The theory sees little to no transportation capital funding restoration in Governor's Pataki's budget proposal. The Governor did not mention transit or transportation in his state of the state address earlier this month, and the "teaser" elements of the Governor's budget released this week were about tax credits for affordable housing and child support, and funding for environmental programs like Superfund.

The Legislative response to the abiding transportation gap would be a new bond act proposal. This year, the balance would supposedly tip in favor of such an initiative because the NYC mayoral and other city-wide elections - versus relatively low-profile contests elsewhere in the state - will bring out a disproportionately large city vote.