I Hate the M.T.A.

Excerpts from an article in today's New York Times:

"Buoyed by an unexpected surge in tax revenue, the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced yesterday that it would have
a
surplus of $833 million this year and that it would consider using the
money to
create a giant platform over its West Side railyards, which it
could then sell
to developers for office and apartment towers.

Despite the surplus, the authority indicated that it still
planned to raise fares and tolls in 2007 and 2009. ......

The windfall represents a remarkable - but probably
short-lived - reversal of fortunes for the authority, which in February had
projected a tiny surplus for the year and large deficits starting next year.
It
now predicts that a combination of soaring tax revenue and low interest
rates
will add $493 million, all of it not previously anticipated, to its
coffers by
December.

Now, instead of looking for a developer with the resources
and confidence to invest an estimated $350 million and nearly three years to
build the platform, the authority is looking to do the job itself. Doing so
would attract more bidders for the property and, presumably, a higher
price....

Neither phenomenon is expected to last, and the authority
projects that its revenue from taxes and subsidies will be largely flat
through
2009. "These transactional taxes are extremely unstable," said the
city's budget
director, Mark Page, who sits on the board. "These things
historically are
always cyclical. It is extremely hard to predict when the
cycle is going to turn
down on you."
The authority expects a deficit of
$194 million in 2007, rising
steeply to $1.5 billion in 2009 without planned
fare increases and budget
cuts......

In 2003, the authority raised the cost of a base ride to
$2 from $1.50, and this year, it raised the price of unlimited-ride fare
cards.
Asked if any part of the surplus should be used to avoid future fare
increases,
the authority's chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, was noncommittal.
'There are 25
things we're talking about, that possibly being one of them,"
he said, referring
to the proposal. "The plan is just for
information.'"