Public transit advocates gathered in Pershing Sq., close to Grand Central Terminal, on Feb. 2, 2025, demanding Albany leaders totally fund the $68 billion slate of important capital upgrades.
Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
A coalition of transit advocates, riders and elected officers gathered Sunday close to Grand Central Terminal to demand that Gov. Kathy Hochul make sure the MTA capital program for transit enhancements is funded within the new state funds.
On Jan. 21, Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled her $252 billion funds for the 2026 fiscal 12 months—the most important in state historical past. Nonetheless, the governor has but to seek out $33 billion in further funding for the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan — or not less than $2.2 billion in new annual recurring income to safe the plan’s future.
Even with congestion pricing tolls trickling in, the MTA faces main monetary challenges in protecting one of many world’s oldest and busiest public transit techniques, which incorporates 472 stations on 25 routes, spreading alongside 665 miles of monitor, rolling for over six million each day transit riders. The MTA has to modernize the subway system’s ageing infrastructure due to years of disinvestment.
Updates embrace new alerts on the A, J, N, Q, R, S, W, and Z subway strains, accessibility upgrades at 60 subway stations, changing 2,000 outdated prepare vehicles from the ’70s and ’80s, and renewing the virtually 100-year-old construction holding up Grand Central Terminal, which is on the verge of collapsing.
Public transit advocates gathered in Pershing Sq., close to Grand Central Terminal, on Feb. 2, 2025, demanding Albany leaders totally fund the $68 billion slate of important capital upgrades.Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Danny Pearlstein, the Riders Alliance’s coverage and communications director, identified that the MTA Capital program addressed many years of deferred upkeep.
“Albany has heard the governor’s executive budget, which at $252 billion so far, does not include funding for the MTA capital program, and experts have estimated that the program needs at least $2.2 billion in new recurring revenue in order to meet even this baseline level of needs,” Pearlstein mentioned. “There’s been ample analysis of all of the myriad ways that the capital programs could be paid for, but we have the money, and we can afford it.”
Advocates identified that the capital plan would additionally positively influence the state’s financial system as a result of new buses and subway vehicles are inbuilt factories in upstate New York, offering jobs for New Yorkers.
Danny Pearlstein of the Riders’ Alliance speaks at a rally with public transit advocates in Manhattan on Feb. 2, 2025.Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Rachael Fauss, senior coverage advisor for Reinvent Albany, known as the MTA Capital Program a “win-win” for New York State, producing income for the state.
“There is no better economic development program than funding the NTAS infrastructure. The 33 billion that is needed to fund this plan go directly to jobs across the entire state of New York,” Fauss mentioned. “The billions of dollars that will fund the next capital plan will go back into New Yorkers pockets.”
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) addressed his colleagues within the legislature who reside exterior New York Metropolis and have been “clutching their pearls” on the considered funding the MTA.
“I say to them, your economy is dependent on a fully functioning mass transit system In New York City,” mentioned Hoylman-Sigal, who can also be operating for Manhattan borough president. “This is about the economic engine for the entire region, and it is so important and incumbent on the legislature and our governor to make sure that we fill that $33 billion void.”
Meeting Member Tony Simone (D-Manhattan) mentioned New York Metropolis’s public transit system ought to be “second to none,” investing extra in public transportation in “transportation deserts” so working New Yorkers wouldn’t should depend on their vehicles.
Meeting Member Tony Simone speaks at a rally with public transit advocates on Feb. 2, 2025.Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
“A nurse should be able to get on a bus from the end of Queens [and travel] in a rapid manner to the other end of the five boroughs,” Simone mentioned. “We spend billions of dollars and waste so much money on so many other things. We should have the best transit system in the world.”
Advocates additionally identified the MTA’s Capital Plan would guarantee subway accessibility as promised within the MTA’s historic Individuals with Disabilities Act settlement, which states that not less than 345 subway stations should be ADA-accessible by 2055. At present, solely one-quarter of New York Metropolis’s 472 subway stations are totally wheelchair-accessible -and the fewest are in low-income areas.
Justin Wooden, director of coverage for New York Legal professionals for the Public Curiosity, mentioned the dearth of accessible subway stations was a shameful statistic for a worldwide metropolis transit system in 2025.
“Too often, people with limited mobility, or people with children, or people who need to haul things on the subway, need to meticulously plan every trip, budget substantial extra travel time, which can be exacerbated by general service problems and broken elevators,” Woods mentioned.
Assemblymember Harvey Epstein (D-Manhattan) and NY Senator Jabari Brisport (D-Brooklyn) echoed Wooden’s sentiment.
Public transit advocates gathered in Pershing Sq., close to Grand Central Terminal, on Feb. 2, 2025, demanding Albany leaders totally fund the $68 billion slate of important capital upgrades.Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Epstein mentioned a completely funded public transportation system would offer “transit equity.”
“I know this is such a critical time. We’re in the middle of a budget conversation, and we need to ensure that all elevators at every station across the city are accessible for all of us. How many times I talk to a constituent who says, ‘I can’t get on the subway because I don’t have accessibility,’” Epstein mentioned.
Brisport inspired the group to maintain up the “fight” for public transportation funding.
“We have a budget now. We have a multi-billion dollar hole to fix. We deserve the best trains. We deserve elevators. We need quick service. We need all of it,” Brisport mentioned.
