More subway delays ahead if NYC can't fund transit budget

[Q113 LTD]

Commuters have grown weary of delays in New York City's subway system. (MARY ALTAFFER, AP)

By Meghan Barr Of The Associated Press

What's being done to make chronic NYC subway delays a thing of the past?

 

      It's an ominous refrain, repeated endlessly in the same automated monotone: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are delayed because of train traffic ahead of us." Every New Yorker who rides the subway to work each day — all 6 million, on the busiest days — has heard that message echoed over loudspeakers when a train comes to an unexpected halt. What most commuters don't realize is that those delays are tied to a contentious political fight playing out over the 's five-year capital budget plan, which will fund critical improvements and repairs to the city's sprawling transit system. Right now, the is struggling to find funding sources for about half of that $32 billion plan. The agency could be forced to refund money to contractors on expansion projects such as the East Side access project — which will connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal — if the budget debate isn't resolved 18 months from now, Chairman Thomas Prendergast said at a board meeting Wednesday. "A year or two, we're OK," Prendergast said. "But as you start to get down that path, we get to the point where we don't have that money, we can't award design contracts, we can't award construction projects." Another major project at risk is the new subway line that will run along Second Avenue, Prendergast said. "Could we start the next phase of the Second Avenue subway? That would be one that would be up on the table," he said. But Prendergast said the agency has never found itself in that position before, and he doesn't expect it will happen this time around. "New York gets the money it needs to get the MTA to keep running," he said. Experts say the city's aging trains and buses, which already lag far behind other global metropolises, will deteriorate considerably if the transit authority is unable to digitize a century-old subway signaling system, replace miles of subway tracks and cars and fix tunnel lighting, among many critical repairs. "We will start sliding backward," said Richard Barone, director of transportation programs for the Regional Plan Association, an independent civic group that shapes transit policy across the tri-state area. "Stations will be looking worse. We won't have the money to maintain the track infrastructure to where it should be, and therefore it will result in greater delays. If we don't upgrade our signaling system, well, that's really bad because these are signals that are in some cases over 80 years old." New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also weighed in on the funding crisis Wednesday, calling 's capital plan "woefully underfunded." The mayor criticized New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's current contribution of $750 million toward the budget, saying it does not begin to address the transit authority's critical needs. "We cannot ask riders alone to sustain the system with fare increases," de Blasio said. Politicians and policymakers are divided over how to come up with the remaining $15 billion needed to fund the plan. Cuomo, who controls the , has described it as "bloated," which implies that he will expect significant cuts for it to pass muster in the Legislature this summer. But the consensus among transportation experts is that the price tag actually isn't high enough to cover the massive amount of work that needs to be done. Cuomo's office declined to comment on how the governor believes the budget ought to be funded. None of the options are politically popular: raising taxes, tolls or fares, for example. Funding also could be diverted from other state projects and funneled toward transportation........

 

Want to read more? Source: http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/mc-nyc-mta-capital-plan-20150228-story.html

[Cait Sith]

If NYC can't fund the budget? It's the state, not the city...

[161 New York]

Regarding New York City's contribution to the   from the document referenced below:

 

Hearing on the Fiscal 2015 Preliminary Budget & the Fiscal 2014 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
March 6, 2014

PDF Available NYC.gov

Operating funds (p.9 document / p.13 PDF):

 

The City’s Contribution. For CY 2014, the City’s contribution, excluding capital commitments, is approximately $800 million. For Calendar Year 2014, estimated City subsidies include the following: $45 million for the school fare subsidy; $14 million for the elderly and disabled subsidy; $128 million for paratransit reimbursement; $158 million to match State Operating Assistance; $336 million for private bus subsidy; $28 million City subsidy for SIRTOA and $90 million for the maintenance and operation of Long Island Railroad and Metro North Railroad stations in the City

Regarding Capital Funds (p.7 document p.11 PDF)

 

New York City Funds. The amended 2010-2014 program includes City reimbursements valued at $12 million for Select Bus Service MetroCard vending machines and a local match for the MTA Bus purchase of 74 CNG buses. It also includes $250 million that would come from the disposition of properties that are jointly owned with the City, while continuing to assume an annual contribution of $100 million from the City’s capital budget.