Brian Mayer on WNYC, and now we turn to transit news in New York City.

We're nearly one month into congestion pricing, the proceeds of which will go to finance mass transit upgrades, and mass transit

is in dire need of upgrades. The MTA wants $65 billion to repair and upgrade the MTA's core

infrastructure over the next five years. And our WNIC and Gotham's colleagues, Stephen Nesson and

Clayton Gousa, are out with a new series that takes a

close look at New York City's crumbling subway system as they characterize it. The series

is called State of Collapse, and Stephen Nesson joins us now to break down this reporting

and talk about some other recent transit news as well. Hey, Stephen, always good to have you.

Welcome back to the show. Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me. So state of collapse is a stark title for the

series you're reporting, and I wonder why you labeled it that. I mean, New Yorkers may experience

delays and inconveniences on the trains more than we would like, but state of collapse is probably not people's daily

experiences. I think it's fair to say. So introduce us to this series. So part of the thinking

behind it is, you know, it's the little delays that add up across the system every single day.

So we took a look at some of the data before we get so hyperbolic,

like you were saying, like it sounds crazy, like I got to work today. My train didn't, you know,

derail. But we looked at some of the data. And so let's just take a look at, for example,

train delays caused by faulty infrastructure and equipment, which is a lot of what the MTA is asking

for when they talk about that capital plan you mentioned.

Last year, it went up more than 46% compared to 2021.

So that's a big problem.

Major incidents, which the MTA defines as problems that delay 50 or more trains, like that big incident in December when the F-train

substation exploded, they're at their highest levels now since 2018. So, you know, when you look

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