- MTA subways, buses and railroads move 2.6 billion New Yorkers a year, about one in every three users of mass transit in
the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders
- MTA bridges and tunnels carry more than 300 million vehicles annually more than any bridge and tunnel authority in the
- This vast transportation network, North America's largest, serves a population of 14.6 million people in the
5,000-square-mile area fanning out from NYC through Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut.
- Four of every five rush-hour commuters to NYC's central business district avoid traffic congestion by taking transit
services, most of it operated by the MTA.
- MTA customers travel on America's largest bus fleet and on more trains than all the rest of the country's subways and
commuter railroads combined.
- The greatest value of the MTA lies in its beneficial impact on the New York region's economy and quality of life.
- New York ranks near the top among the nation's best cities for business, says Fortune magazine, because it has
what every city desires, a workable mass transit system.
- Since 1982, the MTA has been carrying out the largest public works rebuilding project in the country.
- Funded by federal, state, and local government and by the issuance of debt, the MTA has replaced or overhauled nearly
all of the subway, railroad, and bus fleets; rebuilt maintenance shops and much of the 2,000 miles of subway and railroad
track; and restored Grand Central Terminal and the LIRR's Penn Station.
- With its 2005-2009 Capital Program the MTA will move forward on the first substantial expansion of the network in 60
years, including Long Island Rail Road access to Grand Central, the uptown segment of a full-length Second Avenue subway, the
extension of the number 7 line west from Times Square to the Javits Center, and a direct link from Kennedy Airport to
- The MTA is a public-benefit corporation chartered by the New York State Legislature in 1965. It is governed by a
17-member Board. Members are nominated by the Governor, with four recommended by NYC's mayor and one each by the county
executives of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Putnam counties. All Board members are confirmed
by the New York State Senate.