Councilmember Bill de Blasio emailed me the following statement about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which will cut projects including 19 subway station renovations. According to de Balsio, the cuts will hit Brooklyn hardest. 15 of the 19 station renovations that will be cut are in Brooklyn: 10 on the D line, 4 on the N line, and 1 (Smith and Ninth Street) on the G and F lines.

“Brooklyn deserves its fair share of transit improvements. How is it that we have millions of dollars to fund major projects like the Second Avenue subway, but can’t find the money to fund Brooklyn’s station renovations? The MTA is talking about raising fares again, but have failed to deliver on their promise of regular, on-time service and stations and platforms that are in decent condition. When the fares went up last March they told us we’d be getting these improvements. The bait and switch game must end. Brooklyn deserves better.”
The current $23.7 billion plan includes spending for new buses and train cars, and major projects like the Second Avenue subway. If the agency raises fares in 2009, it would be only the second time in the 104-year history of the subways that there would be back-to-back fare hikes. The last and only time it happened was in 1980 and 1981.

In December 2007, Councilmember de Blasio proposed a Bill of Rights for all of New York City’s subway riders. The Subway Riders’ Bill of Rights include regular, on-time service provided on trains and platforms that are kept safe and clean, working public address systems in all stations, and immediate and real-time notification of service changes and advisories with accurate information on alternative means of transportation in situations where service is interrupted.