Wednesday Headlines: Hearing Turned Sketch Comedy Edition

A hearing meant to elucidate state lawmakers on the New York transportation sector’s state of affairs may have delivered the funniest moment of this year’s state legislative session.

There is a common misconception among New York City dwellers that MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber is mild-mannered when, in reality, the sheer absurdity of Albany brings out in him the only reasonable response: Anger.

This is definitely worth watching to the end:

Beyond that bit of political theater, we didn’t learn much about the fate of Gov. Hochul’s budget proposals. But we did learn, again, that Leiber has little intention of digging into free bus policy.

He and state Sen. John Liu got into it over whether the MTA is looking into helping New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani realize his campaign promise.

“Instead of naysaying, give us a plan as to how it could be possible and what the price tag actually would be,” Liu said.

Lieber sniffed that free buses is just a “campaign bumper sticker,” as Politico reported.

Lieber also revealed that he backs his boss’s Uber-supported car insurance reform proposal, which Streetsblog has discovered would be a disservice to crash victims. Lieber said he thinks it will help reduce lawsuits against the MTA after its drivers hit someone or something.

“The MTA is a deep pocket that frequently gets sued, and even if we’re only 1 percent responsible for a crash, we get hit with the bill, because we have that deep pocket,” he said.

No, you aren’t losing it; the head of the state’s biggest public transit network is taking a position on lowering the cost of insurance, which will encourage more people to drive.

In other news:

• Meanwhile, crash victims are not fans of Hochul’s car insurance proposal.
• And speaking of Hochul’s Uber-backed auto insurance premium cut, NY Focus revealed that Uber is pumping more money into getting her re-elected. Yet, still, no other outlets are picking up this scandal playing out in real time.
• The MTA won’t be eyeing all-door bus boarding until a “European model” of fare evasion enforcement is available. (amNY)
• Suffolk County lawmakers chose former Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci as director of the county’s Traffic and Parking Violations Agency. (Newsday)
• We’ll know all about Hochul’s new running mate soon after reports of her being turned down by prominent pols of color. (State of Politics)
• Her primary challenger, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, is going with India Walton, who was the Democratic nominee for Buffalo mayor in 2021 (she ended up losing to incumbent and write-in candidate Byron Brown. (Politico)
• Albany’s parking lot district could be improved without swapping it for a soccer stadium, writes the Times Union‘s Chris Churchill.
• The nascent Ryan administration in Buffalo is getting mixed reviews on its handling of snow. (The Buffalo News)
• As we’ve been saying, heavy snow combined by car-first clearing strategies is hell for people in wheelchairs. (Mother Jones)
• New York and New Jersey are finally cooperating against their common enemy on the Gateway Tunnel project and have sued the Trump administration for blocking funds. (NYDN, Gothamist or read the suit for yourself)
• New Jersey roads, welcome to the war on cars. (NJ.com)