No Money for MTA’s $68.4B Capital Plan in Hochul’s 2026 Budget

Gov. Kathy Hochul is telling the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to try again on its next capital plan.

The MTA was waiting on Albany to help fund the $33 billion gap in its $68.4 billion 2025-2029 capital plan, but Hochul left out any proposals to bridge the deficit in her $252 billion fiscal year 2026 executive budget proposal released Tuesday, essentially saying the MTA’s plan was too big to approve at this time.

And, with only $11 billion set aside for transportation needs across the state, about $3 billion of that will be allocated to the MTA with the rest going to highways, roads and bridges beyond the five boroughs.

“The MTA is developing an updated capital plan to propose to the legislature and myself. Once we receive it, we will determine the best way to fund it,” Hochul said. “This will obviously be resolved before the end of session, and I’m confident we’ll deliver a plan that advances critical projects like extending the Second Avenue subway, connecting Queens and Brooklyn through the Interborough Express, new MetroNorth stations in the Bronx and faster service in the Hudson Valley.”

What Hochul did allocate in her budget proposal included funding the $1 billion needed to get the City of Yes off the ground with affordable homeownership programs, launching a program that will take cellphones away from public school students, and putting more cops on subways and buses.

How the MTA will raise the revenue to fund the gap may be in question, even with congestion pricing finally bringing in cash for the agency. Transit advocates were calling on Albany leaders to get the ball rolling by approving and funding the MTA’s ambitious capital plan.

“Subway and bus riders need Gov. Hochul and legislative leaders to negotiate a budget that repairs failing infrastructure, meets changing needs, and addresses urgent challenges,” Danny Pearlstein, policy director for the Riders Alliance, said in a statement. “Revenue may be up for debate, but the future of New York’s public transit network, which moves millions of us every day, is not negotiable.”

The MTA’s $55 billion 2020-2024 capital plan was the largest of its kind, but its current five-year plan is bigger due to the continued deterioration of old transit infrastructure and the rising costs of construction, Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction and Development, recently told Commercial Observer.

Hochul agreed, at least in principle. “We must ensure that the MTA has the capital funding required to keep the system running and to deliver new and expanded services that the commuters deserve,” she said Tuesday.

As for the possibility of President Donald Trump ending congestion pricing, as urged by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy shortly after Trump took the oath, Hochul said that the federal government should be obligated to make up for the loss in revenue.

“That’s $15 billion more that they’ll have to give to New York,” Hochul said during the question-and-answer portion of the executive budget presentation.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.