EndrTimes: M.T.A. Proposes Severe Service Cuts; 2 Subway Lines May Be Eliminated

Monday, December 14, 2009

M.T.A. Proposes Severe Service Cuts; 2 Subway Lines May Be Eliminated

December 14, 2009, 11:44 am — Updated: 2:22 pm -->

M.T.A. Proposes Severe Service Cuts; 2 Subway Lines May Be Eliminated
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Updated, 1:03 p.m. Longer waits on subway platforms. More crowded buses and trains. No more discounts for New York City students.

One way or another, nearly every bus, subway and commuter train rider will be affected by the newly austere budget released on Monday by the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is struggling to address a sudden and unexpected financial shortfall of nearly $400 million.

Starting mid-year, fewer subway trains would run in the middle of the day, late at night and on weekends. Two lines, the W and Z, would stop running altogether, and service on the M and G lines would be reduced. Several stations in Lower Manhattan would be closed overnight, and dozens of bus lines throughout the boroughs would see a reduction or elimination in service.

Next year’s shortfall for the agency came out to $383 million, after sharp drops in state funding and tax revenues. The problems were compounded last week when a State Supreme Court judge upheld an arbitration ruling awarding 11.5 percent raises to transit workers over the next three years.

The $383 million shortfall is slightly less pessimistic than initially thought. A spokesman for the authority, Jeremy Soffin, said on Monday that revenue from a state payroll tax is now projected to fall $100 million below estimates; the state had predicted a $200 million shortfall.

The budget plan, which does not include a fare increase for 2010, was approved by the authority’s Finance Committee on Monday; it will go before the full board on Wednesday.

Under the plan, hundreds of thousands of students who currently receive free or discounted fares on the city’s transit system will lose half of their discount in September 2010, with the rest swept away by September 2011. Costs for the student-discount program were once split among the state, city and transportation authority, but contributions from Albany and City Hall have flatlined since the mid-1990s.

Handicapped riders who are now picked up at home and driven to destinations throughout the city would no longer be able to use the so-called door-to-door service under the plan. Instead, the authority would transport disabled riders to handicapped-accessible subway and bus stops, which is the minimum service required by federal law.

Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, sharply denounced the cuts to student discounts. “The fact that you would jeopardize free MetroCards for children to go to school, and put their parents in harm’s way, is something so inexcusable, I had to come here today and tell you, just stop,” Mr. Stringer said in an angry speech before the committee meeting.

And Gene Russianoff, the longtime riders’ advocate, told the authority’s board members that they would lose credibility with the riding public if the cuts were approved. “Riders have every reason to be as mad as hell,” he said.