For much of the last two years, New Yorkers have witnessed a battle of mass transit funding and public transportation policy. While New York City, the state’s economic driver and only area of New York experiencing a population growth, needs and relies on its mass transit system to function efficiently and productivity, the state legislators holding the purse strings have not readily embraced making tough choices over public transportation funding.
We don’t have congestion pricing or bridge tolls, and we don’t have a commuter tax with proceeds funneled to the network that brings commuters to work. Instead, we have an MTA teetering on the edge of financial ruin that is preparing to slash services and may need to raise fares for the third year in a row. It is a political mess and one most New Yorkers do not support. If we had our druthers, the state would be investing heavily in city-based and city-oriented transit networks.
Across the country, as transit ridership increases but the costs of running a public transportation network do as well, municipalities are, by and large, facing cuts to their transit options. A new survey by the American Public Transportation Association released yesterday revealed that 84 percent of transit agencies have had to raise fares, cut service or consider both options since the start of 2009 in order to meet budget. Another 69 percent of those surveyed are trying to close budget deficits this year, and 11 percent of all transit agencies have a budget gap of 20 percent or more for the current fiscal year. Needless to say, this is dismaying news.
It shouldn’t, according to the American people, be like this though. In fact, most Americans want to see more transit investment and more federal support for local public transit networks. In a new poll released this week, Transportation for America found overwhelming support for public transportation. In fact, 82 percent of those polled said that “the United States would benefit from an expanded and improved transportation system, such as rail and buses.” More comforting too were people’s traffic-mitigation preferences. Take a look:
On an economic level, though, the true preferences were encouraging. Currently, the federal government spends approximately 17 cents out of every transportation dollar on public transit. Fifty-eight percent of poll respondents said that the feds should spend more, and most people thought that the government should be willing to more than double that amount to 37 cents per transportation dollar. The full poll and all of the results are available here.
Right now, it’s tough to find much joy in these numbers because it often seems as though no one is listening. We as New Yorkers, we as Americans, want a greater investment and a stronger commitment to the railroads, subways and buses that transport us. Yet, politicians are hesitant or unwilling to make that commitment, and even more are just downright hostile toward public transportation.
As the MTA, the nation’s largest transit agency, struggles to stay afloat, these dramas I write about every day are repeating themselves on a smaller scale across the country. As public transit networks fail, Americans want more rail and bus options. They want to have cheaper, reliable and efficient transportation options, and they want the government to spend money on it. Maybe one day, those we elect to represent us will wake up to that truth. For now, we just have to hope the MTA and its brethren can weather this bad economic storm.
19 comments
Sorry, but we do have bridge tolls, MTA Bridges & Tunnels aka The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority where for a tax of $11, you have the privilege of driving round trip on many of their spans or tunnels. I cannot understand the point of adding tolls to the other crossings. Many, many drivers are in the same economic strata that people espouse must be assisted by maintaining a low fare. Whilst they may not be the poorest of the poor, they are of moderate means. Forcing a family of 4 into inconvenient transit options may not only save them very little, but actually cause a level of impractical inconvenience (for example a bus to subway connection) and greatly increased travel times. To all the non-parents here, you cannot put a price on this.
Actually, Al, I beg to differ on yoru last point. We CAN put a price on it– the price exacted on the City’s environment/health/well-being caused by automobile traffic. We analyze behavior to calculate externalities constantly, and while I certainly think you have a “right” to travel the way you want, I think it is also fair for you to pay for the effects of said travel. I’m at a loss to understand why I, as a non-car owner, should subsidize your desired lack of transit, even though, as you note, there are other transit options available to you (albeit ones you find less appealing).
One last thing– your $11 argument is really a red-herring. One can travel between the 4 boroughs at no cost relatively easily. Only Staten Island residents could conceivably argue that they have to pay an $11 “tax” to access the other boroughs by automobile. Simply put, the vast majority of crossings are free.
Hi AK,
I’ve edited my comments on the Espada post and have placed them here in reply to your comment:
Say NO to bridge tolls. It unfairly discriminates against outer borough residents and forces them to pay for Albany’s corrupt and inefficient behaviour. Instead, fund student MetroCards the way they always have been, through the existing vehicles (no pun intended). A tax is a tax is a tax…
Drivers do not drive around the city gratis. We pay for gas, with a gas tax, we pay for insurance (NYC has some the highest rates in the nation) that’s required by the state, we pay for our registration, that’s another tax, we pay for vehicle inspection, that’s another tax, we pay to maintain our vehicles, there’s the city and state sales tax on that, and we pay for parking often times, taxed too (private parking) or Muni-meter (another tax). So you see, we cannot drive around gratis. We pay, and we pay a whole heck of a lot more than the $2.25 tax to take a train. Oh sorry the average real fare is around $1.40 or something…
…but less than anyone in the non-US developed world. Just to defray pollution externalities and pay for military protection of oil sources, the gas tax would need a hike of about $4/gallon. Add CO2, and that’s another $1/gal.
Imagine that the city sells fillet mignons for $3 apiece, and that eaters talk about the convenience of the food, about how they’re already paying enough, and about how middle-class people consume fillet mignon, too. This is how those of us who don’t drive feel about your righteous indignation.
Not only that, but there is also a value added that most drivers would enjoy as compensation for the money they’d pay for new tolls. Assuming the tolls were high enough, there would likely be fewer cars on the roads into Manhattan, resulting in exactly the kind of fast, convenient, smooth trip that attracts some people to commute by auto in the first place.
In addition to what AK says above, Al, you’re creating a strawman that doesn’t exist. Study after study has shown that people who own cars in Nwe York City and can afford to drive into and park in Manhattan are far, far wealthier than the people you claim who are “in the same economic strata that people espouse must be assisted by maintaining a low fare.” These people you claim who are of moderate means and still drive regularly into the city don’t exist.
Sure, a handful of people would suffer with higher fees on driving, but those people also have transit options. A far greater number — millions as opposed to thousands — will suffer if the MTA has to raise fares and cut services on an annual basis. That’s just the truth.
Hi Benjamin,
I don’t entirely disagree, however bridge tolls are yet another tax, and I believe that you here (or I read elsewhere) had alredy suggested that Espada’s plan won’t come close to funding student MetroCards.
As you are a city resident like myself, I’m sure that you see that jalopies far outnumber nice cars. I don’t think wealthy people drive jalopies.
I believe that (i) the fare should be raised, or really discounts should be lessened and the base fare kept, (ii) if trains and buses are not used, and it’s demonstrated over time, e.g. the V and W, the service should be either cut or somehow reconfigured, and that (iii) REAL transit options be provided and in a faster timeline. By REAL, I mean extending subway lines, putting real BRT in place or freeing up space for bus travel. For example, if 42 St were simply to close to vehicular traffic, or become 1 way with a separate and distinct busway, crosstown travel times would greatly increase. I also think the 125 St is a great candidate for this too, as is all or a good portion of Flatbush Ave. But concepts seemingly implementable in 5 years let’s say, take 20 or 30. Insanity I say.
Simply adding capacity to the M42 does nothing except increase capacity, congestion and thus travel time.
Al, here’s a post I can agree with! (We’ll have to disagree about whetehr car drivers pay their way. I think it is pretty clear they do not, despite the fees/costs you cite) 🙂
No, bridge tolls are not a tax. They are a user fee, charged only to those who have access to a car (less than half of NYC residents) and who choose to drive on a tolled facility. Most New Yorkers don’t drive on a regular basis (on a tolled facility or otherwise).
Far more New Yorkers – drivers and non-drivers alike – encounter the subway fare. Yet rather than decrying it as a tax, you suggest that it be raised!
The V and W aren’t being cut because they’re “not used.” Far more people ride the trains through the 53rd Street tunnel (used by the V) and the 60th Street tunnel (used by the W) than cross the nearby Queensboro Bridge – scroll to page 53 of NYMTC’s 2008 Hub Bound Report for a handy summary. Maybe it’s the Queensboro Bridge that should be cut!
Cutting subway service and raising fares while maintaining toll-free bridges will encourage subway riders to shift to driving. That means that traffic will be even heavier and parking will be even harder to find. Is that really what you, as an apparent driver, want?
Show me a highway construction worker willing to work today for the same wages he was paid in 1993 (or whenever the gas tax last went up), and then I’ll agree that drivers “pay their way”. Although even that doesn’t take into account more expensive elevated structures that city highways tend to be or the negative externalities like pollution.
Espada is just interested in keeping his twu 100 union dollars rolling in. No talk of any new tolls or taxes until the twu agree to opto whic would save hundreds of millions and allow more frequent service. And the unions allow the consolidation of the 3 bus units including merging sinority lists and other changes that put the riders first
So people are demanding more mass transit and are willing to shoulder any burden to pay for it . . . other than self-supporting transit fares.
I want high quality coffee. And I’m willing to tax many other people besides me to pay for it. What I won’t stand for is digging $2 out of my pocket for a cup of coffee, as that would be unfair and would undermine my commitment to good coffee.
wait is this in support of higher fares or in higher user fees for driving? i thought roads, bridges, and tunnels were still being funded with taxpayer money too? or have we switched to a private road system?
Why should transit fares be self-supporting? Why should roads get subsidized and not mass transit?
Once again the mta has more then enough money in yhe current tax and fsrecdcheme if the unions were nit stealing it through mofia style featherbetting of jobs. Nearly $2 billion a year in overspeading on un needed tasks and work rules designed to maximize pay at the expense of riders. Many of the tax the overtaxed middle class drivers don’t understand is that large parts of Brooklyn, queens and si are designed suburban with rows an rows of houses which mass transit is of little use except commuting to work
Go read the twu 100 website about how they have fought off changes in work rules that the last decade could have saved the riders tens of billions of dollars. Google the arbitrators ruling that awarded a 11% raise because the mrs ability to raise fares and taxes. The car owner vs transit rider aurgument is just to muddy the waters from theceeal issue, the twu and 5 other local unions in the bus operations conspiracy to drive up membersip dues
Go read the twu 100 website about how they have fought off changes in work rules that the last In the last decade we could have saved the riders tens of billions of dollars. Google the arbitrators ruling that awarded a 11% raise because the mta ability to raise fares and taxes. The car owner vs transit rider aurgument is just to muddy the waters from theceeal issue, the twu and 5 other local unions in the bus operations conspiracy to drive up membersip dues not to mention the bs two sets of books nonsense where the mta wanted to use the one year surplus to pay down it’s debt load that now consumes 25% of the operating budget. In good tines when real estate taxes were rolling in the mta correctly wanted to pay down debt early but the union pr and payoff machine forced to keep the status quo of unneeded station agents 3 separate bus division squadering an opurtunity to put the mta on solid ground for the future
People want things for free. Many of the same people who supposedly want more mass transit would scream if they were told that taxes would go up. All across the country, including NYC, people elected politicians like Giuliani and Pataki who cut taxes (NYC used to have a commuter tax that was eliminated by Giuliani).
The same people in NYC who want more service don’t want to pay higher fares, either. And since the public believes that the MTA wastes money, the MTA is going to have to seriously reduce expenses before it can ask the public, city, or state for more money. In the words of Chairman Walder, the MTA has 94 telephone numbers and 5 call centers. He said that money is wasted in payments to Verizon and that they should have one simple number like 311 that you can call (number for city services).
And by the way, if education and the prison system are all experience layoffs and cuts, what makes you think that the MTA is a sacred cow that is above the cuts other government agencies are getting?
[…] Second Avenue Sagas Blog A Nation in Support of Public Transportation By Benjamin Kabak April 4, 2010 For much of the last two years, New Yorkers have witnessed a battle of mass transit funding and public transportation policy. While New York City, the state’s economic driver and only area of New York experiencing a population growth, needs and relies on its mass transit system to function efficiently and productivity, the state legislators holding the purse strings have not readily embraced making tough choices over public transportation funding. Read more… […]