They are announcing fare hikes and service cuts today.
They could’ve solved this fucking problem with congestion pricing. Put the burden on car drivers not on people using the damn subway.
Seriously! Fuck the fucking MTA! They sent me to collections for a debt that I don’t owe and their hours of business are from 9-5 M-F with lunch from 12-1 so I have to sneak into the bathroom to call them in hopes of them fixing their error, which they haven’t done yet despite the fact that I have spoken to 5 different reps over the last 2 months. GAAAH! :mad::mad::mad:
Make sure you carry extra nickels.
And a sandwich.
How did you end up owing the MTA money?
Yeah! It’s going to be a loooong time before they pull into Scollay Square for those sandwiches.
I was signed up to receive a monthly Metro North card from them. I cancelled that account in June because I knew I would be leaving my job (and no longer need to commute via Metro North) sometime in the near future so I didn’t want to be charged for cards I didn’t need.
Apparently they still tried to charge me for July and sent out a ticket, which I had already purchased from the machine at Grand Central, but the ticket they mailed me never showed up. Then instead of calling me or writing me to tell me that they weren’t able to charge my card and that I owed them money they just turned me over to a collection agency for a debt I don’t owe and an error on their part. They are busy fucking up my credit and making my life as difficult as possible. This kind of shit is why they have to post notices about the fines for assaulting MTA employees, I swear.
I will never understand how a business/service, run by grown-ups, has to have a group mandated lunch time.
So pathetic.
The MTA’s may be a bunch of maroons, but killing congestion pricing was absolutely Albany’s fault, not the MTA or Bloomberg.
Fine, whomever’s fault it was, now it’s going to be more expensive to ride the subway and the lines will be more packed than ever.
That’s what pisses me off so god damn much about the situation. I’m a relatively new New Yorker (one year) but I’m already fucking livid about the fact that Albany has a fucking say over what we do here in the city. I realize that the MTA is shitty in a lot of ways, but on the other hand, what other choice do they have? The State has to cut a shitload of money and the MTA is just one of many victims. I was for congestion pricing. Reading about this on wikipedia pissed me off because apparently we all approved it down here and Albany just fucking didn’t take the issue up, and all the federal money we were to receive went to Chicago.
Seriously, NYC needs to secede from those clowns in Albany. Let those backwards-ass clowns run their bullshit hamlets however the fuck they want to run things and let us get down to business down here.
Transit costs money, but it’s so vital that raising fares should be the last resort in my opinion.
We just voted in a half-cent sales tax for transit improvements in L.A. County. It’s too bad that the only politically acceptable way to raise money for this is such a regressive tax, but I did support it and I’m glad it passed. Maybe we’re finally starting to face reality out here. You wouldn’t think it, but there are lots of areas in L.A. that are as dense as NYC (although probably not Manhattan).
Subway, subway, subway. The tolls are what’s killing me. I could afford $2.50 each way. $5 each way? That’s what I’m looking at. I’m not even going into Manhattan.
How the fuck is the MTA not profitable? They got to have four sets of books. There’s no way they can be this incompetent on purpose. They raised the damn fares last year already.
I thought this thread was going to be about the A train tonight. All downtown trains were stopping at 59th St. and going no further. And now I learn they’re announcing another fare hike? Fuck that.
A 23% hike in June 2009, an 8% hike in 2011, and hikes every other year thereafter in perpetuity.
Huh? I thought the MTA was in Boston, like in the song. Or are there two of them?
Boston is the MBTA, which is in considerably worse shape then NY.
The MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) in Boston was subsumed by the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority). It was, in part, a way to soak municipalities for fees and dues to pay for the commuter rail and the subways. How things break down, I’m no longer aware of, though at one point there was a stink when it was noted that a pair of towns were still being assessed MBTA fees/dues years after the stations they’d had were closed down.
If you want to give yourself a headache, look at the Wikipedia disambiguation page for “MTA.” There are a lot of them.
Yeah, I’m looking at the cost of my monthly LIRR train ticket (Ronkonkoma -> Penn Station) going up by $64. Just for the LIRR portion. Probably more for the monthly Metrocard printed on the back. That pass already costs me almost $350 on the Mail and Ride program.
This would be easier to stomach if the MTA introduced any of the service improvements they promised in order to get the LAST fare hike. It’s pretty automatic - they promise additional service, they get the hike approved, they turn around and yank the service improvements.
Further, the MTA can turn up some $$$ if they cut all their ad campaigns reminding riders that:
- It’s a felony to assault a train crew.
- They ought to be courteous to one another.
- They can massage the numbers to make it look like the LIRR trains are actually on time and that the on-time performance actually improves.
- We ought to keep our eyes out for strange packages and tell people when we see them. (“If you see something, say something.”)
I gave mrAru an ancient MTA token when we first moved up here from Virginia …
I figure Id rather have him home than only see hi when I chuck a sandwich through the window at him …
With all that’s going on they plan to spend 4 million bucks to change the name of the Triborough bridge- gotta love politicians
(what a waste)
To Rename Triborough for R.F.K., $4 Million - The New York Times