It feels like I'm missing something, maybe because I'm not a politician or a transportation engineer. It's very common that upper spheres of government will provide extra funding focused on capital expenditures like building new infrastructure but won't commit to operational expenditures like maintenance and salaries.

I wonder if it's some sort of political game of being able to claim funding for shiny new things, because expansion is flashier than maintenance. Or maybe there's a real governance aspect to it, considering that OPEX should stay under control at the right level as to not overstep the scope of each sphere of government - transit agencies should not grow accustomed to funding that is supposed to be extra. IDK, I guess I'm not ready to have an opinion on this. I'll just trust whatever the folks at Movement say.