MTA Studies Citywide Cuts in Subway Lines, Stations

By Margaret Gordy More than 170,000 Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx residents would lose their subway service under Transit Authority proposals to cut 45 miles of city track and 79 stations. The proposed service cuts, submitted for study by the TA's parent Metropolitan Transportation Authority, are preliminary, and based solely on low ridership. They may never be adopted when other factors such as the impact on passengers, the environment and the economy are considered, said MTA spokesman Arthur Perfall. But riders' advocates such as The Straphangers Campaign, the Committee for Better Transit and City Councilwoman Carol Greitzer (D, L- Manhattan) said they were furious. They charged the proposed service cuts were kept secret while the MTA finished the first third of its three-year Strategic Planning Initiative. And, they said the plan may only be a costly political ploy. "I think the MTA shot itself in the foot by weighting the study in favor of service cuts they never wanted," Straphangers leader Gene Russianoff said yesterday. "It's a stupid and inept campaign to get more money out of the State Legislature, by threatening to close lines unless they get more funding," he claimed. "But it has backfired, by giving transit opponents the ammunition they need to say, 'Instead of giving the MTA more money, why don't we close down more lines.' The areas targeted to be closed serve only 5 percent of the city's 3.5 million average daily ridership. But MTA officials and transit advocates agree that the figure would be much higher if the lines, almost all located in low-income neighborhoods, were in better condition. Robert Angelone, 29, is typical of those who has left the subways. He pays $15 each weekday in express bus and taxi fares so he can avoid taking the train from his home in Rockaway Beach to his Parks Department job on West 81st Street in Manhattan. Yet Angelone said he would be "very upset" if the MTA adopts one of the proposals - to abandon the decrepit line from the Rockaways to Howard Beach. *That subway line is our only 24- hour link to the rest of Cans County - to the rest of the city,' Angelone said. "They shouldn't abandon it, should improve it. I'd much rather spend $2 a day to commute than $15, but I can't afford to spend three hours each way on the train." MTA chairman Robert Kiley outlined the proposed cuts to transit advocate groups on April 8, Perfall said. There are 11 targeted areas: portions of the A, F and N lines and the entire Franklin shuttle in Brooklyn; parts of the J and M lines in Brooklyn and Queens, and sections of the IRT Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 lines in the Bronx. The lines, which run through neighborhoods with declining populations, have a combined average weekday ridership of 170,000. The most vulnerable target, the Franklin Avenue shuttle in Brooklyn, needs expensive repairs, but has a weekday ridership of only 1,232, according to TA studies. *This is very inefficient, when you consider that our most heavily used line [the E and F, along Queens Boulevard] carries almost 210,000 people," -Continued on Page 27 MTA Studies Citywide Cuts In Subway Lines, Stations 241st Street 242nd Dyre Street Woodlawn Avenue 2 215th 1 Street BRONX E.180th Street ! 161st Street The Proposed Transit Subway Authority's® Cutbacks 1. IRT No. 1 line, from 215th, Manhattan, to 242nd Streets, Bronx. 2. IRT No. 2 line, from East 180th to 241st Streets, Bronx. 3. IRT No. 4 line, 161st St (Yankee Stadium) to Woodlawn Avenue, Bronx. MANHATTAN 4. IRT No. 5 line, from East 180th Street to Dyre Avenue, Bronx. 5. IND A line, from Howard Beach to the Rockaways, Queens. 6. BMT J line, from Crescent Street to 121st Street, Queens. 7. BMT M line, from Myrtle Avenue to Metropolitan Avenue, Queens. 8. BMT GG line, from Hoyt Street to Queens Plaza, Queens. 9. IND F line, from Kings Highway to West 8th Street, Brooklyn. Queens 10. BMT N line, trom 59th Street to Stillwell Avenue, Brooklyn. Plaza 11. IND Franklin Avenue shuttle from Prospect Park to Franklin E Avenue, Brooklyn. East Avenue Metropolitan QUEENS 121st 8 6 Street Myrtle Avenue Crescent Street Hoyt Franklin Street Avenue Howard Beach 11 Park Prospect 5 (Rockaway 59th Rockaway Line) Far Street BROOKLYN Jamaica flay Kings Highway Rockaway Gravesand Park Atta tic Bay O. can Coney Island- West 8th Stillwell Avenue Street Newsday / Phip Dionisio