On Monday, MTA riders received good news when the agency announced roughly $18 million in service restoration and expansions, and another $10.5 million in increased service frequencies and Select Bus Service improvements. The service expansion was made possible largely through higher than anticipated returns on existing revenue sources, not from any additional new support from Albany or New York City. Nevertheless, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office made sure to issue a press release taking credit for the good news:

In the last two and a half years, our administration has made real improvements to the nation’s largest public transit system, implementing reforms that have improved services and made the MTA more efficient by reducing costs, cutting waste and putting the needs of straphangers and commuters first.

Yesterday the MTA provided more detail about its future outlook when it released a fragile financial plan that relies on two additional fare hikes in 2015 and 2017, a “net-zero” labor negotiation outcome and continued cost-cutting measures that go above and beyond the roughly $800 million in annual recurring savings the Agency has already made. But even with all these actions, the MTA still anticipates a $100 million deficit in 2017.

In contrast to Monday’s good news, Wednesday’s announcements reflected the results of a chronically underfunded agency that serves as the lifeblood of New York State’s economy. So what was the response from Governor Cuomo’s office to the news that the MTA needs additional resources to fill a rather large deficit on the horizon — and that riders will be hit with two more fare hikes by 2017?

Silence.

In fact, in story after story covering the most recent news out of the MTA, there is not one solution proposed by the Governor, New York State Legislators, or NYC Council members. Not even a mention of the need to find a way to mitigate fare increases on riders or potential revenue sources from the city or state to fill the projected deficit.

As the discussion on how to fund an estimated $10-15 billion MTA Capital Program deficit begins in earnest later this year, here’s hoping New York’s elected officials break out of the habit of supporting transit only when it is politically convenient.