The Straphangers Campaign is urging NY State Legislators to press for these improvements to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 2000-2004 capital program:

1. More subway cars and buses to provide more service, less crowding and greater reliability. The MTA is proposing to buy 1,130 new subway cars and 1,056 buses by 2004 - far less than recommended by the Empire State Transportation Alliance, a coalition of business, labor and civic groups (see MTR #236). The result: not enough cars and buses to meet soaring ridership gains. Indeed, the MTA plan says it will result in less than a 2% increase in subway and bus ridership over the next five years. To date, service has lagged far behind ridership gains, resulting in widespread overcrowding and irregular service. In addition, the MTA plan says there will be no improvement in the breakdown rate for subway cars over the next five years. That's unacceptable after 15 years of steady gains. The Assembly should win a pledge to car and bus purchase levels that would insure more reliable service and support higher service levels, like the Assembly's proposal for a city-wide rush-hour wait of no more than four minutes.

2. A real commitment to a full-length Second Avenue Subway with connections to other boroughs. The MTA plans to link the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal by 2009. But it wouldn't complete even a five-stop Second Ave. "stubway" on the Upper East Side until 2015. That's wrong, since the LIRR-Grand Central link will add 6,000 more riders to the peak morning rush on the 4, 5 and 6 lines. Indeed, the MTA's unfair funding - $1.5 billion for LIRR-Grand Central to help 50,000 suburban commuters; $700 million for Second Avenue, affecting 1.4 million daily Lexington Avenue riders - clouds the chances of even a stubway ever happening. The two projects should be built in tandem with something real, equivalent, and worthwhile happening on each at the same time. And the plan must include a firm commitment to a full-length Second Avenue Subway with connections to other boroughs, such as the MetroLink proposal (see www.rpa.org).

3. No cut in capital funding for city transit. For the last 20 years, New York City Transit has received 77% of the funding in MTA capital programs; 23% has gone to Metro North and Long Island Railroads. But the MTA proposes to change the split to 69% and 31%, resulting in a loss of $1.3 billion for city transit. That would be enough to move a full-length Second Avenue Subway forward for the next five years. The new split is not fair, given that New York City Transit moves 91% of the MTA's customers; LIRR and Metro-North combined move 9%.

4. A policy of no new diesel buses. The MTA plan calls for buying two and a half times as many polluting diesel buses (756) as alternative fuel buses (300). It also does very little to convert existing bus depots to the one technology - compressed natural gas - that's real.

A final note: In 1995, the Assembly vetoed the MTA's 1995-1999 capital plan. As a result, the Assembly won such changes as reduced pressure on fares and the rebuilding of the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. The Shuttle is slated to re-open this month. The Straphangers Campaign is confident a strong stand by the legislature will improve the plan now.