A report by the New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that MTA could have applied for a federal grant allocated for city transit initiatives. MTA is now in the process of disputing the report’s findings, the Daily News reported.
The MTA recently could have used the $410 million in federal grants for the recent purchase of new buses, which cost the agency $512 million.
“With fare hikes on the horizon, the MTA needs to pursue every available dollar,” said the comptroller’s spokesman Matthew Sweeney on Monday, according to the media.
“Our audit found they missed out on possibly hundreds of millions in federal funds for buses.”
The MTA, however, disputed the findings, saying that they tried to explain to the comptroller why they weren’t able to apply, but the audit still missed the point.
“Because of this, many of the report’s conclusions are misleading,” said the President of NYC Transit division, Carmen Bianco in the same report.
