June 29, 2006
Kalikow Doesn't Think a Fare Hike Is Coming Up
At the MTA board meeting, Chairman Peter Kalikow said there "probably" won't be a monthly Metrocard fare hike next year. But the "probably not" is contingent on the MTA having another surplus year, which could be possible, if they played their real estate cards right. The MTA has assumed fare increases for next year (and other years), and while Gothamist would hate an increase, we do understand that it might have to happen, what with the MTA's billions in defict. The Citizens Budget Commission released their ideas on how to balance the MTA budget (PDF), which include congestion pricing, East River tolls, and other fees.
Kalikow also reiterated that he wants to stay on as MTA Chairman to see projects through, as "It is not common practice for MTA chairs to step down when there is a gubernatorial change." But Metro points out "when Gov. George Pataki took office in 1995, MTA chief Peter Stangl gave up his job, just as Richard Ravitch resigned after Mario Cuomo became governor in 1983." We think Kalikow just wants to stick it to gubernatorial frontrunner and Kaikow-hater Eliot Spitzer.
These subway line mouse pads from the Transit Museum Store are cool, though
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I have a question about the East River tolls. Just where would you put a toll plaza? Those bridges obviously were never built with that type of infrastructure in mind. They are already a nightmare to drive over at most times of the day and the approaches to them are no better. Can you imagine the clutch f**k the outer boroughs would become if someone decided to clog the system with tolls on those bridges? Besides don't you think it's just a little unfair to charge people to travel within their own city? It would be doubly unfair to people from Staten Island because they would have to pay two tolls. As it is Staten Islanders have possibly the only legitimate excuse to drive into the other boroughs and we already have to pay $9.00 for the ability whichever route we take. If you're going to charge for the East River bridges, you had better be prepared to get rid of the VN toll. With the amount of taxes tacked on to gasoline and the purchase of cars themselves, car owners are putting an awful lot of money into the economy on a day-to-day basis as it is.
"while Gothamist would hate an increase, we do understand that it might have to happen, what with the MTA's billions in deficit"
I certainly don't understand why anyone would expect the MTA to do anything but lose money; it is public transportation.
MT, just think of it as a loan coming due for the 40+ years of massive subsidies private automobile transportation got to the detriment of public transit.
Eric, it's actually the other way around. While the rest of the country has absolutely gotten massive federal subsidies to underwrite the automobile, New York actually had systems in place to have it's entire infrastructure be self-financing. When the Triborough was built the toll use while it's charter had a stipulation that it would only charge tolls until the entire project had been paid for after which it was supposed to be free. Technically all of Robert Moses' bridge projects had that stipulation until he decided he didn't want to let go of the revenue so he changed the law in his own. NYC's automotive infrastructure has long since paid for itself. Don't ask for it to pay for a historically mismanaged subway system now too. Maybe the MTA should do a better job of managing itself and, say, not be letting itself get ripped off for millions of dollars on a regular basis because of inherent cronyism. You'd think they would have learned their lesson and at the very least had some sort of transparent processes imposed on them after the whole 2 Broadway debacle. You don't just infuse more blood into a patient who is hemmoraging from every orafice. You stem the flow of blood first.
MT: "Besides don't you think it's just a little unfair to charge people to travel within their own city?"
Uh...the MTA charges me $2 everytime I travel in my own city.
So does the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. And the Tri-Borough Bridge.
I do, however, totally agree that the 3 lower-crossing bridges are NOT suitable for toll plazas, unless they do some sort of EZ Pass only solution.
i've got one of those mouse pads-- C train represent!
MT, with all due respect, you have no idea what you're taking about. Yes, Robert Moses ran roughshod over every elected official until Rockefeller smacked him down in the late '60s. However, the city and state spent millions upon millions of dollars on highways, expressways, and parkways while spending nearly nothing on the subway and rail system. The bridges were a small and mostly inconsequental park of the equation.
Aside from that, we don't think that roads should be self-financing, so why do we think public transit should be? It provides a greater benefit to a greater portion of the population.