Comments on: MTA: Ridership may plateau in 2009

By: Ellie

Ellie — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:42:23 +0000

What about charging higher base fares for those who are casual users? To be honest, I’d pay more for subway service because I find it to be extremely valuable, and it helped me rid myself of $600 a month in car note, insurance, gas and maintenance.

By: kvnbklyn

kvnbklyn — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:55:01 +0000

That’s 2.35 billion, I believe, not million.

By: ScottE

ScottE — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:08:49 +0000

How about reduced ridership due to service cuts?

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:26:06 +0000

Negligible. And it will continue to be negligible until the MTA issues a drastic bump in fares. Considering how high gas prices are and how much other modes of transportation costs, a relatively small fare hike won’t change the travel patterns of, I’d guess, at least 99 percent of their riders.

By: chemster

chemster — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:24:29 +0000

Were they also factoring in decreased ridership due to fare hikes?

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:06:18 +0000

Poor word choice on my part. It’s more likely that there won’t be another spike in ridership due to high gas prices because everyone has given up their cars. Those numbers should remain stagnant next year.

By: Francis Morrone

Francis Morrone — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:03:35 +0000

“a lessening of the impact of high gas prices”

Really?

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:49:23 +0000

What were the MTA’s predictions in 1993, 1998, and 2003 for the next five years?