THAT'S SOME BULLSH!T! MTA MIGHT CUT FREE PASSES FOR STUDENTS TO RIDE THE SUBWAY & BUSSES! HOW ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO GET TO SCHOOL?

The free ride may be over for New York schoolkids.
The cash-squeezed MTA is considering eliminating free MetroCards for the hundreds of thousands of students who use the passes to get to school, the Daily News has learned.

Under a possible budget-saving measure, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would charge students half-price fares next year - and full fares starting in 2011, sources told The News.

About 550,000 schoolkids get free or discounted bus and subway passes under a program the state and city once fully funded.

Albany and City Hall slashed student travel funding in the mid-1990s to a combined $90 million a year. Despite rising costs, the state and city contribution has stayed the same since 1995.

That's left the MTA to pay the balance - at least $70 million a year, the most recent available figures show.

City Controller William Thompson - whose office found the MTA shelled out that much in the 2005-06 school year - has joined transit advocates to repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, urge the city and state to pay the full cost of student MetroCards.

The proposal to end free student MetroCards is bound to draw howls of protest from parents, especially those struggling to make ends meet or with more than one child in school.

Eligibility depends on age and how far students live from school, not income.

Despite expected pressure from parents and educators, it's unclear if any agency can step in and solve the MTA's significant budget problems. The state and city are struggling with similar woes.

Mayor Bloomberg warned Friday that less-than-expected state funds for mass transit may balloon the MTA's budget gap to approximately $500 million.

"The state has just got to understand, they have to come up with money to help this organization," Bloomberg said on WOR's "Rambling with Gambling" radio show.

Last night, a member of the Bloomberg administration said City Hall is upset about the student MetroCard proposal and blamed state government officials for cutting transit funding.

"We're extremely concerned about this and have serious problems," the City Hall staffer said. "We very angry with the MTA and furious with Albany for creating a situation where this option is a possibility."

Gov. Paterson, asked in general about MTA funding Friday in Albany, said the state has no more money to provide.

"We had to cut the budgets of all agencies and entities and still wind up ... short of our goal," Paterson said. "New York is running out of money."

The News reported Friday that the MTA is expected next week to put back on track a sweeping package of budget cuts. It includes eliminating 21 local bus routes with relatively low ridership or some other transit option nearby.

In recent weeks, Paterson and the Legislature slashed MTA funds by $143 million. The MTA can't expect those funds to be restored next year, doubling the fiscal blow, Bloomberg said. Meanwhile, payroll tax revenues dedicated for mass transit have come in about $200 million below the state's forecast. With Glenn Blain