By Sasha Gonzales and Kevin Deutsch
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Subways and buses could see a whopping 40 percent cut to service without billions in new federal stimulus funds, the head of the MTA said this week
At the authority’s board meeting on Wednesday, Chairman Patrick Foye said $12 billion in stimulus funds must be delivered if his agency is to avoid implementing “draconian measures,” including the citywide service cuts.
”The survivial of the MTA … lies squarely in the hands of the federal government,” said Foye, who warned that waiting times between trains could lengthen by eight minutes, while the wait between buses could increase up to 15 minutes.
Without the federal funds, a four percent fare increase planned for trains and buses in 2021 could increase to five percent, Foye said.
Ridership has plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the MTA losing about $200 million dollars a week, the chairman said.
An initial stimulus payment of $3.8 billion from the feds to the MTA ran out last month, according to the MTA, with Foye characterizing the current state of affairs as “the worst financial crisis in MTA history.”
Congress has yet to agree on the terms of a new stimulus package.