NYC savings from MTA takeover of private bus routes never arrived

The MTA is busy trying to stave off a strike by Long Island Rail Road workers, but a new analysis by the city Independent Budget Office suggests it might want to look at its spending on buses too. To save money, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed the MTA to take over 82 bus lines, mainly running in Queens, run by seven private franchisees. Having the agency control the routes, he suggested in 2002, would save the city as much as $175 million a year in subsidies to the private companies. The MTA took over the last of those lines in 2006 -- but the city isn't reaping the savings, the IBO found.

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