Today, while legislators in Albany scramble to stop Governor Cuomo’s ill-advised diversion of $40 million in dedicated transit funds during the final hours of State budget negotiations, a report was released outlining just how far $40 million could go to restore and expand transit service in the New York metropolitan area. The report, authored by Riders Alliance and NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign, provides a scenario in which the $40 million is spent on transit upgrades, and details how those investments could substantially improve the commutes of the region’s transit riders.

Subways

• Restore mid-day, nighttime and weekend service that was reduced on the 1, 7, A, F, J, L and M lines in 2010, creating shorter waits for 300,000 riders every weekday and 285,000 riders every weekend ($3.1 million)
• Add 20 percent more morning rush hour service on the notoriously crowded C train ($1 million)
• Restore G train service to Forest Hills–71st Avenue in Queens ($1.5 million)
• Restore W train one-seat service from Astoria to Lower Manhattan ($3.4 million)

Buses

• Add four new local daytime and three new weekend routes in the Bronx ($4.2 million)
• Add three new local bus routes and implement weekend hours for three weekday-only routes in Brooklyn ($4.7 million)
• Add three bus routes and implement weekend hours for two weekday routes in Manhattan ($4.7 million)
• Add three new bus routes with weekday and weekend hours in Queens ($6.9 million)
• Add three new weekend routes, and three new peak hours routes in Staten Island ($3 million)

Commuter Rail

• Add six new LIRR rush hour trains every weekday ($2.2 million)
• Add 10 new off-peak weekday LIRR trains ($0.4 million)
• Add 10 new LIRR trains every weekend day ($0.3 million)
• Add cars to Metro-North trains to reduce crowding on the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines ($2.7 million)
• Add two daily Metro-North trains each to the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines ($1.9 million)