ORCHARD PARK, NY - Thousands of people from Buffalo and the surrounding areas who take the bus or train may soon have to find an alternate means of transportation.
The NFTA held its fifth public hearing at 6PM Thursday evening at the Erie Community College South Campus Building Number 5, to give the public yet another opportunity to voice their opinions or concerns about the Authority's plan to cut certain bus and rail lines that many people depend on to move from one place to another around the region.
Representatives of the NFTA say that these proposed cuts would help to solve their deficit of $15 million, after $7.7 million has already been saved from internal cuts.
"Certainly we're going to review the testimony, I think there's going to be ten hours worth of testimony. And from that, go back to the drawing board and see if what the plan we had initially offered really makes sense at this point. There's still a lot of potential solutions that are out there, we need to explore each and every one, but most importantly we need to listen to the riders and what's near and dear to them," said NFTA's Chairman of the Board, Henry Sloma.
Buffalo is not the only city where cuts are being made to transportation. NFTA officials say that other transit reductions are occurring in Pittsburgh, Albany, Boston and Atlanta.
According to the NFTA, of the passengers that use the busses or trains to get around, 81% use them to travel to work, 71% are transit dependent, and 42% have incomes less than $25,000 a year.
"We know our customers," said Sloma. " This is a very, very difficult decision for the Board of Commissioners. They know what our customers need and they've tried hard for years to deliver that. Now we have to retool. We have to learn to move people in different ways, more affordable ways, but our obligation remains the same. We have to move people."
According to the NFTA website, the Authority is accepting emailed and written comments about the proposed cuts until February 3rd.