After reading From $2.90 to $3: How the MTA Plans to Spend the Rise, you asked “Are we fixing breakdowns or building new things?”
Maintenance or Megaproject? MTA's Spending Priorities
1 min read
90% of capital plan funds repairs, but a $33 billion gap and political priorities complicate the balance.
Fixing breakdowns vs. building new bells and whistles
A striking 90 percent of the MTA's $68.4 billion 2025 to 2029 Capital Plan is earmarked for "rebuilding and improving," which covers the nuts and bolts of keeping tracks, stations, signals, and power systems working. That's not entirely altruistic: MTA leaders say years of deferred maintenance pushed the system to a breaking point.
Still, you'll find tongue-twisters in the spending plan. Among the "bells and whistles": station accessibility upgrades (30 initial stations, with more to follow), "modern fare gates" projects, and big capital expansions like the Interborough Express light-rail link.
Critics warn the balance is lopsided: even if 90 percent is "repair," that doesn't resolve a $33 to 35 billion funding gap, because only about half the plan is currently funded. Also, new projects often attract more political fanfare and scrutiny compared to the invisible work of replacing signal cables or shoring up tunnel walls.
In short: that extra dime is supposed to patch what's failing today. But it's also betting on tomorrow's expansions, ones that may or may not get built.
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Published October 2, 2025
Sofia Chennow is a contributor for Tunnel Vision.
This article is part of the Fares series.