(The following article by Caren Halbfinger appeared on the White Plains Journal News website on September 26.)
NEW YORK — A proposed 2004 budget for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority keeps its promise to maintain service for commuters in the region, but rider advocates are fuming about budget cuts that would mean dirtier subway cars and bus stations.
The $7.2 billion proposal, which barely increases spending from this year’s $7.1 billion budget, was discussed yesterday at an MTA board meeting.
“We’re concerned about the impact on service, safety and convenience of proposed cuts in the … preliminary budget,” said Gene Russianoff, a lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “We are particularly concerned about the cleaning reductions, since cuts in 1994 yielded a major increase in dirty subways. … Will the MTA make good on its pledge of no service cuts? The riding public will be watching closely to see if that’s the case.”
Russianoff was referring to a promise MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow made during this year’s fare increase controversy ? that there would be no service reductions next year if a $2 base fare for bus and subway rides and a 25 percent average increase for commuter rail tickets were approved. The increases took effect in May, helping to balance next year’s budget plan.
After yesterday’s meeting, Kalikow said board members now had several months to resolve concerns raised by the public and would do just that.
“We’ve heard what people said,” Kalikow said. “We’re going to look into all of them. Any savings should be not noticeable by the customers. We are going to maintain our budget and the system.”
The 2004 budget is the second part of a two-year financial plan that originally claimed a $2.8 billion deficit, but now projects the nation’s largest transit system will end this year with a $186.3 million surplus. The MTA says that money will be needed to balance next year’s budget. The spending plan was released earlier than usual this year and posted on the MTA’s Web site ? www.mta.info ? to give the public more time to review and comment on it. The early release also gives the MTA board extra time to react and make changes. A final budget is due in October and will be voted on in December.
The proposal comes with good news for Metro-North Railroad riders. The railroad plans to retire more than 100 of its oldest railroad cars and replace them with 150 new cars, increase escalator maintenance at the White Plains train station and add 30 cleaners.
Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the New York City Transit Riders Council, said the Metro-North budget was a “huge contrast” to the New York City Transit budget. Although installing new station shelters and heaters would be put off until late next year, Dolinsky said she saw no major problems with the Metro-North proposal.
“As far as I can see, I definitely think it maintains the service and there are even some improvements,” she said.
Dolinsky was more critical of the plan for New York City buses and subways.
“The promise was made that service was not going to be cut,” Dolinsky said before the board meeting. “When you reduce cleaners for subways and bus stations, that to me is a service reduction. Eliminating having a person at night at the travel information center ? to me, that’s a service reduction. Reducing the number of bus dispatchers, reducing the platform conductor jobs. Deferring emergency exit painting, given we just had a blackout, I don’t think this is a time to be doing this. To me, I see a lot of diminution of service for transit.”
The proposed cuts in cleaning staff, bus dispatchers, elevator operators and maintenance workers would be achieved through attrition. Russianoff and Dolinsky said the last time the MTA reduced its cleaning staff, subway cars and stations stayed dirtier until more cleaners were hired years later.
Russianoff did praise the MTA’s plan to spend $1 million to refund the remaining value on lost or stolen 30-day MetroCards to purchasers who buy them with a debit card. He also praised the $11 million the transit agency plans to spend to implement new safety guidelines for track workers. The guidelines were developed after two track workers were killed last year while doing their jobs.