To any of the 5.5 million daily New York City subway users, it is clear that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is in a state of crisis. With “mean distance between failures” (the average distance subways travel before breaking down) at 112,000 miles in 2016, down from 172,000 miles in 2012 and an “on-time performance” (the percent of trains that arrive at their last stop within five minutes of their scheduled arrival) at 66.8 percent in 2016, down from 88.7 percent in 2010, the New York City subway is the worst performing subway system of a major city in the world.

These drops are dramatic for such a short period of time, a 35 percent decrease in four years and a 22 percent decrease in six years, respectively, but with an institutionalized lack of funding, New York’s subway infrastructure has been a “ticking time bomb” for decades.

MTA Mean Distance Between Failure 2008-2016, Charlie Houlton-Vinyl

MTA On-Time Performance 2010-2016, Charlie Houlton-Vinyl

In 2017, this bomb detonated. On June 29^th, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a state of emergency, and just about every New Yorker has a war story from this past “summer of hell.” Naturally, once politicians began to realize that they were finally going to be held accountable for the state of affairs, fingers quickly began to be pointed at one another.

As Brian Rosenthal, an investigative reporter for the New York Times states, if one wants to blame someone, “blame everybody who has been in power in New York in the past twenty-five years.” Unfortunately for New Yorkers seeking political revenge, the majority of the politicians who fall under this broad umbrella are already out of office. However, Mr. Rosenthal’s words remain useful as debates between Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo continue to unfold. Despite what each says, they are both to blame.

The crux of the problem with the subway lies in the MTA’s worn-out pre-World War II infrastructure and the crippling debt that the public benefit corporation has accumulated ($35 billion as of 2017) With problems like these, the solution must be comprehensive, and according to the MTA’s estimates, repairing the New York City subway system is going to cost about $9 billion.

This is where the debate hangs in 2018: how are the repairs going to be paid for? On one side of the ring, there is NYC Mayor de Blasio proposing a millionaire’s tax and on the other we have Governor Cuomo proposing congestion pricing.

A millionaire’s tax is simple: tax the wealthiest New Yorkers to help fund the system of transportation used by the poorest New Yorkers (over one-third of people who ride the subway make less than $25,000 a year and two-thirds are people of color). De Blasio’s plan would entail a “0.534 percent increase on the income tax rate for incomes above $500,000 for individuals, and $1 million for couples. That constitutes less than 1 percent of the city’s taxpayers, or about 32,000 people[…] The tax is projected to raise $700 million in 2018, and climb to $820 million by 2022.” Explained in these terms the plan appears straightforward, however in practice, it is “dead on arrival” in Albany, according to Governor Cuomo.

Congestion pricing, on the other hand, is slightly more complicated. Put simply, congestion pricing is a camera-based toll that would be put on the currently untolled bridges (the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges) along with on 60^th street in Manhattan that drivers (who in New York City on average have a household income twice that of non-drivers) will pay as the cross into the downtown Central Business District (CBD). Not only will this reduce the traffic congestion that is crippling New York City, the money raised would be earmarked specifically for transportation and used to pay for the restoration of the subway system and the expansion of MTA service into the less-served outer boroughs.

Thus far, the most progressive of the congestion pricing plans is “Move NY” created by the inaugural Roosevelt House Kheel fellow and Brooklyn native, Sam Schwartz. What makes Move NY different from other plans being suggested is that while it charges a flat $5.54 toll to enter the CBD, it simultaneously lowers the tolls on outer borough bridges (that cost significantly more) to $5.54, making every entry point to Manhattan an equal price. If implemented, Move NY is projected to raise $1.3 billion per year.

In recent headlines, however, the Cuomo administration has come out supporting a far less ambitious form of congestion pricing, one that only charges TNC vehicles (Uber, Lyft, etc.). If this plan is adopted, more than 60 percent of the funding that would have been collected under Move NY would be lost.

The subway lines of New York are the veins and arteries of the city; after surviving a heart attack you don’t just eat slightly less junk food after getting home from the hospital – you make a real change. As of right now, neither Mayor de Blasio or Governor Cuomo’s plans appear to be real change.