Source:
New York TimesNew York Times
July 18, 2010
Riders of New York’s transportation system are about to learn a tough lesson of recessionary politics: In times of crisis, nothing is sacred.
Some of the more hallowed, burned-into-your-brain assumptions of traveling around the region are now on the chopping block as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority seeks to curtail yet another budget deficit — this one projected at $400 million.
The off-peak discount on the Long Island Rail Road, for instance, would become smaller than it is now, meaning that riders would have to pay more to travel into the city on weekends, afternoons and late nights. Riders would also pay peak fares for morning trains that head east from Pennsylvania Station or Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, under a proposal being considered by transit officials.
And the authority intends to strain the English language, along with riders’ pocketbooks: limits could be placed on the so-called unlimited MetroCards, which offer monthly and weekly passes for the bus and subway system. The monthly pass, in turn, could cost about $100 a month, up from $89 today.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/nyregion/19fares.html?_r=1&hpw
Being from New York, I know the routine:
1- Claim that a Metrocard will go up from $89 to $100
2- Raise it to $94 instead
3- Subway and bus riders breathe a sigh of relief because the increase was $6 less than anticipated.
We need to start protesting these abuses in this country.