Posted Nov 18, 2018, 12:37 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2018
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M.T.A. Warns of Fare Increases and Service Cuts as Budget Crisis Looms
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing a looming budget crisis that could lead to major fare increases or drastic cuts to subway and bus service, officials warned Thursday.
The transit agency, which is still struggling to fix New York’s sputtering subway, needs an influx of new funding to avoid serious consequences for subway and bus riders, officials said.
The revelation over potential fare increases came the same week that Amazon was promised nearly $2 billion in incentives from the state to locate a headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio courted Amazon and have celebrated the decision, but the incentives have been widely criticized by local leaders.
The authority appears to be in its worst financial shape in a decade. Facing budget shortfalls after the 2008 recession, major fare increases and service cuts were approved. In 2010, the price of a monthly MetroCard jumped by 17 percent to $104 a month. It is now $121. The agency has raised fares every two years at a relatively modest rate as part of an agreement with the State Legislature.
“Riders have been paying more every two years for almost a decade,” said John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, an advocacy group. “But in that time, public transit service has deteriorated.”
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Even with proposed fare and toll increases, the MTA still faces an almost $1 billion deficit by 2022
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MTA Proposes Raising Fares on Subway, Buses and Rails
Agency faces a nearly $1 billion deficit by 2022
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday unveiled proposals to raise fares and tolls across the region as officials painted a bleak financial picture for the agency.
Even with the proposed fare and toll increases, the agency still faces an almost $1 billion deficit by 2022, the MTA’s chief financial officer warned board members at a meeting Thursday.
The MTA, which runs the subway, buses, Metro-North and Long Island railroads as well as nine bridges and tunnels, must find additional sources of revenue, Finance Chief Robert Foran said. Otherwise, he said, the agency could be forced to raise fares and tolls by significantly higher amounts in the coming years and to make significant service cuts.
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Meanwhile.... 
New York taxpayers to cough up $2.8 billion for Amazon HQ2
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Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos are set to pocket about $4 billion from the two municipalities, and the total bill could come out to around $4.2 billion. That’s because New York and Arlington County, Virginia, will need to borrow money by issuing bonds to pay for the tax credits. The total means an additional $200 million in interest payments, based on New York and Arlington County’s most recently issued bond rates of about 5%.
Local elected officials in New York have already spoken out against the deal.
“Offering massive corporate welfare from scarce public resources to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world at a time of great need in our state is just wrong,” New York state Senator Michael Gianaris and New York City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer wrote in an op-ed earlier this week.
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