Update: the New York Senate’s budget resolution would slash $770 million in capital financing for the MTA. It would also deny the MTA’s request for a $7 billion bonding cap increase. Both of these measures would be disastrous for the nation’s largest public transportation agency.
Although advocates support the transit provisions of Governor Cuomo’s budget, Tri-State is calling on Senate Majority Leader Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) to do more.
A recent Tri-State letter asked the two legislators to “ensure, through the budget process, that bus rapid transit be included on the Tappan Zee Bridge, from day one.”
The issue is particularly pressing because a vital part of Governor Cuomo’s financial roadmap remains unclear. According to the executive’s proposed budget, the NY Works Fund has $5 billion that will go to building a new Tappan Zee Bridge, but there have been no further details on how the project or NY Works will be funded. During January, when Senator Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick) asked about the program to no avail, legislators commented about the challenges of analyzing such an opaque budget.
There is also another matter of the ledger to note: the state’s still-fuzzy math surrounding transit on the Tappan Zee Bridge. Tri-State’s letter to Majority Leader Skelos and Speaker Silver explains:
Unfortunately, the State Department of Transportation has grossly inflated the costs of transit, making it seem prohibitively expensive. Without substantiating its numbers, it has increased the cost of a 30-mile BRT system from less than a billion to over $5 billion. This inflated price-tag ends up being $221 million per mile in Rockland and $84 million per mile in Westchester. According to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, the best BRT systems in the world cost around $20 million per mile. At $5.3 billion, the state must be planning to use platinum to build a BRT system reaching Westchester’s Platinum Mile. Transit improvements can be made for a fraction of this price.
As New York’s financial plans come into focus in the coming weeks, transit must be clear a budgetary priority, both in the Lower Hudson Valley and statewide.
Given the track record of the Loa Angeles Harbor Busway and the Pittsburgh West Busway of drastic cost overruns and ridership far below what was projected, I believe NY DOT is probably more accurate on this than are its critics.
[…] Advocates to Legislature: Budget for Transit on the Tappan Zee (MTR) […]
I think NY Metro’s area’s experience has been different. Look at the success of Light Rail in Jersey City, and the XBL lanes in the Lincoln Tunnel. Then add-in the ridiculous costs and awful impacts of adding more and more road lanes in Rockland.
BRT is not rail. No need for huge tunnels to deal with grade issues.
Since Light rail can deal with 9 percent grades (Sheffield, England supertrams) and standard 60 year old PCC cars can handle 10+ percent grades. and I suspect that the MetroNorth M7 and M8 equipment can handle 3 to 4 percent grades given their power, huge tunnels definitely aren’t needed for light rail and probably aren’t needed for commuter/regional rail, especially if the cars have magnetic track brakes. Both will be more reliable in snow and ice than buses. Both will be cheaper to operate. Single track with passing sidings can be used with both. Local bus services can be organized around the rail stops which also will improve connectivity between services. For exclusive right of way running the capital costs of busways approach and can exceed the cost per mile of rail.