The service reductions will save $93 million a year. It's part of an effort to dig out of a more than $400 million budget shortfall.
Under the plan, the W train from Brooklyn to Queens will be eliminated, and the M line will no longer run in Lower Manhattan and southern Brooklyn.
Thirty-four bus routes, including 13 express routes, will be eliminated throughout the city. Several other lines will be rerouted or shrunk.
Discounted fares for students would also be eliminated, but that proposal was not considered by the board Wednesday.
MTA chairman Jay Walder said the cuts were painful and tough, but they had to be done. He also cautioned the board had more work to do because it is facing an additional $400 million shortfall.
"That is one heck of a hill still to climb," he said at the hearing.
The MTA put out a 117 page booklet detailing the revised services and also explaining why the cash-strapped agency needs to make the reductions.
Before the $93 million worth of service cuts were voted on, the MTA board listened to 23 speakers, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn among them.
"The bottom line is that this is truly a sad and disappointing day for the straphangers of New York City," she said.
Speakers complained that the service cuts would mean longer waits and more crowding on subways and buses, without really putting much of a dent in the $750 million budget gap.
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer
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