§ 1299-f. Special powers of the authority. In order to effectuate the
purposes of this title: 1. The authority may acquire, by purchase, gift,
grant, transfer, contract or lease, any transportation facility, wholly
or partially within the Niagara Frontier transportation district or any
part thereof, or the use thereof, and may enter into any joint service
arrangements as hereinafter provided. Any such acquisition or joint
service arrangement shall be authorized only by resolution of the
authority approved by not less than a majority of the whole number of
members of the authority then in office. In addition to and not in
limitation of any other power conferred upon the authority by the
provisions of this title, the authority is hereby empowered and
authorized in respect of any property and assets at any time owned or
held by, or under the jurisdiction of, the Buffalo and Fort Erie public
bridge authority, to accept and receive any such interest therein as it
may have been or may hereafter be designated by the state by law to
receive, and in respect thereof, except as otherwise provided by the
designating statute, it shall have and exercise all of the powers and
jurisdiction herein conferred upon it in respect of any other property,
rights, assets, facilities and projects in any other manner acquired or
from any other source received by it pursuant to the provisions of this
title.

2. The authority may on such terms and conditions as the authority may
determine necessary, convenient or desirable itself establish,
construct, effectuate, operate, maintain, renovate, improve, extend or
repair any such transportation facility, or may provide for such
establishment, construction, effectuation, operation, maintenance,
renovation, improvement, extension or repair by contract, lease, or
other arrangement on such terms as the authority may deem necessary,
convenient or desirable with any person, including but not limited to
any common carrier or freight forwarder, the state, any state agency,
the federal government, any other state or agency or instrumentality
thereof, any public authority of this or any other state, any political
subdivision or municipality of the state, or the nation. In connection
with the operation of any such transportation facility, the authority
may establish, construct, effectuate, operate, maintain, renovate,
improve, extend or repair or may provide by contract, lease or other
arrangement for the establishment, construction, effectuation,
operation, maintenance, renovation, improvement, extension or repair of
any related services and activities it deems necessary, convenient or
desirable, including but not limited to the transportation and storage
of freight and the United States mail, feeder and connecting
transportation, parking areas, transportation centers, stations and
related facilities.

3. The authority may establish, levy and collect or cause to be
established, levied and collected and, in the case of a joint service
arrangement, join with others in the establishment, levy and collection
of such fares, tolls, rentals, rates, charges and other fees as it may
deem necessary, convenient or desirable for the use and operation of any
transportation facility and related services operated by the authority
or by a subsidiary corporation of the authority or under contract, lease
or other arrangement, including joint service arrangements, with the
authority. Any such fares, tolls, rentals, rates, charges or other fees
for the transportation of passengers shall be established and changed
only if approved by resolution of the authority adopted by not less than
a majority of the whole number of members of the authority then in
office and only after a public hearing, provided however, that fares,
tolls, rentals, rates, charges or other fees for the transportation of
passengers on any transportation facility which are in effect at the
time that the then owner of such transportation facility becomes a
subsidiary corporation of the authority or at the time that operation of
such transportation facility is commenced by the authority or is
commenced under contract, lease or other arrangement including joint
service arrangements, with the authority may be continued in effect
without such a hearing. Such fares, tolls, rentals, rates, charges and
other fees shall be established as may in the judgment of the authority
be necessary to maintain the combined operations of the authority and
its subsidiary corporations on a self-sustaining basis. The said
operations shall be deemed to be on a self-sustaining basis as required
by this title, when the authority is able to pay or cause to be paid
from revenue and any other funds or property actually available to the
authority and its subsidiary corporations (a) as the same shall become
due, the principal of and interest on the bonds and notes and other
obligations of the authority and of such subsidiary corporations,
together with the maintenance of proper reserves therefor, (b) the cost
and expense of keeping the properties and assets of the authority and
its subsidiary corporations in good condition and repair, and (c) the
capital and operating expenses of the authority and its subsidiary
corporations. The authority may contract with the holders of bonds and
notes with respect to the exercise of the powers authorized by this
section.

4. The authority may establish and, in the case of joint service
arrangements, join with others in the establishment of such schedules
and standards of operations and such other rules and regulations
including but not limited to rules and regulations governing the conduct
and safety of the public as it may deem necessary, convenient or
desirable for the use and operation of any transportation facility and
related services operated by the authority or under contract, lease or
other arrangement, including joint service arrangements, with the
authority. Such rules and regulations governing the conduct and safety
of the public shall be filed with the department of state in the manner
provided by section one hundred two of the executive law. In the case of
any conflict between any such rule or regulation of the authority
governing the conduct or safety of the public and any local law,
ordinance, rule or regulation, such rule or regulation of the authority
shall prevail. Violation of any such rule or regulation of the authority
governing the conduct or the safety of the public in or upon any
facility of the authority shall constitute an offense and shall be
punishable by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars or imprisonment for not
more than thirty days or both, or may in the alternative be designated a
transit infraction punishable by the imposition by the transit
adjudication bureau established pursuant to the provisions of this title
of a civil penalty in an amount for any one violation of not to exceed
two hundred fifty dollars, exclusive of interest or costs assessed
thereon, in accordance with a schedule of such penalties as may from
time to time be established by the authority. There shall be no penalty
or increment in fine by virtue of a respondent's timely exercise of his
right to a hearing or appeal. The rules may provide, in addition to any
other sanctions, for the confiscation of tokens, tickets, cards or other
fare media that have been forged, counterfeited, improperly altered or
transferred, or otherwise used in a manner inconsistent with such rules.

5. The authority may acquire, hold, own, lease, establish, construct,
effectuate, operate, maintain, renovate, improve, extend or repair any
of its facilities through, and cause any one or more of its powers,
duties, functions or activities to be exercised or performed by, one or
more wholly owned subsidiary corporations of the authority and may
transfer to or from any such corporation, or between such corporations,
any moneys, real property or other property or the services of any
officers, employees or consultants for any of the purposes of this
title. The directors or members of each such subsidiary corporation
shall be the same persons holding the offices of members of the
authority. Each such subsidiary corporation and any of its property,
functions and activities shall have all of the privileges, immunities,
tax exemptions and other exemptions of the authority and of the
authority's property, functions and activities. Each such subsidiary
corporation shall be subject to the restrictions and limitations to
which the authority may be subject. Each such subsidiary corporation
shall be subject to suit in accordance with section twelve hundred
ninety-nine-p of this title. The employees of any such subsidiary
corporation, except those who are also employees of the authority, shall
not be deemed employees of the authority.

If the authority shall determine that one or more of its subsidiary
corporations should be in the form of a public benefit corporation, it
shall create each such public benefit corporation by executing and
filing with the secretary of state a certificate of incorporation, which
may be amended from time to time by filing, which shall set forth the
name of such public benefit subsidiary corporation, its duration, the
location of its principal office, and any or all of the purposes of
acquiring, owning, leasing, establishing, constructing, effectuating,
operating, maintaining, renovating, improving, extending or repairing
one or more facilities of the authority. Each such public benefit
subsidiary corporation shall be a body politic and corporate and shall
have all those powers vested in the authority by the provisions of this
title which the authority shall determine to include in its certificate
of incorporation except the power to contract indebtedness.

Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding the
authority may elect to maintain consolidated records of account for
itself and its subsidiary corporations and to report on a consolidated
basis with regard to the moneys and activities of the authority and its
subsidiary corporations, and the authority shall not be required to keep
separate records of account for or to report separately with regard to
moneys or activities of any of its subsidiary corporations or of the
authority itself apart from its subsidiary corporations or with regard
to transfers of property or services between the authority and its
subsidiary corporations or between said subsidiary corporations.

The Niagara Frontier port authority shall be deemed to be a subsidiary
corporation for the purposes of this subdivision.

Whenever any state, political subdivision, municipality, commission,
agency, officer, department, board, division or person is authorized and
empowered for any of the purposes of this title to co-operate and enter
into agreements with the authority such state, political subdivision,
municipality, commission, agency, officer, department, board, division
or person shall have the same authorization and power for any of such
purposes to co-operate and enter into agreements with a subsidiary
corporation of the authority.

6. The authority, in its own name or in the name of the state, may
apply for and receive and accept grants of property, money and services
and other assistance offered or made available to it by any person,
government or agency whatever, which it may use to meet capital or
operating expenses and for any other use within the scope of its powers,
and to negotiate for the same upon such terms and conditions as the
authority may determine to be necessary, convenient or desirable.

7. The authority may do all things it deems necessary, convenient or
desirable to manage, control and direct the maintenance and operation of
transportation facilities, equipment or real property operated by or
under contract, lease or other arrangement with the authority. Except as
hereinafter specially provided, no municipality or political
subdivision, including but not limited to a county, city, village, town
or school or other district shall have jurisdiction over any facilities
of the authority or any of its activities or operations. The local
laws, resolutions, ordinances, rules and regulations of a municipality
or political subdivision, heretofore or hereafter adopted, conflicting
with this title or any rule or regulation of the authority, shall not be
applicable to the activities or operations of the authority, or the
facilities of the authority, except such facilities that are devoted to
purposes other than transportation purposes. Each municipality or
political subdivision, including but not limited to a county, city,
village, town or district in which any facilities of the authority are
located shall provide for such facilities police, fire and health
protection services of the same character and to the same extent as
those provided for residents of such municipality or political
subdivision.

The jurisdiction, supervision, powers and duties of the department of
transportation of the state under the transportation law shall not
extend to the authority in the exercise of any of its powers under this
title. The authority may agree with such department for the execution by
such department of any grade crossing elimination project or any grade
crossing separation reconstruction project along any railroad facility
operated by the authority or by one of its subsidiary corporations or
under contract, lease or other arrangement with the authority. Any such
project shall be executed as provided in article ten of the
transportation law and the railroad law, respectively, and the costs of
any such project shall be borne as provided in such laws, except that
the authority's share of such costs shall be borne by the state.