The latest wrestling match between our mayor and governor has produced a $29 billion MTA deal that should mean better public transportation for long-suffering riders in Queens.
Let the pundits decide whether Mayor Bill de Blasio suffered a loss of face at the hands of Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the high-stakes battle to find the dollars to close the multibillion-dollar gap in the MTA’s five-year capital budget. Sometimes it takes a political soap opera to make the trains run on time.
Under intense pressure from the governor and his man at the MTA, Chairman Tom Prendergast, de Blasio finally agreed to pony up $2.5 billion toward maintaining and modernizing the agency’s vast rail and bus system. Cuomo had already put $8.3 billion on the table after failing to include any funds for mass transit in the state’s annual budget—an omission not lost on Queens residents or the mayor.
For his part, Prendergast issued a threat—withdrawn after the MTA deal was sealed—that without the city’s contribution, fares would rise. The prospect angered straphangers frustrated by late trains, crowded cars and frequent service interruptions.
The aging subway system, carrying a record number of riders, is close to a mechanical breakdown.
But the de Blasio-Cuomo detente now means dollars will underwrite much-needed repairs on many subway lines, including the vital No. 7, which has been plagued by signal failures for years. Funds will be set aside to reduce congestion on subways and buses. And Long Island Rail Road service should improve once timely repairs are made to switches, signals and rails.
Armed with an iron-clad MTA budget, Prendergast vowed the LIRR’s East Side Access project to Grand Central will happen by 2022, bringing Long Island commuters into midtown Manhattan via two new tunnels. This is critical because the existing East River tunnels were damaged by Sandy and must be repaired.
As part of negotiations, de Blasio secured a key concession: Transit funds contributed by the city must be used solely for transit. Former Gov. David Patterson may have raided the state transit fund for as much as $100 million to pay off other obligations and Cuomo took out $20 million to pay down MTA debt in 2013, a move that was supposedly off limits.
Winner or loser aside, the airing of dirty linen can get results. Queens commuters have had a seat on the sidelines in the nasty sparring between the mayor and governor, but now they can look forward to a more salubrious trip one day on the subways, buses and LIRR trains that crisscross the borough.
