Private Bus Companies Will Air Concerns at MTA Meeting
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It’s been two years since Mayor Bloomberg proposed that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority take control of seven private bus lines serving 400,000 riders in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.
To hear the bus companies tell it, an upcoming December 4 deadline to transfer control isn’t realistic and a delay is needed for continuing negotiations over the terms. The companies have a chance to make their case at a hearing today in Queens that will cover a wide range of issues relating to the MTA’s $27.6 billion, five-year capital spending plan, which was approved by the MTA board last month.
A Democratic assemblyman from Westchester, Richard Brodsky, is holding the Kew Gardens session, the second of five public hearings – one in each borough – on the budget proposal. The bus issue, which primarily affects Queens residents, is expected to take center stage, as city and state officials, community leaders, and the bus companies make their concerns known.
“We want to get people aware of the MTA’s plans,” Mr. Brodsky said. “In their hearings, there’s no back and forth with the public. This is a chance to get that.”
An MTA spokesman, Tom Kelly, said negotiations with the private bus companies are the responsibility of the city’s budget office. He dismissed Mr. Brodsky’s contention that the transportation authority has been less than transparent in its dealings with the public. The MTA’s executive director, Katherine Lapp, will answer questions at the hearing, and the MTA has been cooperating, Mr. Kelly said.
Supporters of the bus takeover plan said the estimated operating expenses for the private companies are inflated, the equipment is antiquated, and the MTA could do a better job. Opponents claim the proposal will render service less responsive to local needs. In addition, they wonder how eager state law makers will be each year to replace the $110 million city subsidy that the private bus companies currently receive.
Meanwhile, the bus companies have been locked in intense negotiations with the city over what will happen to their non-unionized workers and the sale of their physical assets. Today they plan to make the case that the deadline for the takeover – already delayed once in July – should again be delayed.
“They are basically suggesting putting companies out of business,” a spokesman for the Transit Alliance, which represents four of the seven private bus lines, said.
“The city and the MTA have been trying to do this for years. It’s been over a month since we have had any contact with the city,” the spokesman, Jamie Van Bramer, said.
Mr. Brodsky said he expects to receive answers to questions raised at the last hearing, clearing up the issue of who will be affected by a proposal to change the buses’ fare structure.