http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/nyc/091216-mta-cuts
But it's ok if the kids got to pay right, as long as the MTA union get their 11% raise. With that raise it will be easy for them to afford the extra $1000.00 for their kids to ride to school, but you know what, the attitude of the hell with everybody else's kid smells to high heaven. It's all only about what's in it for me and not what's best for the kids.
The MTA board has approved its 2010 doomsday budget. It includes service cuts and could leave New York City children without free rides to their public schools if it is implemented.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the nation's largest transportation agency, is facing a $383 million budget shortfall.
"Because the MTA's transit system matters so much to New Yorkers, when $400 million is taken from the budget practically overnight you have to make the kinds of changes that have an enormous impact on people," said MTA Chairman and CEO Jay Walder. "We have a responsibility to assure our customers and taxpayers that every dollar they send to the MTA is used as effectively as possible. We can't say that today, and that is why we have to fundamentally change the way that we do business."
The MTA will hold public hearings and vote again. That leaves an opening for an 11th-hour rescue by the city or the state. The policy of free or discounted student rides has been in place since 1948. Ending it could cost half a million students nearly $1,000 per year in transportation fees.
