Today the MTA outlined proposals to deal with a $900 million budget deficit.
The options include an increase in the price of monthly Metrocard and commuter rail passes, a 50-cent toll increase, slashing $40 million in contributions to Long Island Bus, and labor concessions. According to the MTA, labor costs make up two-thirds of its operating budget.
In response to the MTA’s net zero approach to raises, John Samuelsen, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100 told the Wall Street Journal, “It’s totally unrealistic.” Samuelsen “blasted the proposal” according to the paper.
A 2011 fare increase, which was approved in a 2009 funding package, means transit riders will be paying much more than other transit beneficiaries for the costs of running the system.
Reactions to the proposal were varied. But most said riders are paying far more than their fair share, felt the state should reinstate $143 million and additional revenues are critical to keep the system running.
“A fare increase in 2011 was part of a deal that has fallen apart. That deal called for the various beneficiaries of transit to contribute to the MTA, including riders, drivers and employers,” says Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers’ Campaign. “Like many other groups, in 2009,the Straphangers agreed to this arrangement. Unfortunately, the deal has fallen through with riders being hit with the worst service cuts in decades; the state legislature cutting $143 million from the MTA; and a sharp downturn in the revenues coming from specially dedicated transit taxes.
Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island says, “These proposed cuts are insulting to the small businesses who have shouldered the burden of the MTA payroll tax, many of which have faced layoffs and difficult economic decisions. Small businesses in our downtowns and beyond rely on bus service for both customers and employees. Vision Long Island calls on the MTA to prepare an economic impact statement to analyze the ramifications of service reductions to the small business community and economic growth in Nassau County.”
Kevin Corbett, co-chair of Empire State Transportation Alliance, pointed out that “it is unfortunate that Albany, by sweeping dedicated MTA tax receipts to fund other concerns, has forced the MTA to cut services at the very time it is scheduled for a fare increase. We call on Albany to restore that funding and to ensure those funds are provided going forward. Albany must live up to its side of the agreement and stop the charade of cutting funding and then blaming the MTA when a fare increase is proposed. Additionally, there is a looming crisis of a $10+ billion gap in the outer years of the Capital Plan that is not addressed. Clearly the MTA will not be able to raise fares or find efficiencies to cover the full amount. We look to Albany and Washington to step up to the plate as responsible partners and look forward to working with all parties in that regard as well.”
“It is inequitable to keep asking transit riders to contribute more to the system while drivers, who reap the congestion busting benefits of our transit system, can still travel into the densest city in America for free,” said Kate Slevin, executive director, Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “Voters angry about the recent service cuts should ask state candidates how they plan on dealing with the MTA’s financial crisis.
“The agreement under which MTA is justifying this latest fare hike was based on the assumption that service would not only stay intact but improve. It also assumed that Albany would not raid $143 million from the MTA’s dedicated tax stream. Now we face the unthinkable scenario of riders being forced to wait longer, travel farther, make additional transfers ― and pay up to 10 percent more,” said Councilman James Vacca, who is also the Chair of the Transportation Committee. “It is truly the worst of all worlds, and while the MTA clearly finds itself in a ditch, it’s not a ditch of the riders’ making. Average New Yorkers already struggling to make ends meet should not be asked to dig deeper into their already-empty pockets when millions of dollars in dedicated taxes that were diverted from the MTA ‘lockbox’ have still not been restored. Today I am calling on Albany to return the $143 million they confiscated from mass transit and give straphangers at least a partial reprieve from a fare hike that could not come at a worse time.”
Russianoff and Alexander are just flailing, as if they know they’re supposed to say something but have no idea what’s going on.
Corbett, Slevin, Henderson, and Vacca are much more coherent: they understand Albany is to blame, not the MTA.