M.T.A. Deficit Means Riders May Pay More

[Emeritus]

Source: New York Times

New York Times
July 18, 2010

Riders of New York’s transportation system are about to learn a tough lesson of recessionary politics: In times of crisis, nothing is sacred.

Some of the more hallowed, burned-into-your-brain assumptions of traveling around the region are now on the chopping block as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority seeks to curtail yet another budget deficit — this one projected at $400 million.

The off-peak discount on the Long Island Rail Road, for instance, would become smaller than it is now, meaning that riders would have to pay more to travel into the city on weekends, afternoons and late nights. Riders would also pay peak fares for morning trains that head east from Pennsylvania Station or Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, under a proposal being considered by transit officials.

And the authority intends to strain the English language, along with riders’ pocketbooks: limits could be placed on the so-called unlimited MetroCards, which offer monthly and weekly passes for the bus and subway system. The monthly pass, in turn, could cost about $100 a month, up from $89 today.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/nyregion/19fares.html?_r=1&hpw

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Being from New York, I know the routine:

1- Claim that a Metrocard will go up from $89 to $100
2- Raise it to $94 instead
3- Subway and bus riders breathe a sigh of relief because the increase was $6 less than anticipated.

We need to start protesting these abuses in this country.

[SunnySong]

1. "We need to start protesting these abuses in this country."

I'm not sure why paying your own way is an abuse... everyone talks about how great the trains are in Europe but some of those trains are freakin expensive.

[unpossibles]

2. it's still cheaper than driving by far

and usually less stressful although not always.

[dkf]

3. I bet that is still subsidized.

[cstanleytech]

4. Even $100 isnt to bad

when you consider how expensive it could very well be to own a car in such a large city what with the cost of gas alone not to mention insurance and maintenance as well as the cost of parking and then there is the traffic itself to deal with *shudder*

[apnu]

5. No kidding, here in Chicago we've been screwed by the CTA for a long time.

I love that we have public transit, but I hate the way the CTA is run.

The way the blew the Brown Line's reconstruction project's budget before one single nail was removed from the old stations tells you everything you need to know about how inept the CTA is.

And now they complain that they don't have any money... there are, on average, 1.7 million rides each weekday day paying $2.25 per ride (source CTA website). By my math that's 1,700,000 x 2.25 = $3,825,000 of revenue PER WEEKDAY!!!! That doesn't include the buckets of local, county, state and federal dollars tossed at the CTA, Metra and PACE systems in the burbs (whom are all under some larger quasi-governmental "corporation") Plus the revenue generated from parking areas they run.

Granted, Blago, in is infinite craven-vampire intentions, made the CTA give free rides to all retirees in a shallow attempt to get their votes, but still the people that run the CTA are inept.

We've seen the fare hike game her in Chicago several times, including scare tactics by the CTA that the system would shut down unless the state infused them with cash several times a year.