New York mass transit will need more than the $15 billion proposed by a Senate-backed relief package, but the initial plan is a "good start," said the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. 

A proposed $980 billion coronavirus stimulus measure is under discussion in a lame-duck session of Congress that could provide aid for mass transit around the country. The money allocated is less than half of the $32 billion proposed by the House of Representatives in a bill proposed in the spring. 

But transit systems like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are facing a financial crisis due to the pandemic and a sharp drop off in ridership. 

“The $980 billion proposal is a good start toward pulling our nation’s transit agencies, and the MTA in particular, off the precipice of full-blown collapse," the Transit Alliance said in a statement. "The latest bipartisan proposal is an acknowledgement of the basic needs of transit. Nevertheless, we continue to call on Congress to save our nation’s transit systems through approval of the full $32 billion in funding agencies have identified as necessary to survive the fallout from COVID-19."

State and local governments are also seeking aid to bolster their budgets that have been damaged by the crisis. 

And a relief measure might also extend unemployment benefits for the millions of people who have lost their jobs amid the pandemic as cases once again surge across the country.