Here we go again. As mentioned yesterday, the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking for a way to cut costs — meaning that just about all of the extensive service cuts that were approved and then rescinded last year are on the table again.
An MTA source told NY1 that the agency might eliminate the W and Z trains completely, shorten the G and M lines, schedule longer gaps between trains at midday, decrease nighttime service, and shutter four stations after dark. Aboveground, the agency would cut 25 bus lines, nix weekend service on 41 routes, and eliminate weekday service another 21 routes.
The Times reports that, 6,000 nonunion MTA employees would have their salaries cut by 10 percent, according to new chairman Jay Walder — whose $350,000-salary would also be cut. The pay cuts, which could take effect in April, would be implemented through furloughs or paycheck lags in which parts of workers' salaries would be deferred for months or even years. And the Daily News notes that the agency might abolish a program that allows students who live far from their schools to commute using free Metrocards. The MTA is considering charging some 550,000 students half-price fares next year, and full fares starting in 2011. Currently, the city and state cover a bit more than half the cost of the student Metrocards, forcing the agency to pay about $70 million per year for the free service.
The monetary woes come after the agency's new payroll tax fell short of its expected goal by about 20 percent — leaving the MTA with a $200 million budget gap. Add that to the millions of state transit funding that the legislature just eliminated, and the agency is looking at a shortfall of about $340 million. The agency has promised it won't raise fares next year, though it is planning to increase them by 7.5 percent in 2011 and 2013. The MTA is expected to release a full list of proposed cuts on Monday.
