The Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman tried on Friday to scare lawmakers straight with a train wreck scenario of what to expect if the legislature fails to support a bailout for the beleaguered authority by March 25.
Speaking at an emergency meeting, MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger warned lawmakers of skyrocketing fares, massive service cuts and 1,100 jobs that hang in the balance because of the MTAs fiscal weaknesses, according to reports.
"The situation is dire," he said, according to The Daily News.
"This is big stuff, and I think the Legislature's concentrating on other things. They don't really understand what's at stake," the New York Times reported Hemmerdinger also said.
Hemmerdinger urged lawmakers to approve the plan -- recommended by former authority chairman Richard Ravitch -- that has the support of Gov. David A. Paterson and Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
That plan would charge tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges, tax payrolls in New York counties that receive MTA services, and raise fares by nearly eight percent, according to reports.
But if the legislature derailed the Ravitch plan -- and the Times points out that is quite possible because Democrats in Albany hold a slight 32-to-30 majority with opposition to the bailout on both sides of the aisle -- Hemmerdinger said the fallout would be severe.
Local
Bus routes would disappear, single-ride fares would rise to $3 from $2, unlimited rides would go up to $103 from $81, and trains would come less frequently and be more crowded to boot, he said.
"When their people don't have service, when they have to wait longer for their trains, or they don't come, it's the legislators who are going to get that call," Hemmerdinger said, the News reported.
He urged passage within the next couple weeks. But a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith dismissed the rush.
"Our members appreciate the severity of the MTA's budget shortfall, and our conference will work to address that issue while protecting taxpayers and straphangers," Austin Shafran, Smith's spokesman, told the News.
