MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is right that finding funding for New York’s mass transit capital program is a lot more important than the fight over Mayor Bloomberg’s West Side stadium. But there are several intersecting issues worth keeping in mind, aside from the obvious fact that the more money the MTA can get for its Hudson Yards air rights, the more it will be able to devote to its 2005-2009 repair and construction plan.

One is how the city’s transit system will look and function in 2012, when the city aims to host the summer Olympic games. Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff probably didn’t tell visiting International Olympic Committee members this week that at current budget levels, the region’s critical mass transit systems face nearly a decade of disinvestment and decay between now and the start of the games. But it should matter to the Olympic decision makers. The city’s fortunes and quality of life depend on a thriving transit system, and if it has become less reliable and more repellent, the 2012 games could find a host city in decline. Kalikow warned in a December letter to state and city leaders that the transit system faces a "second great decline" if the MTA capital program is forced to limp along with greatly reduced funding.

Another is the fact that Bloomberg’s favored #7 subway extension will cause disruptions in the Midtown subway system unless other projects complement it. Rush hour transfers between the #7 and other lines at Grand Central, for instance, will create huge daily stairway clogging problems. #7 planning documents say the solution for this is creation of the Second Ave subway, but that project is obviously by the state’s and city’s weak transit funding stances.

Mayor Bloomberg is one leader who could make the transit capital program a leading issue. Don’t expect anyone in Albany to call attention to it. The mayor remarked on the problem of Governor Pataki’s underfunding the transit program a day or two after Governor Pataki’s budget was released, but it has been sports mania ever since.

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