The Fare Hike Battle Isn't Over Yet

The big victory yesterday for straphangers was that the base fare was held at $2 dollars. The downside is that very few New Yorkers rely on the base fare and could be subjected to an unknown increase in weekly and monthly passes. Spitzer may have taken a step in the right direction, but this is not an end-all, be-all for the millions of us that ride the rails. Already his critics are coming down on him and this combo out of the Republican state Senate is a doozy.

I hate to say it, but what is left of that Republican majority in Albany is right. Spitzer did not go all the way to help straphangers when the easiest thing to do was to stop the increase in its tracks....across the board. Now they have even more fodder when all Eliot had to do was make New Yorkers happy by stopping the proposals.

If Spitzer and the MTA did indeed find an additional $220 million dollars lying around in the budget while the surplus is still huge, then there was no need to placate us yesterday. As NY1 notes, even the bonus ride scheme will probably change. So no one is going to escape paying an additional amount to ride. For someone that barely rides, getting the 6 rides for 5 deal makes a single fare $1.60, now we won't even have that.

Whats worse is that they hint there will be another fare increase (this time hitting the base fare) next year. Meanwhile service still stinks and the beat goes on.