§ 1203-a. Subsidiary corporation. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of
this title or of any general, special or local law to the contrary, the
city and the transit authority may enter into an agreement which shall
provide that any omnibus lines hereafter acquired by the city may be
leased by the city for operation and maintenance to a public benefit
corporation which shall be a subsidiary of the transit authority. The
status of such officers and employees as shall be taken into the service
of such subsidiary corporation, including those who had been employed by
the former owner of any such omnibus lines, shall be governed
exclusively by the provisions of this section.

2. A public benefit corporation entitled Manhattan and Bronx surface
transit operating authority (hereinafter referred to as the subsidiary
corporation) is hereby created. The purpose of said subsidiary
corporation shall be to operate, pursuant to the powers conferred
hereunder and for a temporary period, the omnibus lines hereafter
acquired by the city, until the said omnibus lines shall be sold or
otherwise disposed of to private or public operation. The directors of
such subsidiary corporation shall be the persons holding the offices of
chairman and members of the transit authority or their successors. The
provisions of this title concerning the number of members of the
authority, the number thereof required for a quorum and to transact
business, the powers and functions of the chairman and his authority to
delegate the same, and the effect which the tenure of the members and
chairman has upon the holding of other public office shall all be
applicable with like force and effect to the directors of such
subsidiary corporation.

3. The subsidiary corporation shall have all of the powers vested in
the transit authority by section twelve hundred four of this title
except those contained in subdivisions five, six, eight, nine, fourteen
and sixteen thereof. In addition, such subsidiary corporation shall have
the following powers:

(a) pursuant to the provisions of this section, to maintain and
operate the omnibus lines transferred to it by the city;

(b) to appoint officers and employees, assign powers and duties to
them and fix their compensation. Said officers and employees shall not
become, for any purpose, employees of the city or of the transit
authority and shall not acquire civil service status or become members
of the New York city employees' retirement system but, shall, for
purposes of subparagraph (i) of paragraph three of subsection (c) of
section six hundred twelve of the tax law be deemed to be officers and
employees of a subdivision of the state;

(c) to improve, maintain and operate such buildings, structures and
facilities as may be necessary or convenient;

(d) with the consent of the transit authority, to use officers,
employees, agents and facilities of the transit authority and to
reimburse the transit authority therefor;

(e) to utilize business methods and efficient procedures to promote
the safety and convenience of the traveling public, in the carrying out
of its corporate purposes;

(f) to operate omnibus lines on those routes in the city of New York
where on February twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred sixty-two, omnibus
lines were operated under franchises or temporary certificates of
convenience and necessity which have been revoked, terminated, rescinded
or condemned, or acquired by any other means, and to extend such routes
so as to provide the complete service operated on February
twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred sixty-two; and such operation, together
with the necessary extensions, shall be deemed to constitute operation
over approved routes with the same force and effect as if the said
routes had been duly approved by the board of estimate of the city, as
provided by law; and to operate on such other routes as the board may
authorize by resolution adopted only after a public hearing held after
notice thereof, and of the proposed route, and the proposed resolutions
authorizing the same, have been published in full for at least fifteen
days, except Sundays and legal holidays, immediately prior thereto in
the City Record, and at least twice in two newspapers published in the
borough or boroughs affected, to be designated by the board.

4. Such subsidiary corporation and any of its property, functions and
activities shall have all of the privileges, immunities, tax exemptions
and other exemptions of the transit authority.

5. The agreement between the city and the subsidiary corporation by
which the said omnibus lines are leased shall provide as follows:

(a) for the rate or rates of fare to be charged on such omnibus lines,
provided, however, that from and after March first, nineteen hundred
sixty-eight, the subsidiary corporation shall have full and exclusive
control over the setting of such rate or rates of fare;

(b) the subsidiary corporation shall be entitled to utilize the
officers, employees, agents, facilities and services of the city on the
same terms and conditions as are applicable to or provided to the
transit authority;

(c) capital costs not now charged by the transit authority as
operating expenses shall be paid by the city; provided, however, that
from and after March first, nineteen hundred sixty-eight, the subsidiary
corporation shall also have the right to incur capital costs in its own
name to the extent that capital funds are available to it pursuant to
the provisions of sections twelve hundred nineteen-a and twelve hundred
three-b of this chapter or of any other law, which capital costs shall
not be payable by the city; and provided, further, that no project to be
financed by the use of such capital funds which is estimated by the
subsidiary corporation to involve an expenditure in excess of one
million dollars shall be commenced unless the mayor and the board of
estimate shall each have been notified in writing by the subsidiary
corporation of the intent of the subsidiary corporation to undertake
such project and of the nature thereof. No such project shall be
commenced if and to the extent that either the mayor or a majority in
voting power of the members of the board of estimate shall find that it
is incompatible with sound planning for the development or redevelopment
of the city, provided such finding, together with the reasons therefor,
is set forth in a writing delivered to the subsidiary corporation within
thirty days of the receipt by the mayor or the board of estimate, as the
case may be, of the notification of the subsidiary corporation relating
to such project. Where the city is required to pay the capital costs of
the subsidiary corporation pursuant to such agreement, serial bonds or
capital notes may be issued by the city, pursuant to the local finance
law, to finance any such costs. The subsidiary corporation shall submit
timely requests for the necessary capital funds to the city planning
commission and the mayor of the city;

(d) The initial working capital of the subsidiary corporation shall be
advanced by the city from any funds of the city (but not from borrowed
funds) in the form of a grant or a loan in such amount as the parties
shall deem necessary but in no event shall the said amount exceed five
million dollars. If in the form of a grant, the advance shall be deemed
to be in partial consideration of the acceptance by the subsidiary
corporation of the initial transfer, in which case the sum shall not be
repaid, but if in the form of a loan, the amount of the advance shall be
repaid under such terms and conditions as shall be mutually agreed upon
by the parties.

6. The provisions of section twelve hundred seven, subdivision one,
sections twelve hundred eight, twelve hundred nine, twelve hundred
eleven, twelve hundred twelve, twelve hundred twelve-a, twelve hundred
thirteen, twelve hundred fifteen, twelve hundred sixteen, twelve hundred
twenty and twelve hundred twenty-one of this title, shall apply to the
subsidiary corporation in the same manner as to the transit authority
and the term "authority", as used in such sections shall be deemed to
apply to the subsidiary corporation.

7. Upon the written request of the mayor the subsidiary corporation
shall permit reduced fares for one or more classes of omnibus line users
designated by the mayor upon the agreement of the city to assume the
burden of the resulting differential, together with the attendant
administrative costs of the subsidiary corporation, pursuant to
procedures satisfactory to the subsidiary corporation.

8. From and after March first, nineteen hundred sixty-eight, no
substantial or general change in the levels of service furnished upon
the facilities of the subsidiary corporation shall be instituted except
upon not less than thirty days' written notice to the mayor and to the
board of estimate.

9. The subsidiary corporation shall establish and publish or cause to
be published schedules for all passenger transportation services under
its operation. Such schedules shall include the estimated departure and
arrival time at each terminal point of each route except that, on lines
where the headway time during the period between six A.M. and seven P.M.
is less than ten minutes, such headway time alone may be listed for that
period. Such schedules shall also show the elapsed running time between
the terminal and each station. Schedules shall be made available on each
omnibus operated on the line to which the schedule applies.

10. No acts or activities taken or proposed to be taken by the
subsidiary corporation pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (a) of
subdivision five or subdivision seven of this section shall be deemed to
be "actions" for the purposes or within the meaning of article eight of
the environmental conservation law.

11. The subsidiary corporation and its corporate existence shall
continue until terminated by law, provided however, that no such law
shall take effect so long as the subsidiary corporation or the transit
authority or any other of its subsidiaries shall have outstanding any
notes or bonds or lease, sublease or other contractual obligations
issued or incurred pursuant to section twelve hundred seven-m of this
title or issued or incurred in connection with the transfer of its
interest in and the lease from the transferee of any property furnished
to it pursuant to chapter twelve of the laws of nineteen hundred
seventy-nine or section fifteen of chapter three hundred fourteen of the
laws of nineteen hundred eighty-one, unless adequate provision has been
made for the payment or satisfaction of such outstanding notes, bonds,
lease, sublease or other contractual obligations.