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The MTA board is about to vote on a series of severe fare hikes and service cuts for subway, bus and rail commuters, as the State Legislature hasn't agreed on a plan to help out the MTA. Mayor Bloomberg said, "I would suggest, when you see what's going to happen to your commuting costs, you should call your state legislators and say, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.'" (Here's how you find your State Senator and Assembly member.) Update: The MTA voted to approve the fare hikes. MTA executive director Elliot Sander said, "This is an extremely difficult day for everyone. Believe me, neither the board nor the senior staff of the MTA would be advancing these measures if we had any other choice."
CityRoom is blogging from the MTA board meeting; City Councilman David Weprin said, "Instead of acting for Albany to act, we should also be pursuing help from the federal government," while civil liberties lawyer (and Public Advocate hopeful) Norman Siegel asked the board, "I am curious how many of you use the trains or buses regularly?"—and, noting on how only some said they did, "I hope that one day everyone here raises their hand....You clearly don’t represent the diversity of the city or the state." The Post has a story on MTA board member Nancy Shevell, who missed Monday's finance committee fare hike vote, because she was with boyfriend Paul McCartney.
Here's what will happen, per the Post:
- The LIRR's service to Belmont ends in late April.
- Subway and bus fares would go up on May 31.
- Single rides would go from $2 to $2.50—a 25% hike;
- 7-day unlimited cards would be $31 (currently $25)—a 24% hike;
- 14-day unlimited cards would be $59 (currently $47)—a 25% hike;
- 30-day unlimited card would be $103 (currently $81)—a 27% hike;
- 7-day express bus cards would be $51 (currently $41)—a 24% hike;
- Pay-per-ride Metrocard bonuses are kept intact (though what the final bonuses are is still undetermined)
- Single rides would go from $2 to $2.50—a 25% hike;
- Metro-North and LIRR fares will go up about 23% on June 1.
- Bridge and tunnel tolls increase in July.
- City bus routes are eliminated over the summer; the W and Z lines are eliminated in the fall as the M and G service is cut.
Here's an overview of fare hikes and service cuts from the MTA.
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Forward those two links to every NY-er you know.
The fucking cunts.
After the train journey I had yesterday that made me so angry I almost burst, I am done with the MTA.
The monthly tickets on the LIRR and Metro North are approaching the $300 and $400 mark and add the $103 for the monthly subway fare and it's look very depressing.
It's time for the public to take action. On June 1 everyone should jump the turnstiles and don't show/give up your tickets to the conductors on the LIRR and Metro North.
A better idea would be for every commuter to not ride for one day. Then the MTA will see the real impact of who they're fucking with.
A better idea would be for every commuter to not ride for one day. Then the MTA will see the real impact of who they're fucking with.
Yes, because the MTA, full of union employees who get paid either way, will really be afraid of "who they're fucking with" when nobody rides yet they get paid anyway.
A mass civil disobedience movement would show a message not to the MTA but to the politicians who completely fucked us here.
Thank unions and pensions.
i would love to know how much of the cost of a single fare goes to MTA employees health care and pension funds. it is incredible how much the cost of a ride has gone up over the last 20 years.
Not much. TWU's most recent negotiations were for about a 4% pay raise. Where this is coming from is the state sales tax that's dedicated to the MTA, and the economic downturn has meant that sales tax is not delivering the goods like it used to (yes, I know, someone commenting about the MTA on Gothamist who actually knows something about the MTA and isn't just pulling it out of his @$$, try to make sure your head doesn't explode).
25 percent increases? for f's sake.
it must be nice being rich and can accept that increase as nothing. someone enterprising hackers should do something.
I'm using twitter to warn people where the uc cops are.
OK, I'm not but I'm thinking about it.
I hate Albany, all elected officials who turned a blind eye to this disastrous situation, and the MTA... This is simply disgusting. The way citizens are shit upon on a daily basis in this city is disgraceful.
Trying to remember why I pay so much to live in this POS town...
Not a bad idea since the weather will be nice and warm in June.
To me, the service cuts are the bigger deal than the fare increase. After all the histrionics about a 25% increase, it still amounts to $22 a month if you buy a monthly, and less if you take it pre-tax. If your budget doesn't have $20 worth of beer money to make up the difference, perhaps you should look at your expenses a bit more closely.
That said, having pretty drastic service cuts (particularly if you live in Queens) PLUS a fare increase of any amount, is pretty shitty.
The fare hike is ridiculous and a 25% increase really adds up. I don't want to spend an extra $500+ per year just so my husband and I can get to work every day.
speak for yourself, tower18
He speaks for me too. The extra $22 bucks on an unlimited monthly affects me much less than the service cuts they're planning. I mean it's about $5 a week. Sure it adds up, but I can handle bringing lunch from home instead of getting a falafel for one more day a week. I know there are people who have it worse off, but generally speaking an extra $22/month isn't going to send a budget over the edge.
But service cuts, mostly during nights and weekends? It's slow enough as it is, they may as well shut down the system at that point.
Someone also pointed out that the subway service cuts amount to a measly $25 million annually. I mean really?
whoop dee doo. speak for yourself.
Geez man, you realize nobody wants a fare hike, but the point tower18 and I are making is that it wouldn't be such a bitter pill to swallow without service cuts.
But I forgot this is the gothamist comment section. Here's the appropriate brainless response I should have posted originally:
This fare hike sux!!!1!
yours was much more tolerable, I apologize.
but tower18's post assumption of beer buying and the fact that it sounds like he's fortunate to have a transit chek benefit from his employer is what bothered me.
some of us do watch our expenditures and are not fortunate enough to work for an employer who has the transit check pre-tax benefit.
Also Tower doesnt seem to realize that there are families in the city, so multiply that $22 by however many family members you have (4 kids, plus 2 parents = almost $150/month extra)
The fuckers.
My daily trek to and from work has already become very-noticably worse.
that's it
fuck them
i'm riding my bike
I'm going to have to start drinking regular/cheap coffee so I can save up for the fare increases. It's stuff like this which really makes me want to move out of NYC.
Curse you MTA!!!!
I hope they take away all your free transit perks so they can feel our pain!!!
When the revolution comes, the MTA executives will be the first slated for execution on Sunday.
BOLLOCKS!
PURE BOLLOCKS.
I want everyone to not ride any MTA transportation for one day. I'll take a sick day or something cuz this is making me nauseous.
"I want everyone to not ride any MTA transportation for one day."
It will take more than one day. Because we have weekly and monthly cards, the MTA won't even feel a one day strike. A strike would need to be at least a week and more like at least a month if not more.
I love the idea of a strike against the MTA, but unfortunately, this isn't Europe where the public actually gets off its ass and takes to the streets in full force over matters like this. New Yorkers will bitch and moan about this for a few days, shake their fists, then quietly pay the fare increase. It never fails. That's why these increases and service cuts keep happening. Lawmakers know they can jack up the fees without much resistance.
What a shame we're too arrogant to take a page from the French's playbook.
Last time I arrived in Paris there was a transit strike, or rather a slowdown. The service was still better than what we get here and they opened the turnstiles to let people ride free that day.
This is a list of all email addresses for State Senators:
http://www.senate.state.ny.us/Senatorbio.nsf/Public_MemberEmail?openform
This is a list of all email addresses for Assemblymen:
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?sh=email
Email every single one of these jackasses
London Tube £4 in Zone 1. I think we are getting a deal. Perhaps our trains are older and the stations funky, but it is open 24 Hours... and covers huge distances. Boston's "T" is $2 and closes at 11:30pm... Bring on the Venom, but we have it pretty good, oh yeah and we have EXPRESS TRAINS!!!!!
New York is not London, nor is it Boston. The fare hikes are due to gross Incompetence on the part of the executives at the MTA.
boston's T closes at 1am-ish
but has its own huge problems
no, not as expensive, but expensive-enough for what it delivers
Time for a consumer strike. Watch "The Long Walk Home" for inspiration. The Montgomery Bus Boycott shows it can be done.
The MTA should really get rid of the token clerks, oh, excuse me, the station agents. They're surly, lazy and incompetent. I've been using the machines for years now. Saves me a lot of aggravation.
I completely agree with you. Have you ever had one of those people actually help you? Any time i have ever asked them a question they are nothing but rude and zero help. What are they being paid for exactly?
Yeah, great, get rid of the station agents. Then when someone gets mugged, and they run to the station agent, but, aghast, he's been fired. Then there'll be a massive outcry from the interest groups and politicians about "Why isn't the MTA keeping us safe? What are we paying them for?" and then there'll be a big stink about bringing them back, probably from the same people who wanted them gone in the first place.
there are never any workers at the stations i use late at night. i would call out the 4 in particular that make me nervous, but they are already ridiculously unsafe with NO mta employees in the late evenings without my inviting more crazy people to hang out there.
i don't know if there are none employed, or the employees are just somewhere else, but those information booths are a joke.
Bottom line is that politicians simply don't give a fuck about the people they allegedly represent. I just called my State Senator's office and was told about "how things are done" in politics. That's the problem -- the way things are done does not help the average person. I'm a Democrat but I'm really disgusted with the politicians who call themselves that. None of them want to fight at all, just go along to get along. Well, I'm a fighter which is perhaps the reason I'll never be a politician. Some of the trash in Albany need to be swept out come next election by voters who will remind the next bunch to do as we say or be swept out as well.
lest we forget, it's not just the subway fares that's going up.
those LIRR commuters are getting hit bad.
monthly for Ronkonkoma is going up to $352.
It is simply brutal...
Some of the pain from this hike might be relieved if the MTA would reveal a layoff plan to match the service cuts. Not to go on a union rant, but I'm worried that all these service cuts will lead to the same amount of employees doing even less work than they do now. Every time I see an MTA employee relaxing on a subway bench with an idle mop bucket, I wonder what exactly it is that I'm paying for.
I don't know about the rest of you, but when the next round of elections come up for my state senator or when Patterson's term is up, I'm going to remember this...
It's time the New York media started naming names! All New Yorkers deserve to know the names and districts of each state senator and where they stand on the Ravitch plan. Rest assured, if my state senator doesn't vote for the Ravitch Plan, I'll be voting for his/her opponent in the next election.
Ok. Everybody needs clarification on what is going on.
Do you remember former US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters? She was the one pushing NYC to adopt congestion pricing to eliminate the need of Federal funds going to mass transit in NYC. This would end funds coming from the Federal Highway Trust Fund to NYC for mass transit and NYC would operate independently without Fed help. Why this is important? Well the MTA would not need to open it's books to the Federal government. Plus there is a movement to eliminate the Federal Highway Trust Fund in Washington. The Federal Highway Trust Fund helps cities pay for mass transit. It's needed.
The MTA went over the top on purpose with the fare increase and cuts in service. This was done to create public outrage and make the politicians look bad. The MTA should better cooperate with Albany than trying to make New Yorkers pay for them with fares and with tolls. The MTA should not have multiple methods of accumulating funds. Especially from outside of their own services.
What a great way to help our struggling NYC economy!
What a great way to help our struggling NYC economy!
I just e-mailed my senator and assembly member, for all the good it's going to do. I'm going to remember their lack of action on this plan next fall when they're all up for re-election, and vote for whoever's running against them regardless of party. It's absolutely ridiculous how little support New York gets from Albany.
Dear Queens,
8===========D ( )o( )
Love,
The MTA
The people running the MTA need to be given the AIG treatment and exposed as the pariah that they are.
Found some info on where the money goes. $473 million a year goes to overtime. $948 million to pensions. Over $1 billion to health care costs. Why are we paying for overtime?!?!? Figure out the schedule so we don't have to pay for that. That's 4% of the budget! In terms of pensions, when so many of us have seen our retirement savings go to nothing, it's pretty painful to have to cough up more money to pay someone else's pension. Who gets a pension anyway? Not the majority of Americans.
Source:
http://www.mta.info/mta/budget/feb2009/0209_1.pdf
Three billion plus dollars in the stimulus bill for voter fraudsters ACORN yet vital infrastructure like New York's transit system is left wanting?
I guess Obama knows NY state will go democrat no matter what in 2012. Why bother with it?
Do you ever get tired of being an ignorant jerk? I wonder because you present yourself as having a solution to everything yet you waste all your time on this stupid site. Hey Captain Know-It-All get off the internet and save us!
Oh but I'm sure the reality is that you are just a lonely jerk who studied Political Science at some community college, got kicked out of the college republicans because you were too weird and thinks that he's got it all figured out. My guess is that you live at your parents home and have no job. But you're too chicken shit to put your words into action.
Please go back into your hole and/or get some therapy to figure out why Mom was a whore and why your Dad didn't love you.
There you go #41 Bronxgirl. Over $2 billion to pensions and healthcare. And bound to rise.
These are pensions given to people who retire sooner than the average worker, and whom, I suspect, are not the healthiest individuals either.
Dear straphangers,
Oh, by the way, don't forget: There's now a $150 fine for fare evasion!
Your pals, MTA/NYPD/City Hall
-
Fuck Albany (lack of funding). Fuck the MTA (risky investments).
http://www.transalt.org/resources
http://times-up.org/
MTA has 265 million in liquid cash surplus right now, and will have 49 million extra at the end of 2009. Such extreme measures are unnecessary! The financial reports are all public info. Check them out here:
http://www.mta.info/mta/budget/index.html
http://www.mta.info/mta/investor/investor_02.htm
Any time I see a track crew late at night, if there's ten workers, maybe two are actually doing something ressembling labor, the rest are just hanging out.
That's because track crews work on the track. So unless you're wandering into the tracks between stations at night, you're only going to see track crews when they're either on break or going from one spot to the next.
Woop, there it is, the MTA board voted 12-1 in favor of the fare hikes and service cuts.
HOWEVER, according to the NYTimes blog:
If lawmakers do eventually pass a rescue package, authority officials say they may be able to stop the changes before they take effect.
Basically, keep calling your NYS senator to prevent the changes from taking effect.
IM SO PISSED IM GOING TO BLOG ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!111
no words. just rage.
Theory: The MTA has a 2nd set of books (again) and they're just raising the fare to match the increased cost of pizza in the last year or so.
Why is the MTA being rewarded for shitty service???
If anything they should be forced to lower their rates until ridership surveys give them better grades!
These guys suck, and our elected leaders are complete pussies if they can't stop this.
I sent a letter to my rep's stating this and I hope all of you did the same.
Jay-Z's name is officially outdated
God forbid you pay something close to the actual worth of your system, you NYS-tax-sucking-black hole.
People in the NYC area should have to pay more for everything and actually have to support itself on the tax revenue it generates instead of sucking it from the rest of the state (who can't stand it).
BOO HOO 2.50. BOO HOO 25% HIKE. Get over it.
And where do you think NYS gets most of it's $$$ from?
It's certainly not the Catskills.
Sure just let us keep all our tax revenue then.
Hope you like ramen.
Go choke on a fucking vegan burrito you scumbag
I'm mad as hell that Albany continues to bitch us around like the ungrateful parasitic pimps that they pretend to be.
I'm mad as hell that the MTA is nothing more than a shadowy, black-hole entity, full of cloak and dagger politics and corruption of the highest order (two sets of books anyone?).
I'm mad as hell that one elected official that I VOTED for last fall are some of the ones putting petty political bickering ahead of the will of their constituents, and yet I have to wait 'till next fall to fire him with the pull of a lever.
I'm mad as hell that there's no talk of seceding NYC from upstate, since that would free us from the oppressive shackles of ineptitude and apathy from Albany.
Most importantly, I'm mad as hell that no one is frothing at the mouth ready to revolt against these false and morally bankrupt icons called Gov. Patterson, St. Sen. Smith, and countless others, not willing to recall their assess in a special election to purge them this year instead of the next one, where the momentum of revolution would die out.
I'm not only gonna not take this anymore, I'm gonna act so that something to fix this situation is done. There has to be a way that our sheer numbers alone will fix this, I know there is.
You know, there's a new U.C. timeline series coming out soon..
you guys could try calling and emailing your elected officials, but it wouldn't help. They were the ones that allowed this madness in the first place plus haven't you heard the state is firing 9,000 worthless employees, there for there is no money to help the employees that actually work and pay their taxes so that this shitty state and city could run. But they know we have no other choice than to pay the extra money, none of us are going anywhere just because of this...ohh and I really want to see at least half the people that are talking about riding their bike to work, HA ...and please stop telling us the fare prices in other places...this is New York City and not Boston, or Moscow or what ever that hell other city you mention....YES AM PISSED OFF ABOUT THIS BUT WE CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT...IF YOU DONT VOTE FOR YOUR WORTHLESS REPRESENTATIVE...THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD HAPPEN IS THAT A NEW WORTHLESS POLITICIAN WILL EGT ELECTED
you guys could try calling and emailing your elected officials, but it wouldn't help. They were the ones that allowed this madness in the first place plus haven't you heard the state is firing 9,000 worthless employees, there for there is no money to help the employees that actually work and pay their taxes so that this shitty state and city could run. But they know we have no other choice than to pay the extra money, none of us are going anywhere just because of this...ohh and I really want to see at least half the people that are talking about riding their bike to work, HA ...and please stop telling us the fare prices in other places...this is New York City and not Boston, or Moscow or what ever that hell other city you mention....YES AM PISSED OFF ABOUT THIS BUT WE CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT...IF YOU DONT VOTE FOR YOUR WORTHLESS REPRESENTATIVE...THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD HAPPEN IS THAT A NEW WORTHLESS POLITICIAN WILL GET ELECTED
you guys could try calling and emailing your elected officials, but it wouldn't help. They were the ones that allowed this madness in the first place plus haven't you heard the state is firing 9,000 worthless employees, there for there is no money to help the employees that actually work and pay their taxes so that this shitty state and city could run. But they know we have no other choice than to pay the extra money, none of us are going anywhere just because of this...ohh and I really want to see at least half the people that are talking about riding their bike to work, HA ...and please stop telling us the fare prices in other places...this is New York City and not Boston, or Moscow or what ever that hell other city you mention....YES AM PISSED OFF ABOUT THIS BUT WE CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT...IF YOU DONT VOTE FOR YOUR WORTHLESS REPRESENTATIVE...THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD HAPPEN IS THAT A NEW WORTHLESS POLITICIAN WILL GET ELECTED