The Metropolitan Transportation Authority may reduce subway and bus service if its projected $900 million deficit cannot be made up by other means, according to an MTA spokesperson.

Location: Let's talk about the Summer Streets program. Has it gone as good as you would have hoped?

Location: Let's talk about the Summer Streets program. Has it gone as good as you would have hoped?

KENSINGTON — MTA New York City Transit's program to make subway stations accessible to the disabled, little by little, took another step forward with the dedication of three new elevators at the Church Avenue "F" line station yesterday.

The elevators connect the street with both platforms at the station, which is used by more than 9,000 customers on an average weekday, according to the MTA. In addition, closed-circuit televisions and talk-back systems have been installed in the elevators.

This week, Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, is answering selected questions from City Room readers about improving New York City's public transportation, where the city stands on congestion pricing and concerns about the subways and buses.

Question: Why is it that a "sick passenger" can cause delays of up to half an hour? Can't the passenger just be taken off the train and treated in the station so that during rush hour commuters aren't an hour late for work?
-- Posted by Lauren

A wealthy former MTA chairman not only has a police-issued parking permit - but also a no-cost parking spot at a Metro-North station in a tony Westchester village.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently slashed the number of dashboard placards issued through the MTA Police Department - but politically connected Virgil Conway, who left the board in 2001, managed to keep the perk, the Daily News has learned.

In 1982, Richard Ravitch, then chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, cobbled together $8.5 billion in city, state and federal financing to fund an MTA Capital Plan that helped turn the troubled system around.

The year 2007 may prove to be one of the most important years in the storied history of New York City's development. In a future timeline of urban advances, it might be printed in as big a font and as bold a type as 1811--when the grid system was adopted--or 1904--when the I.R.T. subway opened. The text adjacent to 2007 could say something like "the start of livable streets," or "the bike boom begins," or "congestion pricing kicks off." It may turn out that all of those descriptions may suit 2007. The real question is, in hindsight, will they?