MTA service cuts & fare increases? This is Insane! I Mean COME ON! (New York: mortgage, house)

[SobroGuy]

Motorman...the increased revenue is in fact going into your pockets...for every $1 that the MTA takes in..appoximately .67 cents (or 2/3) goes to salaries, benefits, pensions, and overtime to employees. So that 1 billion hole in the MTA budget in reality is 670,000,000 million for YOUR salary, pension, benefits, and overtime, with the small remainder actually going to the train and service!!! Since the Unions wont budge on their outrageous salaries and benefits, NOR allow ANY workers to be laid off...exactly how can the MTA streamline its business, make it more efficient and improve its operation? THEY CANT! As a result, we will continue to funnel never ending sums and the service will deteriorate because most of it is being funneled to support the Union.

[Aniyasmommy]

Many folks are moving to NJ or down south ie the carolinas,florida etc. If I was in shape I would LOVE to move to beautiful florida but Im concerned about my health right now so that's not really an option and i'd like to wait until my kids are out of diapers since Im a single mom and all

[Fred314X]

Originally Posted by SobroGuy

Motorman...the increased revenue is in fact going into your pockets...for every $1 that the MTA takes in..appoximately .67 cents (or 2/3) goes to salaries, benefits, pensions, and overtime to employees. So that 1 billion hole in the MTA budget in reality is 670,000,000 million for YOUR salary, pension, benefits, and overtime, with the small remainder actually going to the train and service!!! Since the Unions wont budge on their outrageous salaries and benefits, NOR allow ANY workers to be laid off...exactly how can the MTA streamline its business, make it more efficient and improve its operation? THEY CANT! As a result, we will continue to funnel never ending sums and the service will deteriorate because most of it is being funneled to support the Union.

Normally I find your postings to be some of the more rational ones. But you were way off base on this one. If you think even for one second that two thirds of every dollar is going into our (MTA employees') pockets, then someone has been feeding you bad information.

And as far as "supporting the Union" goes--management does not support a union. Here at MTA or anywhere else. I suspect you aren't a big believer in unions, which is your right. But don't go so far overboard.

Most of that money is going to places unknown--the pockets it will be lining are not ours. Here's the problem: nobody can say whose they will be. I invite you to look it up: Governor Rockefeller created MTA in 1965, specifically to keep accountability away from the people. This had nothing to do with Transport Workers Union Local 100. This is why I personally am an advocate of MTA being broken up into its original constituent agencies: New York City Transit, Long Island Railroad and Metro North. More accountability plus less entanglement with Albany...these can only be good things.

[RUBIES77]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

The MTA is pushing ahead with the Service Cuts and Fare Increases charge a 1$ surchage to all Cab Fares regardless of time of day....

At the same time NYC and NYS wants to raise Income Tax and Property Tax...and you know landlords are going to pass that prop tax right on to the renters

And this is during the Middle of a Recession..


I mean is NY this arrogant that they think people will fork over everything just to say "I LIVE/WORK/Do BUSINESS in NY".....Seriously the residents and companies, need to stop bowing down to this Outragous Corruption.

MTA Fares Information

HAVE YOU ever tried to ride a bus or train to work from New Jersey to Manhattan. Those folks pay through the nose!!!!!!!! We are spoiled!!!!!!

[Fred314X]

Also, remember that the service cuts are proposed. They are not engraved in stone. The State Legislature could always come through with that money, and service would not be affected. (I, personally, expect this to happen...but not until the last minute).

[gradstudent77]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

For now, but a lot of the bad old days of the mid-1970s seem to be coming back. When it gets to the point where because of finances the trains have grafitti again and break down, or crime goes back to the levels of those days, more will leave than come in. The only 2 reasons that hasn't happened now is: 1) it's not quite '1975 bad' yet, and 2) as someone noted, there's no "boom areas" to go to this time like there was Florida and California in the 1970's.

From 1970 to 1980, NY lost almost 1 million people (1/8 of it's population), and even the metro area as a whole lost a little population. If you think a big city can't shrink, just ask Buffalo, St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or (for a much bigger city) Detroit. Even Chicago lost population until recently.

I am well aware of the population gyrations of our nation, including the rust belt cities you mentioned. I just do not believe that nyc is heading that way.

[lhf1979]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

Also, remember that the service cuts are proposed. They are not engraved in stone. The State Legislature could always come through with that money, and service would not be affected. (I, personally, expect this to happen...but not until the last minute).

I read somewhere that something similar happened in Chicago in 2007. What happened was that they kept pushing back doomsday and eventually the state came up with the money. Of course they are facing doomsday now there, but is it possible that the date would be kept being pushed back and the state eventually comes up with something?

[Rudbeckia]

Originally Posted by RUBIES77

HAVE YOU ever tried to ride a bus or train to work from New Jersey to Manhattan. Those folks pay through the nose!!!!!!!! We are spoiled!!!!!!

How much is it to ride a train from NJ to Manhattan??

[cmw2133]

Originally Posted by RUBIES77

HAVE YOU ever tried to ride a bus or train to work from New Jersey to Manhattan. Those folks pay through the nose!!!!!!!! We are spoiled!!!!!!

A monthly pass from New Brunswick to New York Penn on NJ Transit is something like $300 a month. One way fares are $8.00-$11.00 or so. I don't think New Yorkers are spoiled, but damn that's a lot of money!

I think at the end of the day, I would not be surprised to see monthly Metrocards eventually priced at $125-$150 and base fares around $3.00-$3.50. If the MTA wants to maintain a reasonable level of service and attempt to pay down this mountain of debt, I don't see how fares won't go even higher than the proposed 'doomsday' fares, even if the state pitches in some money. I could even see the city phasing out unlimited cards and moving to a system like the DC Metro where you don't get a discount for buying multiple rides.

[UpstaterInBklyn]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

Normally I find your postings to be some of the more rational ones. But you were way off base on this one. If you think even for one second that two thirds of every dollar is going into our (MTA employees') pockets, then someone has been feeding you bad information.

MTA's total operating expenses for 2008 were $12.323 billion. Total for wages and benefits was $8.092 billion, about 65%.

Everything else (fuel, power, materials and supplies, maintenance, etc.) makes up the remaining third.

Please take a look a look at the MTA's annual financial report for 2008 here. Refer to the Consolidated Statement of Revenues and Expenses on page 28 of the PDF (which is numbered 26 in the printed doc).

Never let the facts get in the way of a good opinion

That being said.... in a service business, even in the private sector, this ratio is not unusually high. However, private businesses have the ability to shrink this huge slice of the pie chart to make ends meet, but the MTA generally does not have that option, due to union contracts and state laws that empower them. Therefore, the MTA finds itself in its current situation, trying to find new revenue sources because it is very difficult to reduce expenses.