MTA Bus and Subway Cutbacks Pose Disproportionate Hardship for Downtown NEW

Bus and subway cuts approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board today could have a particularly harsh impact on Lower Manhattan. Since 9/11, Downtown has mounted a powerful resurgence, based in no small part on the expectation of convenient, dependable and rider-friendly public transit. Today’s cuts—subject to a round of public hearings and another board vote—could seriously undermine that expectation. Ninety percent of the people who work in Lower Manhattan take public transportation or walk to the office.

Elimination of the W and Z subway lines would cause a major hardship for Downtown workers and residents. So would other cuts under discussion—such as elimination of M6 weekday bus service and elimination of M1 and M22 overnight service. The cuts would also hurt retailers, restaurateurs and other Downtown destinations by making it harder for visitors to get here.

Lower Manhattan in recent years has reinvented itself as a model 21st century neighborhood—a high-density, round-the-clock, mixed-use community of 311,000 workers, 54,000 residents and more than 5 million annual tourists. The cutbacks could do disproportionate harm to the city’s fastest-growing residential neighborhood and the
nation’s fourth-largest business district.