Hope you liked your free post-Sandy buses (and occasional subways) because that is the sum total reimbursement that the MTA is going to be giving straphangers. The Authority has announced that, as we sort of suspected, there will be no MetroCard refunds for the days before and after the storm when the city's buses and subways were shut down. Moving right along, y'all ready for a fare hike?
After the Hurricane Sandy, a number of straphangers (including us) wondered about a potential refund—something the MTA provided after the 2005 transit strike but not after Tropical Storm Irene last year. Yesterday, after mulling the issue, the MTA finally decided not to give a refund. According to a source at the Times, "processing refunds would have been a logistical nightmare."
If you are curious, the Post calculates that, based on how the MTA normally refunds lost and stolen MetroCards, the refund should have been worth $10.41. Still, we can't get too upset over this news considering how much (and how fast) the MTA managed to do after the storm.
Much easier to get upset about, y'know, spending more money on MetroCards going forward. To that end, the MTA continues to hold its fare hike meetings. Today the fare hike hearing roadshow moves to Manhattan where presumably without a Nor'Easter there will be a few more people on hand than showed up in Brooklyn last week. Want to come out and play? The fun starts at 5 p.m. at the Baruch Performing Arts Center's Mason Hall at 17 Lexington Avenue at 23rd Street. We'll be there will with bells on.
