Community Based 'Transit Forward' Coalition Says Fare Hike Premature

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:     Elizabeth C. Yeampierre, UPROSE, (347) 603-6600
Estevan Nembhard, La Fuente, (646) 523-9203
                   Mona Davids, NYC Parents Union (646) 481-5760

COMMUNITY BASED ‘TRANSIT FORWARD’ COALITION RESPONDS TO PROPOSED MTA FARE HIKE

Coalition calls on MTA to first renegotiate inflated ‘credit swap’ rates with banks before increasing fares to cover budget deficit

New York, NY.  October 22, 2012.  A number of grass roots community groups have formed a coalition called“Transit Forward”.  The coalition represents both riders and workers of the New York City Transit Authority, many of who are disproportionately impacted by the upcoming proposed fare increases.

In response to the four proposed plans for fare increases put forward by the MTA,Transit Forward has called on the MTA to firstrenegotiate over $100 million of fees it is paying to banks before raising fares.

Estevan Nembhard a community organizer with the groupLa Fuente summed it up by stating “The proposed MTA fare hike is asking those who can least afford it to pay the tab.  Toxic ‘transit swaps’ cost the MTA millions of dollars that coud be used to balance the budget.  La Fuente is a labor and community partnership.  We joined Transit Forward coalition because the immigrant and low income communities we are based in depend on public transportation.  We believe in strength in numbers and will work in collaboration to ensure that the MTA renegotiates transit swaps with banks before raising the fare of New Yorkers.”

"The MTA must renegotiate their interest rate bank swaps before imposing another fare hike on New Yorkers. Why must we pay increased fares tosubsidize the banks that we bailed out? We want services restored that were cut in 2010, bus passes restored for schools to take students on educational trips and bus partitions to protect bus drivers who transport our children," said Mona Davids, President, NYC Parents Union.

"UPROSEhas joined Transit Forward because transportation access for low-income New Yorkers is at the heart of creating sustainably just communities. For our communities, it a livability issue and everything must be done to ensure that we do not prevent our communities from getting to work, to school , to medical facilities or much needed social services," said Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director of UPROSE.

Yetta Kurland, a community activist, civil rights attorney and City Council Candidate in the 3rd District said, “We refuse to pit our communities against each other by being forced to choose between these four options of fare hikes.  Instead, we call on the MTA to demonstrate responsible oversight and renegotiate the credit swaps they are paying which could save taxpayers over $100 million.”

Jacques M. Léandre from Southeast Queens County Young Democrats (SEQCYD) and City Council Candidate in the 31st District said,“We join Transit Forward to compel the MTA to reconsider its position regarding proposed fare hikes. At a time when many New Yorkers are employing innovative financial measures just to subsist, the MTA should also utilize some ingenuity, not fare hikes, to ease its budget woes. In fact, one recommendation is for the MTA to renegotiate the ‘interest rate swap agreements’ which currently lead to over $100 million in excess annual payments to financial institutions.”

"Fare hikes have a disproportionate impact on middle class and working families who depend on public transportation to get to work or school every day.  Fare hikes are a regressive tax that should be last on the list of options for the MTA.  First on it's list should be renegotiating interest rate swaps agreements with banks--where there is a potential $100 million sitting on the table," said Helen Rosenthal, Co-organizer Public Transit for All (with Goddard Riverside Community Center) and City Council Candidate in the 6th District.

The group has a petition which it is circulating on its website atwww.transitforward.org, on facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/TransitForward?fref=ts and on twitter @transitforward.

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District Leader Rodneyse Bichotte is a member of the Transit Coalition