MTA to avoid 'worst-case' transit cuts

As a result of recent modest financial gains, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York will avoid the "worst-case" service reductions that the agency had eliminated for 2021 but had been discussed as a possibility for 2022, as well as immediate associated layoffs.

The agency announced the decision yesterday after its board reviewed the MTA February financial plan. To continue to provide as much subway, bus and commuter-rail service as possible, the board approved a toll increase on MTA Bridges and Tunnels, while preserving the resident discount programs, MTA officials said in a press release.

The agency's ongoing financial crisis is largely the result of the pandemic's impact on ridership. The MTA faces a cumulative deficit of $8 billion through 2024, and continues to ask for federal assistance to help the agency and region recover from the pandemic.

Drastic service reductions remain on the table for 2023 and 2024 without future federal aid to support the remaining $8 billion deficit, MTA officials said. The short-term stability was the result of $2.9 billion in deficit financing through the Federal Municipal Liquidity Facility, improved re-estimates in dedicated taxes as fees, as well as the receipt of $4 billion in federal aid through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 (CRRSAA) that Congress passed in late 2020.

"The federal funding provided by Congress in December . . . has allowed the MTA to avoid the worst-case cuts not just in 2021 but also 2022," said MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Foye. "But the pandemic is projected to wreak havoc on the MTA's finances for the next four years as ridership gradually rebuilds."

The MTA predicts a gradual return to normal ridership levels, with increases in 2021 and 2022 leading to a "new normal" ridership that stabilizes in 2023 and 2024 between 80% and 90% of pre-pandemic levels.