Photos and Story ByGeoffrey Walter

"We don't want to do this," MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger told customers. "Every hearing we've been to we have heard the same thing: don't do this to me. We don't have a choice." The Garden City Hotel was a hub of transportation activity last Wednesday night for one of eight scheduled hearings by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board on proposed fare, toll and service changes across the system. Cars and MTA buses carrying disabled riders crowded the luxury hotel's valet parking lanes across from the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) station and even more riders - many of them disabled - filled the Grand Ballroom to protest paying more for less service. The MTA is facing an estimated $1.2 billion deficit in 2009 and is arguing the only way to close the gap is to both raise fares and tolls and reduce service. Fares and toll increases could increase as much as 29-percent, with benefits for subway riders being eliminated unbder the worst-case scenario. Also among the cuts are booth attendants at many LIRR ticket houses.

The MTA has several proposals for raising the $1.2 billion. The componen,t which directly affects Long Island commuters via the LIRR fares and bridge and tunnel tolls is as follows: a one-way ticket to Penn Station from Zone Four - which includes New Hyde Park - currently costs $8.50 during peak hours ($17 for round trip). The proposal calls for the prices of those tickets to increase to $10.75 and $21.50 respectively. Toll hikes on the bridges and tunnels are also expected, raising the current one-way toll for cars on the Triboro, Bronx-Whitestone, and Throgs Neck Bridges, and the Brooklyn Battery and Queens Midtown Tunnels to go from five dollars one-way ($4.15 for those with EZ Pass) to $6.50 ($5.26 for EZ Pass). Other proposals before the State Legislature, which will make a recommendation to the MTA - include tolling bridges on the Hudson river, much to the chagrin of New Jersey commuters.

"We can use some of that $202 million slated for the Third Track for these improvements," Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri told the MTA Board. "There is no sense in nesting those moneys away for a shelved project when there are such urgent needs today." The Ravitch Commission, the 13-member commission created by Gov. David Patterson (D) to recommend MTA funding sources, proposes only an eight percent hike in LIRR fares, with one-way peak fares from Zone 4 going up 75 cents, the price of a one-way off-peak ticket being raised 50 cents, and the price of a monthly ticket going to $201 from $185.

Able-Ride "does not do an adequate job in enabling the people who schedule the rides to see to it that the fleet is utilized to its best ability," Don Barbieri said. "There shouldn't be one person on a bus when you're coming to an event like this." "The inefficiencies that have resulted in a $1.2 billion deficit could have only happened in a subsidized environment," Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri seethed as he stood before the Board. "We can use some of that $202 million slated for the Third Track for these improvements. There is no sense in nesting those monies away for a shelved project when there are such urgent needs today." While the agency did sport a surplus in 2005, MTA Board member Allen Cappelli stated that the current deficit was the result of the housing market collapse, the subsequent loss in property tax revenues, and the decline of State subsidies which have been allocated elsewhere "to underwrite the cost of the system." He even went so far as to ask local governments to join with the MTA in petitioning State officials to "substitute a tax or a service fee or a surcharge... that can put these institutions on a better financial footing so that we don't have to come back here and propose cuts."

"MTA is an acronym for 'Metropolitan Transportation Authority'," Hempstead Town Council member Edward Ambrosino said. "It does not stand for 'Money to Albany'."

Floral Park Village Trustee James Rhatigan hinted at eliminating the "inequity" between the off-peak and peak charges on trains that operate during the same hours, yet travel in opposite directions. "Your commuters who are traveling into Manhattan from Nassau and Suffolk Counties in the morning and then returning in the evening are subsidizing those that might be going in the opposite direction. It's a 36-percent premium for a one-way peak traveler over an off-peak traveler in the other direction." Rhatigan also asked the MTA Board to reconsider eliminating service to the Belmont racetrack, saying that it sends a bad signal to the community and the NY Racing Authority. According to the MTA, only 100 customers use the service each way daily, and those displaced can use provided bus services.

One of the most severely impacted lines would be the West Hempstead branch, which will have all of its weekend trains eliminated under the proposal. Ambrosino detailed the 15-year long campaign the Town undertook with a developer over the Courtesy Hotel for a Transit Oriented Development (TOD). "We need the LIRR as a vein to that development," he said of the four-story apartment complex christened the Alexan. "The West Hempstead train station is vital and integral to our redevelopment of that area."

"At a time when the County and the Town is moving towards TOD to encourage people to reside, the encourage special zoning along the railroad to enable people to move into and out of the city and across the County, this is really not the time to be cutting those areas along the railroads that would lend to the lifeblood of our economy, the economy of NYC, the economy of NY State," said Nassau Legislator Vincent Muscarella (R). "I implore you... dig deep, look for other ways rather than to balance the MTA budget on the backs of (riders)."

Under the worst-case scenario, Long Island Bus fares would rise to $3.50 a ride, and a "step up" charge would be put on transfers from NYC Transit and MTA buss. Unlimited ride Metrocards would not be accepted and the age for reduced fare discounts would be raised from 60 to 65. Once again, the Ravitch Commission is recommending only an eight percent hike in fares. But the steepest increase would be for the disable who make use of Able-Ride services. Their fare per ride would double from $3.50 to seven dollars.

"Many disabled individuals are living on the social security disability check which might range from $700- $1,200 a month and they're trying to pay for room, board, etc. The increase... would be onerous and be quite problematic to this group of people," New Hyde Park Trustee Donald Barbieri said before the meeting. According to figures released last month from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of disabled people number 54.4 million, or one of every five Americans. Also there representing the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Barbieri pointed out that the software used to route Able-Ride buses is antiquated and was originally designed for Phoenix, AZ. "I would wager that all of us that arrived here tonight using Able-Ride - which I did - came in a separate bus," he said. "It does not do an adequate job in enabling the people who schedule the rides to see to it that the fleet is utilized to its best ability. There shouldn't be one person on a bus when you're coming to an event like this; five of us should have been on the same bus, allowing the other busses to become available to other disabled men and women who have been told that there was no bus available to take them to where they were going."

Another hamper to the disabled is that between the New Hyde Park and Jamaica stations, there are no places to exit the train system. Barbieri urged the Board to make those stations accessible in the future to increase ridership. Just after Barbieri departed the meeting to catch his Able-Ride bus, Trustee Joseph Smith stated that the MTA is "in the midst of" merging software for the Able-Ride and Powertransit services and should be completed "within the next 60 to 90 days."

Twenty LIRR ticket booths are also on the chopping block, categorized as the "least utilized," and raising concerns among riders for the safety provided by a live person as well as help when some senior riders cannot operate the computerized ticket machines. Floral Park Trustee Thomas Tweedy stated that the ticket attendants "should be among the last positions eliminated instead of the first." United Transportation Union (UTU) General Chairman Anthony Simon testified that there are currently 30 manned stations with 25 managers to oversee them. "It appears that the MTA-LIRR is penalizing those communities that have utilized the computerized ticket machines to purchase their tickets and earlier promotions such as Mail & Ride to purchase their monthly tickets," said Tweedy, saying that the Seaford station renovated before the older one at Floral Park, which also needs Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance for its elevators.

Simon pointed out that across the street a ticket clerk was present in the Garden City station to assist customers along with a repair crew sitting in wait "because they didn't want to get embarrassed when the MTA Board is here. That speaks volumes for rideability and the confidence the LIRR manager has for the machines." He later added that the union had made concessions of $400,000 several times to keep the ticket windows open but was rejected. "This means one thing to me, one thing to our customers and my members: budget or no budget problems, these ticket windows you want closed," and vowed to fight for no closings.

The list of stations slated to have window closings are Forest Hills, East New York, Kew Gardens, Oceanside, Nostrand Ave., Little Neck, Bethpage, Hewlett, Lindenhurst, Douglastown, New Hyde Park, Woodmere, Cedarhurst, Floral Park, Rosedale, Massapequa Park, Farmingdale, and Northport. Floral Park is the last manned station on the Hempstead line and Village Trustees point out that it is uniquely situated since it is the Westernmost access to the main line and situated for inter-island travel. If the cuts are made, only terminal stations such as Hempstead, Jamaica, Brooklyn and Penn Station would have manned ticket booths. Sen. Craig Johnson's (D) Chief of Staff Rafe Lieber spoke on behalf of the Port Washington representative, who was in Albany that night and could not be present. Lieber said that the removal of ticket window personnel "fails to take into account the human issues" surrounding the cut, as many older riders are "less familiar with automated machines" which "cannot respond to inquiries or provide anything beyond basic assistance." Lieber also made note of the potential safety issues: "Accidents happen," he said, "and with no official personnel present at these stations, response time will be greatly diminished."

Cuts in service extend the deepest on the West Hempstead branch. Malverne Trustee Michael Bailey argued for "proportionality" as all nine West Hempstead weekend trains are being eliminated while the Port Washington and Manhasset branches will be reduced from 40 to 20 Saturday and Sunday trains. "We don't have much in the way of service as it is today," Bailey said. "There are no cuts to the Metro North stations, there are no cuts to the Huntington stations, the Babylon stations. If there must be a burden, it must be shared."

"This whole process is an (insult) to all of us," MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger said in reference to the Board. "We don't want to do this; we are angry the way you are, we are disappointed the way you are, every hearing we've been to we have heard the same thing: don't do this to me. We don't have a choice. We must balance the budget. We cannot pass a tax. We cannot change a subsidy. We cannot pass a new tax. We're stuck with what we've got."