1 (See Table 1.) Initial plans assumed stations work would be primarily surface repairs however, once construction work began, structural problems emerged and required more complex and expensive improvements.īased on its experience during the 1980s, the MTA in 1992 revised its approach to stations by fully rehabilitating them and set a target date of 2009 for achieving SGR, 27 years from the 1982 start. The agency’s first two capital investment plans, spanning 1982 to 1991, pursued that goal by authorizing commitments totaling $14.4 billion, including $835 million for subway stations.

In the early 1980s then-MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch sought to bring the neglected transit system to SGR in 10 years. Recommendations that address the second question include reallocating available capital funds from new expansion projects to SGR work, improving the management of station projects to lower costs and permit more progress with available funds, and experimenting with new models of public-private partnerships at selected stations to secure additional capital and implement projects more efficiently. The answer to the first question is that the MTA sets appropriate priorities in picking stations to rehabilitate and repair. This policy brief examines the nature of the problem and addresses two questions: (1) Given the limited resources available, does the MTA allocate available funding wisely? and (2) What might be done to make the goal of reaching SGR for all stations more achievable? Even if the proposed five-year capital plan for 2015-2019 were fully funded-which it is not-the MTA’s current and planned pace of work would never bring all stations to SGR. As hard as he and his colleagues try to bring the stations to a satisfactory condition-known as a “state of good repair” or SGR-heavy use of the system creates new needs and the goal eludes them.

While he deserves no such punishment, Thomas Prendergast, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), must identify with Sisyphus’ fate as he prepares the agency’s capital program, particularly when it comes to rehabilitating and repairing 467 subway stations. In Greek mythology the gods condemned King Sisyphus to push a boulder up a hill repeatedly, only to have it roll down to the bottom as he approached the top.

New york subway station