Greening Mass Transit & Metro Regions: The Final Report - MTA

Profile of The Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Elliot G. Sander, MTA Executive Director and CEO
The MTA is North America’s largest mass transit network, serving 14.7 million people
across a 5,000-square-mile region straddling downstate New York and Southern
Connecticut. The MTA is governed by a 17-member board nominated by the Governor
of New York and confirmed by the New York State Senate. MTA trains, subways and buses carry over 8.5 million riders per
day; MTA Bridges and Tunnels handle over 857,000 daily crossings. The MTA system provides over 2.6 billion customer
trips per year.
MTA Agencies
MTA New York City Transit operates a subway system with 26 lines, 468 stations and 6,485 cars; a bus system with
4,576 buses and 243 routes; and Staten Island Railroad with 22 stations and 64 cars. Ridership is approximately seven
million daily and over 2.3 billion annually.
MTA Long Island Rail Road the largest commuter railroad in North America, operates 11 rail lines with 124 stations and
1,153 cars. Ridership is approximately 289,000 daily and over 82 million annually.
MTA Long Island Bus operates one of North America’s largest all-CNG fleets with 330 buses on 54 fixed routes.
Ridership is approximately 109,000 daily and over 32 million annually.
MTA Metro-North Railroad includes five rail lines with 120 stations and 1,195 cars. Ridership is approximately 265,000
daily and over 80 million annually.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels operates two tunnels and seven bridges. Vehicle crossings are approximately 857,000 daily
and over 304 million annually.
MTA Capital Construction manages the construction of the MTA’s major expansion projects, including East Side Access,
Second Avenue Subway and 7 Line Extension, as well as the “Downtown Mobility Projects,” the Fulton Street Transit Center
and South Ferry Terminal.
MTA Bus Company, formed out of seven private lines in 2006, operates 1,354 buses on 81 local and express routes.
Ridership is approximately 368,000 daily and over 109 million annually.
Energy/Carbon – Traction Power Report
The MTA provides over 8.5 million
passenger trips daily with an energy
efficiency equivalent to 100 mpg, over
twice the efficiency of today’s most
advanced hybrid cars.
MTA traction power use is significant. Traction power alone comprises approximately 2,800 GWh per year, at an electricity
cost of approximately $294 million annually. MTA NYC Transit consumes about 80% (2,240 GWh) of the annual MTA
traction power usage. Technologies and other innovative operating techniques to reduce this energy consumption (and subsequent
significant CO2 emissions) are examined. The methods utilized to reduce traction energy consumption are broken
down into two categories:
• Regenerative energy management techniques
• Mass reduction of train car components
Regenerative energy management techniques include on-board energy storage, trackside energy storage, operational
enhancements such as start/stop synchronization, and software modifications for train cars to better utilize regenerated
energy. Mass-reduction techniques include elimination of redundant components, substituting lighter materials such as aluminum
for steel and developing innovative design optimization techniques to enable identical structural performance with
reduced weight.
Additional information on this subject is available at www.mta.info/environment.
Energy/Carbon – Renewable Energy Report
The MTA has established a goal to increase its renewable energy use to 7% by 2015, through both distributed generation
and green power purchases (renewable energy credits). This is a significant challenge, as any transit agency has an
extremely high energy intensity due to the traction power demands, and MTA is no exception. MTA’s power demand was
approximately 3.5 million MWh (megawatt hours), approximately 80% of which is traction power demand. MTA currently
purchases wind energy renewable energy credits (RECs) from the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and has nearly 500
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