Price Hikes: An Irresponsible Solution to MTA's Financial Woes

Last week, the state senate voted to raise subway, bus and train fares and implement service cuts to combat the Metropolitan Transport Authority’s budget deficit. They rejected a plan that would put $2 tolls on the East River and Harlem Bridges and increase the payroll tax, while improving bus service and not having to cut any service. By choosing the plan that raises fares, the government punishes those who take more environmentally-friendly mass transportation and puts an even greater burden on people who do not own or do not drive cars.

I am led to believe that the government supports alternatives to gas-guzzling, polluting automobiles. New York City is a fairly green city; it has the most-utilized mass transit system in the country. Each person who takes the train to work translates to one less car on the road. Each person who rides the bus means there is one less car’s worth of pollution being expelled into the atmosphere. Each person who swipes into the subway eases congestion on streets and lessens the demand for non-renewable energy sources like gas and oil.

Helping the environment is not the only function of mass transportation, obviously. People in the metropolitan area depend on mass transit. Many New Yorkers cannot afford the price of a car, especially in a city where obscene parking prices reign. So for millions of people, mass transportation is the only way to get to and from work or school. The scary thing is that all these commuters are at the mercy of the MTA, which has a complete monopoly over the city’s transportation. So when the MTA raises fares and reduces or completely eliminates bus and subway lines, thousands of people’s daily lives and budgets are affected.

In a country where companies like AIG receive enormous government hand-outs, it is incredible that the MTA is forced to cut its service and raise fares on already struggling commuters. The political climate is charged with incompetent companies demanding bailouts and subsidies; it is bizarre that an agency like the MTA, on which so many people depend, is forced to lay off workers, cut service and charge people more, instead of receiving government aid. Making sure that millions of people can safely and affordably get to and from work is as important as keeping inefficient financial companies afloat.

Plus, the rejection of the proposed plan that would raise tolls on bridges shows a definite bias in favor of people who own cars. How many of the senators who voted down the plan that would simply raise tolls on bridges and not negatively affect public transportation actually take mass transit? I am willing to bet that all of the senators who voted last week own cars, and few of them, if any, take mass transportation on a regular basis.

Part of the argument against raising tolls on bridges was that the East River and Harlem Bridges have never had tolls on them, and creating new tolls would congest traffic and put an unnecessary financial burden on drivers. However, the plan specifically stated that there would be no toll plazas put in on the bridges; the toll system would be completely automated, using systems like E-ZPass to let people pay the toll without even slowing down.

Also, the $2 bridge toll would have been the same price that busses and the subway costs now. People who cannot afford cars in the city already pay that much to move between boroughs, and the odds are that people who can afford the price of a car, gas, insurance and parking in the city can also afford an added $2 toll. The toll is “chump change” compared to the price of owning and operating a car. It is obvious where the sympathies of the Senate lie; they were willing to make people who cannot afford cars pay more in order to avoid increasing the costs of driving.

For Fordham students, the fare hike means that every leg of a journey to the city will be costlier. The price of an off-peak MetroNorth ticket from Fordham to Grand Central will move from $5 per ride to $6.25; that is a 25 percent increase. Peak prices will move from $6.50 to $8.25, and onboard prices will rise from $10 to $12. Subway and bus fare will also increase from $2 per ride to $2.50.

While we will grumble about this added strain on their wallets, most Fordham students will not be devastated by these changes. It will mean a slight adjustment of spending in other places, or a simple resignation that we will just have to pay a little more for transportation. But we are used to sudden strains on our budget; after all, Fordham raises tuition a couple thousand dollars each year. Compared to that, a half-dollar increase on transportation costs is not disastrous.

Many Fordham students only go to the city a few times a week. But imagine the commuter who now has to pay $52 more for a monthly train pass to get into the city from White Plains. Or imagine people who live in the Bronx and must take the bus or subway to work or school every day. The price of an unlimited 30-day MetroCard has increased $22, from $81 to $103 per month. This is a 27 percent increase per month, and any added expense to a struggling middle-class family with an already-tight budget can be catastrophic.

Most Americans are tightening their financial belts now. People have lost their jobs, their investments, their houses. Everyone is suffering. But the decision to shift the burden of the MTA’s budget deficit onto people who cannot afford cars, people who take mass transit at a benefit to the environment, people who reduce traffic congestion, is irresponsible and immoral. Residents of inner-city areas who may already be in financial trouble and who depend on the subway and bus system should not have to suffer so that bloated government agencies can thrive and people who can afford expensive cars can dodge a toll.