The MTA is wasting billions on NYCs congesting pricing plan

With congestion pricing now underway, the tone-deaf misfits at the MTA are taking a victory lap on just about every news network they can, touting how visionary their regressive tax is while claiming it will lead to better and safer mass transit.Forgive me for being pessimistic, but if you buy what the MTA is selling, I have a bridge or two to sell you!These are the same folks who had their most recent Five-Year Capital Plan shot down by two of the biggest spenders in New York’s history — legislative leaders Carl Heastie and Andrea Stewart-Cousins — due to their concerns about how on earth the MTA was planning on paying for over half of its ­proposed $65 billion plan.This should come as no surprise, though.MTA Chairman and CEO John “Janno” Lieber and the bigwigs at the agency have been spending like drunken sailors for years — so much so that the MTA has more debt than almost 80% of states in the country.That’s totally unsustainable and reflective of their obnoxious attitude toward New Yorkers who pay their ­salaries.In 2023, state taxpayers had to bail out the MTA due to mismanagement of its finances to the tune of $1 billion — no small feat.The sad part is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Just look at all the money the MTA has wasted or failed to collect on:The MTA spent twice as much on Second Avenue subway consultants as it did to tunnel the subway itself. It then chose to build the subway stations twice as large as needed, adding another $1 billion to the project.And don’t forget that the MTA costs itself around $700 million a year due to not enforcing its fares.It then tried fixing this by spending $700,000 on special gates designed to stop fare-beaters, which are easily ­bypassed.Then the MTA spent $1 million on studying the “psychology” of fare-beaters.All that wasted money has real-life consequences, too.A recent audit by the state comptroller shows the MTA failed to “maintain flood doors to its tunnels,” and a review b...