New York City – Following reports that the MTA is considering the elimination of free student MetroCards to plug its budget gap, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) today condemned the MTA for failing to find less punitive alternatives. Instead, Hikind is advocating for the dismissal of extraneous MTA personnel as a viable cost-saving measure.
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“Unquestionably, the MTA needs to find creative ways to save money,” Hikind said. “But penalizing defenseless students in an effort to achieve that goal is simply not an option. The MTA should downsize its workforce instead, and dismiss many top-level employees who are occupying superfluous positions.”
Hikind emphasized that low-income families, many of whom reside in his district, would be hit particularly hard if the MTA’s proposal passes. “For some kids, a free MetroCard is the only reason they can even get to school,” noted Hikind. “With so many parents out of work and the dragging economy, how the MTA can even put forward such a plan is beyond me.”
Previously, Hikind has taken the MTA to task for failing to provide a safe environment for commuters. A study conducted by his office last year discovered hazardous subway platforms and other shoddy conditions throughout the transit system.
this is ridicoulis
living in brooklyn i can tell u what a bad dicision this is. if the traffic during the morning rush hour wasn’t enough until now, wait to see what’ll happen if more school busses will be added due the elimination of student bus passes.
It is difficult NOW to go from point A to point B just here in Brooklyn never mind Manhattan. The price of sneakers is going to go up!! People are going to start walking because they will not have time to wait either for the bus or train or they will not have the money for these student cards. Parents who workj are going to start driving their kids to school early so that they can then carpool to work to avoid the NO TRAIN NO BUS HASSLE!!! This fewer buses will NOT work because there may be fewer riders!!
It is always someone else who is superfluous.
You want what from a government agency? Part of the civic duty of any government agency is to keep people employed, so that they do not clog the justice system when they commit crimes when they have nothing to do. As Chazal say, idleness begets immoral acts.
great, so now students will be in debt before they even start working. brilliant.
You want benefits – pay taxes
The MTA goes from tremendous surplus to huge deficits every few years. This is ridiculous. Create a committee to weed out the waste at the MTA and we all know there is plenty of that. Start at the top, execs, and work your way down. I am sure they would be back in the BLACK if that were done.
I admire Hikind. He is always in touch with the regular guy. Anyone can see how many MTA personal do absolutely nothing, especially when it comes to constructon. While one person works 15 others watch him and get paid for it.
Dov..Go to 37th street bus depot there is a transit supervisor flagging the buses where to go into the terminal…Its such a joke..whoich driver dosent know where to make the left turn back into his terminal…Its a JOB for another wasted $$$ to the system…
I heard the mta wants to eliminate the access a ride program.
If the mta eliminates the accessride program, who is going to take some of these old people who have literally no assistance, to the dr.?? They cannot climb stairs with walkers, and it is difficult with canes. You will see these little old ladies mugged. Would you send your grandmother alone to travel sometimes to the city and back alone.?? Then, with their vision — they have to read the street signs and walk to wherever they are going!!! Not everybody can take a car service and pay $30.00 plus one way. They need that money for food and meds!!!
Eliminate the unions.
If the pay levels of all those making over $100,000 a year who work for the MTA were lowered to $100,000 whenever they declare that they are out of money, they would suddenly declare a surplus!
I work with accountants and I’m telling you they can make the numbers look like whatever they want to. If they want a surplus, they show lower depreciation or better AR, etc. etc. If they want to show a loss they go the other way. They credit revenue to this year or last year or next year.
Just lower the pay levels of the big shots whenever there’s a shortage and shortages will never happen.
Why is it a primary mission of the MTA to subsidize the Board of Education?
“..penalizing defenseless students in an effort to achieve that goal is simply not an option”
where does it say that taxpayers must subsidize “defenseless” students whose parents should pay their transit fares just like the rest of us. does it cost less to if the passneger is going to yeshiva or beis yaakov rather than somone going to work? The parents should pay for their tyre yinglach, not the taxpayers.
I mean first they raise the prices of the metro cards NOW they want to take away the student metro cards? This will not end well. I commute from Queens to Manhattan and the amount we pay today is over priced especially when you receive horrible service..(filthy stations, delays, schedules constantly being changed, etc;)
this is so unfair… how will students get to school? most of them do not have jobs yet, how are they supposed to pay for transportation?
absolutely ridiculous..
the bottom line here is, the mta are criminals. doing anything they can to get more money in their pockets. even if it means eliminating free student metrocards. and everything else they plan to do. we must stop the mta now & fight this crazy mess they have created for a long time. they don’t care about us. all they want is our money
by stealing it from us. so, let’s take a stand & show the mta that we mean business.
the time is now.