Straphangers have taken this ride before.
Gov. Cuomo yesterday slashed $165 million from an MTA tax-revenue stream — the same one that received a similar cut last year and led to the worst service cuts in three decades.
After last summer’s cut, the W and V lines vanished and the bus map was redrawn, with severe impacts on Park Slope, lower Manhattan and Harlem.
The 30-year-old account that Cuomo drew from — which funds the MTA through taxes on petroleum businesses, phone lines and other franchisees — dumps nearly $1.4 billion into the transit agency’s coffers each year.
Cuomo is actually proposing an increase of $43 million for the MTA’s operating budget — but the hit on the agency’s share of dedicated tax revenues would mean a net loss of more than $100 million.
Top MTA brass swear they won’t let riders feel the impact of the cut.
“We must fill this gap, and we will fill it without resorting to fare and toll increases or service cuts,” the agency said in a statement.
Instead, officials will look to ax unnecessary programs, score labor givebacks and, perhaps, lay off workers — measures the MTA took last year to trim $500 million from its budget.
“We are hopeful that this year, we can work with our labor unions to find productivity improvements that protect jobs even as we reduce costs,” the statement said.
The Straphangers Campaign said it would make sure riders get “safe, reliable, well-maintained, secure and clean service.”