Supported by
Congestion Pricing Suspension Halts $16.5 Billion in Subway Upgrades
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it is making drastic cuts to the transit system’s capital plan after Gov. Kathy Hochul’s halted the tolling program.
Transit leaders in New York City have scaled back billions of dollars’ worth of upgrades to the nation’s largest transit network after Gov. Kathy Hochul halted the start of a tolling program that would have paid for improvements and repairs.
During its first meeting after Ms. Hochul’s decision to suspend the program, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday viewed presentations from the authority’s staff detailing sweeping project cuts that totaled $16.5 billion.
Gone were plans to make subway stations more accessible to riders with disabilities, repairs to some nearly century-old infrastructure and the expansion of the Second Avenue subway line, among other now-deferred projects.
“That presentation is dire,” said Midori Valdivia, a board member. “No board member, I think, wants to sit here talking about what projects we’re going to cut a couple years after we approved all those projects.”
Wednesday’s meeting set the stage for board members to begin understanding the full scale of the governor’s decision and the damage that the disruption will have on the authority’s overall fiscal health. Just last year, the M.T.A. had balanced its operating budget through at least half a decade thanks to a budget deal secured by the governor and State Legislature. Now, several board members fear that the program’s suspension will jeopardize not just capital projects but also the M.T.A.’s debt load, its borrowing potential and its ability to run day-to-day operations.
The board will receive its annual financial update in July.
While the authority has adjusted and deferred a large portion of its capital plans, board members on Wednesday passed a resolution to remain prepared to put the congestion pricing program into effect once it gets the green light from Albany. Ms. Hochul has not indicated when that might be. (One board member, David S. Mack, an opponent of congestion pricing, dissented in the 10 to 1 vote approving the resolution.)
Advertisement