BP MARKOWITZ STATEMENT ON MTA BUDGET SHORTFALL AND PROPOSED SERVICE CUTS
While the latest MTA budget deficit projections are troubling and require tough choices, renewed efforts to eliminate or scale back subway and bus service, Access-A-Ride and discounted student fares are shortsighted and unconscionable. These "punitive" measures fail to equitably spread the burden of funding public transit throughout the entire MTA region. In Brooklyn, the elimination of Z subway service (forcing the J line to run local), the closing of the Lawrence Street Station overnights along the R line, changes to the G and M lines in Brooklyn and Queens, drastic reductions in regular bus service--including the elimination of weekday service on the B23, B25, B37, B39, B51 and B75, as well as weekend service on the B7, B14, B31, B45, B48, B57, B64, B65, B67 and B77--and reductions in Access-A-Ride will add up to a disproportionate burden for Brooklynites, including students and their parents already struggling in this economy and residents with no other way of getting around.
I am once again calling on the MTA to adopt equitable funding solutions across the 12-county MTA district that will dramatically reduce the severity of service cutbacks while ensuring that everyone who uses the public transportation system contributes to its short-term and long-term sustainability. As I suggested during previous rounds of MTA budget talks, let's consider a modest gasoline tax on drivers in the MTA district; an extension of the auto registration surcharge in New York City to the entire MTA region; increased car registration fees tied to vehicle size and weight; the dedication of a lottery to raise proceeds for mass transit; internal MTA budget cuts and the consolidation of the agency's holdings and lease properties, such as 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn; and the restoration of the commuter tax.
It's clear that we must act quickly and decisively to keep the MTA solvent and our City moving, but let's not run the same train down the same track by shifting the responsibility to our hard-working