Suburban math lesson

State senators, who never agree across party lines on anything, have made joint cause against their own constituents in trying to undermine the finances of the MTA, the backbone of New York City and its suburbs. Too bad their unity couldn’t be for something more constructive.

A bipartisan group of suburban senators is urging Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to push against Gov. Hochul’s modest proposal for a small bump in the dedicated MTA payroll tax by exempting the suburbs from the rate increase. Their logic is that the city-only TA, running the subways and buses, comprises the bulk of the expenses of the agency.

They are correct that the TA is about three-fourths of the MTA cost load, and city taxpayers shoulder three-fourths of the dedicated taxes.

So we concur with their plea for exemption from higher taxes, provided that fares on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North are raised even more to make up for the difference. Or the other option would be to deeply cut commuter rail service. What is your preference, senators?

In the last pre-COVID year, 2019, the LIRR and Metro-North had a combined average weekday ridership of 600,000 people. Last year, the combined average weekday passenger count was just 364,000, about 60% of what happened before work-fromhome changed everything.

While fewer passengers mean less crowded trains, the hit to the farebox is a major, major problem. In 2019, passengers paid $771 million in fares on the LIRR and $764 million on Metro-North. In 2022, the respective farebox totals were $451 million and $431 million. Adding it up means that in excess of $1.5 billion in yearly cash revenue dropped to less than $900 million, a decline of more than $650 million. And these passenger and dollar figures have nothing to do with subways and buses in the big city.

So, dear bipartisan senators, how should the MTA keep the commuter lines running without that missing $650 million annually? If you don’t want higher taxes, should the fares skyrocket or the service be slashed?