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The MTA is under pressure to spend big on New York’s infrastructure

A report suggests the bill could be around $115 billion

9/16/24 10:47AM

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is under a lot of pressure at the moment, and not just from disgruntled New Yorkers who’ve suffered another hellish commute. The authority will declare its capital budget for the 2025-2029 period by October 1, and two separate reports have called on the agency to cough up as much as $115 billion over 5 years to get NY’s public transport back on track.

The $115 billion estimate comes from the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), an independent fiscal watchdog. Meanwhile, a report from the state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli last week suggested that the MTA needs anywhere between $57.8 billion and $92.2 billion to cover the costs of replacing old units, expanding the network, and improving accessibility — or (as the president of the CBC put it) “the basics”. Both analyses suggested that the MTA could struggle to meet those financial thresholds, even with potential revenue from New York’s paused congestion pricing plan taken into account.

Travel money

For the 2020-2024 Capital Program, which was approved shortly before Covid struck the US in earnest, the MTA pledged to invest nearly $55 billion into the region’s subways, buses, railroads, and bridges/tunnels.

According to the authority’s capital commitment figures in the years since, however, it will have fallen short of that target by the time it publishes plans for the coming period next month.

Despite committing a record $11.4 billion in 2022 to revamp some of the busiest transit systems in the Western world, the MTA’s spending has slumped in the years since, dropping to $8 billion in 2023, and just $2.9 billion planned for this year. Interestingly, the agency reportedly claimed that the 2024 goal would have been $12 billion, were it not for pending litigation around the now-halted congestion pricing.

Meeting budget might be even harder in the post-pandemic world too. Indeed, passenger usage of New York City’s public transport remains subdued relative to pre-2020: subway daily ridership was just over the 3 million mark last week, nowhere near the 5+ million in 2019.

Jon Keegan

9/9/25

Draft Senate bill gives AI companies a two-year pass on federal regulation, Bloomberg reports

Bloomberg reports that a draft bill from Senator Ted Cruz would give AI companies a two-year pass from any federal regulation when they apply to be part of a White House-controlled “regulatory sandbox.” Such a regulatory framework frees participating companies from federal agency oversight while simultaneously handing President Trump broad powers to shape a still nascent and increasingly powerful industry.

The draft bill allows companies approved for the waiver to request renewals for up to eight years, according to the report.

The fast-moving generative-AI boom that took the tech world by storm was kicked off by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT less than three years ago. A potential decade free of federal regulations would be a huge win for companies like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Amazon.

In July, the US Senate voted 99-1 to kill a planned provision from President Trump’s massive tax bill that would have prevented any state from regulating AI for 10 years.

Draft Senate Bill Waives Federal Rules on AI Companies During Testing

In July, the US Senate voted 99-1 to kill a planned provision from President Trump’s massive tax bill that would have prevented any state from regulating AI for 10 years.

Rani Molla

9/2/25

Google soars on court ruling that doesn’t force the search giant to sell Chrome

Google has $26 billion in deals with companies like Samsung and Apple.

Max Knoblauch

8/21/25

Hertz falls, erasing its Amazon bump, as Congress looks into its AI damage scanners

Hertz shares are trading down more than 5% on Thursday.

Max Knoblauch

8/20/25

Airbus faces a 10-day strike from UK workers, mirroring Boeing’s labor strife

Thousands of UK union Airbus workers plan to strike for 10 days in September amid a contract dispute.

The union workers build wings for Airbus’ commercial jets, threatening a production slowdown for the European plane maker.

As Airbus’ labor tension builds, rival Boeing’s has already boiled over: earlier this month, more than 3,000 Boeing workers who build military aircraft started a strike that remains ongoing. The action came less than a year after the company faced a two-month stoppage from a machinist strike.

Airbus, for now, says it doesn’t see the strikes affecting full-year deliveries.

Airbus UK workers to strike for 10 days over pay

Airbus, for now, says it doesn’t see the strikes affecting full-year deliveries.

Rani Molla

8/20/25

Elon Musk’s political party isn’t happening, as Tesla CEO gives up on the “America Party”

In July, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his own political party, the America Party — a move intended to “give you back your freedom.” What it did at the time was invoke the wrath of President Donald Trump and send the stock down.

A month and a half later, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Musk is “pumping the brakes” on his third party.

According to the Journal, “Musk has told allies that he wants to focus his attention on his companies and is reluctant to alienate powerful Republicans by starting a third party that could siphon off GOP voters.” He also wants to maintain ties with Vice President JD Vance, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for 2028.

What happened?

For one, earlier this month Tesla’s board approved a roughly $30 billion interim pay package that Musk will only realize if he remains at the company for two years.

The stock isn’t moving on the news so far, but investors and analysts typically see Musk’s focus on his public company as a good thing.

Exclusive | Elon Musk Pledged to Start a Political Party. He Is Already Pumping the Brakes.