FUAC Insults Our Intelligence

[dwa12479]

You guys are hypocrites. The transit is in dire need of upgrades, we already pay the STATE TAX, why shouldn't it be used to help the system.

Increasing the fare seems like an easy solution- but everyone is commuting. Rent is becoming an increasing burden, and wages are stagnant. People can hardly afford the price hikes and the subway was founded on the basis that it's cheap for everyone. They've gotten rid of a lot of the programs that used to exist before. Apparently it was completely free on Sundays at one point.

Cuomo (and the city) did a terrible job managing the subway these last recent years (though it's been in a deficit for a while now...). Asking the federal government for a bailout is a bit ridiculous (I do not think we are up to that point yet, and he's still hiding via politics and not doing his job...).


I kind of regret posting here. I didn't realize this place was meant to be a circle jerk thread.

I'm very much in agreement with you on this.

And it's not so much a circle jerk thread as you think, it's just that many of us are fed up with NYC's (and Governor Dicknose) influence on the rest of our lives.

 

[dwa12479]

You guys are hypocrites. The transit is in dire need of upgrades, we already pay the STATE TAX, why shouldn't it be used to help the system.

Increasing the fare seems like an easy solution- but everyone is commuting. Rent is becoming an increasing burden, and wages are stagnant. People can hardly afford the price hikes and the subway was founded on the basis that it's cheap for everyone. They've gotten rid of a lot of the programs that used to exist before. Apparently it was completely free on Sundays at one point.

Now this on the other hand, sorry, but that's on the commuters. There are no state subsidies for me when fuel is $4 a gallon, or when my truck needs repairs, or my car insurance continues to go up every year, same as my property taxes.... I also pay tolls on the NYS Thruway every time I travel East or West, even though the tolls were supposed to GO AWAY in 1996 when the bonds were paid off. People that choose to live in an area that the cost of living is ridiculously high can bear the burden of those costs.

 

[Robin]

I have a novel idea, let NYC take care of NYC.
Then, 'Time will tell just who has fell and who's been left behind, when you go your way, and I go mine'.
Robin

 

[Marine Cpl]

Will,

I was thinking a bit further re your comment on public transit costs re into and out of NYC, and while I am not going online to do a bunch of research before work today, a few things come to mind.

First, the wages in NYC are much higher there than in upstate. So, it seems like if you want to go there for that, you need to deal with the costs associated with them.

Take those of us who live here, and cannot rely on public transit to get to work. Consider an average 20 mile commute each way when working and parking in downtown Buffalo. Paying for a vehicle, along with maintenance, insurance, tolls, etc.,- and not even including parking, and using the IRS reimbursement rate as a guide (around $0.55 or $0.60/ mile), a typical commuter is spending $22.00/day plus parking which can easily run $5-10/day, or $27-32/ per day overall.

So, to me, and not knowing how far your commute is, the $475/month (about $24/day) seems cheap if you look at the likely disparity in wages...

Add 20 minutes in each direction, gas, and a toll just to get to the train station. Then paying for parking at the train station. I'm not bitching about it but it irks me when people talk without knowing what they are talking about. What did you think that we walk to the train station and don't own a car?

Again. The MTA isn't just NYC. It spans into different counties and adjacent states. People from 3 counties over from NYC use it to go to work. Some even drive 45 minutes just to get to the train station. People from Jersey and CT use it.

But I guess to the uniformed, it's all the subway in NYC and we don't own cars or pay higher insurance rates than those that live further up.

You cripple the MTA, and you cripple the economies of NY, NJ, CT, PA, if not the whole country in one way or another.

 

[GOPerfect]

Will, as usual, I think you are missing the point that some of us are trying to make.

First stop assuming that we do not understand the MTF, some understand more than the residents of the city and those who ride it daily.

If they are as broke as they show on paper, something needs to be done. Raising the rates is only the begining, costs need to be cut, a lot of cutting. Rates of pay, positions, whatever it takes . If they need assistance maybe they should reach out to transit authorities that are not as mismanaged!

 

[Marine Cpl]

Will, as usual, I think you are missing the point that some of us are trying to make.

First stop assuming that we do not understand the MTF, some understand more than the residents of the city and those who ride it daily.

If they are as broke as they show on paper, something needs to be done. Raising the rates is only the begining, costs need to be cut, a lot of cutting. Rates of pay, positions, whatever it takes . If they need assistance maybe they should reach out to transit authorities that are not as mismanaged!

I believe you are missing my point. I've already agreed that they are mismanaged. My points were to the, "Who cares! F NYC!"crowd as if NYC is the only place being affected.

Salaries are such a miniscule number that cutting them makes no difference. Raising fares to the point that they are unpayable causes gridlock, pollution, and more road degradation when people try to drive into work. When people cannot get to work, the domino effect happens.

 

[GOPerfect]

I believe you are missing my point. I've already agreed that they are mismanaged. My points were to the, "Who cares! F NYC!"crowd as if NYC is the only place being affected.

Salaries are such a miniscule number that cutting them makes no difference. Raising fares to the point that they are unpayable causes gridlock, pollution, and more road degradation when people try to drive into work. When people cannot get to work, the domino effect happens.

Ok, what are your ideas to this problem? A problem that occurs year after year after year?

BTW , salaries make up 61% of the expenditures . seems like a lot to me.

 

[Marine Cpl]

Ok, what are your ideas to this problem? A problem that occurs year after year after year?

BTW , salaries make up 61% of the expenditures . seems like a lot to me.

I don't know where you get that number from in regards to salaries but it's nowhere near that.

My idea is to stop wasteful spending. I see it first hand when it comes to overpaid Capitol Projects that takes double the amount of time it should to do the work.

They are also spending millions of dollars to upgrade the system into a digital one without actually fixing the deteriorating infrastructure first. For example. They are trying to automate trains to run by themselves. They still need to have and pay to have an engineer or motorman up front to monitor the train in case of computer error, train breakdown, or if there are track workers doing scheduled work on the tracks. They are doing all this without repairing tracks and crumbling tunnels and platforms first.

I see this first hand. For those that don't know, I drive trains for a living. For 6 years I used to take machines and materials aboard flat cars to various worksites for Capitol Projects. The amount of waste is astronomical. They rehab stations in nice neighborhoods while letting the ones in other places fall apart. 2 to 3 years later, they are back to rehabbing the same station they did prior while never getting to the neglected stations.

The Federal Government allots a certain yearly amount of money each year to them to maintain it to keep it running. Instead, they waste it. Every few years the MTA mysteriously finds a surplus.

There is a lot of underhanded dealings going on.

MTA Audit Reveals 'Unanticipated' Surplus Of Nearly $2 Billion

The MTA is always in debt, so how can it have a $400M surplus, and what will happen to it?

Despite Surplus of $1 Billion, M.T.A. Says Increases Loom