LOST IN THE BOROUGHS

The MTA made its big announcement – the boss is Hong Kong bound. As a parting present — or a warning shot to his next venue — Jay H. Walder, who joined the MTA in October 2009, announced his “Making Every Dollar Count” efficiency measures that he says will yield $3.8 billion in savings by 2014.
At the same time, Walder gave a glimpse of 21st century bells and whistles on their way including smart card technology and bus-lane enforcement cameras.
And then the other shoe dropped as the MTA released its 2012 Preliminary Budget and July Financial Plan for 2012-2015 that includes 7.5 percent increases in fares and tolls in both 2013 and 2015. Ouch.
Despite considerable cost-cutting last year, which is expected to produce $3.8 billion in cumulative savings by 2014, the MTA cites the current economic uncertainty as a risk that could derail the plan. The MTA’s budget for 2014 is presently $54 million in the red, and there is a $178 million deficit for 2015.
The fares were last raised on December 30, 2010, when the cost of a single ride grew from $2.25 to $2.50, weekly MetroCards went from $45 to $50 and monthly passes increased from $89 to $104. With fares set to swell again in 2013 and 2015, the MTA is forcing its riders to account for higher transportation costs in their future budgets.
The MTA is trying out a system that tracks where buses are in real time via the Internet or by text message. Smartphone users can also access a mobile web site where they can see the real-time bus locations or send the MTA a text message with a code displayed at bus stops. Riders will receive a message with the next several bus locations.
Our gripe is that maps on the bus kiosks and in the buses themselves are unintelligible and often vandalized beyond readability.
The bus drivers have no copies of the maps with them and the red, green and blue lines that represent over 100 lines that operate throughout Queens look like a board game gone wild.
Our buses make it easy to get lost in our boroughs.