LOST IN TRANSIT Here is chilling news for the 8 million commuters who ride New York City's network of railroads, buses and subways to work each day and the businesses that depend on them. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority that runs the system is facing a budget shortfall of about $800 million. Unless Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature find a fix soon, there will be drastic cuts in service: longer waits, overly crowded buses and trains, dirtier subway stations, and more frequent breakdowns. Students will no longer have free passes to school and disabled riders would have far less service. The MTA has been struggling with shortfalls for years, but its finances have gotten a lot worse. There are sound ideas for addressing these problems, but only if Albany's politicians are ready to finally show courage. Last year, after much prodding, the Legislature adopted a plan to finance the MTA that required nearly everyone in the New York City area -- commuters, businesses, taxi riders -- to pay a little more to keep the system running. But lawmakers balked at asking drivers to pay higher tolls on the city's remaining free bridges. The fix was supposed to last two years. Thanks to the cratering economy and new cuts courtesy of Albany, it only lasted six months. The shortfalls are everywhere. MTA revenues from dedicated taxes like those on real estate transfers are down. The payroll tax that was supposed to bring in $1.5 billion has fallen short by more than $200 million. Fewer people are riding to fewer jobs so fare revenues were down $100 million in 2009. As part of a deficit reduction plan, Albany's lawmakers cut another $143 million from their contribution to the MTA. And after a judge rejected the MTA's plan to scale back raises for employees, the shortfall increased by another $100 million. Now Paterson is threatening to make things worse. In a clear pander to suburban voters in this year's governor's race, he is calling for cutting the payroll tax in seven suburban counties around the city while increasing the payroll tax in the city's five boroughs. A Legislature that is heavy on representatives from New York City is unlikely to go along -- at least on raising the city's taxes. The danger is that legislators, also up for re-election, will decide to cut suburban payroll taxes without making up the loss to the MTA. Some advocates are suggesting the agency shift some of its federal stimulus money -- supposed to be reserved for maintenance, subway construction and upgrades -- to use for operations. Transportation experts warn that if that happens, the system would deteriorate. Remember the ratty old subways of 30 years ago? Albany must come up with a lasting solution for the MTA. That means leaving the payroll tax alone and finding new revenue sources -- starting with tolls on Manhattan's free bridges that could raise an estimated $600 million a year. It may mean raising fares, although that should be a last resort. It will mean supporting the new MTA chairman, Jay Walder, including in his plans to lay off workers as he streamlines the system. What it should not mean is doing away with free passes for needy students. Both the state and city will have to contribute more to help pay $214 million a year to help keep these students in school. The transit system that feeds the New York City area is crucial to the welfare and commercial vitality of the entire state. Paterson and the Legislature have a responsibility to make sure it has the money it needs to keep working. DYING OF RED TAPE The case of 10 Americans jailed for trying to take a busload of children out of Haiti has done more than spark anger and fears about international kidnappings. Doctors and aid workers in Haiti say it is making it much harder to arrange medical evacuations to the United States for badly injured Haitian children, endangering their lives. The Times's Ian Urbina reported this week that private evacuation flights to the United States had all but stopped since the Americans were arrested. The problem is the Haitian and American governments are insisting that all children have valid passports or other identification -- documents often buried beneath the rubble -- and permission from parents before they will allow them to be put on flights. A pediatric hospital in Port-au-Prince had been airlifting 15 children a day; the operation has essentially shut down, leaving dozens of children in limbo. At least 10 have since died. Evacuations on American military flights -- arranged and paid for by the U.S. government in consultation with the Haitian Ministry of Health -- have run into similar problems. Doctors say approvals have come slowly and the number of children removed has been far too few. Dr. Arthur Fournier, a founder of Project Medishare, a Miami-based organization that runs a field hospital in Port-au-Prince, said the chaotic triage system had been slowly improving, 'then this Idaho orphan thing hit.' U.S. officials say that they review cases each day to decide whether evacuations are necessary and proper, and that they are working cautiously and efficiently with the Haitian government to process the evacuations. Clearly more work needs to be done to develop a system that puts the priority on saving children first and then fixing the paperwork. No one would argue that there shouldn't be an orderly and accountable process for removing injured people from the earthquake zone, or would challenge the right of the Haitian government to protect its children. But when natural disaster and medical need overwhelm an already deficient bureaucracy, maximum flexibility is needed. Fear of possible kidnappings -- as horrifying as that idea is -- should not mean that more injured Haitian children will die. MALIKI'S DANGEROUS AMBITION To resolve a dispute with the Tikrit provincial council this week, Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki did what any good autocrat would do: He sent in the army. The problem is, Maliki isn't supposed to be an autocrat. And the United States didn't train Iraq's Army so it could be used for political coercion. This is just the most recent example of thuggery by Maliki, who is determined to do anything he can to win re-election next month. If he and his Shiite-led government continue this way, the vote will not be seen as legitimate and opposition groups may well return to violence. That would be a disaster for Iraqis and the United States, which is supposed to be on its way out of Iraq. The Tikrit dispute began last fall when the newly elected provincial council voted to dismiss the provincial governor, Mtasher Hussein Ulaiwi, claiming negligence. Ulaiwi refused to step down and was finally removed from office. Eager to curry favor with Ulaiwi's Iraqi Islamic Party, which includes the speaker of Parliament and other prominent Sunni leaders, Maliki ordered the army to occupy the provincial council's office for two weeks to block the seating of a new governor. Talks led to the appointment of an acting governor, but Maliki is still trying to influence the choice of a permanent governor. This week, he sent the troops back. As of Friday they were still there. Meanwhile, in Diyala province, government forces have arrested a leading candidate from one of the main blocs challenging Maliki's coalition. The arrest came just days after the candidate participated in a debate in which he criticized those security forces. And Maliki continues to defend his government's efforts to disenfranchise hundreds of mainly Sunni candidates because of alleged ties to the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. We were relieved when an Iraqi appeals court overturned the ban and said it would review each candidate's eligibility. The court then spent only a few days on that review, and it now appears that fewer than one-quarter of the 500 banned candidates will be allowed to run. We have never disputed the government's right to vet candidates. But the process has been suspiciously opaque. This is a very dangerous game. Maliki has a responsibility to put his country's interests above his own political ambition. If he doesn't understand that, Washington needs to remind him. A BLUE-RIBBON LOOK AT CRIMINAL JUSTICE The nation's criminal justice system is in need of an overhaul. This is particularly true of its incarceration policies. Too many people are being put behind bars who do not need to be there, at great cost to the states, and not enough attention is being paid to helping released prisoners re-enter society. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted to create a blue-ribbon commission to study the justice system and recommend reforms. The bill's main sponsor was Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, one of the Senate's more thoughtful voices on crime and punishment. Among the issues the commission would study is why the United States has the highest reported incarceration rate in the world. Prisons are filled with a large number of nonviolent offenders, including minor drug offenders. In many cases, it would be more humane, economical and effective to provide drug treatment and mental health alternatives. The high imprisonment rate has long been troubling as a matter of fairness, but with the recession it has become an enormous financial burden. States have begun, out of fiscal necessity, to parole prisoners faster and in larger numbers, and to look for alternatives to incarceration. This scattershot approach is far from ideal. It would be better to have experts address these issues at a national level, in a more methodical way. The commission also would look at sentencing policies for drug crimes, including their impact on minority communities, something that is long overdue, as well as the involvement of foreign-based gangs in crime in the United States. Some of the proposed topics have backing across the political spectrum, including re-entry programs to help released inmates begin law-abiding lives. The bill has strong support from both civil rights and law enforcement groups. The Senate leadership needs to push it to a vote, and the House needs to get to work on passing a companion bill. A broad consensus has emerged that the system is broken. 