MTA chief Janno Lieber said Monday that the agency will keep fighting for the launch of congestion pricing, but in the wake of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s eleventh-hour pause the authority must dramatically scale back its capital program and can’t promise riders there won’t be service cuts.
Lieber told reporters in his first public comments since Hochul’s surprise announcement last week that the authority is working to “reprioritize and shrink” the infrastructure projects that make up the MTA’s current $54.8 billion capital program.
“We’re behind the eight ball right now,” a somber Lieber told reporters at Monday’s news conference at the MTA’s Lower Manhattan headquarters. “And that’s why we’re taking these, frankly, very serious steps to carve up the capital program and make sure we don’t let the system fall into disrepair back into the ’70s, and ’80s.”
He stressed that “we at the MTA aren’t giving up on congestion pricing. Not at all.”
Lieber said the authority is working to understand how the loss of $1 billion in anticipated annual toll revenue, which officials planned to bond to $15 billion, will impact critical maintenance work and expansion projects across the MTA’s networks, the authority’s current operations and how the MTA ultimately fulfills its obligation to enact congestion pricing, which was approved by the Legislature in 2019.
“The priority is that we’re gonna fight like hell to make sure we don’t have to reduce service,” Lieber said, who added that he has no plans of resigning in protest over the delay. “I want to say to the folks who are frustrated that this reversal took place, I can relate.”
He also took pains to distance himself from the governor’s decision — stressing that it’s not the MTA’s job to be “political analysts.” Lieber said the governor has not shared a specific timeline for a new congestion pricing launch date but that the authority stands ready to implement the program.
“We’re going to make sure that we keep moving forward on the details of the congestion pricing program,” Lieber said. “[And will] otherwise make sure that we’re ready if and when we get the green light.”
Caroline Spivack , 2024-06-11 01:07:43
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