May 29, 2008 6:39 pm US/Eastern
MTA Ends Free E-ZPass Policy For Former Officials
CBS 2 HD Exclusive Investigation From Last Year Revealed That Nearly 24,000 Free Passes Were Distributed
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
No more free rides.
It looks like the flap over Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members using the perks of free E-ZPass tags is over.
It was a story CBS 2 HD first investigated last November.
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo recently threatened to sue, so the MTA complied.
Cuomo had said the MTA was breaking the law in giving coveted, free E-ZPasses -- official orange ones -- to board members, past and present.
"Former board members are not entitled to passes, in our opinion," Cuomo said.
And current board members will, in the future, use them only for work. It was CBS 2 HD's Marcia Kramer who first broke the story that for decades board members and former board members have gotten free commuter passes, and more recently, E-ZPasses.
And we're not just talking about a few. The MTA says 58 current and former board members -- 21 current and 37 former -- have the perks, with a total of 95 free tags.
Former MTA Board Chairman Peter Kalikow, who is a car collector, reportedly has the most passes, with eight. At his office building, he was unable to see CBS 2 HD, but a spokesman said he would go along with whatever the MTA decides.
A spokesman for the board said:
"In light of Attorney General Cuomo's opinion, the MTA will amend its longstanding practice of issuing free passes on the agency's transit network to its current and former board members."
The board, by law, works for free, and Cuomo said the perks are compensation.
"And if a person is on a board and receives perks from that entity that might compromise their independence," Cuomo said.
So from now on only current MTA board members can use free passes, and only when on MTA business.
The attorney general says he believes there may be other governmental authorities in the state that have also gone for years without close scrutiny.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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