Editorial

It was a last-minute rescue worthy of any oldtime afternoon movie serial cliffhanger. The whole metropolitan area held its collective breath until late last Wednesday the news broke that the state legislature had bailed out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The bailout package, which passed on a strict party-line vote in both houses of the state legislature, will forestall massive service cuts and increase fares by about ten percent, rather than an MTA-projected 23 percent. Put in terms meaningful to straphangers and bus riders, the average fare will increase from $2 to $2.25. Unlimited-ride monthly MetroCards are projected to increase by $8, from $81 to $89. The increases are expected to go into effect at some time in June, after the MTA board voted to accept the package on Monday.

Besides the fare increases (two more, of 7.5 percent in 2011 and 2013, respectively, are projected as well), the MTA will realize approximately $2.3 billion per year through other revenue raising measures, including a 50-cent surcharge on all yellow cab rides, higher fees to register a vehicle and obtain a driver's license and a payroll tax of 34 cents on every $100 of payroll, applicable to every employer in the area served by the MTA, which includes the five boroughs and Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland and Orange counties along the Hudson River upstate, school districts excluded.

Well before it became reality detractors were lining up to take shots at the bailout package and since it became law by dint of Governor David Paterson's signature, opposition to it has grown. We find ourselves very much in agreement with those who entertain misgivings about its provisions. In its present form the MTA bailout package promises a scenario of commuters taking subways, buses and commuter trains to jobs that may not be there when they arrive.

The payroll tax will literally drive businesses out of and away from New York. Westchester County Executive Andy Spano noted that it damages all employers, including local government, not-for-profits and hospitals and weakens an already fragile state economy and business base. Businesses, hospitals and other entities throughout the five boroughs and the upstate counties are already struggling with the effects of the national recession. "Adding a payroll tax just makes the business climate less attractive," Spano declared. We agree.

Other provisions of the plan are equally unattractive. Millions of city and suburban motorists will face higher license and registration fees, further punishing the millions of small business proprietors who operate their own or company vehicles out of necessity and raising doubts about whether the taxes and fees will generate the hoped-for revenues. No one has as yet come up with a plausible suggestion for collecting the 50-cent taxi surcharge. The $400 million in annual capital funding provided by the plan is just a fraction of what is needed to keep the system in good repair and fund new projects. It does not provide sufficient funds to keep trains running well and is too short-range to generate the capital needed for maintenance—keeping trains, tracks and stations in good, or at least, decent repair.

Most, if not all, of the jokes and derogatory comments made about the MTA have some basis in sober reality. Just the fact that it is a New York City institution makes it an easy target for scorn and derision. But while slamming the MTA is easy, the inescapable fact remains: every day, through it and because of it, millions of people are moved around New York City safely and effectively. The MTA is a major reason that New York City is, indeed, "The Capital of the World." Like the citizens it carries, it deserves a solution to its fiscal difficulties that will not cause more problems than it solves.