The MTA's chief financial officer painted a dire, depressing picture of the future yesterday. Speaking to the Finance Committee, Bob Foran estimated that because of ballooning debt, the MTA may have no choice but to raise subway and bus fares by approximately four-and-a-half times the last fare increase, Reuters reports. The problem, as Second Avenue Sagas elucidates, is that the MTA has to spend more and more money maintaining its aging infrastructure, and that investment, unlike expansion projects, doesn't lead to any increased revenue.

And with some parts of the transit system over a century old, there is an intensifying need for costly rehabilitation projects, such as the Culver Viaduct in Brooklyn. An MTA spokesman insists that that Foran's doomsday predictions are not being considered, but it's hard to see where the MTA will find the money to service these growing debts. The New York State has problems of its own, and in Washington, House Republicans are calling for more than $1 billion in cuts to national transit spending, which the Daily News reports would cost the MTA around $150 million. That's like five blizzards!

It's a grim picture: In 2025, the MTA is expected to owe $2.5 billion in debt payments. And that's not even factoring in the cost of turning the subway system into an elaborate flume ride for when NYC is submerged by rising sea waters.