Rally to Save Free Student Metrocards Gets Boost from Quinn

Christine Quinn at yesterday's rall

At a protest held Tuesday morning on the Upper West Side, more community advocates, high schoolers, and local politicians, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, rallied against the MTA's plans to cut free student Metrocards. The event at Martin Luther King Jr. High School followed similar protests this past weekend in Harlem, and came on the heels of the passing of the MTA's "doomsday" budget, which included the phasing-out of the free Metrocard program, which will affect more than 500,000 students.

Quinn told reporters, "If your family can't afford to get a MetroCard to go from the North Shore of Staten Island to Bronx High School of Science, you can't go...Then maybe you can't get into the best colleges in the country and maybe you can't have all the opportunities that would lead you to be the best that you can be."

The Daily News reports that Quinn, "urged the MTA to use some of the money set aside for construction and maintenance projects," including $100 million dollars in federal stimulus money, and a federal program called "Pay-Go-Capital," to help plug the projected $400 million budget gap for next year.

MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jay Walder also blamed the majority of the budget problems on the state for cutting millions in subsidies, telling NY1, "If we're able to get the financial support to get free rides for students of New York City, we'd be happy to see it happen." And Chris O'Leary of On Transit points out a larger disconnect between pol's, writing "the key reason that the MTA suffers from a lack of state and city funding is a lack of understanding among public officials."

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By Ben Yakas in News on January 6, 2010 1:21 PM

Comments [rss]

How Ya Doin

Name another place in this country, or planet earth, where a transit agency funds the transportation of school children. There is only one, and that's the MTA in NYC.

I would love to have a job where I can completely cut the funding to an agency and then blame that agency for making unwanted but necessary changes in response.

roe

Or Los Angeles, which does not offer free fares but does have sharply reduced rates for students.

http://www.mta.net/around/fares/

roe

Try London Transport, which allows children under 10 to travel free and has free or child-rate fares for older students.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/1063.aspx

Bubba

Quinn is a liar so why listen to anything she has to say?

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Excellent Point.

fishfryin

i don't agree with getting rid of them either, but i think quinn's logic is a little flawed. if a family isn't willing/able to pay $89 a month to send their kid to bronx science or stuyvesant, would they really pay exorbitantly higher sums for the kid to attend the best universities and everything that goes along with that?

sam_the_damned

the kids who can't afford to attend better high schools (stuyvesant, laguardia, bk tech) typically live farther away from the schools because their families can't afford to live in Manhattan, and when they graduate from these schools will go on to earn scholarships at top institutions.

Free public education means free. If their parents pay taxes, tolls, and bills, these kids are entitled to a free education and some means of free transport to their school.

schadenfreudian mensch

Errr there's just one problem with your explanation, none of those "better high schools (stuyvesant, laguardia, bk tech)" are zoned school meaning you just can't get in because you live in Manhattan or anywhere near one of those schools. You gain admission to those schools by passing the "Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT)."

I would have no problem in helping those kids out with train fare if they have what it takes to get into those schools or getting the grades they needed to graduate but it's the slackers who're just wasting resources and my money just going through the motion of attention and failing.

Sure the education is free but that's where it ends. Who said I'm required to pay for their transportation.

roe

The specialized schools are filled with a lot of kids from struggling economic backgrounds. I was one of them. My family certainly didn't have the money for a good college for me. I went on scholarship.

Ishtar

Her logic is also flawed because the elite 4 public schools aren't filled with poor project kids trying to do better.

schadenfreudian mensch

Exactly, why are we rewarding failure. If you're only getting C's, D's and F's why am I responsible in funding your free rides to school so you can just hang out with your friends? The sooner they realize there are no "free rides" in this world they better we all are.

Steven

These families sure don't have a problem paying $100+ monthly for a cell phone bill.

It's time to drop those smartphones and get pre-paid, such as virgin mobile.

brooklynmouthoff

I agree. I saw a kid using a free metro card yesterday...along with his metro card, he was wearing/carrying:

$200 Timberland Boots

$100+ Jeans

$300 Burton Coat

$100+ leather backpack

$150+ Polo shirt

$400 T-Mobile Sidekick (+ $100/mo)

These poor kids and their families, how are they supposed to afford transportation to get to school and work after they bought all the necessities above?!

idiot parents and selfish kids.

MrCholly

Agreed, let the parents take the $50 monthly they give their kids for fun and contribute to the fare for THEIR CHILDREN to get an education that will benefit THEM.When will parents be held accountable for paying for THEIR OWN KIDS.This is disgusting how children are demanding a handout, no one owes these kids free transportation or anything else other than their own parents.

brooklynmouthoff

Seriously, I've had a job since I was 13 years old.

sure, my parents gave me stuff. Hell, they still do..because I deserve it. But my parents NEVER bought me a new pair of Timberland's in lieu of gas money.

Once I had a car at 16, I was paying for gas and insurance. Kids are spoiled.

NannyState

Well, you gotta do some serious gearing up for a life of oblivion.

schadenfreudian mensch

You forgot the $170 iPod Nano.

Ishtar

Or Space Jam sneakers. :-|

Pete

So let's cannibalize the already-severely-underfunded capital budget to shore up the operating budget. Who needs maintenance? Who needs infrastructure spending?!

You know, that was done before. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Anyone remember the subways in the 1980s?

Hey Quinn, how about an idea that doesn't turn our subways into a raging cesspool? How about you & the state stop taking money away from the MTA and fund the damn entity properly? Scapegoat it all you want, but we're quickly heading towards $3 fares the way you idiots are going.