BP MARKOWITZ STATEMENT ON MTA APPROVAL OF BUDGET,
FARE HIKES AND SERVICE CUTS

“Although today’s MTA vote was a formality, it is worth repeating that the proposed fare hikes and service cuts are simply unacceptable. I applaud Mayor Bloomberg for his successful efforts in getting the MTA to drop its proposed Express Bus fare increase. In Brooklyn, riders in areas underserved by subways rely on these buses, and we should be encouraging—not discouraging—their use. But it remains an absolute outrage that the doubling of Access-A-Ride fares remains on the table. Brooklyn has the City’s largest senior population, and this would have a disastrous effect on our most vulnerable commuters, who use this transport to access medical care and services. The draconian service cuts being targeted at subway lines and bus routes servicing Brooklyn will leave thousands of passengers in neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Borough Park and Sunset Park, and along the Z line in Williamsburg, Bushwick, East New York and Cypress Hills, scrambling for other ways to get around and support their livelihood.

During these difficult economic times, we all must do some belt-tightening, but we can’t impose punitive fare increases and subway and bus service cuts, or discriminatory East River tolls, on residents who already pay a greater percentage of their transportation system’s costs than in any other city in this country—and that responsibility is about to get bigger. My office and I have already submitted ideas to the MTA and the State for solid revenue streams that would distribute the responsibility fairly across the MTA region, and I look forward to providing additional testimony during the MTA public hearings early next year. In the meantime, it’s up to our State legislative leaders—and hopefully the Obama administration in Washington—to stand up for our City’s mass transit riders and come up with innovative ways to help close the MTA budget gap without placing an unfair burden squarely on the backs of hard-working Brooklynites and New Yorkers.”