Seeing Politics in Proposal to Cut Student Transit Subsidy - NYTimes.com

Seeing Politics in Proposal to Cut Student Transit Subsidy - NYTimes.com

Seeing Politics in Plan to Cut Student Transit Aid

It was the question on the lips of many New York politicians on Tuesday, but Gov. David A. Paterson may have phrased it best: “Who wants to take MetroCards away from kids?

The culprit, it appeared, would be theMetropolitan Transportation Authority, which is expected to approve an austere budget on Wednesday that would, amid other significant cuts, phase out the free bus and subway rides considered a basic right for half a million students who commute to school in the city. Authority officials say that such a cut would come to save the agency about $170 million a year.

But amid the outrage, some transit advocates acknowledged that proposing a cut that would hit riders on an emotional level may be the best chance for the cash-strapped agency, which is facing a nearly $400 million budget shortfall, to eke out additional money from the political powers that often hold it at bay. “Of all the issues that they put on the table, this is the one that may demand that the city and state intervene,” said Neysa C. Pranger, a spokeswoman for the Regional Plan Association, a transportation advocacy group.