Picket Lines, Fare Hikes, and Bent Metrocards

There's nothing like union workers picketing outside a fancy Upper East Side abode! This morning, Transport Workers Union members are outside MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow's home, claiming that he's "perpetuating the labor dispute rather than allowing the MTA to vote on the contract " and "putting European vacations and a custom made Ferrari over their need for a new 37 month contract that would include a raise of more than ten percent," as WABC 7 reports. The MTA points out that Kalikow only gets $1 a year as salary, which begs the question, "Is that why thing are run so suckily?"

Meanwhile, two MTA board members are saying that fare hikes won't be necessary next year, thanks to higher revenues than expected. This echoes what State Comptroller Alan Hevesi pointed out last month, but still does not prevent fare hikes from happening in 2008 and on, as the MTA's long-term finances are a mess.

And on a final Metrocard note, the cops who beat up Police Commissioner Kelly's cousin's son say he had been bending his Metrocard to get a free swipe out of it. Which apparently gave them "probable cause" to beat him up...but then it turned out Arthur Heller's Metrocard actually had $55 on it. D'oh!

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By Jen Chung in News on June 8, 2006 11:43 AM

Comments [rss]

Guy

The bent card trick worked was revealed about two years ago, but I\'m not sure if it works anymore. There was a certain spot on the magnetic stripe where you made a small crease and it gave you unlimited rides. The last I recall, the MTA said they were fixing that glitch.

In any case, this just follows the fine tradition of NYPD over-reacting when they shouldn\'t have. I mean honestly, the kid looks like he was punched in the face at least once.

If the cops really wanted to take him down to cuff him, a couple of simple wrestling moves would have sufficed. Instead they beat him in the face. Real professional guys. What\'s that motto on the side of patrol cars again?...

MTA girl

There's some guy --posing as KYLE --trolling this site claiming it's ok for women to bend their metrocards.

Suspicious

If all you had to do to get a free ride was bend your Metrocard, I think millions of people would have been doing that by now. That sounds totally unpossible.

ABC Girl

Beware females who read Gothamist:

There's some guy --posing as KYLE --trolling this site claiming it's ok for women who are alone to let men into their apt/place of business/etc so they can be raped or robbed: next time you see him trolling, please give him a piece of your mind....

CR

Wait, does that bent metrocard thing *actually* work?

hr

What kind of an asshole requires a custom-made Ferrari?

What does it matter to you what one does with their own money?

doot-doot

Just an honest question: are transit police the lowest rung on the ladder? Is this why they often behave like animals? My friend and I get the impression that this is true on every transit system.

What kind of an asshole requires a custom-made Ferrari? At least the workers are protesting the source of the problem this time.

Fare Game

Of course it is. Any reason works when you want to beat somebody up. Beat them up when they bend a Metrocard. Beat them up when they're eating french fries and looking at you funny. See? they all work.

Kevin Walsh

The News:

According to Heller's version: "A man approached and said he wanted to see my MetroCard. . . . One guy was yelling, 'Police!' I didn't believe him. I thought I was being mugged. . . . I was punched in the eye and nose and was then on the ground being choked. I just wanted them to mug me and leave me."

A source familiar with the case said Heller's admissions indicate the cops had probable cause to take action. "It's an altered MetroCard consistent with the way individuals try to obtain free access to the system. Period. End of story," the source said."

Why was the guy beaten? Was he resisting arrest? The penalty for 'jumping the tunstile' isn't a beatdown. Perhaps these days, it is.

www.forgotten-ny.com

fantastic dan

what is this bent metrocard trick? free swipes = good swipes.

Brightliner

You know, if these transit workers put as much time and effort into their jobs as they do into protests, we'd have the cleanest, cheapest, most efficient public transit system in the world.