The MTA revealed yesterday a sweeping overhaul of its money-saving service cuts — sparing thousands of bus riders who would have been stranded under the original plan while killing off an entire subway line in Brooklyn and further crowding already packed trains.
Nearly 4 million riders will be affected by the changes in a variety of ways, from an extra-minute wait to the total loss of nearby service.
The biggest changes include eliminating the M line and replacing its Brooklyn and Queens leg with the V, stopping weekday service on eight express buses and revamping bus service in Park Slope.
MTA’S PROPOSED SERVICE CHANGES
Scrapping the M means that line will no longer provide service in lower Manhattan and in south Brooklyn.
After a series of public hearings in March, the changes will go into effect in spring.
Agency officials hope to close nearly $78 million of a $400 million budget gap with the cuts package, which is a drastic revision of the previous “doomsday” plan.
No bus rider — besides those in eastern Queens and Staten Island — will have to walk more than a quarter mile to get service, which wasn’t the case under the original plan.
Transit brass said bus riders affected by the changes were reduced from 300,000 daily to 200,000. MTA chief Jay Walder called the actions “painful,” even though he tried to “limit the impact on customers.”
Several neighborhoods abandoned in the old plan — like Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, Harlem along St. Nicholas Park, and Country Club in The Bronx — are getting rescued after residents made their plight known during public hearings.
Instead of fully cutting the M10, which runs from Harlem to Penn Station, it will instead end at Columbus Circle, where riders can transfer to other buses.
“I was surprised when I heard that they were going to cut this line. Why was that even a thought? The people running the MTA act like they’re crazy sometimes,” said Mary O’Simmons, 75, who has been riding the line for 45 years.
Similar bus extensions and reroutes have been made across the system to cover the ground of eliminated routes.
Subway riders are being hit especially hard. About 3.6 million riders will be affected in some way every day, up from 3.2 million in the old plan.
Replacing the M with the V will result in more crammed cars because V trains are shorter, said Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign.
The W subway line will still be shuttered, replaced by extending the Q in Astoria and running the N local along Broadway. The Z, which was scheduled for elimination, will remain.
Riders on nearly every “letter” subway line will have to wait longer for trains — especially on the weekends– by about two minutes.
The 7 and 1 lines will also see longer waits on weekends and midday.
RIDE AND WRONG
Major revisions to a slew of MTA service cuts include:
* Shuttering the M and replacing its Brooklyn and Queens leg with the V, which eliminates the M stops in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
* Massive bus revisions in Park Slope, with six bus lines either being eliminated or extended.
* Saving the Harlem portion of the M10
* Eliminating eight weekday express buses
* Restoring some overnight bus service in Manhattan, like the M96 and M79
Additional reporting by Shari Logan