Good morning. I am Andrew Rein, President of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank and watchdog dedicated to constructive change in the finances, services, and policies of New York City and New York State governments, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).  

Today, I appreciate the opportunity to make four points. 

First, CBC continues to urge the MTA to swiftly and wisely implement congestion pricing. These funds are needed to support the current capital plan. Insufficient investment to bring our existing system to and keep it in a state of good repair will result not just in deterioration of capital assets, but in deterioration of our economy and quality of life. 

Second, congratulations to you and the hardworking MTA professionals on your recently released Twenty-Year Needs Assessment. It’s a significant improvement in key areas. It provides a more standardized, unconstrained, and disaggregated assessment of the condition of current assets. Also, its consistent and systematic analysis of the costs and benefits of potential expansion projects is the right approach. 

Third, the MTA’s full-throated support of the need to keep current assets in a state of good repair is welcome. This priority must be paramount before expanding the system, lest the current network deteriorate to the point of frequent failure. 

Finally, while the Needs Assessment laid bare the system’s precarious condition, its omission of the cost, timelines, and impact of projects to Rebuild and Improve the system denies policymakers and the public the information needed to have a substantive debate of investment priorities. 

As it stands, the public does not have a clue how much it would cost over the next five years to begin bringing the system to adequate condition. Would that take $40 billion, $80 billion, or more? And how much of a dent would that put in the percent of the system that is now in poor or marginal condition?

We need this to consider what tradeoffs may be required by the reality of resource, vendor, and capacity constraints. Should we be eyeing system expansion, or is that a pipedream, since diverting funds could cause our current system to crumble? 

CBC strongly recommends that before releasing the capital program, the MTA should publish an addendum that includes robust cost and benefit estimates for projects to Rebuild and Improve the system. While we understand the challenge of a 20-year horizon, we stress that information about the first five years of that path is the most important. This addendum should include the costs and impacts on services and long-run spending if those investments are fully, or only partially, made.  

Thank you.