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Date Posted: 11:50:51 02/04/08 Mon
Author: Unadulterated Bull
Subject: Fare Increase

<a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/mta-board-approves-fare-and-toll-increases/">http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/mta-board-approves-fare-and-toll-increases/</a>

December 19, 2007, 10:50 am
Board Approves Subway and Bus Fare Increase
By Sewell Chan

Updated, 4:13 p.m. | After an unusually vigorous and spirited debate, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted at 10:50 a.m. today to raise fares on subways, buses and commuter railroads and tolls on bridges and tunnels.
The M.T.A. chairman, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, called the vote “an important step in putting the transit system on a sound financial” basis.

The base subway and bus fare will remain $2, but an overwhelming majority of riders — who use unlimited-ride MetroCards or get a discount for buying multiple rides at once — will have to pay more, starting on March 2. The costs of unlimited-ride cards will rise to $81 from $76 for the 30-day card and to $25 from $24 for the 7-day card; a new 14-day card will be sold for $47.
The bonus for regular pay-per-ride cards will be reduced to 15 percent from 20 percent, but the threshold for receiving the bonus will also be reduced, to $7 from $10. With the bonuses, the average cost of a ride will rise to $1.74 from $1.67. (For example, a rider who buys a $40 pay-per-ride card under the new fare structure will get 23 rides, compared with 24 rides under the current system. Currently, $10 buys 6 rides.)
The express bus fare ($5) and the cost of a 7-day express bus pass ($41) remain unchanged.
Effective March 1, the cost of most weekly and monthly tickets on the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad will rise from 3.76 percent to 4.25 percent. On M.T.A. bridges and tunnels, the E-ZPass toll for cars will increase by up to 3.8 percent, effective March 16.
At a news conference after the vote, Elliot G. Sander, the chief executive of the M.T.A., acknowledged that the fare and toll increase would be “resoundingly unpopular.” But he said it was needed to counter a billion-dollar deficit.
Today’s vote came after weeks of public hearings, at which commuters and advocacy groups expressed overwhelming and nearly unanimous opposition to the fare and toll increase. In particular, opponents called on the M.T.A. board to hold off at least until April, when the State Legislature is expected to evaluate recommendations from a state commission studying Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal and other ways to mitigate traffic.
M.T.A. executives maintained that they could not wait until then because it faces looming multibillion-dollar deficits. For the last several years, the authority has benefited from a windfall in real estate taxes, but the slowing of the housing market has slowed down even as the authority faces rising costs for four key expansion projects: the new Second Avenue subway line, the East Side Access project to link the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal, the West Side extension of the No. 7 subway line and the completion of the Fulton Street Transit Center in Lower Manhattan.
Following a public outcry, Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced that the M.T.A. would scale back an earlier fare and toll increase proposal and would maintain the bus and subway fare at $2. Even so, critics of the fare increase were not mollified.
Before voting, members of the M.T.A. board took turns offering statements on the fare and toll increase, pro and con.
The opponents offered particularly spirited remarks.
Andrew B. Albert, who represents New York City Transit riders, said at that the public hearings, “I was moved by several people who said, ‘We wouldn’t mind paying a little more if we thought the service was going to improve.’” Mr. Albert said he was not convinced that the new revenue would be used to improve service.
Mitchell H. Pally, who represents Suffolk County, said, “In my opinion, this is the wrong increase taking place at the wrong time and being done in the wrong manner.”
He added: “I cannot understand why we cannot wait until July 1 to implement any fare increase, assuming we need one in the first place, which I am not yet convinced of. I do not think everything has been done before we ask the people of this region to spend more money on mass transit. Anybody who attended the fare public hearings or read the transcript could feel the great anguish and concern expressed by the residents of our region.”
Mr. Pally proposed an amendment to delay the implementation of the fare increase until July 1; the amendment was defeated.
Andrew M. Saul, who represents Westchester County, also voted to hold off. “I think there’s no harm in waiting until July 1, to keep the pressure on Albany and to ensure they come through for the M.T.A.,” he said, adding, “By taking the pressure off Albany at this point, it’s a bad mistake for us.”
Other M.T.A. board members maintained that the fare and toll increases were essential.
“This is a very hard decision for all of us too make, and it’s an unpopular one but it’s a first step toward fiscal responsibility,” said Susan G. Metzger, a board member who represents Orange County. For too long, she said, the authority had dealt with deficits “by applying windfalls and real estate taxes hoping that someone would bail us out and turning a blind eye to our responsibility to put this M.T.A. on a firm future monetary structure.”
Barry L. Feinstein, a longtime board member who represents the governor, warned that Albany is unlikely to offer the authority a financial bailout. He predicted that the state government was facing a “dog fight” among competing priorities in education, health care and the environment.
Norman I. Seabrook, a board member who represents the governor, compared delaying the fare increase with a risky poker hand. “I’m not going to play Texas hold ’em with people’s lives,” he said, adding: “Mom and Pop still get on the train for two bucks. I’m happy.” He did not mention the fact that the vast majority of riders — about 86 percent — do not pay the full $2 fare.
In the hours since the vote, several prominent officials and advocates have responded, mostly with criticism.
Gene Russianoff, a staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, a rider advocacy organization affiliated with the New York Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement addressed to the board:
Today, you are set to vote a fare hike that will hit 86 percent of your riders who use MetroCard discounts. You could have waited until the end of March for the state legislature to consider your financial needs. Led by Assembly Member Richard Brodsky, scores of legislators signed on to letters pledging to make up for more than a dozen years of budget gimmicks and stagnant subsidies for transit. Sadly, you threw in the towel before even asking for new aid. You are supposed to be an independent public authority, but you accepted Governor Spitzer’s plan to simply adopt the shortsighted transit budget policies of his predecessor, George Pataki. It is a big political mistake for Governor Spitzer and the M.T.A. to give the back of their hand to 100 legislators who have said they want to help.
I have a lot of respect for the talented new crew at the M.T.A. And riders appreciate your freezing the $2 base fare and adopting 40% smaller fare increases than originally proposed. But you have introduced yourselves to the riding public by hiking their fares at a time of crowding and poor service.
What does all this mean for the future? Predictions are always risky, but I have two. First, the transit fare will likely be frozen for at least three years. The MTA says it will hit the riders again in two years and raise fares at the end of 2010. But that’s an election year for governor, so a fare hike in 2010 is unlikely. Second, Governor Spitzer has a big political deficit on transit, which he will have to make up in the years to come. The M.T.A.’s plan calls for the state and city to contribute an additional $600 million a year to finance operating expenses, beginning in 2010. Just before Thanksgiving, Governor. Spitzer said “We are talking about a 2010 commitment of $600 million, shared with the city. That is an enormous commitment that we have made, that I have made, and we will be good for.” Riders, reporters, officials, editorial boards and voters will all remember that promise.
The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who is considering a run for mayor in 2009, said in a statement:
Once again, the M.T.A. is turning a deaf ear to the many riders, advocates and elected officials who have pleaded with them to hold off on the proposed fare hike that will hit 86% of straphangers. Instead of working to find additional funds and exhaust all possible revenue sources, the M.T.A. has turned to the pockets of the hard working riders who depend on the system. New Yorkers will now be forced to pay up for the M.T.A.’s misguided effort at fiscal responsibility. There may come a time when an increase is justified, but all evidence suggests that this was not the time.
United States Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat who represents parts of Queens and Brooklyn and is also considering a run for mayor, said in a statement:
Fare increases once again seem to be the option of first resort rather than the last. The problem of shortfalls at the M.T.A. are the result of a marked reduction in state aid, not the failure of riders to pay their share. Today, once again middle class New Yorkers and those struggling to make it are bearing the cost.
Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, which represents subway and bus workers, said in a statement:
Any fare hike should be the avenue of last resort. Unfortunately, because of the inaction of the City and others, straphangers are left to foot a bill that isn’t theirs. This isn’t about service, and it certainly isn’t about the wages of transit workers, it’s about the larger forces at work who are ignoring their responsibilities to the system. The fact is that the Bloomberg Administration has continued its predecessor’s policy of failing to fund its share of the costs for our buses and subways, while at the same time continuing to blame workers and riders for the hike.
Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat who helped lead opposition to the fare increase, said in a statement:
From the perspective of the Albany effort,which I helped put together, this fare increase was not inevitable, but a choice by the governor and mayor, which the M.T.A. board ratified. It’s a missed opportunity to reverse the Pataki policies which starved the M.T.A. for twelve years. The burden of funding mass transit would not be borne solely by riders. Everyone who benefits from the trains and buses, including the business community, employers, the real estate industry, everyone in the region, should share the cost of the system. The Governor and the Mayor continue to push user fees, rather than broad based revenues. That’s a wrong choice for the city and region, and the legislative coalition which started this is going to continue to fight for increased state aid to mass transit.

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