MTA. Going Your Way, and Pissing Your Money Away.
I was watching a news story the other day about how our beloved subway system has a BILLION dollar surplus. Wow. Aside from the fact that it is positively amazing that a budget with so many eyes on it could get so rampantly out of control, the story was more about what they're going to do with the money moving forward.
To my continued amazement, they're offering people a dollar off here and a dollar off there, during the holiday season. And slightly reduced monthly MetroCards purchased this holiday weekend. What a pathetic waste. Most of the people they interviewed didn't look like they could really use that extra dollar. I imagine even people who can use it aren't going to benefit from it nearly as much as if the MTA had done something really crazy with the BILLION dollar surplus such as: Invest it back in the subway system as capital improvements. Open the much-needed Second Ave. route. Invest it in new subway cars. Invest it in new track technology. Invest it financially (a BILLION dollars at 7% per year is 70 MILLION dollars) so it can generate some cash for those special times when the economy isn't so good. But of course, that never happens. Wait, yes it does. My point is, do anything useful with the money. But do something.
Instead, let's piss it away, one dollar at a time. Oops, they've done that! That way, we'll never feel the benefits at all. And I say 'we' referring to the masses. It is still called 'mass' transit, isn't it? Nice going MTA.
To my continued amazement, they're offering people a dollar off here and a dollar off there, during the holiday season. And slightly reduced monthly MetroCards purchased this holiday weekend. What a pathetic waste. Most of the people they interviewed didn't look like they could really use that extra dollar. I imagine even people who can use it aren't going to benefit from it nearly as much as if the MTA had done something really crazy with the BILLION dollar surplus such as: Invest it back in the subway system as capital improvements. Open the much-needed Second Ave. route. Invest it in new subway cars. Invest it in new track technology. Invest it financially (a BILLION dollars at 7% per year is 70 MILLION dollars) so it can generate some cash for those special times when the economy isn't so good. But of course, that never happens. Wait, yes it does. My point is, do anything useful with the money. But do something.
Instead, let's piss it away, one dollar at a time. Oops, they've done that! That way, we'll never feel the benefits at all. And I say 'we' referring to the masses. It is still called 'mass' transit, isn't it? Nice going MTA.
posted by Mark Feigenson at 3:24 PM
2 Comments:
It's annoying. And who are holiday discounts going to benefit? Tourists.
Ohhh. It's enough to make want to do something. But I don't know what. So I'll just simmer.
[simmer]
See, smaller cities like Rochester have this all figured out. We filled in our subway for lack of interest. At least partially. The remainder serves as a habitat for our homeless. Now, any budget surpluses can go to the Fill In The Rest Of The Subway Movement. Get those bums back on the streets!
Post a Comment
<< Home