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MTA plans no service cuts in 2020, but transit official warns of deficit in the ‘gazillions’


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This, along with the Transformation Plan, and the debt that will be accumulated through the 2020-2024 plan will kill the agency.

Here is the great scoop by Clayton Guse:

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-mta-financial-plan-20191111-oct2fcgl3jg35pytvffgqn7wyi-story.html?mc_cid=a176f4022c&mc_eid=4c4d316e23

Quote

The MTA will take on a record deficit to prevent cuts to train and bus service next year, sources familiar with the agency’s financial situation told the Daily News.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is set to release its latest financial plan on Thursday, and sources who briefed on the document said it isn’t pretty.

“Good news: no service cuts,” a source told The News. “Bad news: System will be dead and gone soon.”

The source did not say exactly how much the agency’s deficit is projected to grow next year, but said it might as well be “a gazillion” dollars.


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The MTA’s November 2018 financial plan projected an annual operating deficit of $510 million in 2020, and of nearly $1 billion by 2022.


A reorganization plan ordered by Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature that would trim up to 2,700 MTA jobs could save $500 million over the next three years, but it’s apparently not enough to keep the agency above water.

An email exchange between MTA chairman Pat Foye and board members on Friday obtained by The News paints a bleak picture of the agency’s finances.

Some board members on the email chain took issue with a plan to jack up the price of parking spots at some Metro-North Railroad stops — but Foye said those hikes were just the tip of the iceberg.

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“This board is facing and will continue to face difficult, painful decisions which none of us will be happy about,” Foye wrote. “Sadly, avoiding difficult and painful decisions will not be possible.”

MTA spokeswoman Abbey Collins confirmed that the agency’s financial woes will not lead to “budget-driven” service cuts.

She said the MTA will consider more operational service changes like the recently-approved plan to slash service on Brooklyn’s busiest bus route — a move transit officials justified by committing to run longer articulated buses on the line.

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“The MTA remains committed to putting New Yorkers first,” said Collins. “We continue to change the way we do business to deliver for taxpayers through the implementation of the historic transformation plan.”

Friday was the latest of several grim messages Foye recently has sent to MTA officials. He sent a letter to employees in October that said the agency’s “cost structure is not where it needs to be" and that it must “migrate to the right level of resources to run the MTA."

Collins said the MTA board will be briefed on the financial plan on Tuesday — the same day that transit brass will testify at an oversight hearing with state lawmakers.

 

 

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6 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

So if the (MTA) does go bankrupt of some sort...what happens to everything transit wise?

The (MTA) is a public agency and it cannot go explicitly bankrupt in NYS. They would be well underfunded and changes within the agency would have to occur, but they cannot file for Chapter 7 or 11.

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6 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

So if the (MTA) does go bankrupt of some sort...what happens to everything transit wise?

Lol... There is no bankrupt of some sort... They are required by law to carry a balanced budget. If they don’t, they continue to have to borrow and run up more debt, which is what they have been doing for years. Eventually the chicken has to come home to roost, and the ability to borrow decreases because of the amount of debt that is held. They become too much of a risk to keep lending money to, which is why their rating dropped not long ago, so the question is, where do they get the money from to address this growing budget problem?

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On 11/12/2019 at 4:29 AM, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

The (MTA) is a public agency and it cannot go explicitly bankrupt in NYS. They would be well underfunded and changes within the agency would have to occur, but they cannot file for Chapter 7 or 11.

NYS law doesn’t permit municipal or authority bankruptcy?

Really??

 

Oh wait, I forgot about Mayor Beame and the 70s.

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On 11/11/2019 at 11:21 PM, QM1to6Ave said:

They won't make "budget related cuts" because they will just do all of their borough redesigns and hide cuts in the "redesign" (might as well just call it "right sizing" like the corporations do)

(MTA) is about to have the largest articulated bus fleet in the country, the subways are going to go all-open gangway with zero seats, and the commuter railroads are going to go all double decker.

How will cost savings be achieved, you say? Well, instead of holding 10 pounds of crazy in 5 pound bags, they're going to fit 20 pounds of crazy in 10 pound bags. Less bags to use and capacity will not be negatively affected.

More with less!

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54 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

(MTA) is about to have the largest articulated bus fleet in the country, the subways are going to go all-open gangway with zero seats, and the commuter railroads are going to go all double decker.

How will cost savings be achieved, you say? Well, instead of holding 10 pounds of crazy in 5 pound bags, they're going to fit 20 pounds of crazy in 10 pound bags. Less bags to use and capacity will not be negatively affected.

More with less!

And the express buses will start being double decker buses as well. 

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19 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

And the express buses will start being double decker buses as well. 

10% increased maintenance costs per bus in exchange for a 30% capacity increase and the potential for 25% less express buses on the road?

They would be fools not to buy double deckers. /s

Edited by paulrivera
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On 11/14/2019 at 8:35 PM, paulrivera said:

10% increased maintenance costs per bus in exchange for a 30% capacity increase and the potential for 25% less express buses on the road?

They would be fools not to buy double deckers. /s

To be fair, if the MTA were not run by a bunch of penny-pinchers, double-deckers would actually be a net-positive. They make sense for express buses since those are pretty much all-seating anyways and everyone is going long distances. The transit agencies here use them for commuter expresses to great effect.

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On 11/11/2019 at 5:07 PM, Lawrence St said:

So if the (MTA) does go bankrupt of some sort...what happens to everything transit wise?

Transdev or other global private transportation contractors start running services. 

Suffolk Transit takes advantage of the chaos and secures funding for their buses. 

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