NYC transit cutting subway and bus lines

Every New Yorker knows that the MTA NYCT has been in trouble for years. When times are hard, transit seems to take the brunt of it. This Daily News Article illustrates just how dire things have become in the Big Apple:

The MTA's doomsday budget will wipe out the W line, zap the Z line and ax more than 1,500 NYC Transit jobs, the Daily News has learned. The list of bus and subway cuts the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will unveil at its monthly board meeting Thursday is extensive and potentially bruising, sources said.

With ridership in NYC is the highest it has ever been, the bigger lesson that we should learn from this is that you don't build an extension onto your house when the roof is leaking. For years the MTA has moved forward with large projects (Eastside access and extension of the 7 line) while the "state of good repair" for the rest of the system has been less than perfect. In the future, large projects and extension of services, should only be done when the current status of the system (and funding for it) are currently adequate. Hopefully the MTA NYCT can get a bail out from the state, but going forward better practices would avoid these situations when the economy takes a dive.