John Petro
M.T.A. Plan is not a “Bailout”
An array of city, state and federal elected officials sharply criticized the proposals to bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority at a legislative hearing on Thursday, raising fresh concerns about whether the proposals can survive in Albany.
How is a plan to come up with funds to support a public transit agency (let me stress the word “public” once again) considered a bailout? Let’s be clear, the M.T.A. is suffering because of its debt. This debt was used to finance improvements in service after decades of neglect to the system (and after Governor Pataki cut state funding of the M.T.A. in 1995). Because of these system improvements, the M.T.A. has seen its ridership increase by 42 percent since 1990.
I don’t think that anyone is seriously suggesting that the M.T.A. should not have undertook its capital improvement plan. If the M.T.A. had not, those extra transit riders would be driving to work, clogging up the roads and creating a traffic nightmare. Instead, despite increases in population and employment, automobile traffic levels in the city have remained flat.
So, the M.T.A. is forced to borrow to keep the system running smoothly and safely. Richard Ravitch has come up with a plan to allow the M.T.A. to pay off its debt service and to pay for future system repair and improvements. The plan hinges on a payroll tax that would be paid in the 12 counties of the M.T.A. Commuter District, raising $1.5 billion a year.
But Representative Anthony Weiner, a mayoral candidate, is against this tax.
Representative Weiner said the state should not be rushed into considering the Ravitch plan, which he said was filled with “old ideas.” He opposed the payroll tax as a burden on the middle class and small businesses.
If Representative Weiner thinks that a payroll tax is a burden on the middle class, would he prefer a transit fare increase of 23 percent? What is his solution?
“There’s going to be help coming from Washington.”
The federal government could and should be doing more to support the M.T.A. After all, the system moves over 8,000,000 riders a day. This is obviously a transportation system of national importance. But relying on help from Washington to fix the current budget gap is a mistake. If Congressional leadership from New York can’t see the need to fund the M.T.A., how do we expect members of Congress from Kansas and South Carolina to support public transit in New York?
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Posted at 11:45 AM, Feb 20, 2009 in
Transportation | Urban Affairs
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