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Commuters Adjust to Subway and Bus Cuts Monday

By DNAinfo Staff on June 28, 2010 9:05am  | Updated on June 28, 2010 10:38am

The Isham Street BX20 bus stop in Inwood.
The Isham Street BX20 bus stop in Inwood.
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DNAinfo/ Carla Zanoni

By Nina Mandell

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Talk about a manic Monday.

As the M line turned orange and several bus lines were cut, riders were greeted Monday with the last of the MTA's so-called “doomsday cuts”.

And, predictably, they were less than thrilled.

“Really noticing the MTA cuts,” one rider, identified as Susannyc on Twitter, tweeted. “This sucks.”

The cuts began on Friday and by the time the new schedules were in place on Monday, 15 subway lines and 21 local bus routes had been affected.

As part of the MTA's "doomsday" scenario of cuts, the W and the V subway line will no longer run. The V train will be replaced by the M through Manhattan.

Several bus routes have also been changed. Among them:

Service on the M18, M27 and M30 will be discontinued.

For the M8, M21 and M50, weekend service has ended.

The M6 will end, and the M5 will be partly rerouted to provide service along the route

The M10 will no longer run south of Columbus Circle.

For riders like Upper West Side resident Hugh Richards, who used to take the M10 bus, that meant finding a new way to work after dropping his daughters off at summer camp.

"It's slightly annoying," he said, as he waited for the bus. "It's livable.  I'd heard about the cuts and seen the signs, and I'm a flexible person. I'm sure the people who live in Queens who don't have the V train are more annoyed."

The cuts are meant to help plug a $800 million shortfall and are expected to save the transit association approximately $93 million.

But riders complained it only made their trips to work difficult, and confusing.

"We need better bus service, not no service. I use it to get to work. It's going to make it harder. It's frustrating and not fair," Isaac Sorden, 31, a maintenance worker on the Lower East Side and frequent M8 rider, told the New York Post.

Riders like Linda Wright, 64, said they weren't sure if the cutbacks would even solve any of the MTA's woes.

"I don't think the MTA has managed its budget well," said Wright, who was dismayed about the cuts on some of the crosstown buses near her. "I don't think there's a lot of planning and I don't think they've thought it through

Seven hundred and fifty MTA workers are also supposed to hand in their uniforms today as part of the cutbacks.

The MTA has a complete list of changes posted on its website.

For some MTA commuters who had seen cuts throughout the past few years and were used to getting less transit for their buck, they said they were just taking the change in stride.

"I always say I can't walk to come to work," said Betty Dublin, a 48-year-old Brooklyn resident. "I can't stress over the MTA anymore."