A day of rage is planned around the city as dozens of commuters planned to protest the MTA's latest round of "doomsday" service cuts.
The MTA Board voted unanimously last month to pass a budget plan laced with massive service cuts. Free and discounted student MetroCards, which currently benefit more than half a million students, would also be cut under the new plan.
New Yorkers won't stand for it.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, along with council members, students and leading transportation, student, senior and paratransit advocates, rallied against the cuts, which would mean the end of the line for the W and Z trains, in Manhattan Tuesday morning.
Another rally was scheduled in Harlem. Protests against the service reductions were also being held in Queens, where City Councilman Peter Vallone and commuters in Astoria protested MTA cutbacks, particularly the elimination of the W line, outside the Ditmars Boulevard station.
The MTA budget hopes to close the gap on a $383 million shortfall that unexpectedly cropped up late last year as a result of lower than expected tax revenues and a court decision that gave transit union workers an 11.5 percent hike over three years.
In addition to the elimination of the W and Z lines, the MTA would get rid of 21 local bus routes. People with disabilities would be affected by cuts to the Access-A-Ride program.
The Council is launching a petition drive as a way for New Yorkers to voice their concerns about the cuts and the negative impact they will have on their daily lives.
