By RORY MASTERSON
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
With an outstanding surplus of 1.9 billion dollars, the MTA is still expected to raise fares this year reaching further into the pockets of its daily riders. (Photo by Elizabeth Zanghi/The Ram)
One of the major benefits of being in New York City is that it is home to the most extensive public transportation system in the United States. While many Fordham students dread even the idea of boarding a bus or riding the D train, the fact is that over half and as much as 75 percent of the residents in the five boroughs do not own a car because of how generally effective public transit is. Generous credit for the effectiveness of the system certainly goes to the public benefit corporation responsible for its upkeep, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).
Recently, the MTA announced that it was expecting a $1.9 billion surplus by the year’s end, or what State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli called “unanticipated funds.” CBS New York reported that the money came from a combination of sources, including lower pension contributions, energy costs, debt service and health insurance costs as well as higher tax revenues. Recent consolidation of bus routes and the 2010 elimination of the V and W subway lines helped the MTA reach this financial state as well.
However the MTA is causing major head-scratching among the city’s commuters. It rolled out a planned 15 percent fare hike earlier this year, which will be implemented over the next three years.
Though the MTA announced this prior to its becoming aware of the surplus, there have been no follow-up revisions to the plan. Moreover, the MTA expects the planned fare hike to cover benefits and pensions of its employees rather than improve servic
“No person who rides the subway or takes a bus to work every day is going to appreciate a raise in the fare, especially if the money is not going directly to improving the conditions of the trains and impacting his or her own experience,” Rachel Nass, FCRH ’15, said. “The fare hikes are going to cover MTA workers’ pensions and healthcare benefits, which is completely legitimate and important but often much more difficult to accept when it is money out of your own pocket, especially for the incredible amount of people who are struggling economically as it is.”
For Fordham students especially, the fare hike will prove to be problematic. Budgets are tight around campus, with yearly tuition increases and textbook prices reaching all-time highs, so the added marginal expense to every city excursion will wear on everyone. With abundant ticket machine failures at Fordham Road and other non-central stations, it is difficult to accept a fare increase that will not show itself directly in the services the MTA provides.
Although the MTA plans to use the $1.8 billion surplus to address current maintenance concerns and other services, these upgrades will likely not extend beyond Manhattan.
Lower income areas rarely get the benefit of visible and sustaining upgrades, yet these are some of the areas which the fare hike will harm the most. Tolls have also risen at a faster rate than inflation in the past six years, which is particularly disconcerting to low income families.
With the economy as fragile as it is now, it seems unreasonable for the MTA to forge ahead with the planned increase, particularly when ridership has increased steadily over the last two decades. Unfortunately, given the city’s reliance on public transit, the MTA holds the power. With any luck, it will realize the damage it is doing to a city it should be helping to repair.
Rory Masterson, GSB ’14, is a business administration major from Fort Mill, S.C.
