Silver and Bruno said the bond issue proceeds would be split evenly between highways and transit. However, the increase of the transit budget from the MTA's original $16.5 billion capital program to the $17.1 billion level is relatively modest against the nearly $3 billion hike in the NY State DOT budget over Governor Pataki's $14.3 billion executive budget recommendation. It's unclear for now where the various legislative plans for cutting the state gas tax sit amid the new budget framework.

Legislative leaders in both houses claimed victory for their transportation efforts. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and other Manhattan legislators said the deal would put the Second Avenue Subway on track, even though huge questions loom about financing the project's construction in the future. Less questionable is that the State Senate has won a big boost in highway funding, backed by solid NY State tax revenues.

Transit program specifics are reportedly still being worked out:


• News reports and statements by Speaker Silver indicate that about $1 billion in the transit plan will be devoted to full-length Second Avenue subway planning, engineering and possibly early phases of construction (construction of a full-length line is estimated to cost about $15 billion).

• Whether the plan will require NYC Transit to undertake a significant conversion of its bus fleet to clean compressed natural gas buses is still under debate in Albany. Assembly Democrats are pushing hard for a "dump diesel" position. The big question here is where Governor Pataki will come out on this one.

Details - indeed, even shadowy outlines - of the highway program are completely absent. Where the public debate over transit issues has been over fairly specific programs and projects, discussion about highways has been primarily in dollar terms. What will the expanded NY State DOT program pay for? This year, DOT has refrained from releasing even a basic outline of its program under the Governor's proposed $14.3 billion funding level or any other scenario.

The bond act plan has been criticized for what it might do for highway construction and for what it may not do for mass transit.

Criticism by the Straphangers Campaign and the NYC Partnership after the budget framework was announced focused on the fact that general state bond act would place a small layer of good money on top of an unstable mountain of MTA debt. A front-page story in Tuesday's NY Times described the untenable levels of fare-backed borrowing the MTA capital program proposes. According to the article, 11 cents in every dollar in transit fares is now used to repay MTA debt. Under the MTA 2000-2004 plan, that share would rise to 23 cents in 2004 and keep rising thereafter. "A vote for this plan is a vote for a massive fare hike," the Straphangers Campaign's Gene Russianoff told the NY Times upon release of the state budget outline.

A number of downstate business and advocacy leaders are calling upon Governor Pataki to establish a blue ribbon commission to advise the state in developing more sustainable financing for mass transit.

A letter sent today to legislative and Pataki Administration leaders today from major environmental groups, including Environmental Advocates, Environmental Defense, the Long Island Pine Barrens Society and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign asked for details of the NY State DOT highway and bridge program, and said that the groups would not support an expanded highway budget if NYS DOT's program contains a significant highway expansion component.