While federal officials are clashing with New York over congestion pricing, the tolling program that President Trump has vowed to kill, there is another transit fight underway between Albany and Washington.
The $68 billion capital plan, a five-year budget proposal that includes a slew of critical upgrades for the subway, buses and commuter railroads, is the biggest such request the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has ever made. The plan, which would run from 2025 to 2029, comes as the Trump administration is not only trying to kill the toll but is also threatening to defund an untold number of other transit priorities.
So far, the M.T.A. has identified funding for only about half of the plan and is expecting the federal government to contribute $14 billion, a sum that was optimistic even before its tolling dispute with Washington, budget analysts said.
The state is relying on congestion pricing to fund transit upgrades that were part of the last five-year capital plan, and its termination could throw the new budget into disarray, as overdue projects pile up. The capital plan is separate from the M.T.A.’s annual operating budget, which largely pays for expenses like worker salaries, energy expenses and some financing costs and is partly funded by fare revenue.
At stake is a long list of repairs and improvements to New York City’s aging transit system that, if put off any longer, could plunge New York into another “Summer of Hell” — the notorious series of power outages, track fires and delays in 2017 that infuriated riders — Janno Lieber, the head of the transit authority, said.
“We have to invest in the system to protect the riders,” Mr. Lieber said in an interview Tuesday in Albany.
The transit authority’s scramble for funding is emblematic of the many possible shortfalls facing state officials as they attempt to negotiate a budget by April 1. It’s not uncommon for the state budget to arrive several weeks late.
Congestion pricing began in January and charges most drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak traffic hours. The Trump administration wants the toll program to stop by mid-April, citing concerns that it will hurt the city’s economy, though there is little evidence of that so far.
Last week, after Gov. Kathy Hochul restated her support for the program, Sean Duffy, the U.S. secretary of transportation, threatened to withdraw an untold sum of federal funding from New York transit, unless the M.T.A. produced data on subway crime. Most of the data he requested is already publicly available.
Mr. Duffy did not mention congestion pricing in the letter demanding crime figures, but several transit experts questioned the timing of his demands.
The capital plan under consideration in Albany would help pay for thousands of new rail cars and buses, improvements to subway signals that date back to the Great Depression, vital electrical repairs and making more subway stations accessible for disabled riders and young families. The last capital plan was about $55 billion, of which the federal government committed about $13 billion.
Carl Heastie, the speaker of the New York State Assembly, said on Tuesday that he met with Mr. Lieber and assured him that the budget will be fully funded, but added that lawmakers “don’t have a solid plan yet” for how to fill the gap, which is roughly $35 billion, even if the federal government comes through with the $14 billion.
More than 90 percent of the capital plan focuses on getting the mass transit system into a state of good condition, particularly on the subway. Mr. Lieber explained that newer train cars tend to break down after more than 200,000 miles. The system’s older cars are breaking down far more often — after less than 50,000 miles.
“That means if you’re a rider, you have a much bigger chance of getting on a car that breaks down and has to go out of service.” Mr. Lieber said.
On Tuesday, Ms. Hochul and legislative leaders wrote a letter to President Trump and Republican members of New York’s congressional delegation seeking a “fair share” of the federal government’s transit funding, given the size of the state’s need.
Mr. Duffy on the same day dismissed the request for more funding and called the M.T.A. “horribly run.”
“The federal government is not a blank check, and we will hold N.Y.C. leaders accountable for not keeping commuters safe,” he wrote, referring to his concerns about crime on the subway.
Nicole Malliotakis, one of the members of Congress addressed in Ms. Hochul’s letter, expressed skepticism that the transit agency should get more funding.
“No amount of money given to the M.T.A. will resolve its financial woes until Governor Hochul addresses its core problem — waste, bloat, and utter mismanagement,” she said in a statement.
While the M.T.A. is seeking $68 billion, an independent analysis by the state comptroller found that the transit agency might need closer to $90 billion to fully fund the projects outlined in its capital plan.
Regardless of how much Washington contributes, the state will need to find more funding and potentially delay less urgent projects, said Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog group.
That could mean mothballing the Interborough Express, a proposed rail line that would connect hard-to-reach parts of Queens and Brooklyn. Other options include raising transit fares, bridge and tunnel tolls and vehicle registration fees.
The state might also increase a number of taxes across the region served by mass transit, including the mansion tax on property sales, or the payroll mobility tax for businesses, among others.
“None of the options are easy,” Mr. Rein said, but delaying the plan will cost the state much more in the long run, because of further deterioration and rising construction costs. “The system is crumbling, and stuff has to happen now.”
The post Congestion Pricing Is at Risk. So Is the M.T.A.’s $68 Billion Plan. appeared first on New York Times.
