Cuomo, de Blasio unveil plan to restructure Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, setting aside their differences on how to fund New York’s ailing transit system, on Tuesday presented a 10-point plan that they say will “transform the MTA,” and includes consolidating many of the functions of the LIRR with the MTA’s other agencies.

The plan also includes, for the first time, de Blasio’s expressed support for Cuomo’s congestion pricing proposal, as well as both leaders’ blessing for the MTA to continue raising fares by 4 percent every other year.

The MTA Board is set to vote on the latest such fare hike Wednesday.

The plan calls for the LIRR to consolidate common functions, including construction management, legal services, engineering, purchasing, human resources and advertising with the New York City Transit Authority, Metro-North Railroad, MTA Capital Construction, MTA Bus and the Staten Island Railway. The restructuring, designed to make the centralized agencies more streamlined and cost-efficient, would be complete by June, the officials said.

In a statement, acting MTA chairman Fernando Ferrer “strongly” endorsed the plan, which he called a “holistic cure for much of what ails the MTA.” The agency has projected a budget deficit that could reach $1 billion by 2022, and also has struggled with declining performance, including at the LIRR, which last year posted its worst on-time performance figures in nearly two decades.

The plan “builds on work we are already doing to improve service through aggressive action like the Subway Action Plan; reduce costs through innovative procurement and development models like those used on the LIRR Third Track and Double Track projects; and reduce spending through a mandate to all operating agencies,” said Ferrer, who urged the State Legislature to support the plan.

The plan’s likely most controversial aspect calls for installing cashless tolls for commuters who enter Manhattan south of 61st Street — a proposal that would require approval from the Democrat-controlled State Senate and Assembly. De Blasio previously opposed congestion pricing to reduce traffic in New York City, preferring a tax on millionaires to help fund the MTA.

“We cannot let another year pass without action that makes people’s lives easier,” de Blasio said in a statement. “This crisis runs deeper than ever before, and it’s now clear there is no way to address it without congestion pricing and other dedicated revenue streams. The time to act is now.”

In an interview Monday on WNYC radio, Cuomo called congestion pricing “an idea whose time has come” and said the plan would reduce the need for even steeper fare increases than those already planned. MTA officials have said, without a new revenue stream, fares would have to rise by about 27 percentby 2024 to close a growing deficit.

The plan by Cuomo and de Blasio calls for the MTA to keep future fare hikes to “inflationary increases of 2 percent per year” — a formula the MTA has followed for several years.

“I think it’s wrong to further burden the riders, and congestion pricing, frankly, taxes people who drive in,” Cuomo said. “They’re the ones who will pay the tolls. Most of them come from out of state. Only 1 or 2 percent come from the outer boroughs. It’s a luxury to drive into Manhattan. There’s a tremendous environmental cost … and I believe the tolling on congestion pricing is a better way to fund the system.”

The plan specifies that funding from the new tolls would be placed in a “lockbox” for the MTA, “with priority given to the subway system” and other transportation initiatives within New York City.

Long Island’s senior Democratic state senator, Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), said he plans to question MTA leaders about what the proposed restructuring would mean for Nassau and Suffolk commuters during a public hearing scheduled for Friday in Mineola.

“It is critical that any comprehensive plan ensure that LIRR riders receive significantly improved, sustainable service, and that any congestion pricing plan contain a dedicated revenue stream for the LIRR,” Kaminsky said.

Similarly, Kevin Law, president of the Long Island Association, which represents businesses across Nassau and Suffolk, said, before being able to support the proposal, his group needs to review the details of the plan to see “how they will impact Long Island commuters and taxpayers.”

Also proposed by the governor and mayor is the creation of a “Regional Transit Committee” to review the MTA’s five-year Capital Program, which funds major infrastructure investments throughout the agency. The panel would comprise transportation, engineering and governments experts with “no existing financial relationship with the MTA.”

The plan specifies that the panel would include “organizations representing subway riders and driving commuters,” but makes no mention of a representative for riders of the MTA’s commuter railroads, including the LIRR.

“I think, clearly, it shows a disdain for the commuter railroads,” said Mark Epstein, chairman of the LIRR Commuter Council, which represents railroad riders. “I hope it’s an oversight.”

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com,robert.brodsky@newsday.com@alfonsoreports,

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.