MTA

When you're tweeting from that hot, crowded subway platform -- or a hot, crowded train that isn't moving -- don't forget to channel that frustration toward the man who runs the MTA: Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose Twitter handle is @NYGovCuomo.

Remember when Andrew Cuomo announced that he'd sealed the deal on a new contract with the TWU? Or when he empaneled an "MTA Reinvention Commission" to shape the agency's five-year capital program? Or when he ordered the MTA to quit dragging its heels on cashless tolling, and the agency promptly delivered? The governor would like you to forget all that.

A broad coalition of 67 state legislators want Governor Andrew Cuomo to pursue two potentially transformative improvements to NYC's notoriously slow and unreliable bus service.

Cuomo has been governor going on seven years. He's had more than enough time to assess the problems afflicting the transit system and work on solutions. But as the core transit system declines, Cuomo continues to fixate on shiny mega-projects.

As it happens, FDR's car is the same vintage as many components in the signal system of the New York City subway. The difference is that the signal system isn't a museum piece that Cuomo can commandeer for a day -- it's real equipment that keeps millions of people moving on a 24/7 rail system.

Andrew Cuomo must not think much of New York City bus riders. Today the governor trumpeted the arrival of new buses with onboard Wi-Fi and USB ports -- literally the last thing bus riders say they need.

The Albany budget deal reached over the weekend makes it official: Governor Cuomo has broken his promise to make up for cuts to the MTA payroll tax in 2011. While the state shrinks its commitment to he MTA, other Cuomo economic development priorities are moving ahead, including an expansion of the Van Wyck budgeted for $564 million.

New York derives much of its economic strengths from the city's subways and buses. Instead of using his budget to ensure that these systems can continue to support jobs and growth, Cuomo is drawing down support for transit so he can make splashy announcements about airports, highways, and convention centers.

Assembly lawmakers want to restore the $65 million transit cut in Governor Cuomo's draft budget. To reverse the cut, the draft budget released by the Carl Heastie-led Assembly [PDF, page 65-2] reallocates $65 million from New York Works, Cuomo's infrastructure piggy bank, to the MTA.