NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority may reduce bus, subway and commuter train service in order to help close a projected $663 million budget gap, the Associated Press reported. .
“The only things they have been mandated not to touch are items related to safety and keeping the system in a state of good repair,” MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said Friday. “The goal is to streamline and trim as much internally as possible.”
He emphasized that a fare increase would be “the last resort.”
After making some initial cuts, MTA division heads were recently told that further reductions would be needed.
A reduction in service could mean fewer or less frequent commuter trains, buses and subway trains.
But Kelly added, “We don’t know because the reductions haven’t been submitted yet. They will be submitted by next Wednesday.”
In addition to service cuts, MTA officials are also considering raising bus and subway fares to $2 from $1.50, where they have remained since November 1995.