John Petro

MTA Rescue: Spineless

The severely compromised MTA bailout plan does not address the root cause of the MTA’s budget troubles: an overreliance on debt to finance the transit system’s maintenance, repair, and expansion. Albany’s plan would force the MTA to continue to borrow for these needs, increasing the already crushing debt burden.

Without long-term investments in capital needs, the MTA will forever be facing budget shortfalls, deferred maintenance, crumbling stations, and stalled projects.

We will be back at square one soon enough. This vicious cycle needs to end.

Any delay in completing expansions and improvements to the mass transit system will negatively affect the ability of New York City to handle the estimated one million new residents that are expected to live here by 2030. Subways and buses are already crowded.

We need to accommodate this new growth. Plans to expand the system are barely adequate to address our future needs. New York City will need to coordinate with the state and the federal government in order to plan for an even more ambitious program of system expansion if New York is to remain globally competitive.

Additionally, New York’s Congressional delegation must demand a fairer share of federal funding for the region’s mass transit system. The mass transit system brings millions of people to jobs throughout the city everyday. It supports a vast range of businesses and workers with different skill sets. It is the backbone of the largest metropolitan economy in the country. And yet the leadership in charge of its future continues to act spinelessly.

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Posted at 4:10 PM, May 06, 2009 in Transportation | Urban Affairs
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