It Will Take $214 Million To Save Student MetroCards

image via the Joe Korner

Students: If you want to keep getting free MetroCards, it might be time to start planning a really big bake sale. Under the proposed "Doomsday" service cuts, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will eliminate free student MetroCards unless it can come up with $214 million, the Daily News reports.

That's the amount the MTA would gain every year if it received full fares from the 550,000 students who currently commute to school for free. Under current plans, the agency would start charging students half-price fares this September and full-price fares the following September — unless the city and state agree to cover the full cost of the program. "It's my aspiration that children in this city should be able to ride free to go to school," said MTA Chairman Jay Walder. "It's up to the state and city to put together a funding package to allow that to happen."

Gov. David Paterson has said he plans to increase funding for student MetroCards in the state's proposed budget, which will be unveiled in two weeks. But it's unclear if Paterson's budget will provide enough funding to maintain the free MetroCard program, despite repeated protests from angry adolescent straphangers.

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By Ben Muessig in News on January 13, 2010 11:14 AM

Comments [rss]

Think2wice

Okay, congestion pricing it is then.

Ex Machina

-should

Ex Machina

The Kids who don't go to school or have crap grades whould pay for all the students

rivetingrosie

That doesn't even make sense.

SighR

Who would've guessed:

Jumping Turnstyles = Eager to Learn

Snoopy

What exactly does the MTA do special for the students? If the students don't ride the subway does the MTA then save 214 million? Do they pay less in electricity? Will there be less trains? If student passes are eliminated then all free passes should be eliminated.

It's no different then the city giving free parking to all their employees and the rest of us have to bear more in parking taxes.

imperialnetwork

Less service (many bus routes add service at "school rush" hours), lower security/cleanup costs. See: http://secondavenuesagas.com/2009/12/23/teaching-john-liu-comptroller-elect-a-lesson-in-mta-economics/ for more information and for a scary video of Mister Comptroller showing his lack of economics training.

dirty hipster

Awesome - porno like American Apparel ads are back.

books

also whats with that number. 500K.

Half of all students need to take the subway. how many kids can walk to school? How many kids take the yellow school buses?

Whats the criteria for getting a pass? When I was in school I lived less than 10 blocks from the school and was given one. I didnt mind. There was also a blackmarket for train and bus passes.

roe

And also, given the way NYC schools are spread out, yellow school buses would never work out for high school and junior high students. The only students above elementary school who are assigned yellow buses are special education kids as far as I know.

jibbly

Not exactly true. When we lived in Staten Island for a few years, my brother attended an UES high school (public obviously). They provided an option for a van/bus for SI students since bus>ferry>train>transfer>train was a brutal commute especially for freshmen.

BTW "freshman" year at his school started in the 7th grade so it was more like a junior high and high school though I don't believe they made a distinction (no graduation).

Back in the early/mid '90s, kids with inkjet printers and scanners made a killing forging train/bus passes. The only hard part was finding older passes to cut the hologram off of.

roe

No, it is true. I also went to a specialized high school, and there was a paid bus service that offered students from certain neighborhoods a direct route home.

You're talking about a very specific area, and a very limited number of students there. If you were to try to figure out school bus service for 500,000 kids across the city, it would be a logistical and traffic nightmare.

roe

When I was in school (early 90s) it was determined by distance. If you lived a certain distance from the school, you got a pass. They also figured out the routes you would take, so some kids had passes that were good for the subway, some had bus passes, and others had combination passes. That was before the Metrocards were brought in.

Ishtar

It seems like being an enrolled student is the only criteria.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

I don't understand, did the city/bloomberg state they will fund it? A lawmaker with oversight of the MTA predicted today that they'll not cut student fares and that the city will take over paying for the program to support the city's youngsters.

http://gothamist.com/2010/01/07/mta_says_student_fares_wont_be_cut.php

babyhitler

The silver lining to this is that Subway Crime might plummet to it's lowest levels cause students won't be on it to harass the citizens. Although Street crimes might also go up proportionally cuase they'll be roaming the streets.

rivetingrosie

Um, also keep in mind that students need to get to school?! If they don't go to school, do you really think they're going to stay out of trouble?

imperialnetwork

I can't help but add that students ARE citizens.

one of them

overall juvenile crime rate is predicted to increase if this goes through. turnstile jumping for one, and also decreased mobility means less access to organized activities.