The federal government kicks in a lot of money for big new capital projects but not much if anything for station rehabilitation. As the issuer of fiat currency,

The federal government kicks in a lot of money for big new capital projects but not much if anything for station rehabilitation. As the issuer of fiat currency, and given that we've been at the zero-bound interest rate for a while now the federal government has a lot more money to throw around than the city or state governments. The MTA also has an arcane governance structure that makes for poor accountability. Four votes on its board are picked by the NYC mayor, 1 each by the county executives of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, 1/4 each by the county executives of Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Putnam counties and six by the Governor of the state.