From the Associated Press:
NEW YORK (AP) — Transit officials took a step Monday toward imposing drastic service cuts and steep fare increases that would raise the cost of a single subway ride from $2 to $2.50, even while holding out hope that state lawmakers might still come to the rescue.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is saddled with a $1.2 billion budget deficit that is largely blamed on the ailing economy. A bailout plan that would avoid the worst of the fare increases and service cuts has become bogged down amid bickering in Albany, prompting Monday’s decision.
MTA board chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger urged the agency’s finance committee to adopt the fare hikes and service cuts even though he called them “horrific.” At a news conference after the vote in Manhattan, Hemmerdinger was asked if he had any message for Albany: “How about: ‘Help!”’ he said.
“This represents as good a job as human beings can do to divide the pain as equally as we can,” he said.
Gov. David Paterson said Monday that the MTA board should go ahead with its proposal but that he would continue to try to negotiate an alternative with the Senate’s Democratic majority.
Paterson said there remains enough disagreement with Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith so that no deal is imminent, but an alternative with lower fares and less or no changes in service could replace it.
The full MTA board will vote Wednesday on the fare increases, which would take effect June 1.
The MTA adopted a budget in December designed to close a $1.2 billion gap in its operating budget by raising fare and toll revenues by 23 percent. The board also approved sweeping service cuts, including eliminating 21 local bus routes.