First of all, this author is a goddamn idiot. He’s incorporating capital plan expenditures into his “shocking” figure — expenditures that have NOTHING to do with operating p/l. Operationally, the MTA has a gap of less than 10% covered by subsidies.

Further that author, who praises to the sky Singapore’s funding models, completely disregards the special property and commuter taxes and their role in MTA funding. You know… A way of generating revenue from the added value transit services provide? Like he says we should be doing, but pretends we don’t?

Finally, my real problem with the author is that he take out his outrage on the workers! How dare they do dangerous, tiring, or stressful jobs and expect to earn a living in one of the world’s most expensive cities! And they want good health care and retirement, too? Yes, yes, let’s try to deprive other people of those things, rather than ask why we don’t ALL have that. He even uses the mean salary, rather than the median, to enhance shock value and saddle laborers with the MTA’s real personnel sins: excessive middle-management and executive compensation.

And nary a mention of the debt service that is the second biggest expenditure on the MTA books.

Shameless anti-worker rant masquerading as a think piece. The MTA has a lot of problems and is insanely inefficient. Union rules require a significant overhaul. But this is just a poorly thought out attack.