Whether you are a daily straphanger, an occasional rail or bus rider, or someone who never steps foot on a train or bus, if you live or work anywhere in the New York region, the MTA’s vast network is critical to your health, your pocketbook, and your quality of life.
New York is the most job-dense region in the U.S., a full quarter of New York State’s labor force commutes on an MTA subway, bus, or commuter rail. Transit riders bring home more than $180 billion annually. Without the MTA, we wouldn’t have that density, and without that density we wouldn’t have New York. To put it simply: investment in a strong and sustainable MTA drives a strong New York economy.
Yet commitment to funding repairs, replacement, and upgrades tends to be discussed in fragmented and disconnected ways as if failing to maintain the system would have no impact on our region’s communities, jobs, economy, or environment. This is just not the reality.
The projects outlined in the MTA’s $68.4 billion 2025-2029 Capital Plan include the tangible, highly-anticipated improvements critical to our health, economy, and overall quality of life. With full funding, the plan would not only repair and maintain the MTA’s critical infrastructure, much of which isn’t visible to transit users, but also provide subway, bus, and train riders with more reliable, frequent, safe, and accessible daily travel.
With the Capital Plan we have the opportunity to eliminate the main causes of delays: the system’s old signal systems from the 1930s, and subway and railcar breakdowns. The introduction of modern signal systems, and the replacement of 1,500 subway cars, and 500 LIRR and Metro-North cars will improve service and greatly improve reliability.
The signal upgrades in this plan allow for faster service, saving passengers approximately 12,000 hours on weekdays; the new subway cars can run six times longer between breakdowns than today’s oldest cars. With safety and accessibility being key priorities, the plan prioritizes expanded platform barriers, cameras, and upgraded fiber optic communications and security systems.
The future of New York — the future we all deserve and need — lies with the groundbreaking and sustainable upgrades and projects outlined in this plan. More than 90% of the plan is devoted to upgrading core infrastructure that is needed to improve existing service.
The plan also calls for completing design and starting construction on the Interborough Express (IBX), which would allow residents in many neighborhoods to take a light rail from neighboring Brooklyn and Queens (and vice versa) without having to first go through Manhattan, cutting travel times for some users by as much as 35%. IBX is a gamechanger crossing and connecting subway lines 17 times.
This plan is essential to the region’s economic vitality, health, and quality of life. It benefits everyone, transit and non-transit users alike. The more people are drawn to transit, the fewer cars will be on the road. The fewer cars, the easier it is for those who do drive. The better the transit system, the more businesses and jobs will be attracted to the region and locate here.
Spending from the Capital Plan itself is projected by the Partnership for New York City to generate $106 billion in economic output and secure more than 72,000 jobs annually from the city to upstate.
There is no transit system that compares to the breadth, demand, and impact the MTA provides. We’ve seen what shortchanging and undercutting funding looks like; we live it every time a train — reliant on century-old technology — makes us late for work, school or a doctor’s visit. We saw it in the 1970s when our transit system and the city fell apart; we saw the city come roaring back with the first MTA Capital Plan of the 1980s.
With ridership growing — approaching pre-pandemic levels — we cannot allow ourselves to slide back into the days of the “summer of hell” or allow another superstorm to wreak havoc on the system, and, in turn, our lives. As required by law, the MTA has put forward a responsible, achievable, Capital Plan.
As budget negotiations in Albany commence, the Legislature should do its part: New Yorkers need and deserve full, dedicated funding for the MTA Capital Plan. Our health and well-being is directly tied to the health and well-being of our transit system.
Make no mistake: the Capital Plan isn’t optional — its full investment and implementation is essential for securing the future we all want and deserve.
Weinberger is the Peter W. Herman Chair for Transportation, and Jones is senior research fellow, both at Regional Plan Association (RPA).
