MTA Can Forgo Fare, Toll Hike, Hevesi Says
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority can afford to forgo a fare and toll hike planned for next year, the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, concluded in a report released yesterday.
The comptroller found that while the MTA’s long-term financial outlook is tenuous, the agency should have enough cash on hand at the end of this year to give riders at least a temporary reprieve from a scheduled 5% increase. Because of higher than expected revenues from taxes and real estate transactions, the MTA should end 2006 with an estimated $533 million balance, the report found. That is $316 million more than the agency is projecting. While the MTA projects slower revenue collection for the rest of the year, Mr. Hevesi said its estimates were out of date and urged the agency to revise them when it updates its four-year financial plan this summer.
Ordinarily, Mr. Hevesi said, it would be prudent for the MTA to use the extra money to pay off long-term debt. But because of soaring gas prices, he recommends the transit authority put off its planned fare increase to encourage New Yorkers to use mass transportation.
The MTA’s executive director, Katherine Lapp, said the authority would “take under advisement” the comptroller’s recommendation to delay a fare hike, but she offered no indication that the MTA would heed the call. “Our responsibility is to develop a long-term budget plan to maintain a cost-effective, safe, and reliable transportation network for our 8 million daily riders for years to come,” Ms. Lapp said in a statement.
The Straphangers Campaign advocacy group opposes a fare increase, as does the Transport Workers Union.The MTA has raised prices twice in the last four years. In 2003, the cost of a single subway or bus ride rose to $2, from $1.50. Last year, the authority raised prices of unlimited Metrocards.
The MTA has estimated that a fare increase next year would generate $241 million in revenue, which it says is needed to deal with budget gaps in the years ahead. Despite the rosier short-term projection, Mr. Hevesi said the MTA still faces deficits of $1.1 billion in 2008 and $1.5 billion in 2009.
