Good afternoon. I’m Jack Connors, Research and Communications Associate at the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, PCAC.
We applaud the appointment of Tim Mulligan to lead the largest rolling stock replacement in the MTA’s history. This is yet another sign that the MTA is ready to get New Yorkers moving in newer and more reliable train cars and buses – benefiting New Yorkers and New York State manufacturers. However, it’s up to Governor Hochul and the Legislature to make it a reality by funding the next capital plan – no easy task.
We support this month’s capital plan amendment to keep preliminary work on the IBX moving forward. However, we cannot let the rest of the system rot away in order to make the IBX a reality. State of Good Repair work may not grab the headlines like expansion does, but it makes a world of difference to riders who spend less time on the platform or stuck between stations, and more time at home and work.
It will be impossible to expand the system and push the needle towards a State of Good Repair so long as the congestion pricing pause persists. This pause is Governor Hochul’s baby, and as the Comptroller’s report makes clear, babies are expensive.
Without congestion pricing, the MTA’s operating budget is up to $1.5 billion short, on top of the $16.5 billion hole in the current capital plan. That could spell service cuts, layoffs, and more severe fare hikes on New York City Transit, the LIRR, and Metro-North – a doomsday scenario.
We have warned of the threat Governor Hochul’s pause poses to the operating budget since its ill-thought-out inception. Now, we have the horrifying reality scrawled in red ink.
You may be tired of hearing us say “unpause the pause”, but riders are even more tired of waiting for the improvements they deserve; so, Governor Hochul, please, stop the madness and unpause the pause.
Thank you.