Sadly, there's no way the MTA will come out a hero in all this. Right now it sounds good that the agency is trying to rescue riders from the horrible cuts that may be ahead, but we all know there's more to it. So, just put it out there, MTA! Should New Yorkers expect fare hikes, different subways and buses to fall of the face of the earth? What?

Following thousands of complaints from riders, the MTA is modifying several of its service reduction proposals in all five boroughs. It's restoring some of the bus lines it originally planned to eliminate and rerouting others to pick up passengers whose bus lines are scrapped. Rather than eliminate the M subway line and extend the V, the MTA will eliminate the V and make the M orange. (For a complete list of service changes, go to www.ny1.com.) The agency is trying to close an $800 million budget gap, and the restorations will reduce its annual savings by about $5.9 million. The MTA said it made the modifications "based on public feedback from the MTA's nine public hearings and thousands of e-mails, letters and phone calls."
Does today's announcement make you feel like your voice was heard? Should the board approve the revised cuts at its meeting Wednesday? How will the changes affect your commute?
E-mail your thoughts, along with your first name and neighborhood, to the address above.

I actually feel like my voice was heard. Although none of the routes near me are affected, I gave proposals to reroute some routes to cover some other routes. For example, I was the one who suggested that the S66 replace the S60 on Grymes Hill, Staten Island. I also think that some BxM7As are being extended to replace the BxM7B to City Island, which was alos one of my suggestions. All of the ones I suggested weren't implemented, but it is a start.

"checkmatechamp"

i believe its a mistake to continue to allow the school kids to ride transit for free...... someones going to have to end up paying for them, and it will come through higher costs to the riding public.... lets get past calling them school kids, on the trains, more than just a few delay service, and cause havoc with people wanting to get to where they're going.... having them pay, even half price may stop them from using the subways as a hangout to cause trouble......

mike
t.a. conductor

I'm surprised that the sweetheart deal Ratner made with the MTA over the Atlantic Yards has never come up. He is getting something like 50 million dollars in breaks, so that was 50 million that could have been in the MTA's pockets from another developer, which would have gone a long way to prevent these cuts. Sounds like the MTA needs new management, and let the people who are doing the real work keep their jobs and keep the buses and trains running.
Kathy

Mta is a business its not a free ride...let them run it the way they need and want to run it...if they need to cut routes let them if they need to raise fairs let them...mta is a business..There are other means of transportation... Walk..jog..bike...etc

Je from eltingville staten island

I work for MTA and if it comes down to metro cards for the kids or me loseing my job....f the kids

Victor

It’s not rocket science to solve the problem of having everyone pay their fare on buses to save tens of millions of dollars. We need modified buses with turnstiles at the front door, and where you can only exit via the rear door. That takes the bus driver out of the loop in collecting fares, and ensures that everyone pays; if you don’t have a MetroCard, you just don’t get on the bus—period! The driver will have nothing to do with it (the drivers will also not be able to let their friends get on for nothing, and all MTA workers will have to pay too).

Just making EVERYONE pay will save the MTA tens or hundreds of millions.

Walter,
Oakwood, Staten Island

In reality, in the end we will pay. Either in service cuts, fare increase or both. Wake up and smell the coffee

Pablo, lower east side

No, I really don't think our voices are heard at these meetings or any other kind of these town hall meetings. There is something up the MTA's sleeve. There is definitely going to be a fare hike in the near future and that will not be the end of it...mark my words...

Ralph, BayRidge

Despite the restorations from their original "doomsday" proposal, don't get your hopes up.

This is a zero-sum process: you never get something from the MTA without having them take something else away; We just don't know what that something else is at this point, but you can be assured that whatever it is will make your commute less comfortable, dirtier, and slower.

One question that every NYC resident should ask: why have all the proposed MTA service cuts been concentrated exclusively in just one of its 7 subsidiaries, MTA - NYC Transit?

Pete from Manhattan

I think that they listened a little bit but I do not think that saving 5.9 million is going to do anything to close that 800 million dollar budget is going to solve the problem the problem was they gambled all of the money on real estate investments and the stock market that tanked and now who has to pay US again.

Jim UWS