Albany Politicians Go For Quick Fix
Getty Images
The MTA crisis seems far from over.
In the short term, the deal reached in Albany Tuesday night seems to solve the MTA's problems.
But it certainly doesn't. The agreement reached by Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders Tuesday night is a quick fix, but hardly a long-range solution.
Under the deal, there will be an increase in subway and bus fares from $2 to $2.25. The MTA had threatened to raise fares and tolls by 20 to 30 percent unless there was a rescue package. The other parts of the 11th-hour Albany deal include a payroll tax, a 50-cent surcharge on taxi rides, increases in vehicle registration and other fees.
The fare increase amounts to 10 percent rather than the 8 percent that would have resulted if the proposal to put tolls on the East River bridges had been accepted.
This patchwork quilt of a plan was pushed by Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, who had a couple of recalcitrant members of the Democratic majority rebelling against the proposed payroll tax. The Democratic leader of the Assembly, Speaker Sheldon Silver, went along reluctantly. He had the courage originally to favor the plan proposed after long deliberations by a commission headed by former MTA chief Richard Ravitch that would have provided money for a long-range, five-year plan to keep the fares down even as hundreds of millions were invested in streamlining the system with new trains and improved tracks and stations.
Ravitch said: "I'm disappointed they didn't do the tolls. But I'm thrilled they did something."
Added Silver: "We have rescued this system from the brink of abyss."
Yet, clearly, the politicians in Albany were too chicken to wade right in and find a long-range solution. Ravitch's approach would have raised $5 billion to $6 billion for modernization of the transportation system.
The subway and bus riders have received a reprieve. The MTA won't fulfill its threat to cut services, including bus routes, to meet its deficit. Not right now.
But subway and bus riders can't rest easy. They know that, sooner or later, when faced with fiscal troubles, the MTA will threaten to take it out of their hide. As for Albany, the chaotic negotiations over this situation show that, once again, if you are looking for a definition of the word "dysfunctional," you need look no further than the state capital.
