Chuck a hopeful rider
He’s optimistic on federal relief for MTA
Senate Democrats are in the final stretch of negotiating a COVID-19 relief package that will include roughly $4 billion for the MTA, Sen. Chuck Schumer told the Daily News on Sunday.
The New York Democrat and Senate minority leader said he’d have a hard time facing constituents if he doesn’t come home with a bailout by year’s end.
“There are 20 Republicans who don’t want to spend any money on anything,” Schumer told The News during an afternoon bus ride along Manhattan’s East Side, adding those blocking relief since March are “running out of steam.”
“That’s been the biggest holdup, but now we get a whole bunch of senators who say they need dollars and that’s helpful,” he said.
“Mass transit is much more favorably looked upon now than 20 years ago, largely because of climate change,” Schumer added. “One thing that’s helped us over the years is now, many more cities have big mass transit systems. Cities like Atlanta and Dallas and L.A. lobby for it, too. It used to be New York and nobody else.”
The $4 billion in Metropolitan Transportation Authority relief that Schumer is fighting for would be a third of the $12 billion transit officials say they need to stabilize the agency’s finances and avoid draconian service cuts and layoffs. Schumer helped the MTA get another $4 billion in relief through the CARES Act in March, but Senate Republicans have blocked any subsequent pandemic bailouts.
The MTA deficits have been triggered by plummeting mass transit ridership during the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, fare revenues covered roughly 37% of the agency’s $17 billion in annual expenses, but subway ridership remains down by 70% this month compared with last year. Combined with dwindling tax subsidies, the agency is losing hundreds of millions a week.
“Once COVID is over I think people will come right back to the subways and buses,” said Schumer. “New York City would not be the greatest city in the world if not for its transit system. How do you get 3 million people off an island back and forth?”
Schumer was also hopeful that President-elect Joe Biden would accelerate big-budget MTA projects, like plans to extend the Second Ave. subway to East Harlem.
Schumer’s Sunday ride with The News took place on an M15 Select bus, which runs north along First Ave. and south along Second Ave. It’s the busiest bus route in the city, in part because only three stops of the Second Ave. subway have been completed after decades of failed promises by politicians and transit officials.
The planned extension of the line from 96th St. to 125th St. is expected to cost roughly $6 billion, or nearly $4 billion per mile of track — despite the fact that much of the tunnel was dug out and abandoned in the 1970s.
“They’ve got to find ways to reduce costs, but you know what? The benefit for the city is huge,” said Schumer. “I let the city and the state determine what they need and I get the dollars.”
Schumer said the MTA should consider even more subway expansions once the pandemic ends, claiming he’d fight to fund them in Congress.
But making it through to the other side of the pandemic is the first priority. “We just need a bridge to Biden,” he said.
Before exiting the bus on the Upper East Side, Schumer said his Brooklyn upbringing revolved around transit, which makes MTA relief personal.
“My favorite childhood memories are taking the bus, the subway and then getting on the train to go to Yankee Stadium,” he said. “You know how much the bleachers cost? Thirty-five cents.”