  current  monetary  value   of
  accumulated  and unused vacation time, if any, and the monetary value of
  accumulated and unused overtime, if any, for overtime which  was  worked
  and credited subsequent to June fifteenth, nineteen hundred fifty-three,
  computed  at  the  rate of salary in effect at the time the overtime was
  worked, standing to the credit of its employees as of the time of  their
  death  and,  notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  section  one  hundred
  thirty-five of the civil service law or any other state or local law  to
  the  contrary,  to  grant,  in  its discretion, severance pay to surplus
  employees on separation from service.
7. To retain and  employ  counsel,  auditors,  engineers  and  private
  consultants  on a contract basis or otherwise for rendering professional
  or technical services and advice.
8.  Pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this   title,   to   construct,
  reconstruct, improve, maintain and operate any transit facility, whether
  now existing, or constructed, acquired or provided in the future, and to
  fix fares on any such transit facilities.
9. To construct, reconstruct, improve, maintain and operate buildings,
  structures  and  facilities  as  may  be  necessary or convenient and to
  maintain and operate, directly or enter into contracts or leases for the
  acquisition, maintenance, and operation of  areas  for  the  parking  of

  motor  vehicles  in  the  vicinity of its transit facilities, and in its
  discretion to fix and charge for such parking a  combination  fee  which
  shall  include  the  established  rate  of  fare  for use of its transit
  facilities.
9-a.  To  post  signs  notifying  the  public  of the maximum fine for
  throwing, dumping, or causing to be thrown, dumped, deposited or  placed
  any  refuse,  trash,  garbage,  rubbish,  litter,  or  any  nauseous  or
  offensive matter on subway tracks  or  the  right-of-way  of  a  subway,
  pursuant  to section fifty-two-e of the railroad law, to the extent that
  funds for such signs are available.
10. With the consent of the city to use  officers,  employees,  agents
  and  facilities  of  the city paying to the city an agreed proportion or
  amount of the compensation or costs involved.
11. To make  or  enter  into  contracts,  agreements,  deeds,  leases,
  conveyances  or other instruments necessary or convenient, and to assist
  and cooperate with the metropolitan transportation  authority  to  carry
  out   the   powers  of  the  metropolitan  transportation  authority  in
  furtherance of the purposes and powers of the authority as  provided  in
  this  article, including, without limitation, the transactions described
  in sections twelve hundred sixty-six-c, twelve  hundred  sixty-nine  and
  twelve  hundred  seventy-d of this article. This power shall include the
  power to make contracts with other persons operating transit  facilities
  for  combined  fares  for  the  use  of  such facilities and the transit
  facilities operated by the authority and for the division of such fares,
  and the power to make contracts for the  transportation  of  the  United
  States mail or personal property.
12.  To  surrender  to  the  city  property  no longer required by the
  authority.
13. To rent space and grant concessions on or in any transit or  other
  facility  under  its  jurisdiction,  to fix and collect rentals, fees or
  other charges therefor, and to contract for the sale or  disposition  of
  waste, products or by-products incidental to its operations or in excess
  of its requirements.
13-a.  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  section  fourteen hundred
  twenty-three of the penal law or the provisions of any general,  special
  or  local  law,  code, ordinance, rule or regulation to the contrary the
  authority may erect signs  or  other  printed,  painted  or  advertising
  matter  on  any  property,  including  elevated  structures,  leased  or
  operated by it or otherwise under its jurisdiction and control  and  may
  rent,  lease or otherwise sell the right to do so to any person, private
  or public.
14. To make plans, surveys and studies of transit  facilities  in  the
  city and prepare recommendations in regard thereto.
15.  To  exercise  all  requisite  and  necessary authority to manage,
  control and direct the maintenance and operation of  transit  facilities
  transferred  to  it  for  the  convenience and safety of the public with
  power, in its discretion, to extend, modify,  discontinue,  curtail,  or
  change  routes  or  methods  of transportation where the convenience and
  safety of the public would be served thereby or where existing routes or
  methods are inefficient or uneconomical; provided, however, that (except
  in cases of emergencies) at least thirty  days  prior  to  any  proposed
  modification, discontinuance, curtailment or change of any transit route
  or  method  of  transportation,  the  authority shall give notice of its
  intention to the board of estimate and shall, upon request of such board
  within such period, conduct a public hearing thereon.
16. In its  discretion  to  provide  and  maintain  a  transit  police
  department  and  a  uniformed  transit police force. Such department and
  force shall have the power and it shall be  their  duty,  in  and  about

  transit  facilities, to preserve the public peace, prevent crime, detect
  and arrest offenders, suppress riots, mobs and  insurrections,  disperse
  unlawful  or  dangerous  assemblages and assemblages which obstruct free
  passage;  protect  the  rights of persons and property; guard the public
  health; regulate,  direct,  control  and  restrict  pedestrian  traffic;
  remove  all  nuisances;  enforce  and  prevent violation of all laws and
  ordinances; and for these purposes  to  arrest  all  persons  guilty  of
  violating  any  law  or  ordinance.  Appointments to such transit police
  force shall be made in accordance  with  applicable  provisions  of  the
  civil  service  law  and only persons who shall be less than twenty-nine
  years of age at the date of the  filing  of  an  application  for  civil
  service  examination, who have never been convicted of a felony, and who
  are citizens of the United States shall be appointed  transit  patrolmen
  on the transit police force. Each member of such force shall be a police
  officer  as  defined  by  paragraph  (e)  of  subdivision thirty-four of
  section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law and  shall  possess  all  the
  powers  of  a  police  officer  of  a  city in the execution of criminal
  process; and criminal process issued by any court  or  magistrate  of  a
  city  may  be  directed  to  and  executed  by  a  member of such force,
  notwithstanding the provisions of any local or special act, ordinance or
  regulation.
The authority may appoint a chief and a deputy chief  of  the  transit
  police  department  who,  in  the  discretion  of  the authority, may be
  selected from the ranks of the transit police force, and  assign  powers
  and  duties  to  them and fix their compensation. The chief shall be the
  head of such department. During the absence or disability of the  chief,
  the deputy chief shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties
  of  the  chief.  The  transit  police  force  shall consist of captains,
  lieutenants, sergeants and police officers.  The  authority  may  detail
  persons  in  the rank of captain of the transit police force to serve in
  higher ranks. A captain when so detailed to serve in a higher  rank  may
  be  granted  an  increase  in salary above the grade established for the
  rank of captain in the uniformed force. The  authority  may  maintain  a
  division  for  detective  purposes to be known as the detective division
  and may, from time to time, detail to service in said division  as  many
  members  of  the  force  as  it  may deem necessary, and may at any time
  revoke any such detail. Any member of the force while so detailed may be
  granted an increase in salary above the grade established for his or her
  rank in the uniformed force, but shall retain his or  her  rank  in  the
  force  and shall be eligible for promotion the same as if serving in the
  uniformed force, and the time during which he  or  she  serves  in  such
  division shall count for all purposes as if served in his or her rank or
  grade in the uniformed force.
16-a.  The  authority  shall  establish  and  publish  or  cause to be
  published schedules for all passenger transportation services under  its
  operation.  Such  schedules  shall  include  the estimated departure and
  arrival time at each terminal point of each route except that, on  lines
  where the headway time during the period between six A.M. and seven P.M.
  is less than ten minutes, such headway time alone may be listed for that
  period.  Such schedules shall also show the elapsed running time between
  the terminal and each station. Schedules shall be made available at each
  facility on the applicable route at which tokens or tickets are sold and
  shall be posted at each appropriate station operated by the authority.
17. To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its purposes
  and for the exercise of the powers granted in this title.
18. A copy of any  report  submitted  by  the  authority  pursuant  to
  sections twenty-eight hundred, twenty-eight hundred one and twenty-eight

  hundred  two of this chapter shall be submitted contemporaneously to the
  mayor.
19.  To  invest  any  funds, accounts or other monies not required for
  immediate use or disbursement, at the discretion of  the  authority,  in
  any   of  the  investments  in  which  the  metropolitan  transportation
  authority is permitted to invest its monies pursuant to subdivision four
  of section twelve hundred sixty-five of this article.