Mar 20, 2009 6:45 am US/Eastern
Silver On MTA Debacle: 'Stop Partisan Bickering'
Assembly Speaker Says If Albany Doesn't Act Quickly, Transit Authority Will Drop Doomsday Fare Hammer
Possible 30 Percent Hike Deadline Looms: March 25
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
How would you like to pay $3 for a subway or bus ride?
That staggering number is being floated again by some Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members, six days before the transit agency's doomsday budget deadline.
It's desperation time in the fight to save commuters.
Six days and counting and no agreement is in place in Albany to save the fare.
"Stop the partisan bickering," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said. "Forget about politics. That's for November 2010. It's not for now."
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith is being blamed for the deadlock. The governor and assembly speaker are now asking Senate Republicans to help because the choice is stark.
"It's very simple. You have service cut backs and major fare increases. That's column A. Column B is revenue for the MTA in the form of a payroll tax and a modified toll on the bridges," Silver said.
How stark is the situation? The MTA now says that without the bailout:
* Bus and subway fares would go from $2 to $2.50
* Monthly MetroCards from $81 to $103
* Express bus rides from $5 to $6.25
And existing bridge tolls could rise from $5 to $6.50.
And here's the really bad news: MTA board members could jack the base MTA fare to an eye-popping $3.
"People have a legitimate reason to be frightened as to the future of mass transportation in this city and in this region," MTA board member Allen Cappelli said. "The cuts that are going to be implemented are going to hurt the system. The fares that are going to be implemented are going to chase people away."
Governor David Paterson didn't mince words Thursday. He called everyone out.
"What I think really is, unfortunately, in this difficult time that legislators don't want to make the tough decisions," Paterson said.
New Yorkers sense the worst is coming.
"It's out of control," said Joe Miranda of Ozone Park.
"It's been raised more now than it has been in the last 10 years and so they really need to find another way," said Kim Pagan of the Bronx.
The MTA board is scheduled to vote on the fare hike on March 24, and so far there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
If the doomsday budget does go into effect, Long Island Rail Road and Metro North riders would also face fare hikes of up to 30 percent.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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