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Speaker Quinn appeared at a Tuesday rally in support of free student MetroCards. The outrage surrounding the MTA’s proposal to stop subsidizing free NYC student MetroCards has gotten a swift response from NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn and state officials. In a press event last Tuesday, the Speaker, along with the Straphangers Campaign, [...] While MTA transit riders are facing draconian reductions in service once again, LI Bus riders are having a particularly rough year. They have faced service cuts and/or fare hikes not once, not twice, but now an unprecedented three times. TSTC's Kate Slevin spoke with bus riders in Hempstead yesterday. In response, advocates from [...] Top: Students and community activists protested in East New York against a plan to end the student MetroCard program. Bottom: NYC Council Speaker Quinn and Councilmember Vacca held a press conference with advocates at City Hall. Today, despite protests citywide, the MTA Board approved a package of drastic service cuts and an end [...] The MTA's funding saga may have catapulted transportation into the "top tier" of issues that the media and public care most about. Gov. Paterson and the New York State Legislature agreed on a transit funding plan today that they estimate will generate $2.26 billion for the MTA and prevent deep service cuts and [...] Update 4/28: The Senate plan was voted out of the Transportation Committee yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, the MTA’s budget projections have officially worsened. The New York State Senate’s latest plan, announced earlier this week, has now arrived in bill form, though it has not been introduced yet. Here are the draft bill text and [...] Sometimes it becomes very clear why many people don’t trust government. When government agencies and officials are slow to respond, give incorrect information, or just don’t perform the duties charged to them by the public, the result is the loss of public trust. Here are three recent examples — two which Tri-State directly experienced, [...] Even though negotiations over an MTA rescue plan are now at a standstill, New York’s elected leaders say there won’t be fare hikes and service cuts. Today Gov. Paterson said of the fare hikes, “We are not going to put that burden on the people.” For his part, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said, “we [...] Protesters told Sen. Craig Johnson to "Earn our trust, support the bus!" A 75% fare increase for Long Island Bus, and a 23% LIRR fare increase with deep service cuts, aren’t fair. The Tri-State Campaign, Long Island ACORN, the Long Island Progressive Coalition, Able-Ride, and others brought that message to the office of [...] Just how broad are the MTA's planned service cuts and fare hikes? The documents describing them, distributed at the board meeting, are 384 pages long. Today the MTA Board passed broad service cuts and steep fare increases that will gouge deep ruts in the region’s economic health and quality of life. Albany [...] The news on the MTA is getting grimmer. Today, Gov. Paterson said that the agency should not delay enacting fare hikes or service cuts at its Wednesday board meeting, suggesting that an MTA rescue package may not pass this week or any time soon. The details of the planned cuts were finalized today. The MTA Board’s Finance Committee voted to advance to the full board a budget that will increase fares on subways, buses, and commuter rail lines by about 25% and slash service (as described on the MTA’s website here). Long Island Bus faces the highest fare increase – 75%. In testimony, TSTC executive director Kate Slevin said that time was running out and warned that “If Albany doesn’t act, we begin the vicious cycle of transit disinvestment, where fares increase, service declines, our economy suffers, and safety and reliability are undermined for future generations.” The MTA’s full board will vote on the doomsday budget this Wednesday. At the same time, Transportation Alternatives will be conducting an MTA Telethon from 8am to noon at the south side of Union Square Park in Manhattan. At the telethon, TA staff and volunteers will connect transit riders to their representatives in the State Senate, which hasn’t gotten on board with a compromise plan supported by Gov. Paterson and the State Assembly. As the video above shows, a telethon won’t raise enough money to rescue transit riders. Only Albany can. After the jump, the specific fare increases that were approved at the Finance Committee meeting: |
 
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