Proposed Fare Hikes Dominate MTA Hearing

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder and his board were booed at The Garden City Hotel Thursday night.

That's usually what happens when you pitch fare hikes. 

Board members sat silent throughout the hearing, only acting as moderators, while government officials and Nassau County residents expressed outrage over pitched fare hikes and service cutbacks.

"We've heard from thousands of commuters and the song is the same, 'we can't pay up another penny let alone a proposed 9.4 percent increase in railroad fares," state Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Merrick, said to start the hearing. "If you haven't heard the anger, they're quite frankly disgusted. The MTA has become increasingly unaffordable to Long Island commuters."

Assemblyman Joseph Saladino, R-Massapequa, added, "I am entirely opposed to any fare hikes and I am also opposed to cutting bus service. The people that are struggling the most are being hit the hardest and every property taxpayer in between."

The MTA is blaming the state, arguing that the $900 million budget shortfall for 2010 is a result of state assistance cuts and a dramatic drop in tax revenue.

"In the spring of 2009 a multi-year financial framework was developed to address the MTA's budget shortfalls in recognition of the vital role that mass transit plays in the region," according to a statement on the MTA's website. "Fare and toll increases were a key component of this overall strategy, which also included enactment of new state taxes and fees to support the MTA. Fares and tolls were expected to rise in 2011 and 2013, and in each of these years the planned increases were to generate an additional 7.5 percent in new revenue."

If the fare hikes are approved, they would take effect on Jan. 1, with LIRR ticket prices rising between 7.6 percent and 9.4 percent, depending on distance and ticket type.  Most discounts for tickets purchased via the Long Island Rail Road's Mail & Ride and WebTicket programs would also be eliminated. 

Assemblymember Michelle Schimel, D- Great Neck, and Legis. Wayne Wink, D-Roslyn, however, argued that increasing fares during a bad economy will further damage the economy.

"Many of the new jobs we've created, whether it be home health care workers or other low-paying jobs, will require Long Island Bus to get to and from their place of employment," Wink said. "It seems to me that this is nothing but a job killing endeavor quite frankly, to cut service, raise fees, raise fares, at a time where people can least afford them."

Elected officials aren't the only people peeved by the proposed hikes.

"I suggest that all fares be lowered on all subways, buses, Metro North and the Long Island Rail Road," Merrick resident Alice Cammiso said. "By doing this all the commuters you lost to the roads will go back to mass transportation. I purport that fast dimes are much better than slow dollars."

The proposed fare hikes weren't the only issue brought to the MTA's attention. Elected officials and residents also hammered the Authority for cutbacks to Able Ride, the bus service for people with disabilities who are unable to use fixed route bus service.

"The cutting of Able Ride in northeast quadrants has literally made people prisoners in their homes," Legis. Judy Jacobs, D-Woodbury, said.

And a cut to the N17 bus brought out residents close to the Mercy Medical Center.

Sister Mary Alice Aschenbach of the Congregation of Infant Jesus in Rockville Centre expressed her concerns with Patch prior to the hearing about the N17 bus hindering people from receiving health care as well as the decrease in hospital volunteers and the loss of employees.

"It's affected already one-third of our clinic patients, the patients are high-risk pregnant women that come to our clinic," she said. "It's affected our pediatric clinic because we have children that are followed from infancy to one year old, those same women are bringing in children as newborns to our clinic."

The cuts had one resident considering a move.

"I'm a Long Islander with a disability and depend on the buses, Rail Road, to get to where I have to go," Bellmore resident John Tarrantino said. "If you cut out the buses I'm going to have to leave Long Island."