The Metropolitan Transportation Authority should prioritize which services could be restored if the New York Legislature finds additional funding, a state lawmaker said at a hearing yesterday.
Last month the MTA board approved far-reaching service cuts to close a $388 million gap that opened up when the Legislature cut already appropriated funds, payroll tax revenue came in below projections, and labor costs continued to rise.
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Westchester, told MTA chairman and chief executive officer Jay Walder that any additional funding could become a political issue that could pit different counties served by the transit system against each other.
“I urge you to look at that so when it does occur, if it does occur, there will be something in place,” Brodsky said. Brodsky is the chairman of the Assembly Committee on Authorities, Corporations and Committees.
The cuts don’t take effect immediately, giving lawmakers time to look for alternatives. The most controversial cut was of a subsidy to New York City school children who take the subway to school. Walder said the MTA doesn’t have the resources to continue the subsidy when the new school year begins in September.
“Children in this city should be able to ride free to go to school,” Walder said. “It is up to the city and the state government to put together a funding package to allow that to happen.”
Walder said the MTA next week will release the results of a 100-day review of the agency’s practices that he initiated when he started the job in October. The review is expected to contain recommendations of how to make the authority more efficient.
It will also contain a proposal to introduce a smart card system for subway and bus fares modeled on the Oyster card system used in London. Oyster card users tap their cards rather than swipe them at turnstiles and can refill them via the Internet rather than having to do so at subway stations. The MTA’s current system of processing and collecting fares costs the authority 15 cents on every dollar, Walder said. The MTA is also looking to expand bus rapid transit in the city, he said.
The MTA entered 2010 without a five-year capital plan. Gov. David Paterson last week effectively vetoed a $28 billion capital program that had a roughly $10 billion funding gap. The authority can’t finance projects in the plan until they are approved, but capital construction won’t be grinding to a halt as approved projects can take years to finish. MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said that completing projects approved in the last program will continue into 2016.
Last year, the Legislature enacted a rescue package that was expected to fund the first two years of the new five-year plan. Walder said he was working with agency heads to craft a revised program.
“We will be back to the Legislature shortly with the program,” Walder said.
In contrast to many previous hearings where Brodsky has taken public authority officials to task in a confrontational style, the lawmaker was sympathetic to Walder’s position.
“The guy took over as a tidal wave hit,” Brodsky “There’s pain that’s going to come from this ... What we’re doing is managing that pain and what he’s doing is trying to find a way to work with us to do that.”
The hearing was held as another high level MTA staffer left the authority. New Jersey governor-elect Chris Christie announced yesterday that he appointed the MTA’s director of budgets and financial management, Gary Lanigan, to head the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Lanigan’s departure follows chief financial officer Gary Dellaverson’s retirement last week. Lanigan had served in New York City government under mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg before joining the MTA in 2003.
