Transit Funding
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Unlike Toll Reform, a Sales Tax Really Is a Regressive Way to Fund Transit
The MTA capital program is facing a $12 billion shortfall, according to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, and unless that gap is closed, transit riders will end up paying even more to cover the agency's ballooning debt load. There's one clear way to address that problem while cleaning up the traffic mess that ensnares motorists, bus riders, pedestrians, and cyclists alike -- raising revenue by reforming NYC's broken toll system. But a leader of Governor Cuomo's MTA Reinvention Commission appears to favor a regressive option that won't fix the dysfunction on city streets.
July 29, 2014
Affordable Bus and Subway Fares Are Still Worth Fighting For
When the MTA introduced the 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCard in 1998, it cost $63. Today the cost of the 30-day pass is up to $112, a 77 percent increase. Over that time the base subway and bus fare doubled, from $1.25 to $2.50.
July 24, 2014
Hints About Woodhaven BRT at MTA Reinvention Commission Panel
The "transportation reinvention commission" convened at the request of Governor Andrew Cuomo kicked off its public hearings yesterday with a panel of experts at MTA headquarters. Appointees, still trying to figure out the commission's exact role, chewed over some of the region's big transportation issues in a discussion that mostly lacked specifics. Still, there were a few notable comments, including new information about Bus Rapid Transit on Woodhaven Boulevard from NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.
July 16, 2014
City Council: Drivers With Free On-Street Parking Have Suffered Enough
It may be the Vision Zero era, but some thingsneverchange. If you're looking for cost-free, consequence-free storage of your private automobile in public space, the City Council still has your back.
June 30, 2014
Why the Senate Transportation Bill Will Devastate Transit
Transit officials lined up today to make clear that holding transit spending at current levels -- as the Senate’s transportation authorization bill does -- will put transit systems at risk of falling further into dangerous disrepair.
May 22, 2014
Panel: NYC Electeds Need to Get Serious About Funding Infrastructure
This morning, the Association for a Better New York, a business group, hosted a discussion on the city's infrastructure. The focus was squarely on transportation, and the message wasn't pretty. Panelists warned of dire consequences if elected officials don't act on the precarious state of transportation funding.
April 23, 2014
Instead of Reforming NYC Tolls, Ruben Diaz, Jr. Proposes Soaking the Bronx
Like the Tea Party adherents who are always going to equate walkability and sustainable transportation with a global UN conspiracy, some New York City electeds are always going to call road pricing "regressive" no matter how much the evidence suggests otherwise.
April 8, 2014
Fitch Ratings: Failure to Invest in Transit Could Hurt the Whole Economy
One of the country's leading financial ratings agencies is warning that if America doesn't change how it invests in transit, the whole economy could suffer.
March 27, 2014
Senate Joins Assembly in Rejecting Cuomo’s $40 Million Transit Raid
This week kicked off with news that Speaker Sheldon Silver would remove Governor Andrew Cuomo's $40 million transit raid from the Assembly's budget plan. Today comes word [PDF] that the State Senate has followed suit, rejecting the transit raid in its own budget resolution.
March 14, 2014
The Last Thing New York Needs Is a Tax Break for Drivers
The MTA capital program, which funds maintenance and expansion of the transit system, is on the final year of its five-year cycle. A new plan is being developed, and the big question is how the state is going to pay for it. At a hearing of the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, state legislators got briefed on the need to plug the enormous funding gap in the next capital program. At the same time, one State Senator is trying to create a new tax incentive to drive.
January 10, 2014