Comments on: Prepping for a $2.50 ride

By: Marc Shepherd

Marc Shepherd — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:31:01 +0000

The capital and operating budgets are separate for good reasons. Capital budgets are for things you build once and use for many years or forever. Operating budgets are used up continuously just to keep what you have. If you think the system does not need a capital budget, then you’re crazy. Just step into the wayback machine and look at the state of the system in the late 1960s.

It is true, as noted upthread, that debt service on previous capital budgets is a major contributor to the MTA’s current deficit. Those debts were approved by the legislature during the Pataki administration, as a way of avoiding the difficult decisions we are now facing.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:36:25 +0000

Agreed. On the commuter railroads, three weeks worth of single-ride tickets, peak fare, is about the same cost as a monthly pass. Therefore, the monthly riders get about a 33% “bonus” (if you call it that) over individual tickets. However, the subways don’t do this — even with the 15% discount, a month worth of commuting (22 days) with the 15% bonus is about equal to a 30-day Metrocard.

This has nothing to do with filling the budget gap, just a common sense fare structure. Reward multi-ride cards more than single-ride, and reward daily commuters even further.

By: peter knox

peter knox — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:35:12 +0000

The point is, they shouldn’t be two separate entities. This artificial division between capital and maintenance budgets is the main reason that we must endure these funding crises. All of New York is going to suffer financial hardship in perpetuity in order to fund projects that are ill conceived and dishonestly managed. When are we ever going to hear an honest price tag for the first phase of the SAS (maybe 6B by now!?) and an honest completion date (maybe 2019?!). Wake up, people!

By: AW

AW — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:01:48 +0000

Ariel – not technically true. Debt service on the capital budget (which is significant – the last capital budget was $20B) comes out of the operating budget.

So, capital expenditures do have an impact on operations and the ops budget – Peter is partially correct here.

By: Ariel

Ariel — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:45:58 +0000

The capital budget and the operating budget are two separate entities. The capital budget is used to expand and improve the system, such as building the SAS, and the operating budget is for running the system that’s already in place. Since they’re two separate entities, the MTA can’t transfer money from one budget to the other. Therefore, the billions spent on the SAS has no affect on the operating budget, which what the MTA is trying to fix with fare hikes and service cuts.

By: rhywun

rhywun — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:41:42 +0000

Come back in June and see how “phony” the crisis is.

By: rhywun

rhywun — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:01:10 +0000

Then they should make it clear to the public that “the lesser of two evils” comes with massive service cuts.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:11:05 +0000

Some would say $3.00 is unacceptable, either… especially since such a hike would also entail some hike in pay-per-ride and unlimited monthly cost. If the pay-per-ride bonus returns to 20%, and the unlimited monthly cost remains 46 times the pay-per-ride cost, then we’re talking $2.50 with a pay-per-ride and $115 with an unlimited monthly.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:07:24 +0000

Well, prices just crashed after the introduction of the MetroCard. First, the bus-to-subway transfers halved fares for people in Eastern Queens. Then the pay-per-rides reduced fares by 9.1%. Then the unlimited monthlies reduced fares by another 16% for people swiping 55 times a month. In real terms, fares went down by 30% between 1987 and 2003. The fare hikes of the last 6 years are simply a return to trend.

By: peter knox

peter knox — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:11:56 +0000

So why are they trying to expand the system when they can’t maintain and pay for the system we have now? Does this make any sense? The billions they are wasting on the 28 block Second Avenue stubway are creating this phony crisis. They don’t have the money because they chose not to have the money. And all of New York State is going to pay for the MTA’s corrupt practices. Sickening. Wake up, people!