The agency says it won’t take out any new loans to finance its planned improvements and is finding other ways to cut costs.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced it will not be borrowing any new money to fund repairs on the NYC transit system in an effort to cut costs, reports Michelle Kaske for Bloomberg CityLab. “The MTA had $47.7 billion of debt, including $25.7 billion that’s repaid from farebox and bridge and toll revenue, as of March 20, according to MTA documents.”
Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer “he is confident that the MTA can find efficiencies to avoid shelving or postponing much-needed upgrades.” The agency will be able to use $1.2 billion freed up after the administration took over the Penn Station redesign project and has already reduced spending by bundling some capital projects together.
According to Kaske, “The MTA’s capital plan includes upgrading subway signals that are almost a century old, renovating Grand Central Terminal’s train shed, rehabilitating aging power substations and purchasing thousands of new rail cars.”
FULL STORY: NYC’s MTA to Cut Costs Instead of Borrowing More to Fund Upgrades

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

New State Study Suggests Homelessness Far Undercounted in New Mexico
An analysis of hospital visit records provided a more accurate count than the annual point-in-time count used by most agencies.

Michigan Bills Would Stiffen Penalties for Deadly Crashes
Proposed state legislation would close a ‘legal gap’ that lets drivers who kill get away with few repercussions.

Report: Bus Ridership Back to 86 Percent of Pre-Covid Levels
Transit ridership around the country was up by 85 percent in all modes in 2024.
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