BY MARK HALLUM
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority had decided
against raising subway
and bus fares by 4 percent,
ending months of speculation
and debate sparked by the
agency’s dwindling fi nances
amid a sharp pandemic-related
drop in ridership.
The leadership of the MTA
postponed the decision on
what critics have called a “regressive
tax on low-income
New Yorkers who depend on
mass transit the most,” citing
the healthy prospects of
aid from the incoming Biden
administration, and with
New York City’s own Chuck
Schumer becoming US Senate
majority leader.
Agency Chairman Pat Foye
claimed the agency could get
up to $8 billion in pandemic
relief after months of pleading
from the Trump administration
and Senator Mitch Mc-
Connell.
“The COVID-19 pandemic
has wreaked economic havoc
— devastating the MTA‘s
ridership and revenues and
bringing them to levels far
worse than the Great Depression.
It has also hit people of
color and low-income communities
COURIER L 4 IFE, JANUARY 22-28, 2021
hardest, many of
whom are the very same essential
workers that have
been on the frontlines of this
crisis and who are also most
dependent on mass transit,”
Foye said. “Buoyed by President
elect Biden, incoming
Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer and Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, the MTA also
has hope for $8 billion in additional
pandemic relief and
continued federal investment
in mass transit in 2021
and beyond. For these reasons,
the MTA has decided to
postpone the planned fare increase
for several months.”
Since announcing the possibility
of a fare and toll increase
due to fi nancial fallout
from COVID-19, the MTA held
eight hearings on the matter,
some of which took place before
Biden’s victory over President
Donald Trump in the November
general election.
If the new-look leadership
in Washington D.C. don’t
come though, however, the
MTA may be forced to return
to the decision-making
table, and could possibly
raise fares in the future.
Transit organizations like
Riders Alliance had long taken
a fi rm stance against a fare
hike, saying it would fall disproportionately
on workingclass
people who have no other
method of transportation.
“When riders organize,
our governor listens. With
offices closed and Broadway
dark, a transit fare hike
would fall overwhelmingly
on essential workers and
New Yorkers with no other
way to get around beside the
bus, subway, and paratransit,”
said the organization’s
head, Danny Pearlstein.
The MTA had been considering a 4 percent hike. Photo via Shutterstock
The transit advocate
added his calls for Gov. Andrew
Cuomo to add additional
state resources into
the subway and bus system.
“With the regressive
MTA fare hike off the table,
Governor Cuomo must now
put a stop to state raids on
transit-dedicated funds,”
Pearlstein said. “While riders
are breathing a sigh of
relief, the governor must
craft a bold, progressive solution
to his transit agency’s
money woes.”
While mass transit users
can breathe a sigh of relief for
now, motorists who commute
over MTA bridges and tunnels
could see a toll increase
of up to 8 percent when the
board comes to a decision on
the matter.
It’s only fare!
MTA won’t raise fares, citing possible Biden aid
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