putting the "mass" in "massive fare hike"
with the MTA heading into dire fiscal straits despite the recent fare hike, here's a piece of electioneering to remember during the next gubernatorial and mayoral elections here in NYC (from the Daily News):
Because no one has any idea where all that money will come from, the entire transit system is lurching toward a financial crisis. Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg are the two men most responsible for the MTA's current policy of "borrow now and figure out how to pay for it later." But until now they've somehow managed to escape any blame for this mess. Pataki exercises the most power over the MTA because it is a state agency and he appoints its chairman. Bloomberg is next in influence because he appoints four members of the regional authority's 18-member board. Both men have sharply reduced state and city contributions to the MTA's capital fund, forcing the agency to either borrow money or let the system decay. Under Bloomberg, the city's contribution to the MTA's capital budget dropped to $75 million annually - the lowest in 20 years. As recently as 1986, Albany supplied 20% of the MTA's capital budget. But during Pataki's three terms as governor, those contributions have dropped to almost nothing, according to state Controller Alan Hevesi.
"The MTA's broke," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.
despite the fact that New York City has the largest mass transit system in the country with 7 million riders a day, we totally get the shaft when it comes to allocation of funds - just like in the allocation of anti-terror funds. the MTA tries to do the right thing (though their accounting procedures leave something to be desired) by investing in capital improvements to keep the system in good shape and running smoothly, but the lack of federal, state and local government funding will leave working class commuters to bear the burden of constant fare increases (the federal government stopped providing funds to NYC Transit in 1998).
this report from 1999 presciently predicted "NYC Transit's fiscal condition could deteriorate significantly over the 2000-2003 period. This would occur if revenues from dedicated taxes fall back to more normal levels and the need to increase service to relieve overcrowding makes further reductions in expenses harder to achieve."