Senator Charles Schumer says he'll fight to restore funding cuts to mass transit systems like Rochester's, which is included in the House version of the transportation bill.
He says the Senate version of the bill protects federal transit funding, while the House version cuts funding for Northeastern states, including New York.
Schumer says eliminating the 5340 Program, or High Density States program, would cost New York state $94-million dollars, and the Rochester-Finger Lakes region 2.7-million dollars a year.
"I'm calling on my colleagues in Congress to reject the short sided anti-New York House provision, and restore full funding to the 5340 program as we did in the Senate bill."
RTS CEO Bill Carpenter says if the House version of the bill is signed into law, RTS would lose some $17-million dollars in funding over six years, and would have to cut back on service.
"We want to maintain the fare at a dollar for as long as we can, but we would not have the money to buy about 40 buses, which is about 20 percent of our fleet. And if you don't have the buses, you just can't provide the same level of service."
Carpenter says the RTS is urging Congress to do the right thing and ensure those funds are protected.