MTA pledges more details on its capital plan
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 five-year
spending blueprint for megaprojects
bringing the likes of
new subway cars and buses,
subway elevators and signaling
technology.
But at City Council hearing
Monday, MTA officials said
they wouldn’t be able to outline
timelines for projects until after
the funding is committed and
the plan is finally 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 added.
The MTA’s executive responsible
for carrying out the
plan, Chief Development Officer
Janno Lieber, said the authority
was taking was still mapping
out how to execute projects as
efficiently 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 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
File photo
do we finalize 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 fiveyear
plans within five 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 designbuild
would speed construction,
though he has stated that the
MTA only aspires to allocate
all project funding within five
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.
Against pushback from transit
and social justice advocates,
the MTA has embarked on a
controversial hiring of 500 new
MTA police officers to focus on
fare evasion, homelessness and
worker safety. The new hirings
would cost the MTA $249 million
over the next four years and
come as the MTA faces “dire”
budget gaps in the off years,
according to MTA CFO Robert
Foran.
MTA officials said the were
sensitive to the housing crisis
and other societal forces that
push New Yorkers to seek shelter
in the subways, but that
something has to be done.
“On the one hand, you’re trying
to be humane and Christian
to people who are really vulnerable,
who have not chosen this
way of life, probably. A lot of
them have psychological challenges…
and need help — they
certainly don’t need to be arrested,”
said Transit President
Andy Byford.
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