First Look: The MTA's 2015-2019 Capital Program

The nation's largest transit system unveiled a $32 billion, five-year capital plan it says is critical for the region — but added that the agency can only fund half.

"But if we want to maintain our global competitiveness—if we want to continue growing our $1.4 trillion regional economy, second in the world only to Tokyo—we need to keep investing in our transit network," stated the MTA in a document published Tuesday on its website.

The 2015-2019 plan calls for the continued expansion of the Second Avenue Subway, the completion of East Side Access, and a push to build four new Metro-North stations in the Bronx, while sending some of their trains west into Penn Station (called "Penn Access" in the plan). The MTA will also speed up implementation of communications-based train control (CBTC), which is a more modern subway signaling system; provide for a next-generation transit fare payment system; complete a new train-control system for its two commuter railroads; and expand Select Bus Service, New York City's version of bus rapid transit.

The capital plan also provides funding for new equipment, including 1,438 new buses and 940 new subway cars.

But how to fund the program, with its $15.2 billion shortfall, has yet to be determined.

And that $32 billion price tag, despite being the largest five-year plan in the agency's 30+ year history of capital plans, "seems conservative, for what our needs are," said Richard Barone, the head of transportation programs at the Regional Plan Association. But he added: "The MTA seems to be focusing on its core needs, which is critical."

The MTA will formally present the capital plan to the board at its annual meeting on Wednesday. The board will then vote on whether or not to send the plan along to the state committee charged with approving it.