MTA Passes 2009 Doomsday Budget

NEW YORK (AP)  -- Mass transit officials approved a "doomsday'' 2009 budget that would raise fares while cutting service after a rowdy meeting in which one speaker threatened to throw a shoe at the transit agency's executive director.


Stan Brooks reports.

But Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members said they hoped the state or federal government would pitch in with more aid to forestall the service cuts and fare increases.

"The message is, very clarly, help!'' said MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger. "We've done the best we can. ... Albany, Washington, come to our help.''

Under the budget that the board passed in order to plug a $1.2 billion budget gap, a single bus or subway ride could rise from $2 to $2.50 and a monthly pass could go from $81 to around $100.

Fares would also rise on the suburban Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad by an average of 23 percent.

The board would vote on the increases in March.

Board members approved the budget 13-1 after a raucous public hearing in which speaker after speaker denounced them for the proposed fare hikes and service cuts, which would lead to fewer, more crowded trains and eliminate some bus lines entirely.

Stephen Millies, 54, who identified himself as an Amtrak worker, threatened to throw a shoe at MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander.

``This shoe's for you,'' he said before being escorted from the room and given a summons for disorderly conduct.

Millies was referring to the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush on Sunday. Sander said he did not feel threatened by the would-be shoe tosser.

Board member Norman Seabrook, who cast the lone ``no'' vote on the budget, said the MTA was being forced into the role of bad guy.

``We're the ones who have to pull the trigger on something that makes no sense,'' he said. ``The Assembly, the Senate, the Council, the governor and the mayor need to step up to the plate.''

Other board members said they were voting ``yes'' reluctantly because they are legally obligated to pass a balanced budget.

``As has been reported, I publicly called it draconian, very severe, very harsh and extremely painful,'' Sander said. ``It is all of these things.''

Board members said they hoped state lawmakers would consider the recommendations of the state Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing, released earlier this month, which include bridge tolls and payroll taxes.

More than 8.5 million riders use the MTA's subways, buses and suburban rail lines on an average weekday.

Transit fares have risen three times since 2003, most recently in March.

On the Net: www.mta.info/