Transit

Albany has long used the MTA as a piggy bank, raiding dedicated transit funds on a regular basis to cover gaps in the state budget. As a result, straphangers are squeezed as transit agencies resort to fare hikes and service cuts to make up the difference.

In his State of the State address tomorrow afternoon, Governor Andrew Cuomo has the opportunity to set the tone for transportation policy in the year ahead. And with the NYC region's transit system having absorbed billions of dollars worth of damage from Hurricane Sandy, it's going to be a very important year indeed. Cuomo has to chart a path to recover from the storm and prepare the region's transit infrastructure for the future, all while maintaining the existing system, which is staggering under the load of excessive debt.

When New Yorkers go to the polls less than a year from now, they'll definitely be voting for a new mayor, and they might also be voting for billions in state-backed transportation funding, if a measure put forward by Assembly Member James Brennan clears Albany.

“Climate change is a reality… for us to sit here today and say this is a once-in-a-generation, and it’s not going to happen again, I think would be short-sighted… I’m hopeful that not only will we rebuild this city and metropolitan area but use this as an opportunity to build it back smarter.”

It's not often that Andrew Cuomo is willing to spend a dime in support of mass transit, but the governor did offer the MTA a small respite yesterday.

Andrew Cuomo knows he's the governor of New York, right?

Earlier this week Streetsblog sat down with General Contractors Association Managing Director Denise Richardson for a wide-ranging discussion on the financial state of New York's transportation systems. In the first installment of the interview, we discussed the MTA's capital program, which is moving forward with important repair work but saddling transit riders with huge amounts of debt, and the inability of the federal government to pass a new transportation bill.

With the next three years of the MTA capital plan officially moving forward -- even without dedicated funding from Albany -- it's time to start talking about 2015. That's when the next MTA capital plan starts. And distant as it may seem, on the political calendar it's just around the corner.

The New York area's urban planning community issued a striking rebuke to the Cuomo administration over its plans for a new Tappan Zee Bridge last week. In a letter to the state Department of Transportation [PDF], the regional chapter of the American Planning Association, which represents 1,200 professional planners, challenged the Cuomo administration's claims about the project and urged the immediate restoration of transit infrastructure to plans for the bridge.