MTA losing $200M per week amid coronavirus-induced ‘fiscal tsunami’
The MTA is losing $200 million per week amid a once-in-a-century “fiscal tsunami” brought on by the coronavirus, agency boss Pat Foye said Wednesday.
“We are in the midst of a once-in-100-years fiscal tsunami,” Foye said at the start of the transit agency’s July board meeting.
“The MTA has faced challenges before, but the pandemic challenge and its impact on our finances is far more severe than any questions we’ve faced before,” Foye said.
Transit ridership has plummeted since the COVID-19 struck New York in March, to just 2.2 million trips per day compared to over 7 million pre-pandemic, according to MTA stats.
MTA projections show ridership may not return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2022, officials said Wednesday.
The combination of reduced ridership and pandemic-depleted tax revenues will leave the MTA with a $14.3 billion shortfall through the end of 2021, MTA chief financial officer Bob Foran told board members.
“The impact of COVID-19 has just decimated our finances,” he said.
MTA officials this week announced plans for $340 million in initial budget cuts to overtime and consultant spending, and Foye promised more cuts are on the way. The agency also halted work on its five-year, $51.5 billion modernization plan.
Foye said everything in the agency’s $18 billion annual budget is on the table, including larger-than-planned fare hikes, service cuts and layoffs.
Still, officials insisted the agency simply cannot survive without more financial support from Congress, on top of the $3.9 billion it already received.
Another $3.9 billion would close this year’s budget gap, but leave the MTA over $5.1 billion short for 2021, according to the MTA’s numbers.
“The magnitude of this problem is so great that the only way it gets resolved is if the federal government comes in and provides assistance,” said MTA board member Larry Schwartz.
“You can do death by a thousand cuts, but that is not a solution.”
Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein warned service cuts and fare hikes would result in less revenue.
“They’re exactly right that they can’t cut themselves out of the crisis. By making the transit system less functional, less accessible, there will be fewer riders,” Pearlstein said.
