The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed a new five-year rebuilding plan. The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign has prepared this fact sheet to describe how vital it is for New York's future that the plan be approved ãand let riders know how they can speak up for it.

What's in the MTA's five-year rebuilding program?

In July 2004, the MTA proposed a plan to spend $17.4 billion on core programs to maintain and improve the existing subway, bus and commuter rail systems for the five years between January 2005 to December 2009.

What would the billions buy? A safer, more reliable, and less crowded system. Highlights include:

• buying 959 new-state of-the-art subway cars, 1,323 low-emission buses and more than 200 commuter rail cars for the LIRR and Metro-North;
• the first phase of a bus rapid transit program to speed service;
• rehabilitating 55 stations on the subways and making 16 more stations accessible;
• expanding parking for both suburban lines and improving Penn Station, Hunterspoint Avenue and Atlantic Terminal on the LIRR, and Grand Central Terminal and Hudson and New Haven line stations on Metro-North; and
• replacing scores of miles of aging track, signals, tunnel lighting and fans, employee facilities and rail yards and depots.

The bus and subway and rail car purchases would expand the fleets to allow for less crowded and more reliable service. Refurbished stations would mean better lighting, fewer bottlenecks and a safer environment. (See list of stations on reverse.) Modern signals would make it possible to provide riders with real-time information on delays and arrivals. The infrastructure repairs would make transit safer and more secure.

The five-year program also calls for $495 million to enhance subway security in challenging times. It would also continue efforts to expand the system with a Second Avenue Subway, a connection between the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal, an extension of the number 7 line, a link between the LIRR and lower Manhattan and progress on a main line third track on the LIRR.

Why is the MTA's five-year program so important?

The answer starts in 1981. Nearly twenty-five years ago, the metropolitan-area's transit system was close to collapse. The subways were notoriously unreliable, covered with graffiti, and plagued with spiraling crime, fires and derailments. By 1981, subway ridership fell to its lowest level since 1917 and bus ridership also plummeted. Metro-North was widely viewed as the worst commuter rail service in the nation, with the Long Island Rail Road not far behind.

While transit is far from perfect today, there's been tremendous progress: Subway cars are nearly twenty times more reliable. New rail coaches turned around commuter service. Subway ridership bounced back to levels not seen since the 1950's, increasing an astonishing 41% on buses in the last eight years. Graffiti on subway cars has been largely eliminated and transit crime, fires and derailments have all been dramatically reduced. Fare collection was automated, making it possible to offer free subway-bus transfers and unlimited-ride MetroCards.

None of this happened by accident. Since 1981, more than $30 billion (that's billion with a B) has been invested in city subways and buses and another $15 billion in our two commuter rail lines.

The money was used to replace or rehabilitate every subway car and bus. The subway fleet was expanded by 400 cars and the buses by 800 to meet growing service demands. Many miles of eroding track and ancient signals were replaced, one-third of subway stations were rehabed and $750 million was spent to automate turnstiles to make fare discounts possible.

Where will the money come from to invest in transit?

The MTA says it only has about $6 billion in place for the five-year, $17.4 billion core rebuilding program, leaving it with more than an $11 billion funding gap.

How can transit's vital rebuilding needs be met? It will take the leadership of Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg and the state's legislative leaders. Since 1981, their predecessors faced similar challenges and managed to find more than $45 billion to turn around metropolitan transit.

The governor and mayor will need to do better than they have in the past. New York State under Governor George Pataki has forced the MTA to rely more and more heavily on borrowing backed by its operating budget. As a result, the MTA has been forced to borrow or refinance $22 billion-plus in bonds and now faces a huge and growing bill. Its yearly interest payments on the bondsãcalled "debt service"ãwill double between 2003 and 2007, going from $800 million to $1.6 billion, placing huge pressure to raise fares and cut service.

At the same time, Mayor Bloomberg has cut $90 million from the MTA's current five-year rebuilding plan. And he wants the MTA to turn over its valuable property on the West Side of Manhattanãwhich could be used to fund transit repairs ãfor a bargain basement price to build a stadium for the New York Jets.

New York will also need to debate whether it has the resources to expand the transit system. The MTA projects an additional $4.2 billion gap in funding good projects like the Second Avenue Subway and the LIRR-Grand Central Terminal link.

What can riders do?

Under state law, the MTA submits a five-year plan to the state legislature this October. The legislature needs to act in the months that follow. Riders should speak up to their state legislators, the governor and the mayor. For information on how, contact the Straphangers Campaign at: www.straphangers.org or (212) 349-6460.

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