Comptroller details M.T.A.‘s ’challenging' funding gap

[hrmjustin]

Dana Rubinstein

The M.T.A.'s next five-year capital plan could face a $12 billion funding gap, according to state comptroller Tom DiNapoli, in a report his office released today.

That could mean higher fares for subway and bus riders, for commuters who rely on Long Island and Metro-North railroads, and for drivers who use the sprawling authority's bridge and tunnel network.

“Debt service is already projected to exceed $3 billion by 2018, three times higher than in 2005, and would reach $4.4 billion by 2025 if the M.T.A. were required to borrow to fill the funding gap," reads the report. "Even with biennial fare and toll hikes of 4 percent, debt service as a percentage of total revenue could rise from 16 percent in 2013 to more than 23 percent by 2025.”

By October, the M.T.A. has to submit its five-year capital plan to a state review board for approval.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/07/8549587/comptroller-details-mtas-challenging-funding-gap

[hrmjustin]

1. In answer to an M.T.A. financial quandary, some say ‘Virginia’

Dana Rubinstein

New York doesn't often look to Virginia when it comes to mass-transit solutions.

But Governor Andrew Cuomo’s transportation commissioner, Joan McDonald, brought up the Commonwealth before the M.T.A.-focused transportation "reinvention commission" recently, when, at the very end of her testimony, she was pressed on whether there were any prospects for congestion pricing in New York State.

“Oh, I almost made it,” McDonald said, laughing as she acknowledged the political sensitivity of the topic.

“Look, from my personal perspective, we’re already doing it, because it’s what we do on the Port Authority and the M.T.A. bridges and tunnels right now,” she said. “So I think we have to take a look at it, I don’t know if it’s congestion pricing per se. I think what Virginia’s done works."

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/07/8549634/answer-mta-financial-quandary-some-say-virginia?top-featured-2

[hrmjustin]

2. MTA may reduce capital spending to cover labor costs

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140728/TRANSPORTATION/140729859/mta-may-reduce-capital-spending-to-cover-labor-costs