Metropolitan Transportation Authority

At a feisty board meeting, officials rolled out draconian scenarios of service cuts and fare and toll hikes should Washington help not materialize.

Municipal bonds ended unchanged on Monday ahead of this week $8 billion of new issuance.

The region's bond issuers sold $55.4 billion of municipal debt during the first half of 2020, a 21.1% increase from the same period in 2019.

The mass transit agency, its finances reeling from the coronavirus, rejected bids from 10 different banks and sold $451 million of notes to the Municipal Liquidity Facility.

It's still insufficient for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other struggling issuers, according to Reinvent Albany.

They cited recent waves of COVID-19 in rural and farmland areas and the success of mass transit overseas at containing the spread.

Failure to aid one could hurt the others, according to the state comptroller's review of the city's financial plan.

As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority lines up two note sales, the rating agency said the authority could tap into the Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facility.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Patrick Foye called mass transit "the circulatory system of the nation."

Even with more federal rescue aid, which is hardly a given, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority may have to resort to deficit borrowing.

The shroud of uncertainty surrounding further COVID-19 federal rescue aid has many public transit agencies and advocates antsy.

They are pushing the U.S. Senate for up to $36 billion, citing the devastating effects from COVID-19.

Setting capital investment priorities and other efficiencies can help the public transit system through its coronavirus-related fiscal crisis, a budget watchdog says.

Organizers say the goal is for for technologies to make public transit safer, cleaner and more adaptive.

Despite the coronavirus wrecking havoc all over the world and with the brunt of the damage occurring in the second quarter of the year, municipal bond issuers have sold just over $23 billion more than they did at this time last year.

Marc Pfeffer, chief investment officer at CLS Investments, talks about today’s municipal bond market and looks to the future.

The mass transit agency is staring at a prolonged fiscal calamity with further federal support at a standstill and its $51.5 billion capital program in jeopardy.

The Senate minority leader told advocates to lean on 21 key Republicans. "Everyone has friends and family in other states," he said.

The pandemic's effect on public transportation has revived debate about the role of bicycles, ferries, in-city commuter rail and other alternative modes.

Monday's first phase of emergence from COVID-19 lockdowns will put the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in a national spotlight.