Group 5
Jennifer DeCola
Telmo Gil
Rigels Kalemi
Rashmi Roberson
Rafael Perez
MTA Swells Fares Yet Again
Another fare hike to compensate for improperly handled figures? Same miserable conditions? Increase every two and four years? These are the tribulations aroused by the Metropolitan Transit Authority concerning yet another fare hike on the unlimited MetroCard once every two years in conjunction with an increase in the base fare once every four years! These measures are not acceptable by group 5 since the conditions that we have witnessed following our own “I-Team Investigation” have proven that a fare hike is neither necessary nor creditable. A lot of judgment calls in first paragraph. Be careful not to overlook anything before jumping to why this all bothers you.
In 2003, a single ride rose from $1.50 to $2, a one day unlimited pass went from $4 to $7 and a 30 day unlimited pass from $63 to $70. Starting February 22 of this year, monthly unlimited MetroCard prices will be raised $6 to $76; seven day MetroCards by $3 to $24 and one-way express bus fare by $1 to $5. Good evidence.
We took several trips going to and from St. John’s and were taken aback by the results: three consecutive MTA buses didn’t even attempt to stop for us, excluding the two that were honestly packed to capacity, and one train took over 35 minutes to arrive! This is the common service we have encountered, primarily around the St. John’s campus, not that we are praising the rest of the system for any sort of chauffer-like services! A second example of this terrible service has to do with the recent strike of the Green Lines bus employees. The results of this strike left thousands of people either stranded or seeking other means of transportation. Rashmi, a member of our group, rides the Q6 every Sunday to attend church in Jamaica, Queens and she had to ask a friend to pick her up and drive her back and forth for the duration of the strike.
For our two dollars, we were given the luxury of traveling with a large crowd of diverse commuters. You pay for a ride not a seat. There were age groups from toddlers to senior citizens, and everything in between. There were Caucasian, African-American, Asian and Hispanic men, women and children on board. Some were dressed quite formal, and some a bit more informal. Although the outer characteristics were moderately different, the reason for all of us being on such a method of transportation was identical: we all needed to get to our destinations fast. Some of us because there is no place to park near the destined location, while others simply because we do not own a car.
The exchanging of feedback left us all with similar feelings. Overall, we realized how taking a bus or a train relates so much to learning about the ways in which our visual differences may set us apart, yet upon taking a second look at someone, we come to see how we all share the same, one purpose. On the bus or the train, this single purpose was to take a person from point A to point B, for a cost.
We, as group 5, have come to realize how an increase in the fare hike will not only become an inconvenience, but will also not be a creditable action by the MTA. Just as we stumbled upon delays in arrivals of the busses and trains, hundreds, or possibly thousands of travelers are left stranded for the same or even greater periods of time every day! Is this what is thought of as a justifiable increase? –Only to expect nothing more to occur other than us spending more money every time we purchase a trip with the MTA? This is certainly unjust and should not be accepted, nor enforced, before, or after, February 27, 2005.
People are paying, what is felt to be an unfair amount of money for busses that hardly arrive on time, leaving passengers waiting anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour in the freezing cold. Again, our group member Rashmi frequents the Q65 to and from St. John’s University and on Wednesday February 2, 2005, to be exact, she arrived at the Q65 bus stop on Union Turnpike and 164th Street. When she arrived, there were 13 other passengers waiting for the bus and when it pulled up she overheard each and every one of the travelers complain to the driver how long they were waiting for the bus; some for 30 minutes, some for 45 minutes and others a whole hour. Therefore, group five will be demonstrating, in the second and third portions of this presentation, the potential solutions for a hopefully permanent hold on the increasing of fares and costs of MetroCards.
Decent job. You may wish to take a wee step back and “look” over the situation more. You are missing some pieces, namely, where the money is going that is received by MTA.