Transit

A broad coalition of good government groups, transit and environmental advocates, and unions sent a letter to Andrew Cuomo on Friday [PDF] urging the incoming governor to protect straphangers by ensuring that transit revenues are spent on transit.

New York State might be home to more transit riders than any other state, but when it comes to the transportation policies on the books, we don't look quite so green.

It's been 20 months since the state legislature passed an MTA funding package with a conspicuous missing piece. In early 2009, the transit agency was reeling from the recession, and straphangers were about to get walloped by deep service cuts and a 23 percent fare hike. Albany responded by enacting just a partial fix: a regional payroll tax and a smattering of new fees on taxis and car rentals. Tolls on the East and Harlem River bridges were supposed to be part of the deal -- getting car commuters who benefit from the congestion-busting effect of transit to contribute their fair share. But the State Senate insisted on preserving the free ride for motorists.

In Albany this week, legislative leaders declined to take action to close the state's current $315 million budget deficit. That pushes the problem into 2011, when a new governor and likely a Republican State Senate will be in power. Whether dedicated MTA funds will still be used as a piggy bank, at the expense of transit riders, will be up to next year's leadership.

Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch opens his new report on transportation funding in his characteristically blunt fashion:

WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports on the most troubling sign yet that Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo is not willing to stop Albany's practice of raiding dedicated transit funds to plug gaps in the state budget. From a press conference yesterday:

With the threat of future raids on the MTA's dedicated funds looming on the horizon, I spoke with Fiscal Policy Institute executive director Frank Mauro to continue our investigation of how to keep transit funding secure.

If Andrew Cuomo has his way, the state legislature and Governor Paterson will close the state's $315 million shortfall before he takes office. The push from the governor-elect means that in the next two months, New York state's current leadership may again determine whether to close a budget gap by raiding MTA dedicated funds. Nearly $20 million for transit could be on the line.

Yesterday, City Council transportation committee chair Jimmy Vacca and leading transportation advocates sent a letter to New York state's current leadership urging them not to raid the MTA's dedicated funds to close an impending $315 million budget deficit.