On Monday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced $2.2 billion in federal grants for 35 mass transit agencies, including $769 million for the MTA.
The additional funding, made available through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, brings the agency's total amount of federal pandemic relief to over $15 billion.
"Essential public transit workers have been on the front lines of the pandemic for two years, keeping our economy moving and helping Americans get where they need to go," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "This additional funding from the American Rescue Plan is helping communities across the country keep transit workers on the job and keep their trains and buses running."
The new funding can be used to cover day-to-day operating costs, cleaning and sanitization, employee retention and combatting the spread of the coronavirus on mass transit.
"The MTA is the lifeblood of the New York City region, and investing in quality, reliable transit service is key to our economic recovery. This additional $769 million in funding brings the total federal pandemic aid for the MTA to over $15 billion, and is a victory for New Yorkers who rely on the system," said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Over the past two years, the MTA has endured major financial losses as a result of reduced mass transit ridership during the pandemic.
Though ridership levels have begun to creep back up in recent weeks, they remain well below what they were prior to pandemic.
Data from the MTA shows that subway ridership has hovered between 50% and 60% of pre-pandemic levels in recent weeks, with bus ridership between 55% and 65% of what it once was.
In January, traffic engineer Sam Schwartz, also known as Gridlock Sam, told the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com that surveys conducted by his firm indicate that many commuters have transitioned from mass transit to personal vehicles due to fear of potentially contracting or spreading the virus.
"In our surveys, we found 80% of people who have switched from transit to other modes had some hesitancy due to COVID. Some felt that they had a greater likelihood [of contracting the virus] on mass transit," Schwartz said.
Although the surveys showed that many New Yorkers are concerned about viral spread on buses and subways, Schwartz stressed that his firm's research has not suggested any correlation between transit ridership and contracting the virus.
"Prior to omicron, we found no evidence that transit is a vector for COVID," Schwartz said, noting that additional research is being conducted on whether that holds true for the highly transmissible variant.
©2022 Staten Island Advance, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
