By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — An MTA committee approved a budget that may result in the end of free bus and subway rides for New York City school children, according to published reports.
The MTA Finance Committee approved the agencies scaled-down 2010 budget Monday. The budget plan must be approved by the full MTA board on Wednesday, the Daily News reported.
The $343 million budget deficit was caused by an unexpected decrease in tax revenue and a freeze in budget allotments from the state Legislature this year, according to the MTA.
In order to make up the difference, the money-strapped agency plans to phase out 21 bus lines, the W and Z subway lines and cut the student MetroCard program.
Hundreds of thousands of students use the free student MetroCards to get to school at a cost of $160 million to the city, the News reported.
The agency was dealt a blow Friday when the State Supreme Court ruled it must give pay increases to its workers, upholding the August arbitration decision that allotted transit workers and members of the Transit Workers Union Local 100 a 3-year, 11 percent pay increase, according to the New York Post.
"We are extremely disappointed by this decision, which will force the MTA to pay wage increases that are inconsistent with the economic crisis in New York,” the MTA said in a statement Saturday.
The agency had petitioned the court to set aside that money because of their financial woes, the New York Times reported.
The MTA won't be getting any budget help from the state. Gov. David Paterson explained that he could not intervene to help the MTA with the budget shortfall at a press conference Sunday.
"My hands are tied right now because we don't have any resources to give them," Paterson told the News.
