City Council scrutinizes MTA's capital spending plan
NEW YORK - With the Metropolitan Transportation Authority poised to approve a landmark $51.5 billion capital plan for the next five years, the agency's top officials went before the City Council to make their case for New York City's $3 billion share to ensure the plan move forward.
MTA Chairman Patrick Foye told the council that the capital plan is "key to growing and maintaining the capacity of our system, which is a driving force of our state economy."
The MTA serves 7.6 million daily customers. Experts say the next capital plan is needed to replace an aging subway infrastructure, including century-old signal systems and making the system more accessible.
Some council members criticized officials for some recent high-profile arrests of food vendors in subway stations as well as summonses for fare evasion.
New York City Transit President Andy Byford said the agency doesn't want to arrest people but he said fare evasion is a serious problem.
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