MTA to cut $2B as 'tough times' take toll

The MTA's plan to slash another $2 billion from its five-year capital plan could mean that commuters won't be able to take a bus to complete their trip if a subway is not running.

Jay Walder, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, outlined his plans to find new efficiencies in the $24-billion capital plan in a report released Wednesday.

The capital plan, which runs through 2014, will run out of money at the end of the year, leaving the future of several key MTA infrastructure projects, including the Long Island Rail Road's ambitious East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal, up in the air.

"Simply put, in these tough times, we must prove that we are making every dollar count, and that's exactly what we're doing," Walder wrote in the report. "The future of our region depends on it."

The ways the MTA will find the $2 billion in savings include: reducing administrative payroll by 15 percent, with layoffs if necessary; reducing purchasing and maintenance costs, including by keeping buses and trains in use longer; reducing project costs in partnership with contractors and trade unions, including by giving them assurances of fewer MTA-caused project delays.

The report says $300 million will be saved by lowering the costs of track work, including on the LIRR. That sometimes will mean a different approach to repairs, "to fix the component that's broken -- not necessarily the whole asset."

It also means replacement bus service will be offered during subway track outages "only when no alternative services are available" -- such as another nearby subway line.

Those two strategies caused concern for William Henderson, executive director of the MTA's Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee. He said cutting down on replacement bus service during track projects could make commutes longer, less convenient and more uncomfortable. And narrowing the scope of track fixes could cost the MTA more in the long run, he said.

"You have to be very careful that you don't say, 'Well, that piece isn't quite broken, so we'll let it go. It may make it another couple months,' " Henderson said. "You do need to keep a state of good repair. . . . If you don't do it, the system deteriorates pretty quickly."

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said the new measures will not compromise the system's reliability or riders' experience.

The MTA last year already cut $2 billion from the capital plan, which was $28 million when originally proposed. The agency is appealing to state and federal lawmakers to help fund the remainder of the plan, which will have a $9 billion shortfall even after the latest proposed cuts are made.