New York City MTA, Transit Authority Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over Allegedly Illegal Bus Service Cuts

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The New York City Public Advocate and several Transport Workers Union officials claim in a proposed class action petition that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) made cuts to bus service in July 2024 without providing proper notice to Mayor Eric Adams or the New York City Council.

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The 14-page MTA lawsuit—which names as defendants MTA Acting Chair and CEO Janno Lieber and NYCTA Interim President Demetrius Crichlow—centers on the recent reduction of bus service throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx on routes operated by the MTA, NYCTA and the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority.

The bus service cuts began in mid-July 2024, roughly a month after New York Governor Kathy Hochul halted a congestion pricing plan that would have reportedly generated billions for the MTA over the next three years, the suit explains.

According to the case, the transport agencies have instituted a bus driver hiring freeze and sliced the number of bus runs from each depot on the affected routes between five and 10 percent, significantly reducing service during the course of the day. In fact, a new schedule shows a 300- to 400-percent increase in the number of uncovered bus runs per day at each depot, the complaint shares.

The filing alleges that the goal of the bus service cuts was to save on bus drivers’ wages, which was typically overtime pay on the cancelled bus runs.

Per the suit, the service reductions will result in more wait time and more crowded buses on impacted routes, which, the case argues, will spell serious consequences for public safety.

The complaint contends that the MTA and NYCTA made these non-emergency service cuts without giving the mayor or city council 30 days’ advance notice, which is required under New York’s Public Authorities Law in order to allow the legislative body to hold public hearings on the issue.

The plaintiffs—including leaders of the Transport Workers Union of Greater New York, Local 100, which represents 36,000 MTA and NYCTA employees—seek a temporary restraining order to stop the bus service cuts from continuing.

The MTA and NYCTA bus service cuts lawsuit looks to represent all subway users who take the F and C trains.

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