The desperately needed updates to MTA’s public transportation system are being stifled by an ever-increasing debt, and it’s affecting you.
For those of you still angry about the recent 25¢ increase in fare, you are also probably all-too-aware of (and further enraged by) the deteriorating public transportation stations and vehicles in Manhattan and particularly in the other boroughs, untimely trains and buses, constant delays, all-around inefficiency and the outdated technology from centuries past. Where is that extra 25¢ even going?
In the past MOVE NY update, we talked about the problems facing and plight of New York drivers trapped in congestion-induced gridlock and abundant car exhaust, but that’s only half the story.
“It is the city’s transit system that presents the greatest challenges and needs. The MTA transports the vast majority of people who enter Manhattan’s central business district below 60th Street. Of the 3.7 million people traveling to the CBD on a typical weekday more than 80% come by mass transit” [Source]
Not only does the city’s transportation sector transport a good portion of individuals working and residing in the metropolitan area, but it functions as a vital organ in the economy of New York providing millions of dollars in revenue annually and numerous jobs on various levels. But despite all of this activity, the MTA is still over 3 billion dollars in debt with all of its operations delicately balanced on a mass of federal and state legislation and loans, some of which are set to expire in just a few months. This debt will increase to an estimated $15 billion if the MTA goes through with its 2015-2019 Capital Plan which is set to streamline operations, reduce operating costs, implement new train and traffic technologies, and to expand its network.
To fund this project, MTA is either going to need more back-breaking loans or a hefty increase in revenue, the latter option currently operating as rising fares imposed on you and I. But fares alone are not going to cut it, unfortunately, and are not happily welcomed.
Stay tuned to find out the solutions proposed by MOVE NY detailed in their meticulously thought-out Fair Plan. Read more here
Next Post: MOVE NY: The Plan
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