

It's a bold and challenging set of proposals from Cuomo, who months before faced criticism that he was letting the MTA languish while ridership skyrocketed, congestion worsened, and travel speeds plummeted. And if successful, it will signal a huge facelift for New York City's subway system, which has come a long way from its graffiti-wrapped days of the 1970s but still stands as a symbol of the city's grimier side. It's a bold and challenging set of proposals from Cuomo, who months before faced criticism that he was letting the MTA languish while ridership skyrocketed, congestion worsened, and travel speeds plummeted. And if successful, it will signal a huge facelift for New York City's subway system, which has come a long way from its graffiti-wrapped days of the 1970s but still stands as a symbol of the city's grimier side.



Cuomo’s promise to replace the MetroCard system with a mobile, contactless payment system will likely be his biggest challenge. Under his plan, riders would simply wave their smartphones or a bank card at a sensor installed in the turnstiles to pass through onto the platform. This type of payment is already available in a number of transit systems, in the US and around the world.

The MTA’s board of directors said last year that replacing the MetroCard would take at least five years. Under the governor’s accelerated time schedule, installing a new payment system will happen by the end of 2018 — and even sooner for the region’s two commuter rail systems, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro North, which will get mobile payments in just six months.

The age of the system is just one of the obstacles Cuomo will face in bringing his vision into reality. He will also need to come up with a plan to pay for it. Earlier this year, the governor was locked in a politically acrimonious battle with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over their respective responsibility to fund the MTA’s five-year capital plan, the primary fund for infrastructure improvements like this. Cuomo was ultimately able to squeeze more money out of the city, but the state legislature in Albany will still need to come up with sources for the plan’s $26 billion price tag.

At the New York Transit Museum, Cuomo acknowledged he was subverting expectations for how the MTA was supposed to look. "Let people walk in there and say, ‘Wow! This is the MTA? This is a train station? Amazing!,'" he said, according to Politico New York.