While transit advocates have focused on the fare hike aspect of the MTA’s Doomsday budget, employee cuts are another major part of the authority’s cost-savings efforts. According to MTA documents, around 1100 workers will find themselves out of their jobs. The cuts will hit station agents and bus drivers the hardest, and those with less than two years of service time are going to be the first to go.
Both The Daily News and NY1 reported on aspects of this plan today, and while I don’t like it from a personal security point of view, MTA workers are known to, well, sleep on the job and otherwise not fulfill their duties. These cuts may just make the MTA workforce more efficient and responsible.