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State Senate Passes Bill to Stop MTA Layoffs, Citing Safety Risk

By DNAinfo Staff on June 30, 2010 7:42pm

A token booth at the Prince Street station on May 13.
A token booth at the Prince Street station on May 13.
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Flickr/Tim Faracy of Bklyn

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Subway station agents have been given a temporary reprieve from the MTA's budget ax.

The State Senate passed a bill Tuesday that bars the MTA from laying off additional subway token booth agents and conductors, despite the MTA's objections, the Daily News reported.

The bill says that the workers play a crucial role in deterring crime and that leaving stations unattended puts the public at risk.

"The threat of terrorist attacks in New York City demands that the New York City Transit Authority make every effort to ensure the security and safety of its passengers," the bill reads. "To do less not only endangers the safety and lives of passengers using mass transit facilities, but encourages our enemies to exploit a perceived 'weak link' in our security defenses."

The cash-strapped MTA laid off more than 250 agents in May in an effort to effort to close an $800 million budget gap —  a move a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled illegal.

The authority has since fought any attempts to stop more layoffs, warning it will cost them more that $80 million over four years, the News said.

"Decisions about transit operations are best made as the result of thorough managerial analysis and review, not mandated by statute or advisory panels," the authority said in a memo obtained by the paper.

But Graham Parker, spokesman for Brooklyn State Sen. Martin Malavé Dilan, who sponsored the bill, said the legislature has no interest in managing the MTA.

"Yes we have to save money," he said. "But the cost could be more than saving $20 or 30 million off the cost of operations. It could be a human cost as well."

The bill, which still needs to be passed by the Assembly and signed by the governor before it becomes law, would also create a city transit authority safety advisory panel to study how to best protect riders from terrorist threats.

The moratorium is slated to last for three years, when the panel is scheduled to present its recommendations.