It was a tumultuous year for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, with financial difficulties, a fare hike expected to raise $360 million, and the defeat of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan.
The MTA Board approved the fare hike in December and it took effect March 2. The base subway and bus fare remained at $2, but the bonus for buying larger-denomination MetroCards was reduced from 20 percent to 15 percent—meaning a rider who purchases a $10 MetroCard will receive a $1.50 bonus instead of a $2 bonus. Unlimited MetroCard prices also increased.
The loose change brought by the new bonus structure sparked heavy criticism, as some experts worried riders would discard MetroCards with money still on them, resulting in significant unreported profits for the MTA. But others put the onus on riders to avoid this by refilling their MetroCards rather than discarding them.
The fare hike—the first since 2005—also sparked accusations that the MTA was too removed from the concerns of ordinary New Yorkers and didn’t understand the financial impact even a small fare increase would have.
Further controversy arose in April when the MTA postponed service upgrades it had promised to implement in an effort to soothe the sting of the fare hike. Among these upgrades were increased evening service on the 1 and C trains, which run through Morningside Heights and West Harlem, and the creation of several new bus routes.
Officials cited lack of revenue, despite profits from the fare hike—which was designed to increase revenue by 3.85 percent—as well as an unexpected $220 million in funds revealed in November. Then-Governor Eliot Spitzer urged the MTA to scrap two initial hike proposals and maintain the $2 base fare.
MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said in April that the transit authority was $15 billion short of the funds it needed to maintain financial solvency and implement the initiatives it had proposed.
The other major controversy of the year surrounded Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which would have charged $8 for cars and $21 for trucks entering Manhattan below 60th Street on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. It was hoped the plan would encourage the use of mass transit and thus reduce traffic.
Many local politicians—including New York City Council members Robert Jackson (D-Washington Heights and West Harlem) and Inez Dickens(D-Central Harlem and Morningside Heights), and state Senator Bill Perkins (D-West Harlem)—supported the plan, which City Council passed on March 31. The plan was killed on April 7 when New York State Assembly Democrats chose not to bring it to the floor for a full vote.
In addition to the loss of direct revenue, the defeat of congestion pricing disqualified the city from receiving up to $354 million in federal funding for traffic reduction and transit improvements.
While the year was largely characterized by controversy, there was one notable moment of heroism, when Columbia mechanic Veeramuthu Kalimuthu jumped onto the tracks at the 116th Street subway station to rescue a man who had passed out and fallen onto the uptown tracks. Kalimuthu had been standing on the downtown platform, but he walked across the tracks, hoisted the man back onto the platform, and walked back across to catch his train, less than a minute before an uptown 1 train came rushing over the spot where the man had been.
maggie.astor@columbiaspectator.com