Commuters wait on a platform as a train arrives at a subway station in New York
© AFP/File Emmanuel Dunand

NEW YORK (AFP) - The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which manages New York's buses, subways and trains, warned this week of "severe" fare hikes, budget cuts and route reductions to plug a 1.2 billion dollar budget gap.

Passengers on the country's largest transport system, already straining from overcrowding, are angry.

"I don't think they should raise fares. It will be hard-working people who suffer," said Nigel Brown, 31, as he took the subway in Manhattan, where he works as a security guard.

Commuters buy subway passes at a subway station in New York
© AFP/File Emmanuel Dunand

Behind him, in the bustling entrance to Union Street station, dozens gathered to watch a dancing dwarf give an uncannily convincing imitation of pop star Michael Jackson.

But Brown was in no mood for the subway's buskers, who play everything from Mexican folk songs to the steel drums.

"If they don't have enough revenues, then it should be people higher up who pay," he said, echoing popular sentiment that "fat cat" CEOs will escape the effects of the worst US economic downturn since the 1930s.

"I don't like it one bit," said an elderly and furious commuter, who would not give his name. "It's very discouraging."

A subway heads into Manhattan
© AFP/Getty Images/File Spencer Platt

Troubles at the MTA, which provides 2.6 billion trips a year, reflect a financial crisis across New York city and state, where the collapse of Wall Street has put a giant hole in government tax coffers.

MTA chief Elliot Sander on Thursday announced plans for "very severe, very harsh" fare increases in 2009. Single tickets would rise from two dollars to between 2.5 and three, according to calculations by New York newspapers.

In addition, the MTA wants to eliminate some 3,000 jobs, cancel or curtail many bus and train routes, and stuff more people into trains.

Such measures, Sander said, "may mean reductions in the quality, frequency and length of (passengers') regular trips."

Gene Russianoff, at the Straphangers' Campaign lobby group, said the city was putting an unfair share of the burden on ordinary commuters.

Commuters walks on a platform after disembraking from a train at a subway station in New York
© AFP/File Emmanuel Dunand

User fees fund 63 percent of subway costs, with the rest made up in taxes at present. If planned changes go through next year then the proportion will be 83 percent, he said.

"This is very regressive and hits hardest at people who are most vulnerable," he said.

Russianoff also worried about a longer-term impact.

"Subways are an engine for the city's recovery and I think it makes sense to fund them, even in tough times," he said. "One reason for locating your business in Manhattan or Brooklyn is that you have a transport system that can move your employees quickly and easily."

Chitra Sharma, 39, who uses the subway to reach her recruitment office, said the MTAs' woes are just one more layer of bad news for this once exuberantly confident city.

"We don't even have time to think about transport problems because we're all worrying about not getting fired," she said. "Everyone's losing jobs."

A New York Post editorial Friday urged the MTA to balance its budget without crushing the life out of the city.

"Riders can be squeezed only so much," the daily cautioned. "Before they rely on foot power -- to take them straight out of the city. For good."