Instead of “Going your way,” the motto of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) should be “Screw you, New York.” We’d say something else but this is a family newspaper.
It’s amazing that the general public is told by MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota that the base fare for subways and buses “would probably go up.” It’s also amazing that the MTA bothers to hold public hearings starting on Nov. 7 regarding the proposed fare hike, which-considering the authority’s track record-is all but certain.
The fares are going up. The tolls are going up. Not once has the MTA shifted gears and stopped a proposed hike as a result of the public hearings. The only thing they’ve done is tweak the hikes to a lesser extent to project an image that they actually listened to what was said at these glorified public venting sessions.
In advance of these hearings, the MTA has offered four rather confusing options on which poison New York City subway and bus riders should take.
Under one proposal, bus and subway patrons would pay up to $125 for a monthly unlimited MetroCard, an increase of $21. The price of weekly unlimited MetroCards would increase by $5 to $34. The base of $2.25 fare for single bus and subway rides would remain unchanged, but the seven percent pay-per-ride MetroCard purchase bonus would be slashed to five percent.
The second proposal calls for an increase in base fare to $2.50 but lower increases for weekly and monthly unlimited MetroCards from $29 to $30 and $104 to $112, respectively. Under this plan, the pay-per-ride bonus stays the same.
Proposal number three calls for a 25 cent base fare increase, a $5 increase for monthly unlimited MetroCards, and no change to weekly unlimited fares or the pay-per-ride bonus.
Finally, the fourth proposal suggests maintaining the current base fare, cut the bonus entirely and increasing the weekly and monthly unlimited MetroCards to $32 and $119, respectively.
No matter what, Long Island Rail Road and Metro North fares would go up nine percent. Tolls for most bridges and tunnels would also increase, as well as express bus fares.
In today’s world the average New Yorker in the private sector earns about $55,120. The average MTA worker makes $71,237 in salary, wages and other cash pay. The MTA claims it continues to slash payroll, but negotiated pay increases keep the figures high.
Not everybody can afford purchasing unlimited MetroCards- and even those who can will feel an even greater pinch every week or month. With wages seemingly stagnant and the cost of everything else going up at the blink of an eye, where does the MTA think the average Joe or Jane is going to find the extra money?
And will this fare and toll hike lead to improved service? Of course not. We’re told that without the increases, service cuts would be the next option-and that’s the last thing anyone wants.
So the fare hike is coming whether we like it or not. It’s being done not only to keep service as is and fund capital projects, but also to cover continuous increases in salaries, pensions and benefits for retirees.
What the MTA fails to understand, however, is that the people of New York City can’t afford another fare hike. It’s time the MTA confront their own problems directly and reduce operating expenses instead of shifting the burden to the commuters-even if it means wrangling with labor unions.
Transit riders have suffered enough. Let someone else pay for the MTA’s problems.
