Watchdog Testimony to MTA Board: Billions from Congestion Pricing Will Create Jobs Throughout NYS
Good morning. I am Rachael Fauss, Senior Policy Advisor for Reinvent Albany. We advocate for more transparent and accountable New York government, including for authorities like the MTA.
Reinvent Albany strongly supports congestion pricing because it’s the law, and has been shown globally to reduce motor vehicle congestion, air pollution, and travel times, and will raise $15 billion to restore and improve transit. Our latest analysis of MTA data shows that in addition to all these benefits, congestion pricing will create tens of thousands of local jobs throughout NYS, largely from its capital plans.
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, as shown on our interactive webpage.
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).
The latest analysis shows that every single senate and congressional district within New York State has companies receiving MTA payments; 147 of the 150 state assembly districts (98%) are recipients of MTA spending.
In addition to the businesses contracting with the MTA, the capital plan provides jobs for thousands of the authority’s front line employees. Our 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.
Thank you for your consideration.