I’ve been getting a little wonky around these parts lately. After the fare hike to-do last month, transit news has slowed down a bit, and I promise that a few lighthearted posts are in the chute. For now, keep on indulging me, and good times — as well as a fare hike — are right around the corner.
Today, we had back into the realm of policy. The Empire State Transportation Alliance — you’ll remember them from the Public Forum they led in November with the MTA on the fare hikes — is a supergroup of transportation experts, transportation industry groups and public advocates. When they speak, politicians should listen, and right now, ESTA is speaking out loud and clear: The MTA should get all the money it needs, and it should get it now. That is a very bold statement from a very influential group.
Of course, the odd thing here is that not too many people were listening. Only Pete Donohue from the Daily News had this story on Wednesday:
if you think the subways are crowded, imagine them two decades from now, when the city projects there will be a million more residents. “Now more than ever we need to fund transit,” said Chris Ward, co-chairman of the Empire State Transportation Alliance. “The billions of dollars that the MTA needs to build the system we all want, and the city needs – requires – action now.”
The alliance, a coalition of civic, transportation advocacy and construction groups that helped pass the 2005 transportation bond act, is now planning a $500,000 publicity campaign to pressure elected officials to provide a steady and secure new stream of revenue for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The ads will appear in the mass transit system next month.
ESTA makes a point that, no more how repetitive we begin to sound, is never a bad one. In twenty years, the MTA will be facing an 125-year-old system that is barely hanging on financially. This is no way to run a transportation system.
For a dose of reality, New York’s political leaders should look to Chicago. Lawmakers, pressured by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, had to pass a contentious, 11th-hour tax bill to ensure the future of the Chicago Transit Authority. Our leaders should never allow the MTA’s finances to fall that far into ruin.
As ESTA gears up for this important public awareness campaign, they’re digging in for a battle. People like small tax increases even less than they like inflation-based transit fare hikes. But it’s now or never; the MTA needs to expand now to meet the demands of New York in 2028. We need the Second Ave. Subway; we need more service, newer cars and renovated stations. And the MTA needs that money.
1 comment
Ben, did you see the article yesterday about the PATH upgrades? Good stuff they’re doing over at the Port Authority. More trains, better signaling, all new trains, station renovations, the works. And it’s getting paid for, in part, by jacking the tolls for cars.
It’s congestion pricing on the Hudson side.
I meant to post on the ESTA thing, they really have the right of it. It all comes down to money, reliable money, and where to get it. Not from the riders – from the drivers. Driving into this city must be made to reflect the costs to society, and subsidize the mass transit that makes driving possible.
This is going to be an uphill climb, but worth it in the end.