No new service cuts in MTA budget plan

The MTA's $12-billion operating budget for next year does not include any new service trims, but does not restore any of the deep cuts in service made last year -- a disappointment Wednesday to many agency board members.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in July released a draft of its 2012 operating budget, which forecast a $179 million surplus at the end of this year that would be carried over to hold down a possible deficit next year.

The document marked a milestone in the economic recovery of the agency, which was eyeing a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall in 2010 and made several big moves to drastically cut costs -- including slashing service on commuter railroads, subways and buses.

With the MTA on considerably better financial footing than a year ago, several MTA board members, and even Long Island Rail Road president Helena Williams, proposed using a portion of this year's expected surplus to bring back some of the service that was axed last year. Williams put at the top of her priority list the restoration of half-hourly, off-peak service on the LIRR's busy Port Washington line.

But the final draft of the budget, which will be voted on by the board next month, was nearly identical to that proposed in July and did not include any service restorations. At a Manhattan meeting Wednesday, several board members said MTA budget planners were missing an ideal opportunity to buy good will with customers.

"It is absolutely essential for this board," board member Mitchell Pally, of Stony Brook, said of a partial restoration of the service reductions. "I believe that by restoring a portion of what we cut last year, we would allow for our fiduciary responsibilities to [riders] to be achieved."

The service cuts approved in March 2010 eliminated nearly 50 bus routes, including 11 in Nassau County, and two subway lines. The LIRR also cut several trains from its schedule, including all overnight service to Brooklyn and weekend service on the West Hempstead line. The cuts saved the MTA about $93 million a year.

Pally and other board members proposed setting aside $20 million of the projected surplus and distributing it to the MTA's various agencies for service restorations.

"Nobody is saying put everything back that we lost," said MTA board member Ira Greenberg, of Sunnyside, Queens, who represents the LIRR Commuter Council. "But there were certain things that caused riders to leave the system forever."

In defense of the proposed budget, acting MTA chairman Andrew Saul noted that the agency's fiscal future still is "perilous" and relies on several assumptions, including unions' willingness to freeze wages for the next three years and approval of 7-percent fare increases in 2013 and 2015.

Attending his first MTA board meeting since becoming the authority's executive director on Monday, Joseph Lhota did not specifically address the calls to restore service, but he said "questions" remain about the MTA's financial status and vowed to give that his full attention.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think about the budget," Lhota said.