The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) got a 42-month...

transporting more than 4.5 million people each workday. The FCC has made clear repeatedly that it will have a high standard for granting a waiver, though the waiver was the second handed out this week (CD Aug 1 p18). The authority sought a waiver earlier this year, one of many such requests now before the agency (CD Feb 3 p5). The NYCTA application, like all waiver requests, was “subject to a high level of scrutiny,” but passed that test, the order said (http://xrl.us/bni2bf). “NYCTA has spent considerable time and money and made substantial progress in its effort to narrowband its ... system,” the order said. “The record shows that NYCTA began an extensive program to upgrade its subway radio system in 2003. Strict application of the narrowbanding rules would require NYCTA to expedite its contracted work schedule and risk service interruptions for millions of daily customers. We conclude that strict enforcement of the narrowbanding deadline under these circumstances would be inequitable and unduly burdensome, and that a waiver would be in the public interest.” The NYCTA also “must upgrade its radio system in one of the most complex transit systems in the world,” the order said. “NYCTA operates 119 radio sites with multiple base stations and a network of remote receivers, serving 468 passenger stations and 800 miles of track.” Still before the FCC is a broader waiver of the narrowbanding deadline filed by New City on behalf of its departments of police, fire, corrections, environmental protection and information technology and telecommunications (http://xrl.us/bnbkzn).