| Issue 147 | October 17, 1997 |
Free Transfers Lead to Money Train
The Straphangers Campaign revealed this week that burgeoning subway and bus ridership and full tax coffers are generating a healthy operating budget surplus at the NYC Transit Authority. The news rated a front page Daily News report on Thursday. A following story today said the surplus could run as high as $167 million if ridership remains at the high levels seen since July. But transit budget experts not cited in news reports said the surplus could be as high as $200 million by the end of 1997, and that the cost of implementing another 10% fare discount on top of volume fare discounts already planned would only cost the TA $100 million - half of what the agency is likely to be holding on Dec. 31.Public debate on spending the money is flowing as thick as rush hour Times Square station straphangers. Everyone remembers what happened last time the Transit Authority announced such abundance ($113 million): a day later, the Giuliani Administration announced it was cutting its transit budget contribution by $113 million.
Expect to see calls for returning money to riders and taxpayers center on a proposal for a 12-rides-for-the-price-of-10 discount. This week, an MTA committee approved the long-planned 11-for-10 Metrocard break scheduled for implementation in January. That discount is already covered in the Transit Authority budget.
City Council Speaker Peter Vallone quickly endorsed the 12-for-10 discount, pointing out that it would return the 20% fare increase imposed on city bus and subway riders in the fall of 1995. Suburban rail commuters are being offered a 9% discount package equal to the Metro-North and LIRR fare hikes in 1995.
Other officials also responded:
Mayor Giuliani said he would meet with Governor Pataki to discuss how best to use the surplus. He suggested to the Daily News that some be returned to riders and some be invested in the system. A City Hall spokesperson later told MTR that the Mayor had no distinct leanings toward either fare reduction or better service. Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington suggested that the money be returned to riders, according to news reports.Democratic mayoral candidate Ruth Messinger's campaign office said the budget surplus should be spent on discounts "such as Council Speaker Peter Vallone's 12-for-10 proposal." Messinger also feels a 50-cent subway fare for children traveling with parents, similar to the program the commuter railroads operate, "should be part of that package."Council member A. Gifford Miller said the "$100 million should be used for some kind of deal" for riders who got "stuck with the bill the last time. The MTA for a long time said they couldn't give fare incentives because it would cost too much. Now, we see that isn't the case. For the same reasons businesses don't give coupons out of the goodness of their heart, the MTA should encourage the use of transit as much as possible." But he added that "we should not take the surplus as a sign everything is peachy with the MTA budget. The whole [MTA] capital plan is based on assumptions" which could lead to shortfalls in a couple of years.State Assemblywoman and staunch transit advocate Catherine Nolan said the surplus should be applied equally to fare discounts and better service.
