Restore some LIRR service
A westbound LIRR train. (July 26, 2011) Credit: Kevin P Coughlin
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is ending the year with some spare change and there are plenty of ideas around about how to spend it.
The MTA wants to use the $179-million surplus to balance its $12.5-billion budget for 2012. Long Island's representative on the MTA board wants some of the extra money used to restore the extensive service cuts made earlier this year. Both goals can be accomplished.
The MTA's fiscal health isn't all that rosy, even with those few extra dollars, for there are deficits ahead and the capital plan is underfed. So a cushion is needed.
And while tempting, it doesn't make sense to automatically put back into service all the trains that were cut. Instead, some funds should be put aside for the LIRR, which has seen an uptick in demand. These can be used next year to restore service where it is most needed.
Clearly, that includes half-hour off-peak service on the heavily used Port Washington line. Cuts there have resulted in crowded trains. Long Beach also needs its peak service back at full strength. Looking down the tracks, certainly there will be a need to restore service to Brooklyn after midnight. The borough is bustling and a new arena opens in the fall at the Atlantic Yards terminal.
Restoring service isn't easy; equipment, personnel and notice to the public have to be coordinated. So when the MTA board votes on the budget next month, it should put aside some of the surplus in a sunny day fund, one that very unhappy LIRR riders can see being put to their advantage.
