Disabled Commuters Hit Hard By MTA's Transit Cuts
It’s been more than a month since the New York City MTA cut 38 bus lines and reduced service on another 76. Now, disability rights activists say they’re preparing several lawsuits because, they say, disabled New Yorkers have been hit particularly hard by the cuts.
Anthony Trocchia used to go to Manhattan every weekend -- to shop, go to the movies, people-watch in the park and visit his best friend in the East Village. But since the B39 bus was cut June 27, Trocchia has been to Manhattan only once.
"I think about what's involved," Trocchia says, "and I say to myself, 'Well, you know, the movie -- I can wait for the DVD, and I'll get it from Netflix. If I have to do some shopping, there's the Internet.'" Trocchia was born with muscular dystrophy and has been in a wheelchair for 30 years.
If he wanted to take the bus into Manhattan now, it would mean taking three separate bus routes that zigzag him from Williamsburg into Queens, over to the Upper East Side and down to the East Village.
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