Members of the Riders Alliance slammed Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday, March 23 for his “failure to fund the MTA” by attempting to purchase MetroCards at Brooklyn’s Bowling Green station with giant IOUs.
According to members of the alliance, the governor’s plan to fund the MTA’s 2015-2019 Capital Plan only after the agency has exhausted all other sources of funding “adds up to an IOU” after his promise to provide over $8 billion in state funds.
“As our lawmakers in Albany close in on the final days of negotiations on the New York State budget, the governor has a choice to make,” said Masha Burina, organizer at the Riders Alliance. “Either he can be a leader of his word who invests real dollars in our public transit system, or he can choose to rely on rhetoric without offering meaningful change.”
After being denied MetroCards, the riders testified before the MTA board about the importance of a fully-funded capital plan.