N.Y. Transit Discount Debate a Three-Way Hot Potato

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On Monday night, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio again highlighted "equality" themes during his annual State of the City speech at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Earlier in the day, debate percolated at his City Hall about proposals to reduce transit fares for lower-income riders, which he didn't include in his $84.7 billion preliminary budget.

De Blasio, while supporting the concept, insists it's the state-run New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's responsibility. He even accused one persistent reporter at his Jan. 24 budgetary press conference of "getting the cart and the horse all wrong."

Meanwhile, outgoing MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast, running his final board meeting the following day, said such fares are "rightly the role of municipalities."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who controls the MTA board, has said nothing.

The hot potato surrounding half-price MetroCards, all within the context of squeezed budgets and capital plans, is a microcosm of the long-running, three-way conflict among the state, the city and regional transit agencies.

The MTA is one of the largest municipal issuers with roughly $36 billion in debt.

Infrastructure expert Nicole Gelinas said reduced-fare MetroCards would make sense to all parties when issued to those who work at a paying job.

"Supporting transit to work supports work," said Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer, briefing reporters Wednesday after his review of the preliminary budget, said he favored the fare reductions. "Half fares … We gotta get people to work," he said. "These are all budget choices."

Before Monday's City Council transportation committee hearing, a coalition calling itself Fair Fares rallied on the City Hall steps, urging de Blasio and the council to prioritize the discounts.

"We hope we can get this done this year and believe Mayor de Blasio is the champion we need," said Ydanis Rodriguez, who chairs the council's transportation committee and spoke stridently on the subject last month before the MTA board. "I see the mayor as an important ally."

David Jones, chief executive of the nonprofit advocacy group Community Service Society and one of de Blasio's four new appointees to the MTA board, is tired of the runaround.

"Yes, we know that the MTA is a state authority. And yes, the state needs to invest more in the MTA because in the long run, continual fare increases every two years will be unsustainable," Jones told council members. "So why should the city subsidize fares for its lowest-income residents? Because it is the right thing to do."

The city can secure a discount for a class of riders -- as it for elderly people and people with disabilities -- as long as it makes up for the fare revenue differential.

According to Jones, the program would cost about $200 million annually. The MTA estimates $212 million. "While that is a significant cost, it is a miniscule fraction of the city's nearly $85 billion budget and a modest amount to achieve a bold and worthy goal," he said.

Though Cuomo -- whose running feud with de Blasio has generated headlines -- controls the MTA, the de Blasio bloc on the transit agency's board, Jones included, have pushed for more say in the agency's operations. The city agreed to contribute $2.5 billion to the MTA's $29 billion 2015 to 2019 capital program after more than a year's worth of wrangling.

Cuomo, according to one published report, quietly cut $65 million from the MTA in the governor's executive budget, though Cuomo officials disputed it.

De Blasio's administration has pushed its own initiatives including citywide ferry service, scheduled to begin later this year; a streetcar line connecting Brooklyn and Queens, the initial estimated cost for the latter at $2.5 billion; and an additional $122 million in the capital plan for infrastructure improvements, security upgrades and half-hour service around the clock at minimum to the Staten Island ferry.

In addition, the city is expanding its Citi Bike bicycle rental network. Eric Beaton, senior director for transit development at the city's Department of Transportation, told council members the program would reach 12,000 bicycles and 750 stations by year's end.

Jones said the streetcar and five-borough ferries, while admirable, would largely serve affluent New Yorkers living in riverview condos. Some transit advocates have also criticized Cuomo for his push to finish the Second Avenue subway along Manhattan's well-to-do Upper East Side at the expense of other projects.

The MTA, which will hold its next monthly meetings Tuesday and Thursday, approved its latest round of biennial fare and toll increases last month.

While the base fare for coin-on-bus and pay-per-fare MetroCards will remain at $2.75, 30- and seven-day passes will increase to $121 and $32, respectively, from $116.50 and $31. The bonus on the pay-per-ride MetroCard will drop from 11% to 5% with the purchase threshold remaining at $5.50.

According to city Public Advocate Letitia James, one in four New Yorkers say they can't afford the increased fares.

"What we're seeing more and more is an underground economy where people all over the city are waiting at subway stations all over the city for a swipe."

Fare evasion, she added, is tying up more transit police resources.

Beaton said discussions with MTA officials include regular communication with the authority over its planned closure of the L train that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The expected shutdown has spawned widespread calls in New York to spend capital dollars on alternative transportation. The MTA pegs the cost around $900 million while expecting considerable federal reimbursement.

Beaton also called new fare payment technology, for which the MTA is seeking bids, as an opportunity to improve bus service.

The city is also working on a plan to create a citywide network of bus rapid transit lines connecting all five boroughs. Beaton said a report, which will include a transit needs assessment, will come out in September.

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