On Sept. 12, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released a report assessing the MTA’s “capital needs and funding scenarios.”

Its findings should surprise no one. To enact the overwhelming list of capital improvement needs, the report concludes “The MTA must find billions in new funds even as the state tries to resolve the $15 billion gap in revenues created by the pause on congestion pricing.”

Essential capital projects include:

• $1.78 billion for repairs of line structures, depots and yards.
• $2.75 billion for normal replacement of railcars and buses.
• $5.65 billion for accessibility and signal modernization.
• $5.23 billion for the expansion of the Second Avenue subway.
• $5.67 billion for administrative, communication and power modernization.

The MTA’s total capital needs during the next five years range “from $57.8 billion to $93.2 billion, with a midpoint of about $75 billion. But whether the MTA’s capital program comes in at the low end or the high end of that estimate, it will need significant amounts of new funding….”

So how is the MTA going to fund the much-needed capital projects?

First of all, taxpayers should not rule out the resurrection of congestion pricing.

Gov, Kathy Hochul’s surprise announcement in June to suspend the congestion pricing that was slated to commence on July 1 was a political decision — not a financial one.

Hochul’s June 5 statement that “I cannot add another burden to working, middle-class New Yorkers or create another obstacle to our continued economic recovery” was empty political rhetoric. She did not want to be blamed for voter backlash against Democratic congressional candidates at the polls in November.

However, it appears she has been scheming to bring back congestion pricing post-election day.

The New York Post reported Aug. 18 that “Governor Hochul is considering proposing a lower congestion toll for Manhattan and nixing it all together for municipal workers such as cops and teachers.”

In other words, Hochul has bought off the municipal unions that had been suing the MTA—cops, firemen, teachers, ambulance crews—who commute to their workplaces in the zone south of 50^th Street in Manhattan.

And I won’t be surprised if there are additional exemptions, for example, medical professionals.

But tax revenues from the modified congestion pricing will not be enough to fund MTA capital projects.

The DiNapoli report suggests that fare and toll increases over the next five years could be between 13% and 18%. It also points out that more state and city tax dollars will have to be turned over to the MTA. The state’s contribution for the 2025-2029 Capital Plan is estimated in the range of $8.8 billion to $29 billion. The city’s contribution could range from $2 billion to $4 billion.

But before raising fares and tolls, maybe the MTA should address the direct causes of its soaring costs: overly generous union contracts that cost $7.8 billion annually, huge cost overruns, prevailing wage laws that force MTA contractors to pay above market rates to the tune of $95 per hour, and fare beaters.

The MTA recently admitted that last year it lost $600 million to fare evasion. (The comptroller puts it at $700 million.) More than 48% of bus passengers do not pay their fares—up from 18% in 2018. Nearly 1 million commuters a day get a free ride.

This is even too much for The New York Times. Pamela Paul wrote in her Sept. 6 Times column, “Taking the City for a Ride:” “The truth is passengers don’t pay because they can get away with it. The hottest truth is that the city lets them.” Pamela concluded: “The best resolution is more policing.” (For The Times to call for more policing is an incredible acknowledgement.)

If the MTA cracked down on fare beaters, the increased revenue would contribute significantly to salvaging the MTA Capital funding problem.

But will that happen? I doubt it. It is easier to stick fare-paying working class commuters with the tab for the MTA’s incompetence.

In many of our greatest novels, there is a scene where the protagonist saunters along Main Street on a Sunday morning, meeting and chatting with his neighbors or simply enjoying human contact provided by his community.

In James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” Leopold Bloom walks through Dublin. In “Faustus” by Goethe, the main character spends time walking about the town and saying his hellos but evidently that was not enough for him since shortly thereafter he made a pact with the devil who promised him ultimate bliss if Faustus would sell him his soul.

In Jean Paul Sartre’s “Nausea,” the only pleasant scene in the entire novel is when the main character walks along the street on a Sunday morning seeing his happy neighbors going to church.

In Virginia Woolf’s short story “Street Haunting: A London Adventure,” she walks halfway across London in search of a store to buy a pencil. She admits that she uses this benign quest merely as an excuse to enjoy the spectacle of street life just as golfers golf as an excuse to be outdoors and enjoy a splendid walk on freshly mowed grass.

And so it is with our street fairs, one of which I briefly attended Saturday in Williston Park. The Williston Park Street Fair provided the local residents with a chance to turn off their televisions, leave their homes and go down to Main Street to see exactly who else lives in Williston Park.

And from the looks of things, Williston Park is a diverse community filled with a mix of Asians, Indians, Hispanics and Caucasians. There were teenagers galore, young mothers pushing strollers and young dads dutifully following behind. And what did they see?

In “Street Haunting” Virginia Woolf wrote “for the eye has this strange property: it rests only on beauty.” She might have said the same thing about ears because there were plenty of beautiful things to hear at this street fair.

Singers in front of Williston’s belted out old Fleetwood Mac tunes like “Rhiannon.” I heard a cool looking Mariachi band sing some songs in front of Margaritas and there was a Flamenco dancer tapping away in front of Sangia 71.

I passed by Frantoni’s and met Mike Mistretta, its owner, along with his gorgeous wife and three well-mannered kids. Next door to Frantoni’s was Fresca Creperie, where I stopped to get a mocha fresco. On the way back I met Lauren Marzo, who is the charge of public relations for the Herricks Players, who are putting on “The Sound of Music” in November.

She told me that since COVID attendance has been down because people got out of the habit of attending local theater productions. That’s a shame since I recall reviewing their production of “Young Frankenstein” many years ago and learned that the actors in our local productions were all former Broadway actors and actresses.

Street fairs are simple and gratifying affairs. We meet our neighbors as well as our storekeepers. It is a human experience where everyone is smiling, breathing fresh air and getting a slight sunburn in the process.

Virginia Woolf took her walk through the streets of London at 5 p.m. in the winter. I am luckier than her. I got to take my walk on a sunny Saturday in September, got to chat with Mike Mistretta and Lauren Marzo and got myself a little sunburn along the way.

Quite a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. No need for me to sell my soul to Mephistopheles to purchase more extreme bliss. A street fair in Williston Park is good enough and the price of admission is zero.