I was so agitated about this MTA budget shortfall and the service cut-backs that will accompany it, that I decided to vent my anger to a friend. “I don’t get it. Why would the MTA need more money,” I asked her, agitated. She responded matter-of-factly, “Well, gas prices this summer were so high.”
While that is obviously a ridiculous and absurd answer to my question, it does serve to emphasize my point: Where is this MTA deficit coming from, and where is our money going? How in the name of all that is metal and steel is it possible for something that, by it’s very nature, does The Exact Same Thing Every Day to end up costing more and more each and every day?
Because the MTA has got to have plenty of money coming in. With tourism still booming, the housing bubble still boiling, and the boroughs still exploding, there’s definitely more people dependent on de rail. Plus, with the economy tanking, no one is taking cabs, so the subways are cramming capacity up against the doors. You’re lucky to get your hand on a pole. And, let’s not forget, and I don’t think anyone has, fare prices went up last Spring for commuter Christ’s sake! (The Messiah would’ve taken mass transit.) So, again, where is all our money going?
Because I haven’t seen one single improvement. My seat doesn’t have a cushion. I’m not hearing music playing over the speakers. And no one’s serving me a mid-station snack. In fact, I haven’t noticed any change besides the fact that now a de-humanized operator announces my stops instead of a loud-mouthed, original conductor. How modern.
It is common to say that a well-operating transit system runs like clock-work. Once you buy a clock, do you know how much it costs to work? Nothing. Because it just goes in a circle all day. That’s exactly what these trains do. They go in circles every day. So, what’s the problem? Again, where is our money going?
Now, I’m no revolutionary. I get dizzy if I stand up too fast. And I’m no organizer. Just look at my bedroom floor. And, though I would love to boycott, I got to get to work tomorrow. But, at what point do we say enough is enough? At what point do we demand to see where our money is being spent? And at what point do we walk?
