Sen. Chuck Schumer on Wednesday announced the MTA would be receiving over $6 billion in federal grant money for the city’s subway system to help the transit agency recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money, issued by the Federal Transit Administration, fulfills a record-setting $14 billion grant allocated to the MTA by Congress from the COVID relief bill passed last year.

"The bottom line is that without the money we were able to get, the subway system would have never bounced back,” Schumer said Wednesday. “What the money did is it staved off any fare hike for the next few years. It prevented cuts in service during the height of COVID, when we needed our health care workers and others to get to work. It prevented layoffs of subway and bus and transit workers."

The federal relief money will also help fund planned capital spending needed to improve the system, according to Schumer.

“We are grateful to Senate Majority Leader Schumer, the New York delegation and Governor Hochul for their consistent support of mass transit,” MTA Acting Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement. “Our subways, buses and railroads are the secret sauce that keeps the region moving, helping to rebuild New York’s dynamic economy while battling climate change. This funding helps the MTA continue to provide top-tier service and in the near term avoid fare increases.”​