| Issue 238 | September 24, 1999 |
| Issue 238 | September 24, 1999 |
Next week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will release its proposal for its next multi-year construction program.
According to MTA documents, the plan will amount to $17 billion - $16 billion for transit system expansion and subway, bus and commuter rail improvements, with an additional billion for MTA bridge and tunnel maintenance.
The transit program breaks down as follows:
The plan's overall figure for maintenance of the existing transit and MTA bridge and tunnel system is $14.5 billion.
NYC Transit programs would include purchase of over 1,000 each of new buses and subway cars, a $1.66 billion station rehabilitation program, better communications and customer information systems and overhauls for four subway train maintenance shops.
The transit expansion budget would be divided between the LIRR-Grand Central link, which would receive $1.6 billion to complete design work and begin construction, the Second Avenue subway north of 63rd Street, which would get $700 million to complete environmental reviews and designs and begin tunnel work, and a final $170 million for planning future projects like a LaGuardia Rail link and Metro-North Penn Station access.
The MTA projects that under this scenario, over five years, its combined capital and operating budget gaps will amount to $4.4 billion. The agency suggests the gap can be made up partly by a program of expense reductions (unrelated to transit services), and initiatives like bond refinancing . Even with these measures, however, the plan has a hole of $2.36 billion that would have to be filled with "new governmental assistance and other resources."
At this point, information is not detailed enough to judge whether the NYC Transit subway and bus purchases represent expansion of the city transit fleet. Some observers believe the subway cars will only replace old cars slated for retirement.
The MTA plan indicates it will buy 300 "clean fuel" buses and spend $50 million to renovate and add compressed natural gas fueling capability to the Manhattanville bus depot in Harlem. The likely scenario here is that the MTA will expand the city bus fleet, but that the CNG buses will more or less represent the margin of expansion. Thus, very little, if any, of the MTA's polluting diesel bus fleet will give way to cleaner replacements. The Natural Resources Defense Council and others will expose and press this issue hard during the capital plan debate.
The MTA plan is smaller than the one released earlier this month by the Empire State Transportation Alliance (ESTA), a coalition of business, planning, civic, environmental and labor groups (see MTR #236) by $2 billion (the ESTA plan did not look at funds for MTA Bridges and Tunnels). The biggest gap is in the allocation for the Second Avenue subway project. ESTA called for a $2 billion investment in a Second Avenue line running the length of Manhattan. ESTA argued that funding at this level would enable the project to be completed around the same time that LIRR trains begin to run into Grand Central (2010). This issue will likely be the biggest fight during the capital plan debate. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents Manhattan's Lower East Side, has said he would not approve any MTA spending plan that did not begin work on a full-length Second Avenue line.
ESTA also called for expansion of the subway fleet by 100 cars (to enable increases in peak service), for much bigger investment in clean fuel buses and faster subway signal upgrades.
Still, the MTA proposal would represent the biggest ever MTA building program. The MTA could likely win widespread support for it if it devoted somewhat more funding to the Second Avenue project and agreed with Speaker Silver to develop a full-length plan for the Second Ave. line. Then the legislature and Governor Pataki could turn their full attention to the $2.36 billion question.
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Transport Workers Union Local 100 has hired labor campaigner Ray Rogers and his Corporate Campaign outfit to organize public support for a drive for wage increases and increased transit funding. Contract negotiations between transit labor and the MTA are set to begin in October - the 35,000-member local's current contract expires December 15. Chief-Leader    |