The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is armed with billions from several rounds of federal funding. Toll and tax revenue is up, other indicators are positive and commuters are probably spared a fare increase for this year.

Citizens Budget Commission Director of state studies Patrick Orecki assesses the state's financial situation one month into the 2022 fiscal year.

The transit agency that runs New York City’s subway, buses and two commuter rails will hold off on a fare increase for the rest of the year as it struggles to lure back riders.

After raising fares on a regular cycle, the agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will not move on what had been a proposed 4 percent increase, Patrick J. Foye, the chairman and chief executive of the M.T.A., said Tuesday.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will face ongoing budget shortfalls of nearly $2.5 billion a year after the emergency federal aid extended to the mass-transit agency runs out, according to the Citizens Budget Commission.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is hearing calls to overhaul its fare system to attract riders and competing views abound on how to do it.

Through implementing long-awaited congestion pricing, the MTA may be able to raise up to $15 billion through new bonding based off the revenues from the tolls, officials say.

But ridership has been down significantly — as much as 90% during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — and the system needs that revenue to support its five-year, $51.5 billion capital program.

There is also a growing push to combine the jobs of train operators and conductors, leaving a single worker to operate each subway train. In the face of a worker shortage, the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), a prominent “non-partisan” voice of Wall Street, released a report calling on the MTA to shift to one-person train operations.

The $5.4 Billion Dollar Budget Deficit the Next Mayor will Inherit.

On Tuesday, Citizens Budget Commission head Andrew Rein pegged the deficit at $5.4 billion, including $1 billion in concessions from city workers that de Blasio promised last year but failed to produce and $300 million needed to pay about 4,000 new workers Blas wants hired but hasn’t budgeted to pay for.

With one foot out the door, Mayor Bill de Blasio is setting up a nightmare budget crunch for Gotham’s next mayor — and trying to hide the damage in the process.

De Blasio’s latest financial plan, which went into effect July 1, projects a $4.1 billion cash shortfall next year — a huge chunk of change (even by New York standards) the next mayor must grapple with the moment he takes office Jan. 1. Yet the gap is actually $700 million higher, totaling $4.8 billion.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is leaving his successor a budget with a $5.4 billion deficit, as he and the City Council have added another $300 million in hiring to the Big Apple’s payroll, according to a new analysis Tuesday.

The spending — which will be used to fund about 4,000 jobs — was quietly included in the $98.7 billion 2022 fiscal year budget that the City Council approved last month, a report by Citizens Budget Commission found.

Thousands of subway trips in New York City have been canceled in recent weeks because the pandemic and a related hiring freeze have battered the work force and left a shortage of train operators, conductors and workers.

And with fewer trains, many passengers on the largest transit system in North America have seen their commutes become less reliable and take noticeably longer. Nearly 11,000 trips were eliminated last month alone.

What's The [Data] Point? Episode 109: $103.3 billion - the New City Budget, with Comptroller Scott Stringer [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

$103.3 billion is the total amount of spending authorized by the City Council for Fiscal Year 2022. While officials call it a budget of $98.3 billion, the larger figure reflects the full amount to be expended, including $6 billion available from the prior year due to higher than expected tax receipts and federal aid. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer joined the show to discuss the adopted budget, which is the last under Mayor Bill de Blasio and this City Council, as well as Stringer, and the city's current and long-term fiscal picture.