MTA

Transit riders in the 33rd State Senate district may finally have a champion in Albany.

In a letter to MTA Chair Joe Lhota, State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos writes that he's withholding approval for $770 million in MTA capital funding and a hike in the agency's borrowing limit because "a staggering $42 billion bonding debt level is of great concern." (Hat tip to Dana Rubinstein at Capital New York.)

When Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his state budget proposal earlier this year, perhaps the best news for transit riders was the inclusion of $770 million to support the next three years of the MTA capital program. The funding would help pay for maintenance and expansion projects without forcing the MTA to borrow quite so much. And the less the MTA borrows, the more your fare pays for train and bus service, not debt. (Of course, while helpful, the $770 million is no substitute for a revenue stream like congestion pricing; the governor's budget still called for raising the MTA debt limit by $7 billion.)

This afternoon, Joe Lhota was confirmed as the new chairman of the MTA. Hearings held earlier today provided a glimpse into the kind of leadership New York transit riders can expect from Lhota. The new chairman defended the MTA from the most strident attacks of anti-transit state senators. When it came to the question of properly funding the transit system, however, Lhota chose to protect the Cuomo administration's political interests, not transit riders.

Jay Walder may have exaggerated when he claimed this week to have put the city transit system "back on firm financial footing" during his stint as MTA chairman, but he did show remarkable reserve in not letting loose on Albany for undercutting rail and bus service at every turn. Unfortunately the media failed to fill in the blanks.

Governor Andrew Cuomo focused heavily on jobs and the economy in his 2012 State of the State address this afternoon. He also devoted a few minutes to his infrastructure initiatives. Yet, despite serving as chief executive of the state where residents depend the most on transit service and transit infrastructure for access to jobs, Cuomo spent about as much time discussing the MTA as the 1953 Corvette.

New York City transit riders might have taken some small measure of satisfaction from the sight of Carl Kruger resigning from the State Senate earlier this week. Pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, Kruger became the third member of the "Fare Hike Four" -- the gang who killed a 2009 plan to fund transit by putting a price on NYC's free bridges -- to exit Albany in disgrace. Two others, Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate, were run out of town by voters and their fellow legislators under clouds of scandal. Ruben Diaz, Sr. is the only one who remains, reduced to irrelevance now that marriage equality is the law of the land and the Republicans control the Senate.

Earlier this week, Streetsblog contributor Charles Komanoff crunched the numbers to see what could happen if Governor Andrew Cuomo doesn't follow through on his pledge to restore the $320 million in MTA funding cuts he signed into law on Monday. The cost to commuters, the economy, and public health, he found, could substantially outweigh the value of the tax relief.

Albany’s latest raid of transit funds could hit New York City particularly hard. To help pay for his upper-middle-class tax cut, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature are stripping an estimated $320 million a year in revenues from the MTA payroll tax. Although the legislation is said to contain a pledge to find equivalent funds elsewhere, the as-yet unspecified reimbursement mechanism is likely to make the transit agency more vulnerable to future cuts, as Streetsblog noted last week.The potential deterioration in service could easily end up costing drivers and transit riders more in lost time and damaged health than they will gain in lower taxes.