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Mostly Cloudy MTA approves service cuts
Two Rockville Centre bus routes, LIRR Babylon branch trains affected
Two local bus routes — the N14 Rockville Centre Loop and the N17 Hempstead to Rockville Centre Long Island Rail Road train station— and some trains on the Long Island Rail Road’s Babylon branch — will experience service cuts that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board made official in a March 24 vote.
Under changes the board approved, service on the N14 will be eliminated during the midday period from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m.but kept for peak morning and evening rush hours; and all service on the N17 will be discontinued
Board members approved a plan that calls for the elimination of weekend service on the West Hempstead branch of the LIRR and scaled-back service throughout its Long Island Bus operation.
According to the MTA, proposals were approved or modified with commuter input in mind: The board said it heard more than 500 people at its nine public hearings, and received 7,100 e-mails and 110,000 letters and signed petitions.
"The extent of our deficit requires that most of the cuts move ahead, but we listened to our customers and made changes where we could," MTA Chairman and CEO Jay Walder said in a statement. "We were able to take a number of cuts off the table, but, unfortunately, many of the cuts moving ahead will be painful."
To fill a nearly $800 million budget shortfall for 2010, the MTA proposed major cuts across the board that will include laying off personnel, consolidating functions, reducing overtime costs and wiping out some services. The service reductions will save $93 million a year, according to the MTA.
Other changes included the elimination of a number of trains on the LIRR's Babylon and Long Beach branches. Two of Babylon's eastbound rush-hour trains were combined, while the Long Beach branch lost its 6:09 a.m. westbound train and its 5:40 p.m. eastbound train departing from the Atlantic Terminal. According to MTA projections, the agency will save about $1.58 million by implementing these changes on the three branches, which will affect about 2,230 daily riders.
