MTA Board Testimony- Celebrating a Clean Sweep for the Capital Plan, Congestion Pricing, and Fare Incentives

Good afternoon, I’m Lisa Daglian, Executive Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, PCAC.
Today’s super-duper Committee Meetings lead us to a souped-up Board Meeting, including a vote to approve the 25-29 Capital Plan and resubmit it to the CPRB. That includes more than $47 billion for Transit, $6 billion each for the LIRR and Metro-North, and $5.25 billion for major projects and expansion projects. It’s déjà vu all over again, but we don’t get tired of saying, “yes, please!”
We had déjà vu down the rabbit hole in court yesterday, this time with USDOT arguing that they were wrong all the times they spoke in support of congestion pricing and the VPPP. Judge Liman was having none of that and put the kibosh on the federal government taking action against the MTA or its partners, decrying the possible ‘eternal fog of confusion’ and ‘recipe for chaos’ that could be created if federal agencies are allowed to change rules and agreements between Administrations. He also called it a state sovereignty issue and expressed concern about irreparable harm – to the MTA, bond markets and to the public works projects being undertaken. We see from the actions you will be taking and today’s presentations just how significant those works and projects are.
The bottom line is that congestion pricing is legal and increasingly popular. It works: traffic is down, business is up, and the cameras are staying on. The benefits are already widespread, with more improvements to our vital transit network and to riders across the system on the way, including greater accessibility and reliability, safety and resiliency upgrades on lines used by millions every day.
Today you will also adopt promotional transfers for the Queens Bus Network Redesign. We welcome these rider-forward pilot programs and would like to see more of them, including CityTicket Weekly, Fair Fares on the railroads within the city, and A.M. Peak discounts for senior-, disabled-, and Medicare-eligible riders across the LIRR and Metro-North. We urge you to give them the same consideration you are giving the promotional transfers, particularly ahead of this summer’s planned fare adjustments.
Thank you!