Although Mayor Bloomberg now says East River tolls will take too long to set up to help with the New York City’s immediate fiscal crisis, he plans to move quickly on other elements of his transportation budget agenda ― cuts to city support for daily mass transit operations.

With Albany and the MTA already in financial straits, the Mayor’s plan would pressure fares over, and likely trigger transit service cuts.

In other words, before the $2 NYC Transit fare even takes effect, conditions that could force another fare increase by 2005 are developing.

The mayor’s cuts, amounting to around $200 million, are two-part. One comes as part of his long-standing desire to shed the costs of the franchise bus system from city budget rolls. The city-subsidized private buses operate largely in Queens and the Bronx. The second is a proposed cut to city support for NYC Transit operations. The state matches money the city contributes, so any reduction in city support could trigger a state cut as well. That happened in 1994 and 1995, leading to the fare increase from $1.25 to $1.50. However, the state legislature would have to approve the city’s reduction. Transit advocates are urging bus and subway riders to contact State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and urge him to fight the transit cuts.

"The city has moved away from tolling bridges to tolling bus and subway riders," Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign told the NY Post. "This is nothing but a reverse commuter tax."

MTR search facility and back issues:

Search our database of all past issues of Mobilizing the Region since Fall, 1994.

Go to index of all Mobilizing the Region back issues