NEW YORK CITY-Commuting to and from Manhattan—and on some bus routes, within the outer boroughs—is about to get a whole lot easier.

Governor Andrew Cuomo Monday unveiled a plan to use state funds for the Metropolitan Transit Authority to make a number of service improvements and customer enhancements to the city's subway, bus and commuter rail systems. The MTA's updated financial plan includes new service within all three systems as well as a better station environment, improved communication and new investments in technology to enhance the customer experience.

These investments are made possible as a result of increased state aid first proposed in Governor Cuomo's 2013 executive budget, continued aggressive cost-cutting within MTA operations and increased revenues from fares, tolls, subsidies and dedicated taxes, according to the Governor's office. The MTA's cost containment efforts are on track to reduce annual costs by $1.3 billion by 2017, and new efforts to address costs once considered uncontrollable—such as pensions, retiree health care, paratransit and debt service—are reducing projected deficits in future years. State money also was allocated to MTA improvement in 2012.

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Rayna Katz

Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.