Gov. Hochul says NY has ‘successfully’ funded the MTA for over a century. Huh?

This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.

Sign up to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared on WNYC’s All Things Considered this week. And while her comments about her former deputy chief of staff accused of acting as a foreign agent for the Chinese government got the most attention, it was her answer to a question about congestion pricing that raised our eyebrows.

“You've said you're open to reviving the idea under a new plan, which could potentially lower the base toll of $15 dollars. Would that raise the money the MTA needs — and if not, how would you make up the difference?” ATC host Sean Carlson asked.

“For over 100 years, we have been successfully funding the MTA,” Hochul said. “There are other sources of funding. I will look at an opportunity to talk about this in the next legislative session, which again is in January, to talk about how we can modify congestion pricing to something that is reasonable.”

To put it charitably, Hochul is looking back on MTA history with very rose-colored glasses. The history of the MTA can be told through projects that were abandoned due to lack of funding. Hochul’s pause of congestion pricing, which followed more than two years of analysis by the MTA and Federal Highway Administration to determine a “reasonable” price for the Manhattan tolls, fits squarely in that history of unrealized ambition.

As we’ve previously reported, beginning in the 1970s the MTA began taking out more and more loans to fund the system because Albany refused to sufficiently fund it. The agency says it's now got that practice under control, but the MTA has more than $50 billion in debt . And Gotham’s subways, buses and Access-A-Rides are worse for wear.

Here are a few notable moments when a lack of funding forced the MTA to scuttle its plans:

• When New York City nearly went bankrupt in the 1970s, the MTA and city abandoned construction of the Second Avenue subway. Work had already gotten underway in East Harlem and Chinatown.
• The 63rd Street East River train tunnel, which now carries LIRR trains to Grand Central Madison, was also put on hold in the 1970s due to a lack of funding only to be finally completed at the start of 2023 .
• Declining ridership and a lack of state subsidies for the MTA in the 2000s led to the closure of several subway lines, including the 9 train (ever heard of it?) and the stoppage of G train service to Forest Hills (wouldn’t restoring that be nice?).
• And then there’s the summer of hell of 2017, when years of delayed repairs due to a lack of funding came to a head all at once, causing rampant breakdowns in service. That ordeal directly led to the law initiating planning for congestion pricing.

Those are just a few examples. Hochul does deserve some credit for funding the MTA last year when it faced a fiscal cliff. But given the pattern above, it’s fair to wonder whether her congestion pricing pause will stand as another moment that hobbled the region’s transit system.

Curious Commuter

Have a question about subway cars (or literally anything else NYC-transit related)? Use this form to submit yours and we may answer it in a future newsletter! But note that Curious Commuter questions are exclusive for On The Way newsletter subscribers. Sign up for free here.

Question from Diane Schenker in Manhattan

I was riding the A Train. Two guys with a quite large dog were sitting near me. The dog was on a leash, but not contained in any other way. I love dogs, but it was my understanding that dogs (or any pets) had to be in carrier cages to ride on the subway. Some NYC cops got on the train. I flagged them over and said this dog should not be riding in the subway. The one officer I addressed told me I was wrong, there was no rule against this. Can you clarify this issue? I spent quite a bit on taxis when I had to transport my dog anywhere.

Answer

Diane, you’re paw-sitively correct. Our team investigated this very topic after noticing an uptick in big dogs on the subway last spring. The MTA’s rules of conduct state that “no person may bring any animal on or into any conveyance or facility unless enclosed in a container and carried in a manner which would not annoy other passengers.” This language was added in 2004 and led to the once-ubiquitous scenes of dogs in bags on the subway to comply with the rule. But after the pandemic, many norms fell by the wayside, including dog decorum. So too did ticketing against dog owners in the transit system. The NYPD reported last year it issued a total of 10 violations for bringing unauthorized animals on the subway.

The latest NYC area transit headlines

Listen here:

• The MTA has installed metal platform barriers at 10 subway stations in an effort to keep people from falling or being pushed onto the tracks. Read more .
• Accessibility rights advocates are suing the MTA to try to force the agency to fix hundreds of hazardous gaps between subway cars and platform edges. Read more .
• There’s now a cell network along the entire two-stop 42nd Street Shuttle line, marking a small, early step in the push to add 5G connectivity throughout the city’s entire 418-mile network of subway tunnels. Read more .
• East Harlem residents want the 2nd Avenue subway to extend to their neighborhood. Some just don’t support congestion pricing, even though it could pay for the construction. Read more .
• A man was shot and killed in a Brownsville subway station Wednesday night. It was the fifth fatal shooting in a city transit facility so far this year. Read more .
• The Queens-Midtown tunnel closed for a period on Wednesday after a contractor drilled a hole into the structure and caused a leak, city officials said. Read more .
• The MTA last Sunday ended a yearlong pilot program allowing free rides on one bus route in each of the five boroughs, explaining that the initiative boosted ridership but also falsely signaled that riders shouldn’t have to pay the fare on other routes. Read more .
• NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper , who took over the division in December 2022 and who has since scrambled to improve public perceptions of safety in the transit system, is retiring from that role effective Sept. 27. He’s since been hired as the MTA’s chief security officer. Read more .