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Brooklyn Officials Bristle as MTA Considers Service Cuts

Monday, January 11, 2010

As the MTA considers making deep service cuts to deal with a nearly $400 million budget gap, elected officials from South Brooklyn are pushing back. Bay Ridge councilman Vincent Gentile wants the commuter tax reinstated.

"The transit authority cannot cut four bus lines, reducing service on three of them, and totally eliminating a fourth bus line, in the same area of Brooklyn," Gentile says.

He says neighborhood businesses, senior citizens, and disabled residents would be hurt by the elimination of the B37 bus on Third Avenue, and cuts to weekend service on other routes. Gentile wants state lawmakers to change the MTA's funding formula, so more fare and toll revenue goes to city buses and subways, instead of the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, which serves the suburbs.

An MTA spokesman says the cuts were necessary to meet the agency's legal obligation of a balanced budget. The spokesman says final service changes won't be made until after public hearings, and another vote by the MTA's board.

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