Tightening budgets, MTA proposes permanent bus service changes

As part of its effort to shore up their fiscal future, the MTA has released documents that show how some service changes may become permanent. This is but one of the prices we’ll have to pay if promised financial contributions from the state do not become a reality, and a fare hike is avoided.

For now, the MTA is cutting service only on buses during holidays, but in the future, these cuts could spread to affect subway service. That would be a dark day indeed. William Neuman at The Times has more on this story:

Budget documents released this week show that the authority is planning to reduce the number of buses operating on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving, one of the biggest shopping days of the year…

The service change will save an average of $250,000 per day, amounting to $1.8 million a year. It is part of a series of budget cuts that includes removing all elevator operators from five subway stations in Upper Manhattan. The number of operators staffing the elevators has been a contentious issue in the past amid worries about crime and safety. Because the stations are deep underground, all passengers must use the elevators.

On behalf of the Straphangers, Gene Russianoff expressed his dismay. “I guess we’re getting the coal in our stocking,” the campaign’s staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign said.

But Gene, I say, you can’t have it both ways. Either the MTA is fiscally responsible and trims service to free up money for needed expansion and maintenance plans or the MTA is fiscally irresponsible and slides further into debt. While the Authority tends to play fast and loose with numbers sometimes, the reality is pretty clear. They need money to pay off their debts, and if these type of service cuts are the way to go, that’s how it will be until a fare hike or state contributions head the MTA’s way.

So with this sobering news mind, take a look at this weekend’s service changes and think about what could be. We wouldn’t want to see terrible weekend service all the time.

Service alerts are here i press release form and after the jump with the little subway line bullets.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, there is no 1 train service between 14th Street and South Ferry due to work at Cortlandt Street station. Customers may take the 2 or 3 between 14th Street and Chambers Street. Free shuttle buses run between Chambers Street and South Ferry.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, 1 trains skip 28th, 23rd, and 18th Streets in both directions due to work at Cortlandt Street station.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, downtown 1 trains skip 66th, 59th, and 50th Streets due to conduit work and lighting installation at 59th Street-Columbus Circle.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, 2 and 3 trains run local between 96th and Chambers Street due to work at Cortlandt Street station.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, downtown 2 and 3 trains skip 66th, 59th, and 50th Streets due to conduit work and lighting installation at 59th Street-Columbus Circle.

From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2, Bronx-bound 4 trains skip 183rd Street, Fordham Road, Kingsbridge Road and Bedford Park Blvd. due to cable work north of Bedford Park Blvd.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2, there are no 5 trains between 149th and East 180th Streets due to switch repair north of East 180th Street.

From 11 p.m. Friday, November 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3 (and the following weekend Dec 7-10), shuttle buses replace A trains between Beach 90th Street and Far Rockaway due to track panel installation north of Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue.

From 12:01 p.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, downtown C trains run express from 145th Street to Canal Street due to platform and elevator work at 59th Street-Columbus Circle.

From 11 p.m., Friday, November 30 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, Bronx-bound D trains run express from 145th Street to Fordham Road due to track chip-out north of 145th Street station.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, downtown D trains run on the A line from 59th Street to West 4th Street due to platform and elevator work at 59th Street-Columbus Circle.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, D trains run in two sections due to platform and elevator work at 59th Street-Columbus Circle:
– Between 205th Street and Broadway-Lafayette Street and
– Between Broadway-Lafayette Street and Stillwell Avenue

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, Manhattan-bound D trains run on the N from Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street due to track panel work between Bay 50th Street and 9th Avenue stations.

From 12:01 p.m. Saturday, December 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 3, shuttle buses replace J trains between 111th Street and Jamaica-Van Wyck E station due to track cable work between Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer and 121st Street stations.

From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sunday, December 2, Nostalgia Trains are running on the V line from Queens Plaza to Second Ave. Catch one if you can.