Students Need Passes to Get to Their Classes!

I've been neglecting my blogging since I returned to my classroom in the fall. And then, last week, the MTA voted to cut funding for free student MetroCards and my worlds collided. My students, and hundreds and thousands of others around the City, are in jeopardy. Free student passes have been around since the fare went from 5 cents to 10 cents. Today, the fare is $2.25 and fare hikes will likely follow service cuts. The burden on families with children will be tremendous if the cuts of student MetroCards go through.

This afternoon, I went with twenty of my students to protest outside MTA headquarters. It was a peaceful but passionate protest. My students were angry, and rightly so. They understand the meaning of this decision: No transportation, no education! Don't you care? Pay our fare! We need passes to get to our classes! These same young people often struggle to see the connection between their lives and the history I try to teach them. They wonder if protesting will make a difference. As Billie Holliday sang, the impossible will take a little while. Howard Zinn has said much about how people make change, but I offer these words to my students and all the other young people who wonder if it's worth making noise about this issue:

"...Throughout history, people have felt powerless before authority, but at certain times these powerless people, by organizing, acting, risking, and persisting, have created enough power to change the world around them, even if a little. That is the history of the labor movement, the women's movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, the disabled person's movement, the gay and lesbian movement and the [Civil Rights] movement...."

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

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?

MTA Public Hearing in Brooklyn

Last night's hearing was an educational experience.  I learned a great deal about the inadequacies of the Access-a-Ride service provided by the MTA.  The MTA's plan is to double the fares to $6 per trip (!@#), while cutting bus services that are far more accessible to elderly and disabled riders than the subways, since so many stations lack working elevators.  If anyone has ideas for extending the concept of metrosharing more broadly to help more people get around, please comment.

I distributed many Metroshare flyers at the hearing and finally got my turn to speak at 11:35 pm. The response to the flyers was very positive, but the audience had dwindled by the time I got to speak.  

Thanks for all of the support.  Some people have emailed (metrosharing@gmail.com) to tell me about problems trying to post comments on the blog and to offer great suggestions for the campaign.  The technological aspects of blogging are an unfolding mystery, and I will work to respond to comments as well as emails.  All suggestions are most welcome.  I did, in fact, design a button for unlimited riders to identify themselves, but need to give more thought to distribution. I'll be out of NYC at the beginning of February, but will continue to work on this challenge.

Special thanks to agentprof, who helped load the logo today, and to my sister, who helped with its design.  There is much work ahead and all hands are needed aboard this campaign.  

Don't forget to share a swipe!

METROSHARE UNLIMITED

Tonight, I am launching the Metroshare Unlimited Campaign.  Here's what I'm going to say at the MTA's public hearing about proposed fare hikes and service cuts:

A fare hike is the wrong move in hard times.  

Raising fares is a regressive measure, hitting low-income New Yorkers the hardest when they can least afford an increase of this necessary expense.  The impact on teens and young adults will be terrible, as they find themselves confined to their neighborhoods except when traveling to and from paid employment.

Today, I'm here to address unlimited MetroCard riders.  It's time to share a valued resource that we've paid for.  I'm urging unlimited card-holders to identify themselves on the way OUT of a turnstile.  Say "I metroshare" or "you can ask me."  And then swipe someone into the turnstile as you exit.  If you swipe someone IN on your way OUT, you help someone save a few dollars.  In the past, the MTA has encouraged riders to share unlimited MetroCards with other family members.  I'm asking everyone to consider other New Yorkers as part of your family and to share a ride.

Of course, it's always illegal to sell a swipe.  But the MetroCard is NOT non-transferable, which means that sharing a swipe is completely legal and does not violate the MTA's Conditions of Use.

On July 16, 2008, the New York Times published what they called "The MetroCard Bell Curve" to report the finding that the average user of an unlimited monthly MetroCard takes 56 rides, bringing the cost of a ride down to about $1.45.  That average included less than 1800 riders who take 100 trips a month AND over 10,000 riders who aren't really getting their money's worth from their monthly passes.  When the price of a monthly pass goes to $105, the MTA is going to find that these 10,000+ riders will trade the convenience of a monthly card for the 15% savings on $20 cards, and revenues will sink rather than rise.

Metrosharing, or swiping someone IN on your way OUT, is a way to get your money's worth and to help each other.  New York City fare-sharers are going to change the culture of the subway and the city.

It's time for the MTA to think big about the role of public mass transit.  It is never a good time to discourage the use of mass transit, but falling gas prices make this a vulnerable time for our city. More traffic would choke the life from New York.  The wealth of this city is its people and our capacity to get to work and go to school.  It is the people who breathe life into our parks and museums, theaters, libraries, and stores.  We're not a great city if everyone stays home.  Don't raise the fare.