Metropolitan Transportation Commission history

The MCTA purchased this line from the Pennsylvania Railroad for $65 million in 1966.

1968: Reorganized as the MTA, this agency assumes a broad mandate to direct public transportation in the metropolitan area.

In August 1969 Rockefeller promised to make the trouble-plagued LIRR the 'finest commuter railroad in the world'--and proclaimed the goal achieved only two months later, to much derision.

Foran authored many bills that greatly improved the state’s transportation system, including Assembly Bill 363, which gave birth to MTC in 1970.

The 14.5-mile Staten Island Rapid Transit was purchased by the city from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1971 and turned over to the MTA to run.

In 1972 the MTA completed the takeover of the Harlem and Hudson division commuter lines from the Penn Central but allowed the company to continue operating these lines.

1973: MTA network reaches its fullest extent.

Work on the Second Avenue subway stopped in 1975, as New York City fell into near-bankruptcy.

But in 1982 the MTA had to reassume control because Congress had decided Conrail should not be responsible for passenger services.

After a five-year effort, the entire subway and bus fleet was declared graffiti-free in 1989.

The riders also were tapped for more money, with the city subway and bus fare reaching $1.50 in 1995, after the state declined to commit any further funds to the capital program.

In 1998 the MTA issued discount cards allowing riders 11 subway and bus ride fares for the price of 10, and 7- and 30-day unlimited-ride cards (for $17 and $63, respectively). A one-day unlimited pass was priced at $4.

The MTA was planning to order more than 600 new buses in 1999.

In 2008, California Senate Bill 375 gave MTC and sister agencies in the state new roles in building sustainable communities.

In honor of its 40th anniversary, MTC in 2011 launched an oral history project, interviewing some two dozen key figures about the evolution of regionalism.