While the Governor's plan would divert $250 million from the state's debt relief fund to highway projects in upstate New York (Route 17's upgrade to an interstate and widening Route 219 south of Buffalo), for a $200 million overall increase in NY State DOT capital spending, it is silent on how the MTA can meet its construction plan. "There's zero, zip, nada capital money for transit projects," the Straphangers Campaign's Gene Russianoff told the NY Times. No new state funding for transit construction has been a consistent feature of Governor Pataki's budgets.

The Governor's office has said elsewhere it will apply $250 million the Port Authority proposes to give each state under its capital program proposal to MTA projects (likely the Long Island Railroad-Grand Central connection), but that plan is as yet unapproved, and would be a one-shot funding source.

$81 million in new mass transit operating aid will help keep MTA fares stable and permit some service increases this year. City transit advocates charge that the plan continues to devote proportionally more state operating aid to suburban systems than to NYC Transit. A $6 million increase for Long Island Bus operations led officials at that agency to tell reporters they could get through the year without service cuts, despite deep bus cuts by Nassau County in its budget.

The budget also contains a new "Rail Access Tax Incentive Program" to reduce the high property taxes that have hindered private railroad investment in the state. The program seeks a 45% reduction phased in over 7 years. The state would provide transitional aid to municipalities as compensation for lost revenue.