Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Spitzer Holds Subway Fare

In a startling turn of events, the MTA once again has quote-unquote accounting issues. Today, Spitzer held a press conference to urge the MTA to hold the subway fare at $2. Spitzer has been a verifiable swan dive of high expectations in his first year as governor of New York, and the timing of this announcement sure is convenient. But I have to admit, the MTA is my public enemy number one, and their methods of accounting make the Sopranos look spic and span. Any ammunition to badger them into fiscal transparency is fine by me. Now they have $220 million surprise money in their budget, and Spitzer wants it redirected back to the straphangers.
    At a news conference in midtown this morning, Mr. Spitzer said that under a new plan, the agency would still be able to raise some fares, including the cost of weekly and monthly bus and subway MetroCards, commuter railroad fares, and bridge and tunnel tolls. But he said that an unexpected increase of $220 million in the agency’s budget forecast should enable it to forego its plan to raise the base fare next year from $2 per ride to $2.25.

photo by blhphotography via flickr

2 comments:

frugal zeitgeist said...

Well, the individual fare is staying the same. The unlimited ride cards are likely to go up. Meh.

PiggyBankBlues said...

yeah, i know. most new yorkers get an unlimited, so it's not as great as it sounds..