February 2, 2007
City Comptroller Says MTA Doesn't Care About NYC
Telling us what most any subway rider suspected, City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. issued a review of the MTA's "State of Good Repair" capital expenditures and found that the MTA isn't very committed to making sure subway and bus service is in a "State of Good Repair." For instance, the MTA is 10-15 years behind making NYC Transit assets reach a State of Good Repair: 40% of lettered lines have 70 year old signals, which cause delays; many fan plants that are supposed to take out smoke in case of a fire won't be in Good Repair until 2028 (they were supposed to be fixed this year); and there is still lighting from the 1930s in some subway tunnels.
Comptroller Thompson charged that NYC Transit is being shortchanged as LIRR and Metro-North service gets a disproportionate amount of funding. The LIRR and Metro-North are in Good Repair, mainly because they get a lot more money, relative to the number of riders they have. And while we need to dig up how much revenue is generated by the different parts of the MTA, Thompson says that many suburban commuters who use the LIRR and Metro-North also rely on subway and bus service as part of their commute. His recommendation: The MTA should spend almost $700 million more on capital improvements to the NYC Transit areas.
And on Wednesday, the NY Times reported that the MTA is facing surging costs jeopardize big capital projects like the Second Avenue Subway, the 7's expansion, and the LIRR-Grand Central link. Some reasons the $21 billion program is already $1.4 billion over budget: The weak dollar (the MTA buys parts from overseas), rising construction costs, and few bidders for projects.
Photograph and graphic from City Comptroller Thompson's report
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Link in the last paragraph doesn't work, Jen.
That ridership v core capital graph is pretty damning. It's clear who the MTA is trying to court. Suck up to the wealthy suburbanites for some reason. It doesn't make any sense unless you consider property value.
Thanks for the catch, Benjamin.
I want to dig up some numbers about how much each division generates... one point Thompson made was that because the LIRR and Metro North tracks are above ground, that makes them easier to maintain - hence funding should be focused on NYC.
also since MNCR and LIRR shut down in the evening, it's a lot easier and less costly to do routine track maintenance at night than on the various subway lines that run 24/7. honestly.
The more distance away from the core manhattan / tourist center, the worse condition the subway stations are in.
This includes not cleaning the platforms and stairways and not cleaning the card swipes on the turnstiles (which is the reason they malfunction).
Money doesn't talk it swears.
LIRR doesn't fully shut down at night, only on a few lines. And LIRR commuters pay a lot more money per trip then any Subway rider does.
Is most or all of the capital raised through rider's fares?
If the answer is yes, then, considering that average subway fare is about $1.40, the subway only contributes a little over 20 percent of that 15 billion.
excuse me but what the fuck happened to that near 1.4 billion dollars that we voted for in the transportation bond act in November of 2005? the money that was supposed to help fund these projects! fuck the fat cats at the MTA lining their pockets. Break this mess up into seperate companies again where competiton fostered growth and new subways lines.
Why doesn't Bush give some money to the MTA instead of the stupid Iraq war?
Restore the subways to city ownership, then lease out it's design, construction, operation and maintenance to the private sector. Kill the bureaucracy.
The ridership vs. spending graph is interesting, but I'd like to see some other metrics as I'm not convinced that the correct ratio for budget allocation ought to be pegged to ridership.
For example, they could base budget allocation on track mileage, on number of stations, on total fare income of each division (as others have pointed out)...any number of measures.
Let's hope the new MTA administration addresses the inequities that Bill Thompson pointed out. The old one used to simply dismiss things. Elliot Sander is going to reshape the MTA. But the fear is that bringing more money to NYC the old-MTA would have jacked up fares; now will the new admin use that as an excuse, or drop funding for some non-worthy projects. C'mon - would you sooner replace fans to pump out smoke in stations or repair armrests so suit sleeves don't rip. Shouldn't be that difficult a choice. Thompson was right to highlight this now.
Aren't LIRR/MetroNorth tickets also 10-20 times as expensive as NYC Subway rides?
Just sayin'.......
Thanks for running my photo. I am your newest, biggest fan!