Oct 24, 2007 5:58 pm US/Eastern
MTA Fare Hike Opponents Look To Albany For Help
In Bizarre Twist, State Lawmakers Sort Of Offer Assistance
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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The proposed fare hike would increase the current $2 charge a quarter, to $2.25.
AP
Some local lawmakers have a "Hail Mary" play for putting the breaks on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fare hike.
CBS 2 HD has learned it's based on praying for money from Albany.
It was a day of firsts for the MTA. It got a new chairman, Dale Hemmerdinger, and this very unusual request.
"Ask us for more money," Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Westchester, said.
It's doubtful MTA members ever heard a plea like that, or a promise like this:
"I believe additional resources can be found to save the fare," Brodsky said.
With the backing of 45 other lawmakers, Assemblymen Brodsky and Michael Benedetto, D-Bronx, asked the MTA board to postpone its proposed far hike until April 15 to give them time to find $360 million in state funds to avoid a fare hike this year.
"At a time when you want more people to use mass transit, it sends the wrong message to raise fares," Benedetto said.
Transit riders staged a Halloween-themed protest against allowing the fare to go from $2 to $2.25. They handed out trick or treat candies like "governor we're not from Mars bars." and "Oh Eliot" Spitzer candy.
"I'm trying to make a serious point that the governor could come to the aid of subway and bus riders and hold down the fare," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.
The MTA says experience with Albany politics makes them skeptical about counting on state money.
"For us to bank on this … it just puts at risk the future of the Second Avenue subway," MTA Chief Executive Eliot Sander said. "It puts at risk the system that we have worked so hard to build."
Although there's no guarantee of state aid, Assemblyman Brodsky says the state's two top legislative leaders support action to hold the fare down.
Lawmakers are concerned that with the proposed hikes, suburban commuters face a double whammy.
More than half of Metro North and Long Island Rail Road commuters switch to city transit every workday.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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