Robert Fitzpatrick spent $140,000 buying up subway and bus ads to warn people that the world was going to end Saturday. According to news reports, it didn't. So should we worry about how Fitzpatrick, a retiree on a fixed income, will support himself Read More
Woe betides Long Island commuters this week. Sunday, a passenger-less Amtrak train derailed under the East River. Because Amtrak and LIRR share quarters in this tight space, the severe damage to Amtrak's rails that ensued has hit the MTA's Long Island Rail Road. Read More
The Citizens Budget Commission's Charles Brecher presented a report this morning on "Benchmarking Efficiency for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Services." Brecher and his staff compared the MTA's operating efficiency across subways, buses... Read More
Baruch's E.S. Savas has a good piece in today's Post on introducing competitive contracting to the New York City and downstate public-bus system. As the MTA cuts routes, the state, the MTA, the city, or some combination thereof should bundle the... Read More
E.J. and I had a podcast chat this morning to run through some of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s 2009 payroll data, released last week by the Empire Center's seethroughny.net. The data show that last year, the MTA's 74,708 workers... Read More
New York State entities continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel to scare up a few dollars. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will issue $475 million in short-term notes this week. The MTA pledges to repay the debt as soon as it get Read More
E.J. and I have a in today's Post on the MTA's quickly deteriorating finances. Especially disturbing is the MTA's recent reliance on short-term borrowing to cover its operating costs (in other words, paying millions to Wall Street banks in financin Read More
The MTA's Jay Walder deserves great credit for standing firm against the transit "advocates" and elected officials who would like him to devote up to $160 million in capital-investment funds for short-term operating expenses, including rising union-l Read More