New York, NY —

How do you bridge a more than one billion dollar budget deficit? That's the question the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was attempting to answer last night at the first of eight public hearings. WNYC's Kathleen Horan has more.

REPORTER: The cold weather sure didn't keep people away. An MTA spokesman estimated more than 800 came out to the hearing regarding the board's proposed fare hikes and service cuts. And at least 100 were still lined up to get in 30 minutes after testimony began. Deacon Ken Radcliff from Harlem was in the middle of the long line. He says he came out because of proposed cuts to the M10 bus.

RADCLIFF: If you cut that line, you isolate a community. So that means the poor become confined to that particular area.

REPORTER: Inside, attendees were received by the MTA board in an elegant ballroom lit by several chandeliers. Straphangers held signs that mirrored their testimony: "Save the M8 bus; no cuts to public transportation and Governor Paterson; rescue riders!"

MTA Executive Director Lee Sander said he too is looking to Albany to help the agency avoid raising fares. The legislature would have to take action before a board voted on the fare hikes at the end of March. For WNYC, I'm Kathleen Horan.