Legal Marijuana Could Help Fix The Subway, Report Argues

NEW YORK — A New York University think tank has an idea for transit officials to inhale: Fix the subway by legalizing marijuana.

Tax revenue from a legal pot market in New York could provide a much-needed cash stream for the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management argues in a report published Wednesday.

While higher fares and congestion pricing won't be enough to address the ailing subway's financial needs, legal cannabis could generate crucial funding without taking away from other services, the report says.

"It would be a shame if our elected officials missed this great opportunity to provide a dedicated revenue stream for mass transit and to improve the system for the next century," said Rudin Center Director Mitchell L. Moss, one of the report's three authors.

With recreational marijuana legal in nine states, the booming North American cannabis industry is projected to generate $47.3 billion over the next decade, the report says, citing figures from the research firm BDS Analytics.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Department of Health endorsed legalizing recreational pot for New York adults in a July report, saying taxes on the drug could produce as much as $677.7 million in revenue in the first year.

Such taxes would "provide a way for the MTA to address many of their operating and capital requirements" when combined with fare hikes, forthcoming fees for taxis and for-hire car services, and proposals for congestion pricing, which would toll vehicles entering parts of Manhattan, the report says.

Those requirements are steep. New York City Transit President Andy Byford has proposed a roughly $40 billion, 10-year plan to revitalize public transportaiton in the city, and the MTA faces a nearly $1 billion deficit in 2022 even if planned fare and toll increases are implemented in the next three years.

"The Legislature and the governor should recognize that we cannot delay investing in mass transit," Moss said. "And legalizing marijuana is going to occur, and if it’s going to occur we should use the opportunity to devote the revenues for mass transit."

The NYU report notes the growing popularity of marijuana legalization, which it says more than 60 percent of Americans supported in two recent polls. Some 32 states have made the medical use of cannabis legal and 22 have decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot, the report says.

The report does not specify what share of revenue from legal pot should be dedicated to transit. That's for lawmakers to decide, Moss said.

"This is the time to do something," he said.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson — who has called for city control of the subways — suggested that the idea has merit.

"I want to see this potential revenue benefit communities who have been impacted by unfair enforcement and I want to fix public transit, which helps all New Yorkers - it’s the great equalizer," Johnson said on Twitter.

(Lead image: Photo by David Allen/Patch)