Comments on: Students — Not State — Showing Leadership on MTA School Fares

By: NY Special Election: The Candidates on Transportation | Mobilizing the Region

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:09:59 +0000

[...] has touted his work as a community organizer, including on the successful campaign to maintain free and discounted MetroCards for NYC public school [...]

By: “Flying at Light Speed” on Planet Albany | Mobilizing the Region

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:57:20 +0000

[...] bus lane camera bill in exchange for the MTA continuing to foot the biggest part of the bill for the free student MetroCard program. Time will [...]

By: John

John — Mon, 24 May 2010 22:54:50 +0000

The same way that it is the responsibility of the MTA to provide transportation around the city, even though they are guarenteed to lose money on the service at the end of the day, if they can keep crime rates low and keep the student dropout rate from increasing, it is their responsibility.
In the end, the MTA is one of the agencies that is vital for the health of the city. If one agency (the DOE) is finacially unable to provide a service, the MTA should step in.
As far as the cost of the actual students taking the public transportation, the actual cost is close to nothing, since they have to run the service anyway. There are ”special” buses just for students (I don’t know who pays for them, but some of them could be consolidated to improve efficiency), but in schools near train stations, there is literally almost no extra cost for the extra riders.
By the way, for those of you who were wondering, I wrote a letter to the MTA and they said that about 69.5 million rides were taken by students last year, and about 71 million rides were taken by students last year. About 140.5 million rides were taken in total by students. Therefore, if they all bought a MetroCard with a 15% bonus, there would be an average fare paid of $1.93. $1.93 x 140.5 million = about $271,165,000 in lost fares every year. That would probably be how they arrived at the $214 million figure. However, between students dropping out and students trnsferring to closer schools, I say they would be lucky to get half that amount.

By: MTA Service Cuts Pass, School Fares and Bus Cameras in Albany’s Hands | Mobilizing the Region

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:13:42 +0000

[...] population has increased, and is now $214 million according to the MTA. But the city and state have not increased aid to match; since 1995 they have each contributed $45 million per year — and last year, the [...]

By: Red

Red — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:28:45 +0000

I don’t know if it’s true that state legislators didn’t spend any political capital, even if they suck. Senator Brian Foley and some of the other suburbanites are probably going to lose their jobs for voting for the payroll tax.

By: bob

bob — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:57:49 +0000

With all due respect to Cap’n Transit, I don’t recall where the Mayor and Governor spent serious political capital looking for steady funding for the MTA. The Mayor’s congestion pricing proposal was done in such a dictatorial manner it never had a chance of passing, no matter what it’s merits. And the Governor?

That said, he’s certainly right that legislators have to be held accountable for thier actions, and thier hypocrisy.

By: Hearings on MTA Service Cuts Begin Today | Mobilizing the Region

Hearings on MTA Service Cuts Begin Today | Mobilizing the Region — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:22:50 +0000

[...] after Gov. Paterson and the State Legislature cut $143 million from the MTA’s budget (including money for student MetroCards) last year and revenues from the payroll tax passed last year came in lower than state bureaucrats [...]

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:46:39 +0000

The point, Steven, is that the Governor and the Mayor have already decided in favor of transit. It’s not a tactical choice to waste your efforts persuading people who are already on your side. You do agree that the Mayor is refusing to fund student fares in order to help transit, right?

Unless, of course, you think that the whole thing is a big game of three-card monte, and if we get both the Senate and the Assembly to vote in favor of bridge tolls then the Governor will suddenly be against them…

By: Steven Higashide

Steven Higashide — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:38:33 +0000

I called the students’ message “reasonable, fair, and smart” because it’s now a decisionmaker-focused message and not just an MTA-focused message. That’s the fundamentally correct strategy; choosing to concentrate on Sampson vs. Bloomberg vs. Paterson is just a tactical choice that individual groups will make based on their position, what resources they have, and so on.

I think these students ought to be congratulated for having more initiative and being savvier about politics than many people who are five times their age. And frankly, suggesting that city officials be left out of the student MetroCard issue just doesn’t make sense.

By: David

David — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:35:59 +0000

Don’t want to lose your student Metro Card? Come out and make your voice heard! The MTA is holding hearings next week in every borough! Click here for the hearings schedule: http://www.mta.info/news/pdf/public_hearing.pdf