New York City Mass Transit facing service cuts
Friday, December 11, 2009
New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is proposing to make service cuts to close its expected US$343 million (€234m, GBP £211m) budget deficit. The plan includes the elimination of multiple bus lines in The Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, the elimination of the W (Astoria, Queens to Lower Manhattan) and the Z (Jamaica, Queens to Lower Manhattan via Brooklyn) train services. Also included in the plan are cuts of nighttime bus and train service.
"We're not going to rely on anyone else to do anything for us. We're going to rely on ourselves." MTA board member Mitchell Pally said, commenting on the New York state's budget plan cutting $143 million of tax revenue from the agency. MTA Chairman Jay Walder has said in the past that he would not raise fares ahead of schedule.
Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, a commuter advocacy group, said that the agency should take money from its current construction and maintenance fund, and put it into maintaining these services.
Sources
- Daily News Staff. "Possible MTA cuts in service" — The New York Daily News, December 11, 2009
- Staten Island Advance Staff. "Doomsday Budget Take II: MTA plans bus and subway service cuts" — The Staten Island Advance, December 11, 2009
- Eric Luu. "Farewell W and Z trains: MTA Plans Massive Service Cuts" — WNBC, December, 11, 2009