Bangkok--16 Oct--Standard and Poor's
Standard and Poor's Ratings Services has assigned its 'A' rating to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA or the authority), N.Y.'s $500 million series 2008C transportation revenue bonds. At the same time, Standard & Poor's affirmed the 'A' ratings on the MTA's $11.5 billion transportation revenue bonds outstanding. The outlook is stable.
"The rating reflects the essential service that the MTA provides in the New York City area, improving operations and overall ridership trends, a diverse revenue stream, and strong support from the state and city," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Laura Macdonald. Partially offsetting these is a large, ongoing capital program that the authority will finance largely with debt.
Proceeds will be used to help fund the MTA's capital program.
The MTA serves a 5,000-square-mile service area, made up of New York City and the surrounding counties in the state. Its total service area population of 14.6 million makes it the largest population-based transit and commuter system in the U.S. The authority benefits from the lack of competing services in its service area.
The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor's expectation that the MTA will achieve structural balance in fiscals 2009-2012 and that the capital plan will receive adequate funding to ensure continued system preservation. The outlook further reflects the expectation that the authority will continue to receive support from the state and city government while prudently managing its level of capital expenditures with regard to its ongoing operational needs. Any operating deficit could result in a lower rating or an outlook revision.
Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, the real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; select your preferred country or region, then Ratings in the left navigation bar, followed by Credit Ratings Search.
Media Contact:
Edward Sweeney, New York, (1) 212-438-6634
[email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Laura A Macdonald, New York (1) 212-438-2519
Joseph J Pezzimenti, New York (1) 212-438-2038
Key Contacts:
Americas Media Relations: (1) 212-438-6667
media_ [email protected]
Americas Customer Service: (1) 212-438-7280
[email protected]