Mayor Says MTA Needs Capital Cash...Or Else

New York, NY —

Straphangers get ready. Plummeting tax revenue and gridlock in Albany may force the MTA to impose even more service cuts and higher fare hikes to make ends meet. Mayor Bloomberg says if the state senate doesn't support the rescue plan passed by the governor and the assembly, fare increases will only be the beginning.

BLOOMBERG: By the end of the year, the MTA will again be out of money and have to come back again to the same well, and unless we get capital money, and nobody's even talking about that in Albany, you will never get out of this hole. This is going to be a rolling disaster.

The state has told the MTA that its transit-dedicated taxes have fallen by $200 million, more than double the revenue drop forecast in February. The MTA is already considering fare and toll hikes of up to 30 percent as well as service cuts.