Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)

Metropolitan Transportation Authority

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) provides local and express bus, subway, and regional rail service in Greater New York, and operates multiple toll bridges and tunnels in New York City.
Overview
Owner	State of New York
Locale	New York City Long Island Lower Hudson Valley Coastal Connecticut
Transit type	Commuter rail, local and express bus, subway, bus rapid transit
Number of lines	16 commuter rail routes 5 Metro-North routes 11 LIRR routes 26 rapid transit routes 25 subway routes 1 Staten Island Railway route 322 bus routes 234 local routes 71 express routes 17 Select Bus Service routes
Weekly ridership	8.6 millon (2017 average)
Annual ridership	2.658 billion (2017)
Key people	Joe Lhota, Chairman Pat Foye, President Ronnie Hakim, Managing Director
Headquarters	2 Broadway, New York, New York
Website	mta.info
Operation
Began operation	1965
Operator(s)	MTA Long Island Rail Road MTA Metro-North Railroad MTA New York City Subway MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Staten Island Railway
Number of vehicles	2,429 commuter rail cars 6,418 63 SIR cars 5,725 buses

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the U.S. state of New York, serving 12 counties in Downstate New York, along with two counties in southwestern Connecticut under contract to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, carrying over 11 million passengers on an average weekday systemwide, and over 850,000 vehicles on its seven toll bridges and two tunnels per weekday. MTA is the largest public transit authority in the United States.

In February 1965, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller suggested that the New York State Legislature create an authority to purchase, operate, and modernize the bankrupt Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), which was being operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) at the time. The proposed authority would also have the power to make contracts or arrangements with other commuter-railroad operators in the New York City area. On May 21, 1965, the legislature chartered the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA) to take over the operations of the LIRR. Governor Rockefeller appointed his top aide, Dr. William J. Ronan, as chairman and chief executive officer of the MCTA. In June 1965, the state finalized an agreement to buy the LIRR from the PRR for $65 million. The MCTA made a down payment of $10 million for the LIRR in December 1965, and it had completed the rest of the payment by the next month.

In February 1965, Rockefeller and Connecticut Governor John N. Dempsey jointly suggested that operations of the New Haven Line, the New Haven Railroad's struggling commuter rail operation, be transferred to the New York Central Railroad as part of a plan to prevent the New Haven Railroad from going bankrupt. If the operational merger occurred, the proposed MCTA and the existing Connecticut Transportation Authority would contract with New York Central to operate the New Haven Line to Grand Central Terminal. A joint report from both agencies, released in September of that year, recommended that the line be leased to New York Central for 99 years, with the MCTA and CTA acting as agents for both states. In October, the MCTA found that the New Haven Line's stations and infrastructure were even more decrepit than those of the LIRR. The New Haven Railroad's trustees initially opposed New York Central's takeover of the New Haven Line, as they felt that the $140 million offer for the New Haven Line was too low. After some discussion, the trustees decided to continue operating the New Haven Line, but only until June 1967.