Good morning, I’m Brian Fritsch, Associate Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, PCAC.
I’m very happy to testify today from Grand Central Madison, which has realized decades of planning and work to become the lynchpin terminal that finally knits the LIRR, Metro-North, and New York City Transit together in one place. Congratulations to everyone who worked so diligently on this project, and PCAC is pleased to see LIRR riders showing their support for the station by achieving the predicted 40/60 ridership split with Penn Station.
There’s a lot to learn from the construction of Grand Central Madison—both good and bad—as the MTA embarks on the 2025-2029 Capital Plan. There’s no doubt the lessons from this project have been well heeded by leadership, who have utilized a smarter planning process via the 20-year needs assessment and employed a wider variety of methods to deliver projects responsibly and on budget.
The next plan also rightly prioritizes the essential state-of-good-repair work that will keep the system running safely and reliably for the foreseeable future. Yet, the $35 billion gap in funding for the plan remains, so PCAC floated two dozen options that would raise a collective three-quarters of a trillion dollars when bonded in a report called “Take Your Pick Albany.”
Yet funding for the 2020-2024 Plan was thrown back into question just as Congestion Pricing is starting to work and winning over the diner patrons across the street from here. PCAC is outraged that USDOT chose to withdraw federal support, putting $15 billion at risk once again. This just as the program began hitting all its targets by raising $48.6 million in its first month, reducing traffic, increasing speeds for drivers, buses, and emergency vehicles, improving air quality, and reducing traffic violence. Congestion Pricing is undefeated in court and we’re confident Governor Hochul will prevail.
We can build great things in New York when politics don’t get in the way, as any current or former New Yorker should know. Thank you.