Tuesday, January 12, 2010

MTA's Bus Cuts Will Hit Bay Ridge Seniors Especially Hard

Did you know that there are so many seniors in Bay Ridge it is a "Naturally Occurring Retirement Community" (NORC)? About 43 percent of households there are headed by people over 60, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

The sad part of this is that Bay Ridge is one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the MTA's "Doomsday" budget cuts. One of the many bus lines the city plans to cut is the heavily-used Third Avenue B37 bus. The MTA also proposes eliminating all weekend service on the B4 between Bay Ridge and Sheepshead Bay, the B16 between Bay Ridge and Kensington, and the X27 and X28 Manhattan express buses. (See here for the full story.)

Seniors in Bay Ridge are upset and worried. The MTA is acting like bus lines in place since the 1940s (like the B37) are suddenly a luxury, not a necessity.

Can it be that New York City can no longer afford the basic services -- transportation, education, sanitation -- that has made it work as a city all these years? What's next -- rolling brownouts?

- Bus Cuts: Manhattan Riders Yelling Louder
- Crucial Brooklyn Bus Routes Face the Ax

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

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