Transit Funding
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IBO: MTA Fares on Pace to Rise 50 Percent Over Next Decade
The 2009 MTA funding package passed by Albany included a plan to increase fares and tolls every other year. The most recent of those fare hikes, implemented in March, increased fares 8.4 percent, with the MTA anticipating another increase in 2015. If this pattern continued for the next decade, fares would rise 50 percent, to $3.75 per ride, according to an analysis by the city's Independent Budget Office requested by NYPIRG's Straphangers Campaign [PDF]. Unless city and state leadership act, fares will drastically outpace the inflation rate, even as crossing the East River bridges and driving to the most congested, transit-rich part of the city remains toll-free.
July 30, 2013
In Colorado, a Big Legal Victory for Active Transportation Funding
Believe it or not, in many U.S. states one of the biggest obstacles to active transportation is in the constitution.
April 26, 2013
Ravitch: The Next Mayor Must Get Serious About Congestion Pricing
The next mayor will have to take the lead on transportation funding challenges that, while difficult to address in campaign speeches, are critical to the city's future, former lieutenant governor and MTA chairman Richard Ravitch said today at a Fordham University infrastructure forum.
March 5, 2013
Budget Sequester Could Throw a Wrench Into Transit Expansion Projects
The consequences of the near-certain sequester for aviation have been well publicized by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's recent media blitz, but less well-known are the effects for surface transportation.
February 28, 2013
At Transit Forum, Albanese, Allon, and Carrión Support Rational Tolls
Friday's transit forum hosted by Transit Workers Union Local 100 and a coalition of rider advocacy groups offered an opportunity for a more more detailed discussion of transit policy than this year's mayoral race has seen so far. While the candidates offered few specifics about how they would improve transit for the millions of New Yorkers who depend on trains and buses, clear differences emerged, especially on the question of how to increase funding for the debt-ridden MTA.
February 25, 2013
Ed Koch, 1973: The Bicycle “Must Be Included” in NYC Transpo System
Thanks to reader Peter Frishauf for passing on this 1973 constituent letter he received from Ed Koch, who represented New York's 18th Congressional District at the time. Forty years ago, Koch was putting out a more progressive message on bike policy than what we heard in 2011 from another U.S. Representative who had his eye on Gracie Mansion.
February 1, 2013
Will Massachusetts Tax Parking Lots to Fund Transit?
Here's a transportation funding idea that aligns incentives nicely: taxing parking lots to pay for transit.
January 11, 2013
“People’s Fare Hike Hearing” Asks Albany to Take Action on MTA Funding
As the latest round of fare hike hearings -- the fourth in five years -- continues around the region, turnout is low but rants against the MTA board are still at a high boil. As usual, the elected officials who allocate resources to the transit system are shielded from public accountability.
November 13, 2012
Have the Days of Scapegoating the MTA Come to an End?
MTA Love. Two words that have never before been paired have been practically joined at the hip during the recovery from Superstorm Sandy. To wit:
November 12, 2012
MTA Wants to Take Payroll Tax Ruling Straight to State’s Top Court
On Wednesday, a state Supreme Court judge ruled the Payroll Mobility Tax unconstitutional, saying that because the "budgetary crisis of the MTA is not a substantial state concern," the law required a home rule message from the affected counties. Now, the MTA says it will appeal directly to New York's top court.
August 24, 2012