MTA To Vote On Bus Service Reductions
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- After enacting drastic service cuts and fare hikes, the MTA now wants to reshuffle its bus lineup. The new plan would reduce service on 40 of its 64 bus schedules.
On Wednesday, the MTA is expected to vote on the proposed service cuts, Jay Dow reports.
The hardest hit lines include the B36 bus in Brooklyn, which would see a 16.9-percent decrease in Saturday service, or an extra two to three minute wait between buses, and the M22 bus in Manhattan, which would see a 16.1-percent cut in weekend service, meaning an extra one to five minutes in between buses.
The MTA plans to also increase service to its remaining 24 bus schedules. The big winner would be the Q44/20 bus in Queens, with a 7.3-percent increase in weekend service.
All of the schedule changes will cost the MTA about $300,000 annually.
These are just the latest changes in service at an agency struggling with a shrinking budget. Those money problems reportedly have some local politicans quietly trying to resurrect congestion pricing for the City.
According to Wednesday morning's Daily News, lawmakers are considering a new plan called "traffic pricing" that includes a surcharge for heading into Manhattan below 60th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Unlike the plan Mayor Bloomberg unsuccessfully proposed two years ago, the charge would be increased from eight to $10 for drivers heading into Lower Manhattan on weekdays.
