Yup, you read that right. The MTA has announced a four year plan to repair the transit system, but it’ll take $51.5 billion in capital spending.
According to their proposal, it is by far the largest capital plan in MTA history. The current plan is already the largest, and this one would increase the invest level by 70% of that! So what will all this money go toward?
The money will build on the progress of the Subway Action Plan, they say, with all of it going toward the subways, buses, and railroads in the region. The largest chunk of it, a whopping $40 billion, will go solely toward NYC’s transit to improve the subway and buses (which will include signal upgrades). The other $10.4 billion will be used on the LIRR and Metro-North systems. Under the current plan, these improvements would be completed by 2024.
MTA Chairman and CEO, Patrick J. Foye, states that “This plan expands service, increases reliability, speeds up the system, and delivers the world’s largest ever investment in accessibility, for both NYC Transit and the MTA’s commuter railroads, and at the end of this five-year period, New Yorkers will see a revitalized and modern system for the 21st century and beyond.”
Janno Lieber, the MTA Chief Development Officer, adds that the program would allow for “more trains, more buses, more service, more accessibility, and more reliability.”
The complete breakdown of how the money will be divided among each individual task can be found here.
featured image source: Wikimedia Commons / Iwonderandiwander