Save the MTA, Congress

Congress’ next corona-emergency bill needs to include billions for the MTA — not just for New York’s sake, but the nation’s.

As the Manhattan Institute’s Nicole Gelinas warns, the municipal-bond market is perilously close to collapse: With local governments across America suddenly slammed with plummeting tax revenues, investors are demanding far higher risk premiums to loan to cities and towns.

And the MTA, all by itself, is bigger than most of those municipalities. If it finds itself unable to pay its bills, that could put the muni market belly up all by itself.

On top of that, of course, the MTA is essential to the functioning of the nation’s most important city. Even with most workers staying home, it’s necessary to get the rest to their jobs to keep everything running.

But the corona slowdown is utterly slamming MTA revenues. Subway ridership was already down more than 60 percent on Tuesday; the commuter railroads are looking at 90 percent drops.

MTA Chairman Pat Foye warns that the agency could be $3.7 billion in the red if the ridership slump continues for six months. And while the feds have OK’d transit agencies tapping federal funds earmarked for long-term maintenance, that won’t remotely square the MTA’s budget.

“The nation will need a strong New York to fully rebound from the current crisis,” Foye wrote last week to the city congressional delegation. He’s not wrong — restoring the MTA is a “matter of national interest.”

Yes, the bailout can and should come with strings attached, demanding long-overdue reforms. But, again, letting the MTA go hang would mean new trouble for the whole country. As Gelinas puts it, “If Congress doesn’t act fast to help transit, on top of everything else, it could get a credit crisis that makes 2008 look mild.”

That’s the last thing anyone needs.