Local Brooklyn Officials Hold Protest Rally

This past Monday, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined Councilman Bill de Blasio & other community leaders at a protest rally. The rally was to protest the possible elimination of some bus & subway routes. The Brooklyn Eagle has more in this report:

Monday, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilman Bill de Blasio and community members held a rally here to protest the MTA’s recent proposal to eliminate numerous subway and bus lines serving Brooklyn.

The rally was held at the B75 bus stop on Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street in Park Slope – one of the routes for which the authority is proposing to cut weekday and weekend service. The bus stop is a block away from the F train’s Fourth Avenue-Ninth Street station.

Elected leaders also called on the Ravitch Commission to recommend reinstating the commuter tax, rather than placing tolls on the East River bridges.

“The solution to the MTA’s financial crisis is not nickel-and-diming the working families who depend on the subway and bus system to get to work everyday. We must look toward creative solutions, like reinstating the Commuter Tax, that will not disproportionately burden outer-borough New Yorkers,” said de Blasio.

To address its mounting financial troubles, the MTA recently announced a proposal to eliminate and/or truncate 26 bus and numerous subway lines. Among the services to be eliminated that impact Brooklyn riders are G train service north of Court House Square, rush-hour M train service to Brooklyn and weekend service on the X27 and X28 express bus lines.

The MTA also proposed instating drastic fare hikes for all subway and bus rides, including raising the base subway and bus fare to $2.50.

Click here for the complete report.

I can understand the frustration of Brooklyn riders as no one wants to lose service. I do not have specific information at my current disposal in terms of ridership #’s on these routes. If they happen to be low, would it really be a loss to cutback or eliminate service? While I want to see all measures considered before service cuts, if it comes down to it I can’t see why low ridership routes should not be scaled back or eliminated.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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