Student MetroCards the main issue at MTA hearing, Upper West Siders affected by MTA budget cuts too

The M10 bus, one of many routes that are either being shortened or completely eliminated by the MTA

Plenty of angry, fed-up Manhattanites made their voices heard March 4 at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s public hearing on its proposed fare hikes and service cuts.

The main issue of the hearing, which took place at the Haft Auditorium at the Fashion Institute of Technology, was the cuts to student MetroCards, which benefit more than 550,000 students, according to the Straphangers Campaign.

“It’s easier to go after the students than to go after the politicians,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, as he spoke at the hearing to the MTA board, suggesting that rather than completely cutting student MetroCards, that the MTA seek more funding from the city and state, which footed the entire bill for student transportation passes until 1995.

The hearing was packed with students who were there to plead with the MTA to keep the free and half-fare MetroCards. Many students said they simply would not be able to afford the added $890-per-year cost projected by the Straphangers Campaign that they would have to pay for full-fare MetroCards.

“Some of us are going to have to choose between eating and going to school,” said one frustrated student, who gave a passionate speech as all 13 MTA board members present at the hearing looked on, with noticeably expressionless faces.

Another student, who spoke on behalf of Bronx youth leadership group Sistas and Brothas United, invited MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder to a special meeting with students on March 17 to discuss the student MetroCard cuts. Walder agreed to join them, after the auditorium filled with chants of “ANSWER! ANSWER! ANSWER!

State Senator Bill Perkins, who represents the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights and Harlem, also spoke at the meeting, holding up his monthly MetroCard and declaring himself a regular subway and bus rider.

“These cuts do not represent the best of New York’s values,” said Perkins.

The cuts to student MetroCards and to subway and bus service are all part of an effort by the MTA to close a budget gap of more than $750 million. Many of these subway and bus cuts affect the Upper West Side. The 1 train will see reduced service during weekends, middays and evenings, leading to more crowded trains. Overnight service on the M66 bus will be eliminated. The Broadway M104 bus will be shortened, ending at Times Square. The Central Park West M10 bus will also be shortened, ending at Columbus Circle.

While a few of these cuts will no doubt have an effect on how Upper West Siders commute, others aren’t feeling too angry about them and are finding ways around them.

“There’s plenty of buses going downtown—the 10, the 20, the 104, the 6 and the 7,” said Upper West Sider Simona Smith, as she waited for the M10 at Columbus Circle. “There’s the subway, too.”