While politicians mouth sound-bites about the "middle-class" Governor Paterson & Mayor Bloomberg are putting the bite on all of us. Their alter ego, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is preparing for fare increases and service cutbacks.

No community is not affected and every one is trying to save his or her favorite bus line or subway stop from oblivion. Review the current MTA proposal . Consider coming to the public hearings the first of which is Wednesday night.

MTA Hearing This Wednesday Wed Jan 14 6 pm-9 pm Hilton NY, Trianon Ballroom (Third floor)1335 Ave of the Americas (between 53-54 Streets), Manhattan Subways: E,V to 5 Av/53 St, or B,D,F,V to to 47-50th St/Rockefeller Ctr. Buses: M5, M6, M7 Registration to speak: open till 9 pm at hearing. Limit 3 minutes per speaker.
You can register to speak in advance, or comment in writing: contact Douglas Sussman, Director of MTA Community Affairs, 347 Madison Ave, NY, NY 10017, 212-878-7483.

Other hearings are scheduled click here.

One of the more self-defeating parts of this charade -- thank you David Paterson, Michael Bloomberg -- is the opportunity for each adversely affected community to fight to prevent it's favorite service from getting the axe.  read more »

The MTA is doing a "rider survey" along the #7 line. The survey is, of course, garbage, but as long as it comes in a "Business Reply Mail" fold-over card, they're going to get my opinion, whether they really want it or not.

I enclosed the following letter. Feel free to write your own when you get your "survey."

Mr. Lawrence G. Reuter
President
MTA New York City Transit
370 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201-5190

Dear Mr. Reuter:

Whenever anyone asks for my opinion, but doesn’t appear to want my real opinion, they do a “survey.” Invariably and inevitably, the survey doesn’t ask the questions that need to be answered; it’s a function of the necessity of compiling the results into a manageable database. This letter certainly won’t go into a database, but I hope it will give you a better idea of the real problems along the #7 subway line.

First of all, not everyone rides the subway during rush hours. The survey should be just as easily available to those of us who avoid the rush hour like the plague.  read more »