Washington, D.C.--"Despite its budget deficit, this is not the time for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to balance its budget on the backs of working people. and it is certainly not the time to do away with the student Metro Cards which they use to get to and from school.

"The MTA is not the only one in an economic crisis; so are millions of New Yorkers who have no other option for transportation than public transit. These are the people directly affected by service cuts in trying to get to work or go shopping or to go to school. The Bronx is a vast borough with only bus service to travel cross borough and trains to go to Manhattan and beyond to other boroughs.

"Cutting services will further isolate Bronx residents, from work in Manhattan and other Bronx neighborhoods, from shopping or socializing within the borough and from the cultural opportunities that are clustered in Manhattan.

"It should go without saying that terminating school bus passes is just wrong. Paying transit fares twice a day, five days a week for a school year could cost a family more than $700 annually for each student in the family.

"This is an unsustainable burden for almost any family. Coupled with the high unemployment rate in the borough (the highest in the city), it is a travesty. Education is a right and a necessity. We cannot deny our children the right to an education through economic depravation.

"Cutting the door-to-door service for Access-a- Ride users is also intolerable. How else are Access-A-Ride users to get around? Regular public transit is difficult for them, which is why there is door-to-door service. And now you propose to cut this while making public transit even scarcer. This is wrong on both counts.

"I recognize that the MTA is facing a large budget deficit, but the people affected by the proposals to balance that budget face an even harsher situation. The MTA must find other ways in which to save money. We are only beginning to come out of a worst recession in living memory and our people are genuinely suffering from it. This is not the time for you to add to that misery."