Top MTA officials, including LIRR president Helena Williams, MTA board member Mitch Pally and LIRR chief financial officer Mark Young came to Riverhead Town Hall Friday afternoon to explain to local elected officials why deep cuts to LIRR service on the East End are unavoidable.

They didn't come by train. Legislator Edward Romaine asked,  arguing that inadequate, "consumer-unfriendly" schedules resulted in the low ridership levels that MTA officials say justify the proposed cuts. 

In an effort to plug a still-growing budget gap of nearly $400 million, the state transportation authority plans deep cuts to LIRR service, including the elimination of all service on the main line east of Ronkonkoma — except on summer weekends.  The Greenport branch, as the main line east of Ronkonkoma is known, is the LIRR's most costly branch to operate, according to documents distributed to local officials Friday. (You can download copies at the link below.)

With just under 70,000 customers and operating costs of more than $6 million annually, the cost per passenger to run the Greenport branch is almost $86 per year, according to the MTA. Fares cover only 12 percent of the branch's operating costs. Eliminating all weekday service on the Greenport branch year-round and weekend service, except during July and August, would save more than $1.1 million, according to MTA calculations. 

The assembled group of elected officials representing the twin forks at the state, county and town levels listened politely as the MTA representatives made their case for the cuts, but they clearly weren't buying it.

In fact, State Senator Ken LaValle  told them straight out that he thinks the MTA should be abolished altogether and replaced with smaller, local regional authorities, such as the Peconic Bay Transportation Authority that's been proposed for the East End. "The whole dynamic has changed since the MTA was created five decades ago," LaValle said. "We have to look at the reality of where we are today and create something that works for the people in the suburban areas," he said. "We've got to eliminate the MTA and recreate a transportation entity that works in the year 2010."

Romaine railed against the MTA for taking more than half the total property taxes collected by Suffolk County each year and providing little in return, including no subsidy for the Suffolk County public bus system. The MTA subsidizes the bus systems in Nassau, New York City and Westchester, but not in Suffolk. Pally countered that the MTA is willing to take over the Suffolk County bus system "any time" but the county has rebuffed its offers to do so, because, Pally said, "then we [the MTA] would have control over schedules and routes and might make decisions the county would not like." 

"Such as reducing service and raising fares?" County Legislator Jay Schneiderman asked.

"I am not interested in your financial problems," Romaine told the MTA officials. "You're looking at your expenses. I'm looking at what you bleed us. What you bleed us and the service that you provide is inadequate. It is unjustified and I am really not interested in your expenses. I'm interested in what we're  paying  and what we're getting for what we're paying and it comes to nothing." 

Pally said the MTA hopes the service reductions are temporary and that services will not only be restored when the economy rebounds, but will be increased. He said a second track is planned for the main line to Ronkonkoma and electrification of the rail to Riverhead is one of the transportation authority's goals, along with building bigger stations and parking facilities at Medford, Yaphank and Riverhead. 

"What we're trying to do at the moment, we're trying to get through these difficult times," Pally said. 

Though the MTA officials acknowledged that the current service framework does not meet the public transportation needs of the local region, Pally said he does not support the planned Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority. "I am not convinced that it works," he said.

In addition to LaValle, Romaine and Schneiderman, Friday's meeting was attended by Assembly members Marc Alessi and Fred Thiele, as well as Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, Southold Supervisor Scott Russell, Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko, and Riverhead council members James Wooten, George Gabrielsen and Jodi Giglio.

The MTA board will vote on the proposed service reductions March 24.

Monday night's public hearing at the Riverhead County Center will be the last in a series of hearings on proposed service cuts that have been held throughout the region. It was scheduled in Riverhead after Romaine complained that the MTA did not have a hearing scheduled anywhere in Suffolk County, with the only Long Island hearing scheduled at a hotel in Carle Place. The hearing Monday night will begin at 6 p.m. Registration to address the board will close at 9 p.m.