MTA Admits To New Fare Hikes

I agree - what the hell is going on? Tien and I were just discussing the Second Avenue Subway - do they have the money for it? Should they work on current, existing service first?

Someone seriously needs to audit those bastards.

I understand the need to build the 2nd Ave subway, LIRR to GCT, etc, but the last thing we need is lower quality service for more money!! Pataki needs to restore State funding to the operating budget.

Well, I guess we all should bend over... it's time for the MTA to screw us again.

I agree, someone should audit their books and see what the hell is going on. There will be a series of public hearings on the fare increase/service cut-backs. But I have a feeling that the MTA board has already made up their mind and the hearings are for show only.

I could be wrong, but isn't there already a rail link from Lower Manhattan to JFK? I think it goes by the mysterious name of "A train."

Also, in reading the article, I don't know where they get the idea that providing a "better" rail link to lower Manhattan will somehow attract tourists. I can just hear the folks in Ohio reading this and saying, "Goodness me, I need to make a trip to NYC to see that fabulous new railroad thingy that takes you from the airport straight to lower Manhattan." Because Americans LOVE rail travel.

screw this.

Frankly we only have ourselves to blame, we never vote in worthy people who WONT FUCK US OVER. We don't make our collective voices heard through our votes or through ANYTHING ELSE. So we need to either get really organized or we all need to shut up and take the fare-hike in silence.

They have been audited up the fucking waz for fuck's sake.

The problem is no one for some reason in the city or state courts wants to do anything about it. I mean it, this shit happens with everything. Enron, MTA, whatever. The press will write a few articles and then the government won't do a fucking thing because they don't give a SHIT about us. They're happy in their worlds of power and money and they continue the lifestyle of the Fucked and Stupid.

Christ I hate that.

Guiliani was a mobbed-up pussy, so is Pataki and so is Bloomberg. The whole damn system needs to change.

The courts, the city and state government, it's all in cahoots to fuck us. Otherwise many mroe people would be arrested and jailed and something would fucking change.

i wonder which company will get the $2bn contract to build the rail link. no doubt a major Pataki campaign contributor. meanwhile you still can't get to LGA by train.

The entry failed to mention that MTA also wants to tack on $.50 to bridge tolls. Please explain to me why it costs me $8 round-trip (soon to be $9) to go from Queens to the Bronx, but it's free to go from Brooklyn to Manhattan? Shouldn't we have a toll system to ENCOURAGE people to stay out of the busiest parts of town? I wish they'd add a toll to the lower manhattan bridges and leave the outerborough tolls alone.

i mean, come on. staten island is just not worth $8.

"Tired of whiners" is right; this is a real-world example of deliberate Republican economics. Republicans hate subsidized services, therefore the Subway fares rise when government-provided funds are starved. It's simple economics. Don't like fare increases? Stop electing Republicans, dammit.

Good point Jenny! I was going to bring that up. Wasn't there a discovery last year that the MTA faked their financial crises in order to push the rate hike?

The idea that the MTA needs to and should be expected to break even is absurd. The fact is the whole fabric of NYC society would fall apart if the MTA didn't run pretty much as is, whatever the cost.

Remember this:

The threat to cut service is ALWAYS phase 1 of the PR roll-out. They say they're going to remove x percent of service because of y debt, the press goes with it (as does Straphangers) and the fare hike goes in, with some service reduction "SAVED".

It's stupid because their supposed negotiation is pure myth. Who is exactly negotiating with who? It's decision by total fiat, masked as something more democratic. And it's really irritating that the press (NYT icluded) play along with the act.

I'm so sick of all the whining. $76! For a whole month! That's $17.50 a week! For God's sake, a trip to the movies for 2 costs more than that.

Quit your whining. If you lived in DC or Chicago or San Francisco, or any number of cities worldwide, you'd pay for distance traveled. And for most New Yorkers, that would mean a much bigger chunk of change. Count your blessings and shut the hell up.

I am pissed. It's the principle. I want spend my money my own way, not what the MTA way. I want to piss into my own pot, not the MTA's pot.

Tired of whining should have done something four years ago. That's when the state government passed an MTA capital plan that borrowed billions so the state could divert money to more important interests elsewhere. And it passed a hugh pension enhancement for public employees with seniority.

As a result, by 2007 debts run up by, and pension paid to, those who are cashing in and moving out will equal 50 percent of farebox revenue. That's right 1/2 of the fares you pay will be sucked right into the past. That's under current rules. Meanwhile, the state legislature passed a bill this January to allow TA workers to retire with guaranteed, inflation-indexed pensions after 20 years work at age 50, rather than 25 years work at age 55. (That one was not signed, yet).

At the city level, to pay for soaring debt and pension costs, the city just cut a deal with its largest union to pay future hires 15 percent less than those working today. Future hires will also have less vacation and sick time, and will have to pay 5.85 percent of their salaries into the pension plans (those with more than 10 years seniority pay nothing). This is about the third time past generations awarded themselves richer pensions, before sticking the next generation for the bill.

Republicans are mostly to blame for the debts, Democrats for the pensions. None of you are getting guaranteed, defined benefit pensions are you? Do you even have health insurance? You'll be paying those debts, I'll guarantee that. The only hope is that the debt and social security at the federal level will be so bad that no one will notice it's worse in New York than elsewhere.

As I said, I'm an independent candidate for New York State Assembly in Brooklyn. E-mail me and I'll tell you why. Generational equity is just one of the reasons, but it's a big one.