Albany Has Already Saddled the MTA With More Debt Than 30 Nations

2:32 PM EST on February 12, 2015

As Albany contemplates paying for the MTA capital program by borrowing as much as $15 billion, it's worth pausing to examine the debt load straphangers are already shouldering. To put it in perspective, the MTA carries more debt than Bolivia, Tanzania, and Luxembourg combined, according to numbers compiled by the Straphangers Campaign. The MTA owes more than at least 30 nations, including several with populations much larger than New York City.

"If I inflate the MTA's debt load, straphangers are the ones who will be left underwater." Photo: MTA/Flickr — With no action from Governor Cuomo, MTA debt will balloon even more. Photo: MTA/Flickr

Some level of borrowing makes sense, but shrinking state and city support for the MTA capital program has led to a ballooning debt load that pushes fares higher and impedes service.

The MTA currently owes $34.1 billion to pay off bonds issued for capital investments, according to Straphangers, and the agency is spending $2.2 billion on debt service this year. That's 17 percent of its operating budget, a hair shy of the amount it spends to run Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.

Unless Governor Cuomo and the legislature decide to stop treating your MetroCard as a credit card, things will only get worse.

Even with no new borrowing, MTA debt is on track to exceed $39 billion by 2018, according to Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

The $32 billion capital program, which fixes track, replaces trains and buses, and expands the system, is facing a $15.2 billion shortfall. Without a new revenue stream (this is where toll reform would come in handy), straphangers will soon be paying off the difference in the form of higher fares.

With several fare hikes since 2007, a four percent hike approved for this year, and another on deck in 2017, fares are already increasing faster than inflation. DiNapoli estimates that every billion dollars in new debt will translate to an additional 1 percent fare hike.

Does Governor Cuomo care enough about New York City transit riders to prevent super-sized fare hikes? Albany budget season is heating up, so it's now or never. So far, though, Cuomo has given no indication that he's serious about fixing the MTA's debt problem.

Stephen Miller

In spring 2017, Stephen wrote for Streetsblog USA, covering the livable streets movement and transportation policy developments around the nation. From August 2012 to October 2015, he was a reporter for Streetsblog NYC, covering livable streets and transportation issues in the city and the region. After joining Streetsblog, he covered the tail end of the Bloomberg administration and the launch of Citi Bike. Since then, he covered mayoral elections, the de Blasio administration's ongoing Vision Zero campaign, and New York City's ever-evolving street safety and livable streets movements.

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