Months before the MTA implements widespread transit cuts, the cash-strapped agency has been staffing fewer back-up drivers and reducing bus service as a way to save money, according to union officials and bus drivers. For the past two months, the agency has been cutting costs by lowering the number of subs available when other drivers call in sick—meaning in some instances there aren't enough drivers to complete all of the scheduled bus trips, amNY reports.
Due to the reduced staffing, the agency has nixed up to 15 trips a day from at least seven Brooklyn bus depots. It has also made cuts to cross-town buses in Manhattan that have forced commuters to wait an additional 20 minutes. "If they cut it any more, it's useless. It's just faster to walk as it is," said Billie Swarztrauber, 61, who told the free paper he waited 25 minutes before the crosstown M23 arrived.
Transit officials could not confirm the service reductions—though the agency has been trying to cut back on overtime pay (drivers who put in extra time as subs earn an average of $42 per hour). But insiders say the policy is already in place. "If your bus doesn't show up, that's a service cut," said William Henderson, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA.
