MTA: Give us money, then we’ll tell you plans
BY VINCENT BARONE
The MTA would happily provide
more details on its massive $51.5
billion capital plan — but not
until it’s approved and fully funded.
The transit authority is currently
looking for the city to contribute $3
billion toward its next capital plan, the
fi ve-year spending blueprint for megaprojects
bringing the likes of new subway
cars and buses, subway elevators
and signaling technology.
But at a City Council hearing Monday,
MTA offi cials said they wouldn’t
be able to outline timelines for projects
until after the funding is committed
and the plan is fi nally approved.
“We barely have any details about
this capital plan,” said Council Speaker
Corey Johnson, during a committee
hearing on the MTA’s proposed 2020
to 2024 capital plan.
“The council negotiates and approves
the city’s announce budget we
can’t make decisions on a $3 billion
magnitude based on a few estimates
and a Powerpoint presentation,” he
continued.
The MTA’s executive responsible for
carrying out the plan, Chief Development
Offi cer Janno Lieber, said the
authority was still mapping out how to
execute projects as effi ciently as possible
and that more details wouldn’t
come until about 60 days after the plan
is approved.
Lieber reasoned that construction involving
the installation of new subway
signal equipment or certain maintenance
in the system will likely require
shutdowns of service, and that the
FILE PHOTO
MTA wants to get as much work done
as possible during those outages by
“bundling” projects together.
“We may have to do some shutdowns,
some outages, and we must make sure
that every time we do an outage in the
transit system … that we get every piece
of work done that can be done during
that outage,” Lieber said.
The authority is currently putting
together a bundling analysis — a new
approach to capital plan work, Lieber
said.
“I’m completely willing to commit to
transparency in how do we fi nalize that
bundling process and most important
from your standpoint, how do we track
it going forward,” Lieber said. “Because
we do want to be more transparent.”
The MTA historically does not actually
complete its fi ve-year plans within
fi ve years and still has work to do from
its last three plans. Advocates have
worried that the 2020-2024 plan, the
authority’s largest ever, wouldn’t be
completed until years later.
Lieber argued that the bundling and
a greater use of design-build would
speed construction, though he has
stated that the MTA only aspires to allocate
all project funding within fi ve
years—not actually complete all the
work in that window.
The authority also took heat for the
exorbitant costs of capital construction,
which studies have shown is far more
expensive than work in peer cities. And
Council members also grilled the MTA
on its separate operating budget and
how it relates to the policing of “quality
of life” offenses in the subway.
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