As the M.T.A. board meetings loom whether to increase subway fares, a large collaboration of community groups and state representatives got together at City Hall to oppose any fare hikes this year. The group wants the M.T.A. to hold off until at least April so that the government can come up with funding that can avert a fare increase. It would be much better to wait for state and/or federal money than to put an extra burden on the millions of New Yorkers that ride the rails everyday.
From The New York Times:
If the authority holds off until next April, it would give Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature “a chance to provide additional funds needed in order to avoid a fare increase,” the lawmakers and advocates wrote in their letter.
“Fare increases are a last resort,” said Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat. “After 12 years of neglect under the Pataki administration, we want to work with the M.T.A., the city and state governments to change the failed policies of the past.”
The letter said: “There are many strong reasons for increasing government aid to the M.T.A. There has been no permanent new state operating aid to M.T.A. New York City Transit in at least a dozen years.”
The M.T.A. was quick to respond. Their spokesman said that the plan devised by the M.T.A. depends on state funding and "cost of living" increases in fares. Now there is a problem with that automatic reply. If the state can give them all the funding they need, why put an extra burden on those that use the subway to get around? Do they just want us to get used to paying higher prices?
Elliot Sander and his M.T.A. have already begun to pull one over on New Yorkers with the reduced-fare idea. Who knows what lengths they'll go to, even if the City Comptroller, citizen advocate groups and twenty-two State Assemblymen implore them not to raise the rates.
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