![]() Hochul has not embraced the legislature’s plan, and it’s unclear if any portion of it will be in the final budget due April 1. The proposal would also freeze fares where they are now and not allow a hike. “You understand my message is, has to be, and will continue to be, we must deal with the deficit that has opened up before start - we need to bake the cake before we go for the double extra frosting, right,” Lieber said at a hearing about it earlier this month. When asked for comment, a spokesperson for MTA CEO Janno Lieber issued a statement that did not address NY1’s question about free bus service. This is on the of many approaches we must take to get people back on the buses, back on the train.” And we have a ridership struggling to recover post pandemic. “And the root cause, frankly, is that we are over dependent on fare box revenue. “I think a lot of this comes back to the question of what is the root cause of this deficit,” said Democratic Assemblymember Zorhan Mamdani of Queens. Heads at NYC Transit went so far as to contact private bus companies to talk about providing trips to work for. Members of highlight pilot program for free bus routes in their one-house budgets /quw8RKwaVC The plan reduced the number of daily scheduled train and bus trips by roughly 25. If the MTA provides great service, the revenue and the service will follow.” “The focus is not on the revenue but in the service. So, no matter what we do, they have a revenue problem,” said Democratic Sen. It’s also unclear where the revenue would come from to fully implement free bus service and more frequent trains citywide. The $50 million pilot program proposed by the legislature would create two free bus routes in each of the five boroughs.īut the MTA currently has a $1.3 billion gap. Why not try it in the biggest transit system in the country?” “We’ve seen other cities try this as well. We should have every single idea on the table for consideration as we are trying to get riders back into the system,” says Democratic Sen. The MTA leadership has also expressed reservations about the plan’s viability, given its deficit.Kathy Hochul has yet to sign off on the plan Both the state Senate and Assembly are calling for a free bus service pilot program in the state budget.
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