MTA Educates Public About Transportation Bond Act

With a state-wide transportation bond act coming before voters on November 8, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has introduced an advertising campaign that is educating riders about the act and how it will improve the mass transit system.

The MTA campaign is titled "What's It All About?" and each of the MTA agencies that will receive funds from the act — MTA New York City Transit, MTA Long Island Rail Road, and MTA Metro-North Railroad — answers the question by detailing its improvement plans. Response ads have headlines that include: It's All About Expansion, It's All About Subways, It's All About Buses; It's All About Long Island Rail Road, and It's All About Metro-North Railroad. (Click here for a list of the projects that will be funded by the Transportation Bond Act.)

The $2.9 billion Rebuild and Renew New York Transportation Bond Act was proposed by the governor and state legislature as part of the approval of the Capital Programs of the MTA and the New York State Department of Transportation. The funds will be divided equally between the two state agencies, with the DOT portion used primarily for highway construction projects in upstate New York.

The MTA 2005-2009 Capital Program includes a $16.0 billion core plan that will continue to improve the MTA system. When it was approved by the New York State Capital Program Review Board in July, MTA Chairman Peter S. Kalikow thanked Governor George E. Pataki, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg for their support of this Capital Program, and added, "All of New York benefits from a superior public transportation system, and this Capital Program will allow the MTA to continue to offer New Yorkers the best service in the world.

"The MTA will now be able to continue the progress it has made in revitalizing the region's transportation network by purchasing vital equipment like new buses and subway and commuter rail cars, maintaining the infrastructure of the system to ensure the safety and reliability of service."

With the approval of the Capital Program, the MTA began moving forward with projects included in the $16 billion core plan, which involve critical maintenance and upgrades, the purchase of new subway cars, rail cars, and buses, the total rehabilitation of 44 subway stations, and other significant subway, bus, and commuter rail infrastructure projects. (Click here for MTA Capital Program documents, which contain details of all of the projects planned over the five-year period.)

The Transportation Bond Act will add $1.45 billion to the MTA's Capital Program, and Chairman Kalikow also pledged to do everything in his power to educate the public about its benefits. To that end, he held a press conference in mid-September to outline for the media the MTA's spending plan for the bond monies and introduced the MTA's educational advertising campaign.

The bulk of the MTA's fund from the bond act would help pay for MTA expansion projects-the Second Avenue subway, the first new subway line in more than 60 years; East Side Access, which will give the Long Island Rail Road an east-side terminal at Grand Central; and a direct rail link from Lower Manhattan to Kennedy International Airport.

In addition, funds will be used to improve service to riders through the purchase of new subway cars, rail cars, and clean-fuel buses and through infrastructure improvements that include new track, improved tunnel lighting, increased parking at suburban rail stations, and real-time customer communications that provide information about train arrivals.