Independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo proposed Tuesday that the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority hand over some of its power to the city.
Cuomo’s plan would be to have the city control the subway system’s capital construction and maintenance, which includes major building projects, station improvements, the system’s outdated signal system, accessibility measures and the purchase of new train cars.
The proposal, which Cuomo announced at a breakfast by the Association for a Better New York, would need approval from the MTA board, of which just four out of 17 are appointed by the mayor. Cuomo argued that he could, as mayor, do a better managing billions of dollars under the MTA’s control than the state-run agency.
“Imagine if you could actually spend it,” the ex-governor said of the massive $40 billion budget for city capital projects.
“That is hundreds of stations remodeled, hundreds of stations, ADA compliant. That is a massive physical shift in this city. And if you want to talk about one thing that can change people’s minds and attitudes quickly, it is that subway system.”
The former governor continues to trail frontrunner Zohran Mamdani in pre-election polling, which show his odds of winning to be thin as long as GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa stays in the race. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has made his campaign promise of free buses a central issue.
Cuomo left a mixed legacy of his time in control of the MTA as governor, facing backlash for rising subway delays. In 2016, his administration came under fire when it directed the MTA to redirect cash to state-run ski resorts that were struggling.
East Side Access Project
Barry Williams for New York Daily News FILE – Gov. Andrew Cuomo (center) and Janno Lieber, chief development officer of the MTA (rght), talk to members of the media under Grand Central Station in the East Side Access project Thursday, May 27, 2021 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
As proof he could carry out a transformation of the system, Cuomo pointed to his work helping guide the construction of Moynihan Train Hall, LaGuardia Airport and the Kosciuszko Bridge, as well as avoiding an L Train shutdown in 2019.
The proposal saw some immediate backlash from transit advice groups.
“The disgraced former governor decries mismanagement of the transit system that he recently controlled for 11 years, ignoring service as train delays quadrupled,” Danny Pearlstein, a spokesperson for Riders Alliance. “Never a New Yorker enough to actually ride the subway, he’s not yet given up mining it for personal advantage.”
The city was in control of the subway system after City Hall purchased the private operators that ran trains in the five boroughs in 1940. But the city was unable to balance both the fiscal cost of up-keeping and developing the system and the political aspects of operating, and, after about a decade, authority over the system was handed to the state.
Currently, the MTA has an annual operating budget of nearly $20 billion. The state provides the bulk of that funding. The state also provides billions for the MTA’s five-year capital programs, funding the kinds of projects Cuomo would seek to move under the city’s control.
New rail cars are the biggest part of the MTA’s current $68 billion capital plan, with roughly $9 billion set aside for new subway cars. $5.4 billion is earmarked for continued installation of modern signaling systems on portions of seven train lines.
The plan also includes $7.1 billion to make more subway stations accessible in accordance with a settlement reached in 2022.
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