New Data: MTA Paid $26 Billion to NYS Vendors Since 2014

Reinvent Albany published a new interactive webpage highlighting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s massive direct spending on goods and services across New York State. It’s well known that the MTA provides massive economic value to the city and state by moving millions of people to their jobs, school, entertainment, healthcare and shopping. Less known is that from 2014 to 2022, the MTA directly paid $26 billion to its vendors located in communities across New York State. 

Reinvent Albany’s new online tool collates MTA’s payments to New York vendors from 2014 to 2022, and includes more than 200 fact sheets showing the top five MTA vendors in each state senate, state assembly, and congressional district in New York. Previously, Reinvent Albany published details of the MTA spending on companies in New Jersey (June 2023) and across the United States (June 2020).

Reinvent Albany’s latest data dive makes it clear that forthcoming revenue from congestion pricing is important to the entire state’s economy and tens of thousands of local jobs in every corner of New York. State law requires congestion pricing to fund $15 billion of the MTA’s $55 billion 2020-2024 Capital Plan. This means congestion pricing is the largest single source of funding for this capital plan and will pay for a hefty 27% of all the new construction, signaling, rail and subway cars, and buses it purchases – including billions from businesses in local communities across New York State.  

Key Findings

1. The MTA spent $26 billion paying vendors across New York State from 2014 – 2022.

2. Every New York senate and congressional district has at least one company paid by the MTA as do 98% of state assembly districts (147 of 150.)

3. The MTA’s $55 billion 2020-2024 Capital Plan, partly financed by congestion pricing, is a massive investment in the MTA’s buses, subways, and commuter railroads that benefits transit riders and companies throughout the state who do business with the MTA.

4. Congestion pricing will improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion, save time worth billions to people and businesses, fund crucial transit projects, and create thousands of good jobs with MTA vendors throughout the state. 

See also our datasheet of the top 5 vendors by assembly, senate, and congressional district.

In addition to the business contracting with the MTA, the capital plan provides jobs for thousands of the authority’s front line employees. Reinvent Albany’s October 2023 analysis found that $3.2 billion or 21% of the $15 billion raised by congestion pricing will fund in-house capital work done by MTA workers, largely represented by TWU Local 100.

Click here to see our interactive webpage, “The MTA Is Big Business for New York.”