The MTA Is Not Your Mom
Dear fellow young NYC residents,
Really?
Look, I hate paying more for things like everyone else. I hate service changes and crowded trains and waiting on a platform. We all hate these things, but we ride anyway.
I’m sick of drunk, obnoxious kids screaming at MTA employees working on tracks at night. I’m sick of petulant signs and Tumblr memes. Everyone’s bitching about the MTA’s rate hikes and service changes, but has anyone bothered to read about why they’re happening? Is this why you moved here—so you could piss and moan when something bad happens that’s beyond your control?
Like everything else, public transportation has been battered by the state of the economy. MTA revenues are based on taxes, and tax revenues are way, way down. Additionally, the MTA has ballooning debt from a 2000-2004 capital program. They have a budget shortfall even after running a recent surplus—that’s how bad it is.
MTA Press Release, March 25, 2009
Elliot G. Sander, MTA Executive Director and CEO
MTA Board Meeting
March 25, 2009[…]Despite carrying a surplus in 2007, deficits were looming due largely to the ballooning debt service from the 2000-2004 capital program. We took immediate action to become more efficient in the face of these widening gaps.
[…]In the end, though, the collapse of our real estate tax revenue, on top of the escalating debt service costs, could not be made up by belt tightening. Only 7 percent of the MTA’s $11 billion budget is dedicated to administration, making it simply impossible to cut our way out of what amounted to a $1.2 billion deficit. [emphasis mine]
Write to a state representative (the state turned down a proposal to provide additional funding). Write to congress (I hear they’re handing out some dough). Whatever it is, you live in New York City—stop whining and do something.
