MTA fixes are ‘much delayed’

The MTA has fallen seriously behind on shoring up New York’s aging transit infrastructure and has no plan to address the increased danger posed by storms amid climate change, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said on Thursday. The MTA said in 2013 that it needed to spend nearly $19 billion on new subway cars, buses and signals and route maintenance through 2024, but DiNapoli’s office found the authority is way behind on those goals.

Less than half of the $7.7 billion of projects planned in response to Hurricane Sandy have been completed, nine years after the storm, his office said.

The MTA “needs to reassess and focus its priorities to get money where it is most needed to restore the system and bring riders back,” DiNapoli said.

In the eight years since the MTA’s 2013 20-year “needs assessment,” officials spent a mere $700,000 on new subway cars, $1.6 billion on new buses and $900 million on signal upgrades, he wrote, also noting crumbling tunnels, pump rooms, wells and ventilation plants.

An MTA spokesman claimed the Comptroller’s Office misunderstood the 20-year assessment’s aim, saying capital programs typically take up to 10 years.