Service Cuts and Fare Hikes: Take it to the Street

It's a bad day for transit riders.  The MTA board voted 12-1 in favor of fare hikes ($2.50 a ride, effective May 31) and massive service cuts, including the elimination of 35 bus routes and the W and Z trains.  Fare increases on commuter trains will take effect on June 1 and increases on the MTA's bridges tolls will follow in mid-July.  According to the New York Times, two-thirds of the mass transit riders in the U.S. are going to be affected.

H. Dale Hemmerdinger, the chairman of MTA's board, remarked that in 9 public hearings, the Board heard 595 speakers (including the Fair Sharer) give 44 hours of verbal testimony.  In addition, they read through 20,995 letters and emails.  They were moved by the reaction to the proposed fare hikes and service cuts, but nonetheless felt that without support from the State, there was no alternative but to enact their plan.

According to the New York Times, if Albany passes a rescue package for the MTA, there may still be time to stop the changes before they take effect.  I expect outrage and action.  Keep the heat on your elected officials in Albany.  

Come out and march on Wall Street on Friday, April 3.  

Call Albany Today!

We need to keep the pressure on Albany!  If you've already written your State Senator and petitioned your Assembly representative, that's great.  But tomorrow is the deadline for our lawmakers to decide on funding for the MTA.  

Make a call today to your State Senator to remind him/her that a 23% fare hike is unacceptable and that service cuts will make the city less safe and less vibrant.  Remind your elected officials that the Ravitch plan shares the burden of funding transit more fairly.  Remind them that we're out here, we expect representation, we demand fairness, and we will be heard.

If you don't have your State Senator's phone number posted over your phone, go to 

www.senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/senators?OpenForm

Support Reverend Billy for Mayor

Reverend Billy, the extraordinary activist and spiritual leader (Church of Stop Shopping), is one of my heroes.  He is principled, funny, courageous, and smart, and he is blessing this city by running for mayor.  

From his platform:

Let's get New York City Moving!  We want to get New Yorkers where they need and want to go with efficiency and ease by implementing free mass transit and congestion pricing.  Such measures will help stimulate economic activity by allowing increased freedom of movement.  

Reverend Billy is the obvious choice for metrosharers and all of us who share in his vision of a viable, vibrant, healthy, and safe New York.  Check out his full platform at

www.voterevbilly.org/platform

Metrosharing is Legal

Yesterday, I emailed the MTA my question about MetroCard rules for sharing unlimited cards and I received an automated response telling me that I would receive an answer within 15 days.

Kudos to the MTA for responding in less than 24 hours.  Their response:

We appreciate your interest in using the MetroCard and the New York City public transportation system.  Unlimited Ride MetroCards are intended to be used by one person.  Therefore, please be aware that while you can give your Unlimited Ride MetroCard to someone else when you are not using it, this type of card cannot be used to pay for the fares of others you may be traveling with.

This morning, impatient for an answer and urged by a savvy friend to use my status as a blogger, I contacted the Public Affairs office of the MTA.  Charles Seaton asked me to send my question in writing.  Just a few minutes before I got the reply above, he replied:

Restrictions: Unlimited Ride MetroCard may not be transferred to another person until the completion of the trip for which entry was obtained... Can only be used by one person at a time.

-- From All about MetroCard

While I feel certain that metrosharing was not considered by the MTA when writing their rules, the rules from "All about MetroCard" leave no room for ticketing a metrosharer, who has completed his/her trip before transferring the card (momentarily) to another person.  The first response indicates the intent that unlimited cards be used by one person, which means that it is likely that Antonin Scalia would uphold a ticket for a metrosharer.  But I think the majority opinion would find that a metrosharer is acting within the rules, since sharer and sharee are traveling neither together nor at the same time.

Any comments?

Is Metrosharing Legal? - Chapter 2

I was feeling really good today.  I've been collecting signatures on a petition created by the Campaign for New York's Future to ask NYS legislators to fund affordable subways, buses, and commuter rails so that we can avert the threatened service cuts and fare hikes.  The response has been amazing.  So when I got off the train at my home station, I really wanted to metroshare, but I didn't see anyone I could share with (it can be delicate to offer unasked-for help, which is why people keep bugging me -- rightly -- about the buttons we need to identify ourselves as metrosharers).  I did see an MTA employee, so I decided to follow up the legality question, which has been on my mind.

So I asked, "Is it legal for someone with an unlimited MetroCard to swipe in 

another rider?"

"No," he said.  "You can get a ticket for that."

"Really?" I asked.  "I looked at the Conditions of Use and I didn't see any rule 

against it.  How are people supposed to know the rules?"

He backtracked and said that it was okay for family members to use the same unlimited card. He also pointed out that if one person paid another's fare with an unlimited card, the MTA would lose money. I pointed out that that consequence would not make it illegal if the rule wasn't in the Conditions of Use.  At that point, he told me to go online to the MTA website.  So I came home and tried again to find clarity on the rules.

Having already read the Conditions of Use, I decided to plow through the 190 (yes, really!) FAQs on the MTA website.  The rule is now as clear as mud, as illustrated by the MTA's responses to two of these 190 questions (after a long sit at my computer, I concluded that none of the others apply).

Question #39 - Can I pay for others with MetroCard?

Answer: With Pay-Per-Ride Metrocard you can pay for up to four people at one time and all four can transfer together free.  Unlimited Ride MetroCard cannot be used to pay for others' fares.

Had I not proceeded to #43, I would have retracted my earlier post assuring unlimited cardholders (who are not covered by Premium TransitChek rules - see post from 2/21) that they are acting within the rules.  But question #43 (How do I know which MetroCard is right for me?) directs readers to a page called "Comparing Unlimited and Pay-Per-Ride (Regular) Metrocards." On the chart under the Unlimited Card, it says "Can only be used by one person at a time."

Well, yes.  Only one person can use an unlimited card at one time.  But what if I use it and then you use it 18 minutes later?  What if you're family? What if you're my neighbor? What if we are meeting for the first time in fleeting communion at the turnstile?

So I have submitted a query to the MTA to get to the bottom of this.  And you, dear readers, will be the first to know what I find out.  

The Ethics of Metroshare Unlimited

As most people know, just because something is legal doesn't make it right.  A friend asked me how I can justify encouraging people to use their unlimited MetroCards to swipe others in; why, she wondered, is it right to deprive the MTA of needed revenue?  

Occasionally, I am surprised by my own clarity about an ethical issue.  What I told my friend is that I believe that public transportation, like public education, should be free to those who use it. It should be supported by taxes and available to everyone. In both cases, the society as a whole benefits from everyone having access.  There will always be those who can afford private alternatives, but as these are essential services, they should be available to all people, even if we can't all contribute equally.

Perhaps someone who doesn't use public transit may wonder why his taxes should support my subway ride.  This is straightforward enough: for many years, my tax dollars have paid for roads and other infrastructure that permit him to drive his car.  Moreover, the externalized environmental costs of driving are borne by all of us.  And they are not shared equally; some people have the misfortune to live in areas of heavy traffic congestion.

So now, finally, we come to the essence of metrosharing:  we are all in this together. 

Metrosharing connects us to the people right in front of us, which is always a good thing. If enough people do it, it will cut into MTA's revenue, raise hackles, and call attention to the hardship that many New Yorkers experience at the fare box.  Starting this campaign has motivated me to work very hard for Fair Share Tax Reform and other measures which bring us closer to a society in which we all have access to quality public services and we share the costs equitably.  

See You at City Hall - Fair Share Tax Reform

On Thursday, March 5th, from 4-7 PM, New Yorkers will gather at City Hall to demand Fair Share Tax Reform. As a committed member of the Working Families Party (WFP), I admire the substance and the name of this initiative.  In short, WFP is mobilizing voters to protest the state budget proposals that will cut vital services -- including education, health, and transit -- and demand instead that tax increases on more affluent New Yorkers are a better solution.

I encourage you to go to fairsharereform.com.  Then, come on out to City Hall tomorrow.  

Act Now - Write Your State Senator

In the spirit of fair sharing (and fare sharing), Transportation Alternatives (TA) is urging New Yorkers to write our state senators urging them to support the Ravitch plan. Richard Ravitch, former head of the MTA, has proposed requiring tolls on the East River bridges.  This would mean that drivers would be asked to pay their fair share to support bridge maintenance.  In the short term, the additional revenue would also be used to forestall service cuts to buses and subways and reduce the size of the projected fare increase.  Personally, I am tired of footing the bill for drivers -- we pay a much bigger proportion of the real costs of public transit than drivers pay for the real cost of roads -- not to mention the other externalized costs like air quality and safety.  Good public transportation is good for drivers as well as those of us who use it, since it reduces congestion.  I could go on and on, but it's time for action.

I was out on the street in Park Slope on Saturday with other TA activists and the response from the public was excellent.  People were happy to write letters (we provided clipboards, pens, paper, sample letters, and free cookies).  Writing a letter only takes a few minutes (really!) and it has much more of an impact than mass email.  If you haven't written your letter yet, you can do this from home, but you'll need your own paper, pen, envelope, stamp, and cookies.  

How to do it:  First,  find your state senator's name and address, by going to www.senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/senators?OpenForm

and follow instructions to locate your senator and his or her home page.  If you can't manage a snail mail letter, send an email to your senator; but if you're overwhelmed by feelings of good citizenship (cookies may help you to sustain these feelings), do it right.  Tell your senator what neighborhood you live in and why you want him or her to support the Ravitch plan.  Feel free to use my reasons (above).  Make sure that you sign your letter and print your name and address as well.  

Next, bring some cookies to the neighbors in the next apartment, offer to address their envelopes, and spread the word!