The money train that will pay for subway upgrades over the next five years needs to come from Albany, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
The cry for more funding comes after state lawmakers earmarked $16.6 billion toward transit improvements – even though the bulk of the plan could be dependent on more MTA borrowing that would drive fares through the roof.
“I think what is clear is that we for decades have underfunded the kinds of investments that we should be making in infrastructure,” Bloomberg said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s previous five-year capital program was funded almost entirely through borrowing, leading to the agency’s current fiscal crisis and two fare hikes in as many years.
The cash-strapped MTA has said it is willing to borrow up to $4 billion, but lawmakers have proposed that as much as $8 billion come from bonds.
MTA staffers have spent the last week lobbying lawmakers to increase the state’s contribution to the program and lower the burden the cash-strapped agency would have to bear down the line.
“Anything over $4 billion becomes worrisome,” said Jeremy Soffin, a spokesman for the Regional Plan Association. “That’s when the operating budget starts to suffer.”
Bloomberg said that it would be “disappointing” if Albany does not come through with more money needed to modernize signal systems, fan plants and other underground equipment that keeps trains running.
“We saw the penalty for that back in the ’70s, and today we’re catching up,” he said.
Another part of funding the program hinges on getting Gov. Pataki’s support behind a $2.9 billion transportation bond act that would be put before voters next fall in a statewide referendum.
“I’m going to look at it in the context of the total budget,” said Pataki, who has power to approve or veto the MTA package.
Voters rejected a similar transportation bond act in 2000.
Bloomberg said increased state aid would go a long way toward avoiding breakdowns like the ones that have recently plagued the subway system.
“If you don’t go and keep your technology up to date, if you don’t keep replacing things, you will have more and more breakdowns,” he said.
The Legislature’s package puts expansion projects like the Second Avenue subway and East Side Access in peril after just $2.5 billion was put aside for them – $5.5 billion less than the MTA requested last year.
Meanwhile, Mother Nature made getting around on the rails yesterday even harder.
The No. 4 line in The Bronx was halted for hours after a large tree fell onto the tracks.
Sleet and heavy winds knocked the 60-foot elm onto the elevated tracks at the Bedford Park Boulevard station just after midnight.
RAIL SAFETY
The recent spate of subway mishaps could be drastically curtailed if capital improvements are made to modernize these five vital parts of the century-old system:
* Signals – Serves as the traffic lights of the subterranean tracks
* Power substations – Needed to power the electrified third rail that keeps trains running
* Fan plants – Pulls smoke out of tunnels in the case of a fire
* Tunnel lighting – Makes it safer for train operators and track workers to see what’s ahead of them
* Water pumps – Helps to keep track beds dry