Call for $300M to help MTA get out of the ‘9-to-5’ rut

A consortium of transit advocacy groups wants more off-peak subway, bus and train service citywide — and it demands state lawmakers give the MTA an additional $300 million to get it done.

“An investment now will help avoid the need for additional emergency measures later and create a more self-sustaining transit system,” said the 15-organization group in an open letter to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to be released Wednesday.

The organizations — which call themselves “part of the historic campaign that won congestion pricing” — include Transportation Alternatives, Riders Alliance, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Regional Plan Association, as well as an assortment of other transit organizations, disability advocates and conservation groups.

“We think this is very do-able,” Danny Pearlstein, Riders Alliance spokesman, told the Daily News.

The additional money requested would come on top of the $1.2 billion proposed by Gov. Hochul to cover the transit agency’s deficit.

Hochul’s plan seeks to fill the hole with an $800 million increase in the payroll mobility tax and a nearly $500 million increase in contributions from the city.

At the core of the funding request is a need for more service outside of peak hours, the letter’s authors said.

“More frequent public transit outside of the 9-to-5 office rush hour, when many service-sector workers must commute, will attract more riders, improve safety, make the transit system fairer and help New York both adapt to and mitigate climate change,” the letter reads.

“The old rush hour is designed to serve the old work-from-office lifestyle,” Pearlstein said. “Imagine you are a nurse living in southeast Queens who needs to leave the house at 5 or 5:30 in the morning.”

The problem for people who need to be at work early is that rush hour starts about 7 a.m., Pearlstein said. More off-peak service would better serve those early-morning commuters, he said.

“It’s a call, more than anything, for the Legislature to support the operating budget,” Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association, said. “The transit system should be treated like other things in our society that we don’t question supporting — like schools and garbage collection.”

Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) did not immediately reply to a request for comment. A spokesman for Heastie (D-Bronx) said only that the Assembly’s funding plan would be released next month.