Via NYC The Blog comes this news clip from the TV station Russia Today. In it, reporter Lauren Lyster tracks down people who are giving away free swipes on their MetroCards to stage an economic protest against the MTA. The one person Lyster tracked down who went by the name of Ollie is speaking in clear class-protest terms, but many lower class neighbors pool resources to buy unlimited cards to save cash.
The MTA says this behavior isn’t illegal as long as people aren’t selling swipes, but Daily Intel’s Chris Rovzar calls this a “moronic protest.” I think he’s onto something. Looking at the Free Swipe Movement’s Facebook page, Rovzar levels his indictment:
you should be on the lookout for a person “standing by the turnstile making a swiping motion.” You’ve likely seen people doing that, or heard the ones who flat-out just ask for a swipe. How often are they the type of people who look like they need the swipe in order to commute to and from work? Or, on the other hand, how often are they the type of young, entitled people who would know about this system from joining a Facebook group?
But that’s beside the point. My opinion is admittedly 100 percent biased by the people I see try to pull this move at the First Avenue L station. Perhaps I’d see a more noble slice of humanity if I commuted from somewhere that wasn’t the exact spot where the East Village and Williamsburg intersect. Here’s the real problem: The reason these fare hikes happened was because the MTA is broke. How, exactly, is cutting into the MTA’s earnings supposed to fix the situation and prevent further hikes? When you hand out your expensive swipes, are you really “sticking it to the man”? Or are you “sticking it” somewhere else, maybe a little bit closer to where you wear your messenger bag?
The problem is, as always, one of public trust. The general public doesn’t believe the MTA can be broke, and thus, they think mismanagement and corruption are responsible for the fare hikes. They don’t believe that state representatives, who stole $143 million from the MTA but also bash the authority, are wrong. So this protest will hurt only the riders who claim to be protesting. It’s a good idea gone bad.
14 comments
Iam one of these persons my check is so low this is how i get from work to home i only can afford the trip to work.
Maybe the MTA should offer a Groupon deal
😐
Speaking as an overeducated entitled white twentysomething myself, ‘Ollie,’ from the RT video, seems like a total dip. I gladly swipe in the homeless or seemingly poverty-wage folks who sometimes ask when I’m getting off the train in the LES or Harlem; I’ve never had the displeasure of the experience you’re talking about, Benjamin – hip white kids doing the same. Thank God, because I’d probably say something unkind.
If there’s one thing all classes can agree on it’s taking funds from public transit.
Perhaps if the MTA hadn’t gotten rid of tokens against our wishes, they wouldn’t have this problem.
Perhaps, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that they’re still saving money overall without the cost of producing tokens, emptying and maintaining the turnstiles, etc.
Meh. If the MTA loses more than 0.5% of its revenue from this, I’ll be very, very surprised. It reads like yet another moral panic the media offers on a slow news day. It’s easier than doing an investigative piece on signal maintenance fraud or contractors fleecing the taxpayers.
I’d be surprised if it were that high, really. In a city of NY’s size, you can find nearly any abhorrent and/or aberrant activity/conduct that you’d like to sensationalize if you stay in one place long enough. This, to me, smacks of the tail wagging the journalistic dog.
When I was living in New York I would occasionally lend someone a swipe. But I didn’t have a monthly pass: my swipes cost me a couple dollars each time.
I’m not much for “fighting the man” by shortchanging the transit system, but the larger concern about economic justice is a real one.
There’s a “fare jumpers” movement in Paris, of people who wont pay for transit on the principle that it should be a free government service. They give advice on fare jumping tactics and I think there’s even an insurance pool one can buy into to cover costs of being cited for fare evasion.
In San Francisco there is an ongoing debate over making Muni free, since farebox recovery isn’t much, skipping fare collection would speed up boardings, and people (especially families) would be further incentivized to ride transit because, hey, they have already paid for it!
-danny
I often see tourists screw up a single swipe card, or getting some of their group stranded on one side of a turnstile, and I will offer to swipe one of them through as I leave the subway.
That seems reasonable to me.
I agree, I’ve got an autogate card and while I get irritated if able-bodied people try to sneak in behind me, I’ve seen what appear to be tourists/infrequent riders swipe a turnstile with a stroller and then suddenly get a panicked look on their faces when they realize they can’t make it through, so I usually wave them through with me. Is it illegal? Probably. Is it the moral/ethical thing to do? Yeah.
Evade Tolls in China? Life In Prison
http://china.globaltimes.cn/so.....13112.html
via Gawker
http://gawker.com/5735479/dont.....s-in-china
Is this even worth discussing? The facebook page has less than 200 idio… I mean members.
‘Lower class’, eh? Low class or low income? I got class but no income. Ride a bike…