MTA Starts Slashing Jobs

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced last week that it will begin cutting more than 1,000 jobs to help deal with its deteriorating fiscal situation. The agency plans to cut 15% of its administrative positions — more than 600 jobs — and up to 500 subway station agents.

The administrative layoffs were announced in December as part of a package to close a $383 million deficit. Falling revenue projections of dedicated taxes collected by the state on behalf of the MTA have resulted in an additional $378 million projected deficit in 2010.

The 500 station agent positions had previously been slated for elimination through attrition, but the MTA said the fiscal situation required quicker action.

“The state’s economic crisis demands that the MTA move quickly and decisively to cut costs, and that is exactly what we are doing,” MTA chairman and chief operating officer Jay Walder said in a press release.

The darkening revenue picture led the MTA to cut subsidies for school children who use New York City transit for free. The cuts won’t begin to take effect until fall. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Westchester, criticized the cuts last week and called for the Assembly to enact legislation that would cut $14 million from the MTA’s administrative expenditures and require the money be used to fund student fares.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Transportation industry
MORE FROM BOND BUYER