All joking aside, we subway riders will be pretty screwed if the fare hikes and service cuts really do happen. Single rides are set to jump to $2.50 and monthly cards to $103 a month. LIRR and Metro-North will see 25% fare hikes. This is all on top of two subway and 35 bus line eliminations, not to mention service reduction on many of the surviving lines.
The state senate is now kicking around proposals to bail out the MTA and save us commuters who these changes will affect most, but they are dragging their feet. With all the giant bailouts going on, it will be a relief to hear about one that will help average citizens and not giant, greedy corporations.
There is something you can do to help with this effort. The Working Families Party has set up HaltTheHike.org to encourage us to contact our legislators and demand that they support a fair, comprehensive plan to save New York’s transit riders. On the site is a pre-written letter you can submit. Take action now, before it’s too late!
These are paltry measures, the gestures of slaves who beg for freedom. New Yorker’s have become meek weasels. What is necessary to effect any significant change is FULL SCALE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Let us begin with this announcement:
ALL SUBWAY RIDERS SHOULD REFUSE TO PAY for the subway beginning January 15th and continue to refuse to pay to use the subway until the current fares are reduced or frozen at their current rate.
No other gestures will suffice. Otherwise, submit to the continued dehumanization, which will only continue over time and intensify as the city grows more and more overpopulated and all are reduced to impotent mice squeaking about fairness.