The MTA on Wednesday unveiled a pared-down plan to maintain the transit system — which was forced on the agency after Gov. Kathy Hochul halted congestion pricing days before the start of the vehicle-tolling tolling plan.
The Central Business District Tolling Program , voted into law by state lawmakers in 2019 , would have been a first for a U.S. city and aimed to pay for $15 billion of upkeep and expansion projects in the MTA’s $55 billion 2020 to 2024 capital program. The money would have modernized subway signals, funded the purchase of thousands of new trains and buses, renovated stations and increased station accessibility for people with disabilities.
Instead, the MTA’s board meeting on Wednesday confirmed that the transit agency is gutting its ambitious future plans after Hochul earlier this month paused the June 30 start of a tolling program that had been counted on to cut congestion, improve air quality and fund transit improvements.
The reworked plan now shifts away from station repairs and accessibility upgrades, as well as expansion projects that would have extended the Second Avenue Subway to Harlem and create a Brooklyn-Queens light rail line.