By New York Post (Opinion) | Created at 2025-01-08 02:30:22 | Updated at 2025-01-08 19:40:09
17 hours ago
With congestion pricing now underway, the tone-deaf misfits at the MTA are taking a victory lap on just about every news network they can, touting how visionary their regressive tax is while claiming it will lead to better and safer mass transit.
Forgive me for being pessimistic, but if you buy what the MTA is selling, I have a bridge or two to sell you!
These are the same folks who had their most recent Five-Year Capital Plan shot down by two of the biggest spenders in New York’s history — legislative leaders Carl Heastie and Andrea Stewart-Cousins — due to their concerns about how on earth the MTA was planning on paying for over half of its proposed $65 billion plan.
This should come as no surprise, though. MTA Chairman and CEO John “Janno” Lieber and the bigwigs at the agency have been spending like drunken sailors for years — so much so that the MTA has more debt than almost 80% of states in the country.
That’s totally unsustainable and reflective of their obnoxious attitude toward New Yorkers who pay their salaries.
Gross mismanagement
In 2023, state taxpayers had to bail out the MTA due to mismanagement of its finances to the tune of $1 billion — no small feat.
The sad part is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Just look at all the money the MTA has wasted or failed to collect on:
The MTA spent twice as much on Second Avenue subway consultants as it did to tunnel the subway itself.
It then chose to build the subway stations twice as large as needed, adding another $1 billion to the project.
And don’t forget that the MTA costs itself around $700 million a year due to not enforcing its fares.
It then tried fixing this by spending $700,000 on special gates designed to stop fare-beaters, which are easily bypassed.
Then the MTA spent $1 million on studying the “psychology” of fare-beaters.
All that wasted money has real-life consequences, too.
A recent audit by the state comptroller shows the MTA failed to “maintain flood doors to its tunnels,” and a review by the MTA inspector general found that 41% of stations needed immediate or near-future repairs, and 54% of emergency stairwells had “serious defects.”
Only 23% of subway stations are Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant, according to public data.
Unsafe system
And this doesn’t even take into account the state of safety on the subways, where the MTA and Gov. Hochul have failed spectacularly on all fronts.
Felony assaults are up 55% since 2019, murder was up more than 300%, and you are twice as likely to be assaulted in the subways in 2024 as you were in 2019.
You know, all that transit crime that Janno Lieber claims is just “in people’s heads.”
Can he be more out of touch?
Lieber was even called out by Willie Geist on “Morning Joe” Tuesday morning, with the MSNBC host stating: “To Congressman Lawler’s point, and it’s not just his point, the MTA has an operating budget of $20 billion. An organization with a budget of $20 billion already should have been able to take care of the subways. They shouldn’t look the way they look at most of these subway stations; they shouldn’t operate the way they operate on most of these trains. You shouldn’t then have to slap a $9 tax on a commuter to pour more money into a system that doesn’t appear to be working for New Yorkers.”
Well said, Willie.
The MTA is spending itself into oblivion, New York state is along for the ride, and commuters and taxpayers are suffering the consequences.
If we’re ever going to get this runaway train under control, we need to fire Hochul and Lieber and elect serious officials committed to spending reform and accountability.
Republican Mike Lawler represents New York’s 17th Congressional District.
