MTA Faces Financial Crisis With $8.5B Loss Projected For 2020

NEW YORK CITY — The Metropolitan Transit Authority will lose up $8.5 billion in 2020 as New York City battles the rapid spread of novel coronavirus, said chairman and CEO Pat Foye.

New projections show the MTA will lose between $7 billion and $8.5 billion as ridership and crossings plummet and safety spending increases, Foye said.

"We need more help," said Foye. "And we need it now."

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Foye made is plea the same day Mayor Bill de Blasio released a "wartime" budget that grappled with a projected $7.4 billion in lost revenue.

Bus and subway ridership has fallen 95 percent while bridge and tunnel crossing have dropped 62 percent, amounting to about $4.8 billion in lost fare and toll revenue, Foye said.

The MTA also expects to lose $1.8 million in state and local taxes, said Foye.

Read More: MTA Was 'Major Disseminator' Of Coronavirus In NYC, Study Argues

The loss has not just been financial. According to Foye, 68 MTA workers have died from COVID-19, 2,400 subway and bus workers have tested positive and 4,400 more are under quarantine.

Among new expenditures are the cost of daily disinfections and the $500,000 death benefit guaranteed to the family of any MTA worker to lose his or her life to COVID-19.

The MTA received nearly $4 billion through the CARES act, but Foye warned it would not meet the needs of the months ahead, and asked for $3.9 billion more in immediate funding.

"This is not something we can wait for," Foye said. "We need immediate action."

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