Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber is happy to tout the New York state agency's successes, but he says changes are needed to state and federal laws and the MTA's financial structure.
Lieber celebrated the MTA's wins in cost efficiency and capital improvements Tuesday at a breakfast hosted by the Citizens Budget Commission. But lasting fiscal balance for the organization that runs New York City transit and suburban commuter trains will require changes, he said.
In a conversation with CBC President Andrew Rein, Lieber took a bird's-eye view of the MTA's finances. The authority is making progress on necessary capital repairs and it's enjoyed years of balanced budgets thanks, in large part, to funding commitments from the state government. But its financial plan shows a $900 million gap in 2030.
The MTA is budgeting "on a hamster wheel," Lieber said.
The authority raises fares by just under 2% a year, Lieber said. Its healthcare and fuel costs are rising far higher than 2%, he said, and it's expected to follow pattern bargaining for labor, which would increase costs by 3-4%.
Unlike many state agencies, the MTA's predictable cost growth is not included in the state's budget, Lieber said.
When the authority is in need of more state funds to patch the structural gaps in its budget, it's framed as a "bailout," or as though "the MTA is in crisis," Lieber said, "even if we're doing a good job becoming much more efficient."
Lieber hinted that he's searching for a solution to the agency's structural fiscal challenges.
"There are some opportunities, in looking at how our capital budget lands on our operating budget, the debt service for our capital budget and otherwise," Lieber said. "But I'm not ready to talk about the ideas. I think we need to percolate good ideas and think about the long term."
The MTA has
He gave examples of how the agency
The agency has also implemented a patchwork of measures to prevent and disincentivize fare evasion.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani ran on a platform of "fast and free buses." Currently, fare evasion across the system costs the agency roughly the same amount as its budget gap, and bus fare evasion is increasing, Rein said.
Advocacy for free buses has been "a little bit of an accelerant in bus fare evasion," Lieber said. However, he and Rein agreed that faster buses create savings for the MTA.
Labor is one of the costs which the MTA has the least control over. It's currently in negotiations with the Transport Workers Union, which is pushing for wage increases. Lieber said the authority is hoping to elicit improvements to work rules and other efficiency improvements to justify the wage increases.
Lieber and Rein also discussed a number of state and federal policies that add costs to the MTA.
Local scaffold laws increase the authority's insurance costs, Lieber said. Federal tariffs and "buy American" requirements have driven up the prices of buses and railcars.
The MTA and Gov. Kathy Hochul have been pushing for tort reform, because the authority is often held liable for car accidents. The MTA now budgets $400 million a year for tort claims, Lieber said — double what the cost was a couple of years ago.
