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December 14, 2009
F, C and R YES! W and Z NO!!
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While the MTA is giving Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner a deep, deep discount and sweetheart payment terms on the Vanderbilt Yard, it's planning draconian service cuts, including the total elimination of the W and Z lines.
The New York Times, Drastic Cuts Are Expected as M.T.A. Unveils Budget
Fewer subway trains will run in the middle of the day, late at night and on weekends. Two lines will stop running altogether. And New York City’s students may soon be expected to pay a full fare to ride on the city’s public transit system.
These are among the drastic recommendations expected to be revealed on Monday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as the beleaguered agency unveils a newly austere budget meant to address a sudden financial shortfall of more than $400 million.
...Under the plan, service on dozens of bus routes will be cut back or eliminated, off-peak trains will run less frequently, and the W and Z subway lines will disappear, a move that includes the overnight closing of several stations along Broadway in Lower Manhattan.
Those cuts were approved late last year when the authority first faced serious financial problems. The package of service reductions seemed to be off the table after a last-minute bailout from state legislators in May, but officials expect to revive nearly all of them in the new budget being presented on Monday.
In addition, Access-a-Ride services for disabled riders would be scaled back, and free bus and subway rides for the city’s students could disappear, officials said. State and city contributions to the program have flat-lined since the 1990s, and the authority may no longer be able to afford the difference.
“To have this situation in the most transit-dependent city in the country is a complete failure of government,” said Andrew Albert, chairman of the New York City Transit Riders Council and a member of the authority’s board.
NoLandGrab: Andrew Albert is right, but where was his outrage when the MTA board (he's a non-voting member) voted to sell the Vanderbilt Yard to Bruce Ratner for a fraction of its value, and then voted to radically sweeten Ratner's payment terms? The best Albert could muster was "I am torn" at the outrageous giveaway of public assets.
Posted by eric at December 14, 2009 11:29 AM