NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told a civic group Thursday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs a fundamental reorganization, saying “We have to make dramatic changes and we have to do it now, no matter how uncomfortable.”
While the MTA was only one topic of Cuomo’s speech before the Association for a Better New York, which works to bring the public and private sectors closer together, it was a significant part of the address to 450 civic leaders.
Cuomo said former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller’s organization of the MTA to include the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North, New York City Transit Authority ,and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority was the easy way out. The authority now has 70,000 employees. Its budget of $16 billion is larger than that of 17 states.
Cuomo called the MTA’s board dysfunctional and a political nightmare. He said that once the board acts, the governor, mayor, Senate Leader and Assembly Speaker have the right to unilaterally veto the capital plan, with no reason to say way. In the future, while those leaders will be able to veto, they will have to make their reasons known. He also noted a history of close connections between the MTA and its vendors, which he wants to end. Former MTA employees often go to work for vendors, he said, creating an unhealthy mix that blunted accountability, performance metrics, and created an entrenched bureaucracy at the Agency.
He called for an independent audit of MTA finances, noting that the agency’s four divisions each have different financial standards, language, and assumptions. And he called for a real capital plan of up to $80 billion for the MTA, while seeking a focus on the current action plan for the subway system — including the need to address water seepage that is short-circuiting signal and to clean cars and stations.
On other MTA-related topics, Cuomo:
— Criticized the East Side Access project to bring Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal. Noting that the project had an estimated cost of $75 million when first proposed in 1969 and that the current estimate is $11 billion, he wondered why the project has taken so long and why the financial estimates were so far off. He promised a new team would examine the construction and design to see if it could be done better.
— Noted that his solution of bringing in independent experts had dramatically changed the plan to rebuild the subway system’s L train. That project was originally expected to require a two-year closure, but that plan was scrapped in favor of one that will mostly accomplish the work during nights and weekends.
New York State uses design-build construction, Cuomo noted, and that will be the way that the MTA will function — overseeing contracts, with the private sector responsible for design and construction. Contractors who run 10 percent over budget or 10 percent over deadline will be barred from further MTA business, and could be barred from business with any state agency.
Funding for any makeover of the MTA will largely hinge on the congestion pricing plan passed as part of the state’s 2020 budget. [See “State budget will boost New York City transit funding through congestion pricing, other taxes,” Trains News Wire, April 1, 2019.]
First, Gov Cuomo is probably right in what he says.
Second, I think it’s hypocritical of Gov Cuomo – who has been in charge of the MTA for more than seen years – to somehow act like he’s not part of the problem. It’s his agency – so if it’s screwed up, he’s the top dog.
Third, instead of MTA users paying for MTA services – they grasp at every penny they can from non-users so they can keep the fares low for users. A piece of my sales taxes, income taxes, road tolls, and even a tax on employers goes to the MTA. Soon, if you want to drive in lower Manhattan you will have to pay the MTA for the privilege.
The dirty, not so little, secret behind the MTA’s woes is the nasty political rivalry between Gov. Cuomo and Mayor DeBlasio, stemming from the MTA’s founding, which gave the state of NY, i.e., the governor, complete control of it. One can only wait and see going forward. As one who regularly rides the “new” 2nd Ave. Q line and the busiest-in-the-system Lex. Ave. line, the contrast between the more than a century old and the newest lines could not be more vivid.
Imagine, Cuomo calling for more transparency. LOL. The only thing he really cares about is how much you are donating to his reelection campaign.
Im not an expert nor do I know the inner workings but Metra, which I know very well and growing up in Chicago, have ridden both for decades. CTA trains and Metra seem to me to run on time most of the time. And Metra partnership with UP & BNSF has worked very well. But thats just visual opinions, but thats what I have seen for decades, since the 1970s. What goes on behind the scenes? , I dont know, but when I ride either one, They both have been 100% to me! And thats the important part, What this customer sees.
Boston MBTA, New York MTA, and Chicago’s RTD. I don’t envy whomever has to run any of the three and bring them forward into the coming decades (while paying mega-pensions to retirees). I’m not familiar with the politics behind the New York authority, so I won’t comment further. I’m more familiar with Boston MBTA (founded 1964) and Chicago RTD (founded 1974). What MBTA and RTD really come down to is taxing districts. MBTA turned the 14 cities and towns of the old Charlie-of-the-MTA urban bus and transit district into 74 cities and towns for urban buses and transit, suburban rail, harbor ferries and suburban buses. Why? To co-ordinate region-wide transportation? Maybe. Or was it to expand the revenue base for tax subsidies? More the latter.
There’s nothing wrong with this. This is a rail forum so we all know that passenger transportation is subsidized. MBTA has kept the subways running, extended the Red Line south to Braintree and north to Alewife Brook, kept the former New Haven and the former Boston & Maine suburban trains running, and greatly expanded the once-token suburban rail on the former Boston and Albany (or New York Central). MBTA also resurrected the discontinued trains on the former New Haven’s Old Colony district. MBTA added the all-new Silver Line and has started the process of upgrading the lines it inherited: Green, Red and Blue. MBTA tore down much of the old Orange Line both to the north and to the south and rebuilt it on new alignments. So by those measures MBTA is a raging success.
The problem is that costs have increased faster than tax revenues. This is 2019. Massachusetts governor Endicott Peabody (one term, 1963 to 1965) is long deceased. MBTA, his legacy, lives on. What he created in 1964 has worked well for five decades but now is a hot mess.
Agreed.